Green Light (Sam Archer 7) by Tom Barber Read Free Book Online Page B

you?’
    ‘ He did; two days ago. Friday night.’
    ‘ What did you talk about?’ Josh asked.
    She took
a breath. ‘Leann. He told me he was there when she died. All you
other people that showed up talked about her like she was an
inconvenience, just because of what she did for a living. But he
seemed different; more respectful. I liked him.’
    ‘ How did he appear? Angry? Upset?’
    ‘ More curious than anything. Like you, he said he wanted to
make sure they got the right guys but I didn’t take that too
seriously. I knew they had but his girlfriend got shot and I felt
bad for him, so I was happy to talk for a while.’
    ‘ How long did you talk for?’ Josh asked.
    ‘ Twenty minutes or so. Maybe thirty. Then he left.’
    ‘ Do you know where he went next?’
    ‘ No idea. I stayed up here.’
    ‘ His car’s been parked on this street for the past two days
collecting tickets.’
    She
shrugged. ‘Can’t help you, I’m afraid. But you’re taking another
look at Leann’s case?’
    ‘ Yes,’ Marquez said. ‘Just a precaution.’
    ‘ Why? Do you have other leads?’
    ‘ Just one.’
    ‘ Which is?’
    ‘ Archer was going around asking the same kind of questions we
are. And he hasn’t been seen in over two days.’
    The
comment lingered in the air. Karen nodded.
    ‘ Well, I hope you find him,’ she said. ‘I mean that. He seemed
like a nice guy. I liked him. A lot more than I liked the rest of
you.’
    A beat
later the door was closed in their faces again, leaving Marquez and
Josh staring at the wood.

    Not far
south on the Lower East Side, just twenty four hours after he’d
been released from a twenty one day stretch in prison, a thirty two
year old pimp called Alex Santiago was lying on the floor of his
two-man apartment, his eyes bulging in terror as he watched two
figures in white overalls and black gas masks pour a translucent
chemical liquid into his bath-tub.
    Santiago
ran six escorts for his employer, including Kelly Greer and Cece
Mills, and had always enjoyed enforcing a certain level of
discipline on the girls, ensuring he received the right amount of
fear and respect in return. However, right then the tables had been
turned; he had a strip of duct tape over his mouth, more wrapped
around his ankles, and his wrists were bound behind his back with
zip-ties. Gagged and bound, he tried to shout but any noise he made
was reduced to a murmur by the duct tape and masked by the sound of
splashing as the bath was being drawn.
    Sucking
air in through his nose, his mouth covered by the tape, his eyes
started to water from the acrid chemical smell.
    He’d
quickly realised the liquid in the tub wasn’t water.
    Behind
Santiago, the front door opened, and a figure in white overalls and
a gas mask eased himself back through the door into the apartment,
carrying another cylindrical can which he passed to one of the two
others filling the bath.
    ‘ How we doing? ’ he asked, his voice
sounding disembodied from behind the mask.
    ‘ With this, it’ll be ready, ’ one of
the others said, a woman judging by her voice, as the third person
poured the last canister into the tub.
    ‘ Clock’s ticking,’ he said. ‘Both of you, go downtown and get the last girl
then bring her back here.’
    He
looked over at Santiago.
    ‘ I’ll get started on this one.’
    Nodding,
the pair walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind them.
Now alone with Santiago, the large figure walked over and stared
down at the bound man on the floor, whose eyes widened with terror
as they stared back up at him.
    ‘ Bath time, Alex,’ he said.
    A beat
later the man knelt down, settling his heavy weight on Santiago’s
torso and placing his large hands around the pimp’s
throat.
    Then he
started throttling him, Santiago’s face turning crimson as he
suffocated, the last thing he saw before he died being a gas mask
with a pair of dark emotionless eyes looking down at
him.

SEVEN
    Walking
out of Karen Casey’s apartment