The First Law by John Lescroart Read Free Book Online

sometimes “hee-hee- hee, ” regardless of the topic, as though she was embarrassed at every word, every thought, every goddamned impulse to say anything that passed through her brain.
    By the last few weeks of their cohabitation, Russell would often find himself in a high rage before he even got to their front door, merely in anticipation of “Hi, honey, hee-hee,” and the chaste little kiss. His fists would clench.
    He knew it wasn’t fair of him, wasn’t right. It wasn’t Monica’s fault. He’d even told her about how much it bothered him, asked her politely more than several times if she could maybe try to become aware of when she did it, which was all the time. And perhaps try to stop.
    “I’ll try, Lincoln; I really will. Hee-hee. Oh, I’m sorry. Hee . . .”
    One of the things he loved most about Dierdre, his wife now of eleven years, was that she never laughed at anything.
    And now his partner of six years, a damn good cop, a nice guy and the other most intimate relationship in his life, was starting to bother him the way Monica had. He thought it possible that this time it could truly drive him to violence if he couldn’t get Dan to stop.
    Here, on this miserable night, for example, they had been called to a homicide scene just outside the Tenderloin, some poor old bastard beaten up and shot dead. And for what? A few hundred bucks? No sign of forced entry to his shop. Nobody even tampered with the safe. Botched robbery, was Russell’s initial take on it. Probably doped-up junkers too loaded to take the stuff they came for. But a tragic scene. It’s looking like the guy’s married forever—an old lady’s picture on the desk. Kids and grandkids on the wall. Awful. Stupid, pointless and awful.
    And here’s his partner humming “Volare” to beat the band: humming while the young beat guy, Creed, all traumatized, is giving his statement to them; humming as he follows the crime scene photographer around snapping pictures of everything in the store; humming while the coroner’s assistant is going over body damage, occasionally breaking into words in both Italian and English. “Volare, whoa-oh, cantare, oh, oh, oh, oh . . .”
    Now it’s ten-thirty. They’ve been here three hours. Somebody is knocking at the door and Cuneo’s going over to open it, suddenly breaking into song: “Just like birds of a feather, a rainbow together we’ll find.”
    Suddenly Russell decides he’s had enough. “Dan.”
    “What?” Completely oblivious.
    Russell holds out a flat palm, shakes his head. “Background music. Ixnay.”
    Cuneo looks a question, checks the figure at the door, then gets the message, nods, mercifully shuts up. The sudden silence hits Russell like a vacuum. The rain tattoos the skylight overhead.
    “I’m Wade Panos, Patrol Special for this beat.”
    And no pussycat. Heavyset, an anvil where most people have a forehead, eyebrows like the business side of a barbecue brush. Pure black pupils in his eyes, almost like he’s wearing contacts for the effect. “Mind if I come in?”
    Under his trenchcoat, Panos was in uniform. In theory, Patrol Specials were supposed to personally walk their beats in uniform every day. Then again, in theory, bumblebees can’t fly. But obviously Panos at least went so far as to don the garb. He looked every inch the working cop, and Cuneo opened the door all the way. “Sure.”
    Panos grunted some kind of thanks. He brushed directly past Cuneo and back to where Silverman’s body lay zipped up in a body bag. The coroner’s van was out front and in a few more moments they’d be taking the body away, but Panos went and stood by the bag, went down to a knee. “You mind if I . . . ?”
    The coroner’s assistant looked the question over to Cuneo, who’d followed Panos back to the doorway. The inspector nodded okay, and the assistant zipped the thing open. Panos reached over, pulled the material for a clearer view of Silverman’s face. A deep sigh