Rejection: Publishing Murder Mystery (Lou Drake Mysteries) by Thomas K. Matthews Read Free Book Online

to feel like he was part of the group.
    Andrade emerged from his office and came down the hall with Michael Collins. They hustled past the cage toward the Detective’s office.
    Detective Thibido charged up behind them. “Are you kidding me?” he called out as he approached the others. “Who could cut somebody up like that?”
    “Shut up,” Collins growled.
    Thibido stopped talking abruptly and trailed out of sight behind the other two men.
    Drake looked at Edna and raised one eyebrow.
    “Sounds like we got ourselves another killing,” he said softly.
    “Apparently,” she said.
    Drake’s detective instinct kicked in. He knew that kind of mutilation was often a message in mob killings, the sign of an informant. In the old days he would have been part of the group he had just seen heading off to strategize about how they were going to chase down the killer. Frustration bloomed in him again. At that moment the cage felt as much like a cell to him as the ones downstairs.
    Officer Mooney provided a welcome diversion by arriving at the cage with a well dressed, middle-aged woman in handcuffs.
    “We got us a drunk and disorderly,” Mooney said, “and resisting arrest.”
    “Wonderful,” Drake said.
    He reached for a booking form.
    “You should’ve listened to me,” the woman whined to Mooney. “I didn’t do anything.”
    “Name is Ruby Lopresti,” Mooney said to Drake. “She’s been read her rights and unfortunately she decided not to remain silent.”
    “Oh, a smart ass,” the woman roared. “That’s gonna cost you. My father knows half the city council.” She slurred her words.
    “This is gonna mean your goddamn badge,” Ruby said. Then she suddenly vomited, lurched and passed out. She hit the floor in her own puke. Mooney’s sleeve was wet with sour bile and the stench was overpowering.
    “Aw shit,” he said.
    “We got it,” Drake said “Go clean yourself up.”
    He and the three women came around the counter to help put the unconscious woman in a wheelchair. Regina and Edna wheeled Ruby down to the drunk-tank while Drake retrieved a mop and bucket from the break room.
    “You okay?” Serena asked Drake when he got back. “You look like you just lost your best friend.”
    He shrugged and did his best to plaster a smile on his face. “I’m fine.”
    “Yeah?” She gave him a doubtful look. “So what’s with all this staring out into the station like you wish you were someplace else?”
    Drake looked at her carefully, trying to figure out whether her concern was sincere.
    “Why does it matter?” he said.
    “Cause you’re one of us now and we gotta stick together.”
    Drake felt his face flush. It had been a while since anyone but Robin had been on his side.
    He cleared his throat. “Yeah, well … it’s the murders. Believe it or not, there was a day when I would have been right in the middle of all that.”
    Serena nodded. “That’s what I heard. And now you wish you were back in the action.”
    Drake did his best to hold in the sigh. “A little bit, I guess.”
    Serena gave him an appraising look.
    “Maybe I can help with that.”
    “What do you—”
    “I gotta go in the back office,” Serena said. “You gonna be okay out here by yourself?”
    “Of course.”
    Drake stared at her in disbelief as she disappeared into the back office. “Whatever,” he said to himself, and started slopping the mop across the floor.
    This is what I’m reduced to, he thought, cleaning up puke.
    * * *
    Serena searched the personnel files in the computer database and read through the available sheets on Lou Drake. He was an interesting contradiction. The more she discovered about him, the more sympathy and surprise she felt.
    He had a stellar record as a patrolman and high scores on the Detective exams. His achievements as an investigator were brilliant, until the Hennings murder case brought his career to a crashing halt. After that his downfall had been abrupt and brutal, according to what