You Know Who Killed Me Read Free Page A

you made out.”
    â€œMy old partner is deputy chief in Highland Park. He made the call to stick you in rehab instead of the county lockup. We go out for a beer now and then. Listen, if you’re not up to it—”
    â€œLeave that reverse-psyche stuff to the shrinks. What can I do that fifteen men good and true can’t?”
    â€œIt isn’t that they can’t. I need people to answer the phones and sift through the evidence and stay on top of the state cops to report on DNA before another New Year’s rolls around, and refill the coffeemaker.” He straightened up, opened a drawer in a rolling toolbox, and took out a green file folder stamped PROPERTY I.H.P.D. ; the new management hadn’t had time to change the name on all the stationery.
    I took the folder, flipped it open, and looked at three pages of telephone numbers.
    â€œYou want me to run down all the tips?”
    â€œThe U.S. Army couldn’t run them all down by summer. Those are just the ones that came without names.”
    â€œAnonymous tips come with phone numbers?”
    â€œThanks to caller ID. Don’t let it get around. If people find out it’s all Kris Kringle and Peter Cottontail, they’ll stop calling. Once in a couple of hundred times it pays off.”
    â€œThis is where I ask what’s in it for me.”
    â€œA deputy’s salary. And something you’ve never had before: the good will of the authorities in Iroquois Heights.”
    I riffled the rest of the papers in the folder. There were at least thirty pages, including a copy of the original complaint, information based on notes taken by the responding deputies, and progress reports.
    I snapped it shut. “Nosy neighbors, gossip addicts, cranks, pranksters, axe-grinders, attention hounds, and fruitcakes. Thanks for the job, Lieutenant.”
    â€œThrow fortune hunters into the mix. The church the Gateses attended is offering ten thousand dollars for information leading to a conviction.”
    â€œI knew something was missing.”
    â€œNow raise your right hand.”
    I looked, but there was no sign of humor on the chiseled face. “I hope we’re getting ready to say the pledge of allegiance.”
    â€œNo such luck. I can’t justify paying department wages to a private op. It’s against regulations to give those reports to a civilian. It’s still dicey this way, but swearing you in gives me something to say in my defense at the hearing. I’m not issuing you a shield, and that honorary star you break the law with every time you flash it belongs to the wrong county. Leave it home.”
    I wondered how he knew about that.
    â€œDo I get a whistle?”
    â€œJust raise your right hand.”
    When that was done, he opened another drawer and gave me a portable tape player. “It’s a two-hour tape. The calls were recorded in the order the numbers are listed. There’s a sheet with names and addresses in the folder, taken from a reverse directory. Which ones you follow up on is up to you. The comedians and nutcases generally give themselves away, but not always; which is why I decided to put a trained detective on this detail. The ones I have are too busy pulling Gates’s life apart and putting it back together.
    â€œI’m only giving you the details of the case so you can separate the wheat from the chaff. Don’t interview any other witnesses, stay away from the wife, and don’t tell anyone you’re a deputy. My neck’s stuck out far enough as it is.”
    â€œWhat do I tell the callers when they ask where I got their number?”
    He smiled. “That’s why I gave the job to an outsider. You’re going to take the flack for crooking the system. When it gets out a private snooper found his way into our files, I’ll call a press conference to express official outrage.”
    â€œThey can use you in Washington.”
    â€œOne more thing. If you put