New Hope for the Dead by Charles Willeford Read Free Book Online Page A

their ass.”
    “You and Hoke both should take the exam for lieutenant. I’ve told you that before. Promotions are going to break wide open for qualified people. But that’s your problem. What I want is one of the colonelcies. And I’ve come up with a way for you two”—he looked at Ellita, and smiled—”and you, too, Sanchez, to get it for me.”
    There were four stacks of rust-colored accordion files on the table against the wall. The major pointed at them. “I’ve been going through the old files. These are fifty old unsolved homicides. All of them go back a few years, some much longer than others. Some of these, I know, could’ve been solved at the time. But they weren’t solved, or resolved in some way, because there wasn’t enough time. There’s never enough time. Most breaks, as you know, come in the first twenty-four hours. After three or four days, something else comes up, and after two weeks, unless you get a break accidentally, you’re on a new case, or even three new cases. After six months, the homicide’s so far back in pending, it’s colder than the victim.
    “I’m not telling you something you don’t know already. I didn’t become the Homicide chief because I was a detective. I’m an administrator, and I was promoted for my administrative ability. It didn’t hurt that I was black, either, but I wouldn’t have kept my rank if I couldn’t do the work. It seems to me, if we can solve some of these cold cases, it’ll make our division and the entire department look even better than it is. And if that happens, they’ll have to make at least one of those new colonels a black man. What I want is one of those silver eagles and another gold stripe on my sleeve.”
    “Time’s always been the problem, Willie,” Hoke said. “When we get a chance we work on old cases, but a new dead body is found damned near every day in a car trunk, a tomato field, an apartment—”
    “I’m not finished, Hoke. Time is what I’m going to give you. You rank Bill, so you’re in charge. But the three of you are going to get two full months to do nothing else but work on these fifty cold cases I picked out.”
    “What about the cases we’re on now?” Henderson said. “We’ve got, me and Gonzalez, a triple murder in Liberty City, and no leads at all. Tomorrow we’re supposed to—”
    “Gonzalez will have to handle that one by himself. Hoke, you can give your current cases to Gonzalez, too. I know he lacks experience, but he’ll report directly to Lieutenant Slater, and he’ll get all the help from Slater he needs. I can’t spare four men for this assignment, but the three of you, in two months’ time, should get some positive results.”
    “Three months,” Henderson said, “would be better.”
    “I know.” Brownley smiled. “And six months would be better than three months, but you’ve got two. I’ve already gone through the old files and picked out these fifty. Take them with you, go through ’em again, and decide which cases to work first. You know more about the possibilities than I do. Any questions?”
    “That office we’ve got,” Hoke said. “It’s too small for the three of us. Can we have one of the interrogation rooms to work in on a permanent basis?”
    “Take Room Three. There’s a table and some folding chairs in there already. It’s yours for as long’s you need it. I’ll inform Lieutenant Slater. Anything else?”
    “When Hoke and I turn all our cases over to Gonzalez, he’ll shit his pants,” Henderson said.
    “He’ll be all right with Slater. Just fill Slater in on what’s been done so far. Slater knows what you all will be doing, but Gonzalez doesn’t. Just tell him you’re on a special assignment, Bill, and to do the best he can. You have any questions, Sanchez?”
    “No, sir. I think it’s a good idea, that’s all.”
    “It would be a better idea if we had three months,” Henderson said.
    “Solve at least ten of these cases in two months, and