The Darkness of Bones by Sam Millar Read Free Book Online Page B

scene, covered in his own vomit, wishing he were on the road, frost and snow on his face instead of being in the company of a decapitated corpse.

Chapter Ten
    “There’s nothing of so infinite vexation As man’s own thoughts.”
    John Webster,
The White Devil
    O NE OF TWO phones rang in Jack’s studio as he studied a file. A woman, suspecting her husband of infidelity, had asked him to investigate, get some photos of the unfaithful spouse, if possible.
    The irony of it
, thought Jack.
    “You lazy bastard,” accused the voice at the other end, just as the receiver touched his ear. “How long does it take you to answer the fucking phone?”
    “Benson?” said Jack, smiling. “You must be in trouble. What’ve you done?”
    “Fun
eee
. Not only a private dick, but a dick comedian, as well. Have you forgotten?” asked Harry Benson, Jack’s ex-partner and best friend. Getting no reply from Jack, Benson quickly cut in. “I don’t believe it. He
has
forgotten. What sacrilege! Our birthright, our annual pilgrimage, our once-in-a-year chance to get the fuck out of this smelly, godforsaken town, and he’s
forgotten?
”
    “How could I forget something as important as fishing? I hate to disappoint you, Harry, but Adrian has a bad cold. Heslipped into the lake, a couple of nights ago. Could have had a bad accident.”
    “Stop with the drama, Jack. We all know Adrian’s as tough as his godfather. He won’t let a little cold stop him.”
    “I’ll relay your sympathy to him. But, to be honest, I’m so backlogged in cases—”
    “
You’re
backlogged? Since you retired, word must have leaked out to every lowlife piece of scum in town. Violent crime has risen by five per cent. I suppose you heard about that corpse discovered in the old Graham building, over near Clifton Street?”
    “The abandoned orphanage? No, I haven’t been able to catch up with any news lately. What happened?”
    “Some old tramp, looking for free board and breakfast, got more than he bargained for yesterday in the shape of a decapitated corpse with a dildo shoved up its bony arse.”
    “Decapitated?” Jack shook his head. The city was paying dearly for its cultivated big-city image: big-city diseases.
    “Clean as a whistle, according to Shaw. That area was supposed to have been bulldozed over years ago to make way for a new ring road, but an ownership dispute put everything on hold. Now the fucking place is nothing more than a shantytown for all the dregs of society. They’re a law unto themselves, all those vagrants, and they know the law better than we do, the bastards. If you as much as sneeze at them, they scream blue bloody murder and police brutality.”
    Jack could hear the disdain clearly in Benson’s voice. In his ex-partner’s world, everything was black and white, no grey. Them and us.
    “I’m sure William Wilson must have been happy with that publicity.” Jack grinned, picturing the face of his ex-boss gettingredder as each TV camera was stuck into it.
    “The bastard is in denial,” said Benson. “He’s cooking the books to suit his political ambitions—the fucker.”
    “Now, now, now. Can’t have dissension in the ranks, Detective Benson,” laughed Jack. “Superintendent Wilson doesn’t tolerate it. And we all know that what Superintendent Courageous doesn’t tolerate, he gets rid of.”
    There was silence for a few moments before Benson spoke. “We should never have allowed that cowardly bastard to force you into early retirement.”
    “No one forced me into anything. I wanted out. Besides, it was the best thing that ever happened. Look at me now. My own business.”
    “Yeah, I noticed you didn’t put the word ‘successful’ in front of that,” laughed Benson.
    “Don’t laugh. It takes time. One day you’ll be working for me,” said Jack.
    “A pity your name isn’t Hedges. Think of all that free publicity we’d get.”
    They both laughed.
    Jack heard Benson’s weight shift in the chair. When he