Free Commit to Violence by Roy Glenn Page B

have to be dealt with. But for now, that would have to wait. As much as he hated to admit it, Rain was right. He had to help her and do it before Black found out what he was doing.
     
　
     
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
　
     
     
     
     
    It was late and detectives Kirkland and Richards had gotten a call about a triple murder. They had worked together on drug-related homicides for the last five years and Kirk was just starting to get comfortable enough with him to let him drive. Taking the lead in their investigations was another matter.
    When they got the call, Richards was on the phone with his wife. She called to complain about their young sons. Complaining about how much of a handful they were becoming, and with him working so many crazy hours, it felt like she was raising them alone. He was glad to rush her off the phone.
    "So what was it this time, Pat?" Kirk asked.
    "Matt took apart the toaster."
    Kirk laughed. "Why’d he do that?"
    "Same reason he takes apart everything, to see how it works," Richards said as he drove.
    "Makes sense."
    "Yeah; right up to the part where it comes to putting stuff back together. The parts never seem to all get back in there and they never work right after that. Drives Helen crazy."
    Kirk laughed but didn’t comment. He’d learned years ago to stay out of his partner’s marriages. Especially since his track record with wives wasn’t stellar.
    "How come you never had kids?" Richards asked.
    "I’ve been married three times, but I never stay with one long enough to have any."
    "Three wives. I gotta say, if this one doesn’t work out, I’m not doing it again."
    "I seem to remember sayin’ that too. One thing I learned, you’re married to the badge and after a while, your wife becomes a mistress you sneak and see when the badge allows it. I even tried marrying another cop this last time."
    "How’d that work?"
    "Lasted eight months. It was worse ’cause she was married to the badge too. Shit, we rarely saw each other and when we did, it was just to have sex."
    "Sounds like the perfect marriage to me," Richards laughed.
    "Not really, you still have the arguments. Now that we’re divorced, we still have the same sex and we don’t have to argue," Kirk said as they arrived at the scene of the murder.
    When they walked in the apartment they were met by Detective Gene Sanchez from the narcotics division. "There they are," Sanchez said and walked them into the room where the bodies were found.
    "What you got for us tonight?" Richards asked.
    "Three black males murdered execution style. The lab guys saved the bodies for you."
    Kirk crouched down next to one of the bodies. His hands were tied behind his back. Richards looked over the other bodies; each had been shot point blank in the back of the head.
    "From the looks of it, they were on their knees when they were shot," Sanchez informed them.
    "What do you think, Pat?" Kirk asked.
    Richards nodded his head. "No sign of forced entry, so the shooters were let in. Judging by the bullet holes in this wall, somebody shot at them. Shooter fired back with superior firepower, I might add."
    "You got anything on those guys?" Kirk asked and pointed to where the bodies were found.
    "They weren’t on our radar," Sanchez said.
    "Anybody canvas the building?" Kirk asked.
    "Uniforms."
    "And?"
    "Nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything. Nobody would even say that there was an operation going on here," Sanchez said.
    "Typical," Richards commented.
    "Nobody wants to be a snitch," Kirk said.
    "There’s been a couple more murders in the last couple of weeks that have the same MO. No forced entry, vic’s were tied up, on their knees and shot in the head," Sanchez told the other detectives.
    "Who’s the big player in the game these days?" Kirk asked.
    "That would be Bruce Stark."
    "Stark," Kirk said and snapped his fingers a few times. "That name rings a bell."
    "The Commission," Richards reminded him. Kirk chuckled a little and thought back to the day he