The Violet Crow by Michael Sheldon Read Free Book Online Page A

it.”
    â€œWhat do you mean? And what are you doing here anyway?”
    â€œI followed you.”
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œLast night.”
    â€œWhat did you do? Lurk around in the bushes all night? That’s why Maggie was barking.” He called Maggie and she came running. She ignored Bruno and ran right to Peaches, sniffing at her oversized handbag.
    â€œNice doggie.” Peaches patted the dog uncomfortably. “As you can see, she’s quite fond of my steak tartare recipe.”
    â€œMaggie, off. Get away from her,” commanded Bruno. Then, to Peaches, “You just got lucky. It’s dangerous out here. A trigger-happy Piney might have found you …”
    â€œI went home and came back this morning.”
    â€œYou’ve been wasting a lot of gas. And hamburger. What I want to know is why are you doing this? If you wanted to talk to me, why not just call me on the phone? I gave the Chief my number. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to keep my name and address private. Getting beat up or killed by bad guys is no fun.”
    â€œWell, I need something to write about,” Peaches said, moving closer again. “You weren’t exactly cooperative the other day. Interviewing people off the record is a waste of my time. On the other hand …” she acted like she was flirting, placing a hand on his knee and moving it along his thigh, “… exposing your ‘credentials’ would make good copy.”
    â€œYou were the one who recommended that the Chief hire a psychic.”
    â€œI didn’t suggest he hire a fake and a loser.”
    â€œI’m not a fake,” Bruno retorted.
    â€œWell then prove it … loser. Give me something I can write about instead.”

Chapter 12
    Next day, the following story appeared in the Pest under P.C. Cromwell’s byline:
    SEX AND KABBALAH AND ROCK ’N’ ROLL
    Cutting-edge technique casts doubt on police theory, psychic says
    TABERNACLE, NJ—Somewhere in this warren of back roads, blueberry bogs, and scrub pine, a mobile home sits in a clearing. It is a nondescript place; a run-down doublewide with a woodstove and a satellite dish. You’d expect to find a local Piney or, for those given to flights of the imagination, some incipient sociopath or fugitive from justice—as opposed to a jet-setting law enforcement specialist who is connected to rock superstar and sex symbol Magdalena.
    Yet that is what this reporter discovered after braving slippery roads, freezing temperatures, and an arduous all-night stakeout. Thanks to our careful investigative work, the South Jersey Post has discovered the base of operations for Bruno X, the psychic detective recently hired by the Gardenfield Police Department to assist in the investigation of the recent Quaker killing.
    In an exclusive interview, this Bruno X—he uses this nom de guerre to protect himself from perpetrators who may attempt to disrupt his investigations through physical intimidation—revealed that he believes that the body found in the Friends Meeting House in Gardenfield last month may not have been the victim of a fellow Quaker. Quakers are known for deploring violence of any kind. Therefore it was paradoxical to find a murder victim in a Quaker meeting house.
    Bruno X points out, “In the Middle Ages, goyim” (a colorful Yiddish word employed by the speaker to identify the dominant Christian populations in Eastern Europe) would dump murdered bodies in the synagogue in order to provoke outrage against Jews. It was part of something called the ‘blood libel.’” The so-called “blood libel” refers to the mytho-historical, quasi-legendary practice where Christians accuse Jews of killing Christian children so they would have blood to make Passover matzoh. Bruno X believes it is possible someone may have moved the body to the meeting house to discredit the Quakers.
    Who might have such a sinister objective?