The Red Storm by Grant Bywaters Read Free Book Online

attention to me. From there, I saw all I needed to.
    Bill Storm’s lifeless body lay hunched over on the park bench, wearing the same clothes I saw him in earlier that morning. He looked like a characteristic transient that had fallen asleep.
    There was a loud pop as one of the aluminum flashbulbs from the camera of an officer photographing the scene exploded from the humidity. One of the detectives yelled, “Get a better flash, will you! And stop takin’ photos of just the stiff, he ain’t goin’ nowhere. I want full shots of the perimeter before it gets worked over.”
    Brawley spotted me soon after.
    â€œIt’s not every day a big-shot hood is found dead on a park bench,” he said as he walked up to me. “I recognized him right away. His mug shot been on the board at the station for as long as I can remember.”
    â€œWhat’s the cause of death?” I asked.
    â€œBeing shot in the back of the head. Too early to tell exactly what caliber it was. I overheard the coroner, said that only his hands and jaw have frozen up, so he hasn’t been dead for long. He had close to a grand and a couple of bank receipts stuffed in his money belt so that throws out any pipe dream of it being a holdup.”
    â€œWhy’d you call me out here?”
    â€œWhat’s the point in asking me stuff you already know?” Brawley said. “You didn’t tell me what you were up to tonight, and that’s fine since you’re all wool and a yard wide with me. I reckon I’d know soon enough, and I did. We found this stuffed in the stiff’s pocket.”
    He handed me a folded-up parchment that had a message written in what looked like female handwriting. It simply read, “Meet me in Congo Square at 11:30 tonight.—Zella.”
    â€œIs Zella the singer at the club?” Brawley asked. I jerked a nod. “Is she his kid?”
    â€œWhy do you ask me stuff you already know?” I said.
    â€œConfirmation is all. Figured it’s the least you could do for helping you out like I did at the club.”
    â€œI assume she’s your prime suspect now,” I said.
    Brawley shrugged. “We’ll see. After her little outburst tonight, wouldn’t put it past her. But I don’t see her shooting her own pops in the back of the head and leaving a note with her name on it. You’d think she’d go for the family jewels first.”
    â€œIt would seem more her style. Why’d homicide call you out here?”
    â€œThey wanted to know if vice knew anything about Storm being in the city, but it was news to us. It don’t matter much. This investigation will last as long as it takes to process the body. Far as homicide cares, he killed two cops, and this couldn’t have happened to a nicer fella.”
    â€œNo, it couldn’t have,”
    â€œI hope he wasn’t a client,” Brawley said.
    â€œHe was not.”
    â€œCould’ve fooled me. The way it looks, he hired you to find his daughter. You found her, told her where he was at. She sent for him, and—” He waved toward the dead body. “And that’s what we got.”
    â€œOr you could figure that he came in, wanted me to find her, I refused, because he’s a criminal and say I got the impression he wanted to do harm to her, right? So I went about finding her myself to warn her off. As for her possibly killing him, as you said, the method isn’t her style. Let alone leaving a note linking her to the murder. Besides, if she did, it was by her own choice, and I had nothing to do with it.”
    â€œIf that’s your story, stick to it. I’ll keep a lid on your involvement in this unless it comes up, but don’t expect me to be alibiing you.”
    â€œI won’t,” I said.
    â€œI wouldn’t sweat it too much. It’ll go cold as soon as something more important comes through the pipe.”
    We spoke a bit longer before