Bad Blood Read Free Page B

kill his victims. Assuming, of course, that was his only purpose.
    â€œWere there any other marks on the bodies?”
    Elam shook his head. “Not that we could see.”
    â€œAny idea who they were?”
    Elam shook his head again. “No identification on the bodies. No wallets, no money, no keys, just odds and ends.”
    â€œAnybody checking with Missing Persons?
    â€œNope. Not our job, man. This is your baby now.”
    Gibbons shook his head and looked at the ground. “It gladdens my heart to see that the NYPD’s attitude toward the Bureau has improved so dramatically.” Couldn’t expect a cop to go out of his way to help a fed. Unwritten police rule in every precinct from sea to shining sea: Screw the feds whenever you can.
    The crane’s engine started revving up then as it slowly started to pull the VW up away from the water. When they finally set the Bug down on its tires, Gibbons took out his notepad and went over to take a look. The first thing he did was jot down the license plate number.He looked through the side window on the driver’s side, scanning the frontseats, then the backseats.
    He could see Elam’s reflection in the glass, looming behind him. “So what do you see, Gib?”
    â€œA wet car, lieutenant.”
    Elam pursed his lips and nodded. “That’s the kind of trenchant comment you come to expect from a seasoned investigative talent. I can see why the FBI pulled you out of retirement.”
    â€œWho says they pulled me out of retirement?” He walked around to the passenger side and peered in.
    Elam stuck his hands in his pockets and cocked his head back. “Oh, you know how it is, Gib. Word gets around.”
    Gibbons ripped off a blank sheet of paper from his pad and used it to open the car door so as not to add his fingerprints to the handle. “So what’s the word?” he asked. “Clue me in.”
    â€œThat the Bureau had to call you out of retirement to chase down one of your guys in the Manhattan field office who went renegade.”
    Gibbons stuck his head inside the car and took a look under the dash, then jiggled the stick shift. It was in neutral just as he knew it would be. Bodies don’t drive themselves into the river. They were pushed.
    â€œThe way I heard it, Gib, this dude started shooting up all these bad guys who walked in court, you know, cases he’d put together before he went nuts. A one-man judge, jury, and executioner.”
    â€œYou see this one on TV, Elam?” Gibbons scowled under the dash. How the fuck did he know about Tozzi?
    â€œYeah, well, the way I heard it, you knew something about this guy, how he ticked and all that. They figured you were the only one who could bring him in before he did any more damage. Is that how it went down, Gib?”
    There were a couple of people at the field office who could’ve pieced it all together and figured out that Tozzi had gone renegade, even though Ivers insisted that he was certain he’d kept the lid on it. Maybe it was Ivers himself, though. Maybe our dear Special Agent in Charge bragged to a few of his law-enforcement colleagues, modifying the story to make it look like a real management coup on his part. That wouldn’t be out of character for the asshole.
    â€œCome on, Gib, you can tell me. You are the Great White Renegade Hunter, aren’t you?”
    Gibbons stood up and looked at Elam over the roof of the Volkswagen. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. It’s a good story, though. You ought to write it up in a book.”
    Elam just smiled, flashing a lot of big white teeth. “Yeah, I’ll do that, Gib.”
    â€œHey, Elam, can I ask you something?”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œYou used to play for Michigan, right?”
    â€œMichigan State. I played forward and backup center. We tied with Indiana for Big Ten champs, my junior year.” The lieutenant