The Man Who Walked in Darkness (Miles Franco #2) (Miles Franco Urban Fantasy) Read Free

of vaginal or anal trauma,” the pathologist chipped in. “We’ll examine the contents of her stomach for semen—”
    I slammed my shoe into the metal frame of the table, making Claudia’s body rock back and forth. The pathologist took a step back, mouth clamping shut.
    “Thank you, Stan,” Vivian said, giving him a look she usually reserved for me.
    A hand came to rest on my shoulder while I tried to quell the burning in my skull. “Come on, pal,” Wade said. “Let’s go have ourselves a chat.”
    “Get your hand off me,” I said, “before I turn it inside out.”
    He took his hand back and crossed his arms.
    “Miles,” Vivian said. “You might be able to help us. But to do that, you have to talk.”
    “Fat lot of good that’ll do,” I said. “I couldn’t do much to help her, could I?”
    Vivian silently took my arm and tugged. I held my ground, feet planted wide, fists balled and ready to take a swing at Wade or the pathologist if either of them came too close. But they stayed back, and it was just me and Vivian and Claudia, the only people who mattered right then.
    “Miles,” Vivian said again.
    “Yeah, yeah,” I said. I reached out and brushed a stray hair away from Claudia’s face. “See you, kid,” I whispered to her.
    Vivian led me away while the pathologist slipped the sheet back over Claudia’s head. He gave a sigh of relief as I left the room.
    Wade found us a quiet interview room at the station filled with off-white walls and unpadded furniture. I walked in like a clockwork robot and dropped into the closest seat, the last dregs of alcohol in my system giving the place a dreamy feel.
    Claudia’s face swam in front of my eyes. It mingled with the others, with the gangsters I’d killed last winter outside John Andrews’ mansion. I’d been off my head on Chroma at the time, but the photos the prosecution showed at court left no doubt about what I’d done. Burned, crushed, mutilated, human and Vei skulls cracked open, leaking their contents onto tiled floors.
    And now Claudia.
    “I should have been there,” I whispered.
    Wade and Vivian pulled out seats opposite me. “Thought you said you hadn’t seen her in a year,” Wade said.
    “Yeah,” I said. “So?”
    “So why you looking so guilty?”
    “Bite me, Pretty Boy.”
    “What do you know, Franco?”
    Vivian raised her hand a little. “Gunnar,” she said warningly. He shot her a look, then shut his yap and settled for giving me the eye.
    Vivian reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a little notebook. “You have to cooperate, Miles. You aren’t a suspect. But you knew her, and you might be able to give us something to go on.”
    I chewed my lip and knocked on the table with my knuckles. I couldn’t bring myself to meet Vivian’s eye, even now.
    “I wasn’t lying, I haven’t seen her in forever. But…but a couple of days ago she called me.”
    “Is that strange?”
    “For her, it was. She didn’t much care for phones. She was like me that way.”
    Wade sat there with a little smirk on his face, but Vivian dutifully scribbled a couple of notes down and nodded. “What did she call about?”
    I closed my eyes. Jesus, Claudia. She had no sense, calling a loser like me. “I don’t remember.”
    “Ah, enough of this bullshit,” Wade said. “He’s trying to pull a fast one.”
    “I’m telling the truth.”
    He rolled his eyes. “I’ve read your report, Franco. Forgive me if I don’t believe you. Maybe you can call up your pal, the mayor. From what I hear she was all too keen to swallow every line you gave her.”
    “Huh, whaddya know.” I cocked my head to the side. “You really are dumber than you look. Fancy that.”
    “All right, that’s it.” He stood up and pulled a pair of cuffs from his belt. “Let’s see if you feel like talking after a few hours in a cell.”
    “Gunnar,” Vivian said, “it’s okay. Miles is going to talk.”
    The asshole shook his head, but he tossed the cuffs down