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

I’ll give you the extra month,” Brownley said.
    “Fair enough.” Henderson picked up an armload of files and left the office.
    After the cold cases were stacked in piles on Hoke’s desk, he looked at them and shook his head. “It’s five-thirty. We’ll start going through them tomorrow morning in the interrogation room.”
    “If you want me to, I can take a couple home with me tonight to read,” Ellita said. “I haven’t got anything else planned.”
    “No. I want to think about how best to work things out. You guys go home.”
    Henderson broadened his smile slightly. “I think I’d better take Teddy out and buy him a drink before I give him the news. Did you notice Gonzalez through the window when we were in Willie’s office? The poor bastard went to the can three times. He probably thought the meeting was all about him. But you can’t blame him. If I’d been left out there, I’d’ve thought the same thing.”
    After Henderson and Ellita left, Hoke locked the office, got his Pontiac from the lot, and drove out to Green Lakes to pay another visit to Mrs. Hickey’s house.

5

    The rush-hour traffic on Flagler Street was heavier than usual because of the rain. In July, during the rainy season, showers and thunderstorms begin at four or four-thirtyevery day and continue into the early evening hours. Hoke didn’t mind the rain or the traffic, or the fact that he was working overtime without compensation. He appreciated doing anything that would delay his getting home to the Hotel Eldorado in Miami Beach—any delay, that is, that didn’t cost money. The long nights at the Eldorado were dull, so he was always glad when he had an excuse to postpone going home.
    The pile of old cases on his desk troubled him a little, but not very much. Brownley had had a good idea there, despite his selfish motivation, and Hoke looked forward to the two-month assignment. He didn’t think they would be able to solve ten cases, but even if they could solve three or four, it would be better than none. He just wished that he had been the one to select the fifty cases to work on, instead of Willie Brownley. If he and Henderson had gone through all the cold cases, and there must be several hundred, they could have done a much better job of winnowing them than Brownley. On the other hand, the fact that Brownley had selected these particular files out of all the other unsolved cases gave Hoke at least a weak excuse for failure if they didn’t resolve any of them at all.
    The best way to work it, he decided, was to have each of them read all of the cases first. Each reader could then select the ten most likely cases to work on. If they all came up with the same three or four homicides on their lists, these would be the cases to work on first. If they all had the same half-dozen, it would be even better.
    Hoke didn’t know why Brownley had assigned Sanchez instead of Gonzalez to his team, but it was probably because he didn’t think Slater could work well with a woman. Slater had a very short fuse, and Brownley undoubtedly felt that Slater would feel more comfortable chewing on Gonzalez’s ass every day than he would Sanchez’s. Regardless of the reason, Hoke was happy to have Sanchez instead of Gonzalez. She could spell, as well as type, so he would have her keep the daily notes and write the weeklyprogress reports that Major Brownley wanted. Sanchez didn’t have much of a sense of humor, but he would be working with Henderson again, who did, and that was a big plus.
    Loretta Hickey was no longer the distraught youthful mother Hoke had last seen sobbing on the lawn that morning. When she opened the door, she was rested, clean and sweet-smelling, and wearing a black-and-white silk djellabah. Sober, Mrs. Hickey was a handsome woman. Her long hair, freshly shampooed, still had damp ends, and she had brushed it straight back. Her high white forehead was shiny and without makeup, but there was a pink trace of lipstick on her full