Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #2: Books 5-8 (A Dead Cold Box Set) Blake Banner (read out loud books txt) 📖

were a world class assassin, and you had decided for some reason to turn on a client of the caliber of Carol Hennessy, would you hang around in New York?”

She turned and looked at me with a half-bisected avocado in her hand.

“No. No, I wouldn’t.”

“Where would you go?”

“I’d go somewhere remote. I’d probably go to an island in the Indian Ocean, or Brazil. If for some reason I stayed in the country, I’d go to Wyoming, or Colorado, one of the Dakotas.”

I pulled the cork and it popped loudly. I smelled it and she stepped over to smell too.

“That’s the ‘nose’, right?”

I nodded.

“The bouquet is different. It comes later.”

I smiled. “That’s right.”

“I’ve been reading about it.” She returned to the salad. “You don’t know how long you’ve got in this life, Stone. The end can come suddenly, out of nowhere. You have to appreciate every moment.” She waved her knife at me. “And you know something else I realized?”

“What’s that, Dehan?”

“People have to learn to appreciate. Appreciating, enjoying, they don’t just come naturally. You have to learn. It’s a way of thinking. It’s like thinking with your body instead of just your brain.”

“Wow.”

“So anyway, keep talking. K is not in New York. Where is he? Set the table.”

I grabbed a handful of knives and forks from the drawer. “The only person who knew is dead. But he can still tell us.”

I went and started setting two places at the table.

She was cutting tomatoes into the salad bowl. “He can? How?”

“Because at some point between his last article, where he was laying into Hennessy, and his taking the apartment in Manor Avenue and starting his investigation, he made contact with K. That was what triggered his sudden obsession. That’s why he was so excited. Because here was an opportunity to go after a really big prize. Now, if K wasn’t living in New York, that means either K traveled here to see David, or David traveled there, wherever he was, to see him. And that has to be the more likely scenario. So somewhere on David’s bank or credit card records, there are going to be trips to some location where he met K. It’s a place to start.”

She nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.” She thought about it a moment. “Plus, any visitors he received at his apartment on Manor Avenue, Mr. Gupta would have noticed. And he didn’t mention anyone… unless…”

“The woman he thought was Katie, on Friday night?”

“Could it be? K changes his mind and takes out David?”

“K is a woman…?”

She sipped and smiled. “Man… I am no expert, but I always thought female assassins were just in Hollywood. Usually they are ex-military, or CIA.”

“I am inclined to agree, but the fact is we don’t know.” I sighed and shook my head. “Let’s face it, Dehan, we still know practically nothing. It is all allegations, hints, theories… But we have zip in the way of facts.”

She sucked her teeth for a moment and pointed at the letter. “But that, that baby might change everything. If we can track K, that will change everything.”

We stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, I said, “Dehan, we are looking at political conspiracy. These people are very powerful and very dangerous. I know what you are going to say, but I have to ask. Do you want out?”

“Really? Come here so I can smack you in the mouth. No, Stone, we take these bastards down and we make them pay. That’s our job. So let’s do it.”

I nodded and went to check the table and finished setting it. I stared at it unseeing for a few seconds. Then, without really knowing why, I said, “Dehan?”

“What?”

“I never had a partner like you.”

She turned to look at me. Her face showed surprise, and something else; a smile.

I gave a stupid grin. “You’re the best partner I ever had. You should know that.”

She waved a salad fork at me and turned away. “Stop it. You’re going to embarrass me. You want the salad as a starter? We could start with the salad. Did you put salad plates out…?”

I watched her, sipped my martini, and smiled.

Thirteen

Morning brought patches of cold blue sky and frothy mountains of very white cloud tinged with watery turquoise. It was a relief to have a break from the relentless gray and the steady downpour. There was a hint of spring in the morning light, but the wind still bit with icy teeth.

Our first stop that day was to have the note and the list copied before sending them to the lab for fingerprinting. After that we went up to update the inspector and ask about contacting David’s bank and credit card agency to have them release his records to us, for 2007 and 2008.

When we asked him, he nodded with interest and frowned.

“What is it exactly you are looking for? Have you got a copy of the letter with you?”

I handed him the copy we’d made. He took it over by the window and put on his reading glasses. He read it with care, twice, and sighed heavily before handing it back to me.

“You’ll review all of these deaths, obviously.”

“That is Dehan’s task for this morning, sir.”

“And you want the financial records why?”

“If this alleged hit man exists, sir, we think he would have lived somewhere fairly remote. He would logically want to stay away from Hennessy and her operation. He would want to be somewhere where he left the smallest traceable footprint possible. So David would presumably have had to travel to meet with him, wherever he was, and record his interviews. We are hoping to find a record either of a long trip somewhere, or several repeated trips, that might give us