Deadrock Read Free

work. I'm worried about the Spinelli set-up. I
had this bad dream…"
    "Probably
just too much of Rosie's algae lasagna, Leo," said Max. He wandered over
to another sculpture composed of barbed wired with arms outstretched and head
flung back. Leo followed, bouncing his helmet in his hands.
    "It was
such a frightening dream, Max. I'm afraid something might go wrong during the
sting."
    "I'll be
implanted with a viewer. If anything goes wrong, you'll see it, Leo. Just break
in and arrest him."
    "There's
just so much riding on this…"
    Max pulled the
moldable helmet from Leo's hands and placed it backwards on his friend's head. "Leo,
we're a great team. You've got to trust in us. You'll get your promotion and I'll
get mine."
    Leo muttered, "Easy
for you to say. My grandfather wasn't Chief of Police."
    "Thanks a
lot, Leo," snapped Max.
    "I'm
sorry, Max, it's just that sometimes I don't feel like I belong."
      "Out of the way!" said the
stretcher guider, elbowing Leo aside.
    "At least
you have a nickname," said Leo.
    "Oh,
yeah, a great nickname – Deadrock."
    My name's
Livingstone, he thought. My Granddad's name. And Dad's. The name Livingstone had brought honor to the
force by those two men. But Max had been on the force for a less than a year
when his dad was killed during a routine domestic disturbance call and he knew
no one thought he was ready to inherit the family name.
    "They
call me Dead-rock instead of Living-stone to remind me
I'm not the cop my bloodmen were, Leo," said Max. They stepped over a
chalk outline on the floor. The drawn shape had outstretched arms and the head flung
back. Leo looked at the shape and sighed.
    "But we
can still give you a good nickname," said Max. Something strong. How about
Crusher? The Vanquisher?" Leo frowned. "No?" Max looked at Leo's
glittering stunsuit. "Okay, how about Metallica?"
    "That has
a nice ring," said Leo.
    "It suits
you, Leo." Max pulled his filecorder from his pocket. "Now, come on,
Metallica, let's go talk to the coroner."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 3

 
    No sooner had
Max and Leo returned from SoHo than Mayor Rhoades burst into the squad room shaking
his arms. He planted himself in the center of the room and bellowed, "Chief
Madison!"
    Chief Elaine
Madison appeared at the door of her office, cool and collected in her perfectly
tailored stunproof suit. "Mayor, what a pleasant surprise," she said.
    "Uh-oh,"
whispered Leo.
    "Yeah,
she's got that 'polite-but-deadly' edge in her voice," said Max. The same
edge he heard when she reprimanded him for gluing O'Malley's desk drawer shut
with Liquid Anchor.
    The Mayor
raved on. "Have you seen the latest Newsblots, Elaine?" he demanded. "Mayor's
Great-Grandpa: Murder Victim or Thief? Oh, my opponent will have a field day
with this!"
    "The boys
in the lab are looking to identify the body but the capsule was damaged, Mayor.
The body was exposed to the air. There's only so much they can do," said
the Chief moving toward him.
    "It's the
worst time to happen, " said the Mayor. "Three weeks from election.
Do you think Wollman could have planted it in there?"
    "The lab
says the skeleton dates back a hundred years. And so far, the passport looks
valid," she said. She set her young, smooth face into a concerned but
determined expression. "Come into my office, Mayor, and we can discuss
this in private."
    She shot a
warning glance around the squad room that was silent with 200 police
eavesdroppers. Max, Leo, and the other officers immediately fidgeted with other
items on their desks, looking busy while keeping one eye on the action in the
middle of the room.
    "Oh, no!"
said the Mayor. "Not again, Elaine. You're not going to sweet-talk me out
of this one!" He backed away into O'Malley.
    "Your
Honor, let me just say how personally sorry I was to hear about your
great-grandfather," wheedled O'Malley.
    "But it
can't be my great-grandfather!" the Mayor roared. He stumbled about the
room desperately, bumping into officers and