Day of Reckoning Read Free Page B

against you, Moody, beginning with aggravated sexual assault.'
'Hey, the bitch wanted it. She was into sadomasochism, all kinds of stuff. I mean, I was shocked, man.'
'I'm sure you were, and I was forgetting physical assault on a minor.'
There was silence. Moody said, 'What's this minor crap?' 'Didn't Sergeant Abruzzi tell you? The girl, Charlene Wilson, was fifteen two weeks ago.'
Moody's face paled. 'Now, look, I didn't know that.' 'Well, you do now,' Helen Abruzzi told him.
Another thing,' Parker said. 'There've been two killings in Battery Park within the last three months, using the same technique you prefer, Moody. Girls tied up, abused, beaten, and young.'
'You can't pin those on me.'
'I don't need to. We have good DNA samples retrieved from Charlene Wilson. We've got the DNA of the Battery Park killer. I'd bet my pension we'll have a match.'
'Fuck you, nigger bastard.'
Moody lunged at him and the two officers restrained him.
Parker said, 'Why, Paul, you should conserve your energy. You're going to need it to keep you going for the next forty years in prison.' He nodded to the officers. 'Get this piece of shit out of here.'
He turned to the window as the door closed. Helen Abruzzi said, 'It's a bad one, sir.'
'They're all bad, Sergeant.' He turned. 'I need air. I'll take a walk if you can find me an umbrella. I'll come back to sign the papers later.'
'Fine, sir.'
He smiled, and suddenly looked charming. 'You've been doing a good job here, Sergeant. I've been noticing. There's an inspector's job coming up, if you'd like a posting to Police Plaza. You deserve it. I can't promise, mind you.'
'I know, sir.'
'Fine. I'll see you later, but ring the front desk and get me that umbrella.'

It was raining hard on the waterfront. Parker had borrowed a P olice raincoat with Gaped shoulders, and carried the umbrella Abruzzi had organized. The rain actually made him feel good, cleared the head. He lit another cigarette, and then an old man was running toward him in a panic.
Parker got his hand up. 'What is it? What's your problem?' 'I need the police!'
'You've found them. What's the problem?'
'My name's Richardson. I'm a night watchman at the old Darmer warehouse there. I was coming off shift and I went to the edge of the pier to toss my butt in the water, and .. . and there's a woman in the water!'
'Okay, show me,' said Parker and pushed him forward. Katherine Johnson was a couple of feet under dark green ter. Her arms floated to each side, her legs were open, eyes stared into eternity. There was a look of surprise on her face and she was achingly beautiful in death.
Harry Parker took out his mobile and called the precinct. 'This is Captain Parker. I've got a Jane Doe in the water only three hundred yards from you. Let's get an ambulance and back-up out here.' He stood there, holding his mobile phone, then handed it to Richardson and took off his raincoat. 'Hang on to those.'
He went down a flight of stone steps, waist deep in water, and reached for her. It was stupid, because that was the recovery team's job, but he couldn't leave her there. In a strange way, it was personal.
She was covered for a moment by flotsam, and he went chest deep and pulled her in and above his head. Above him, he heard the sound of vehicles grinding to a halt as the recovery team arrived.

Parker went home, changed, had breakfast at his corner coffee shop – eggs, bacon, English breakfast tea – and returned to his office. But the dead woman's face, the open eyes, wouldn't go away as he phoned Abruzzi.
'What's happening with the Jane Doe I found?'
'She's at the morgue. They've brought in the chief medical examiner. I believe he's doing the post-mortem himself later this morning.'
'I'll be down. Tell him I'm coming.'
When Harry Parker arrived at the office of the chief medi cal examiner, Dr George Romano was eating a sandwich and drinking coffee.
'Harry, my man, what's new?'
'This Jane Doe from the river. I took her out.'