Casting Bones Read Free Page A

his stomach was queasy. He’d seen some pretty gruesome deaths before, and they’d never affected him like this. There was something different about this, but nothing he could put his finger on.
    â€˜Q, you OK?’
    Adam Strand raised his eyebrows, noticing the look on Archer’s face, flush, with perspiration dotting his brow.
    â€˜Sure. Fine. It must be …’ he trailed off, not sure what it must be.
    The two detectives stripped off their gloves.
    â€˜You want to sit down, partner?’
    â€˜No.’ He shook his head. ‘Really, I’m good.’
    â€˜Look, the crack about the judge’s money—’
    Archer shook his head. Regaining his composure, he walked over to the four other detectives on the scene, two in sport coats, the others in long-sleeved shirts and ties.
    â€˜Two of you pick up anything you see and someone talk to the deckhands on the
Queen
. We’ll cover the restaurant up there, and you’ – pointing to the other two detectives – ‘see if any of these tourists saw anything.’ His breathing had returned to normal and he felt his heart rate slowing down.
    Strand stood back and nodded.
    â€˜You know it didn’t happen here.’
    â€˜And you know we’ve got to cover every base,’ Archer responded.
    They walked away from the river, heading toward the Crazy Lobster.
    â€˜How many cases you worked?’
    Archer put his hand to his head, a slight feeling of uneasiness still lingering. ‘Never counted them.’
    â€˜As of now, we’ve got the highest per capita murder rate in the country.’ Strand pointed beyond the restaurant where New Orleans spread out into the downtown area. ‘About one hundred eighty murders a year. Mostly young kids who’ve got nothing to lose.’
    â€˜Three hundred plus in Detroit.’
    â€˜Jesus.’
    â€˜Still, you’ve got the highest per capita. Pretty impressive.’
    â€˜We duke it out with Baltimore or Flint, Michigan for bragging rights every year.’
    They reached the brown pavers strewn with green tables and chairs that sat in the brilliant sun outside the Crazy Lobster. Patrons of the trendy restaurant drank Abita beers, sucked meat from red, boiled crawfish and warily watched the two detectives as they approached.
    â€˜Can you get the manager?’ Archer touched a waitress on the shoulder and she nodded, walking quickly into the restaurant. In a moment, a young black man walked out, an apron tied around his waist.
    â€˜You dealing with the dead guy?’
    â€˜We are. I’m Quentin Archer, and this is my partner, Adam Strand.’
    The two offered their badges and the manager nodded.
    â€˜I’m Marcus Walker. We sort of talked about it while you were down there,’ he motioned to the muddy river. ‘Nobody noticed anything. My guess is the guy washed up or somebody dumped him recent.’
    â€˜You don’t mind if we talk to your staff?’
    â€˜Not at all. You’d do it anyway.’
    â€˜We would,’ Strand said. ‘You get any judges, court people who come down here for a meal? A drink?’
    â€˜Detective, we get everybody. We’re on the water and if I do say so we put out a really good product. Listen, if people don’t come here, we’ve probably catered something for them. We go to their place, you know what I’m sayin’? Sure, we do some parties at City Hall.’
    â€˜Know a guy named David Lerner? Judge?’
    â€˜Is it the
late
David Lerner? Was that his body they found?’
    Q shook his head. ‘No positive identification yet. We just wondered if you recognized the name.’
    â€˜Sure. I’ve seen his name on the news. Hard guy. He gets a lot of press because of his stiff sentences. We’ve got a couple young guys in the kitchen who received some of his tough love.’ The manager offered a weak smile. ‘That’s who we’re talking about,