Free Falling On the Sword by Alex Ankrom Page A

downtown.”
    “ She still up there?”
    “ Yeah. I tell you what, though, that partner of yours ain’t the lame everyone thought she was gonna be. You know with her dad being who he is?”
    Carter snorted. “Good to hear the patrolmen have confidence in her.”
    “ What? You don’t?”
    “I don’t know yet.”
    “ You vote for her dad in the last election?”
    “ I don’t vote.”
    “ Why not? What about civic duty, and all that jazz?”
    “ I always thought it was a little weird picking the guy that was gonna fuck you in that ass next. You know what I mean?”
    Watson laughed.
    “So how big is it?”
    “Better you find out yourself.”
    “ Hey man, do something for me. Don’t talk to no reporters. Any of you, okay? I hear one of you did, and I’ll have your balls. You understand?”
    Watson looked over at the lust-struck rookie. “I’ll get him. But Carter?”
    “ Huh?”
    “ You forget something?” the uniform asked, lobbing the lighter back at him.
    Carter snagged it. He looked at the Zippo, polishing its surface with his sleeve until he could see his reflection. “Thanks.”
    “ Hey man, can I ask you a question?”
    “ Shoot.”
    “ Why’s it say ‘Fuck Communism’ on it?”
    Carter laughed. “It’s a memento from the ‘Nam.”
    “ I know black don’t crack and all but you don’t look that old.”
    “ Not me asshole. My old man.”
    “ What? He bring it back with him?”
    “ More like they brought it back with him.” Carter walked into the apartment building, pocketing the heirloom.
    TWO
    “ Can we take him, yet?” asked the medical examiner.
    Detective Susan Locke reminded herself that she knew what she was doing. There were five other people in the place depending on that fact, not to mention the bloody corpse in the living room. She told herself that this was the same as every other case she had investigated in the five years she spent in Robbery, except for one small difference: this was the theft of a human life. “No. Not until Carter gets a look.”
    “ When’s he gonna get here?” he asked, checking his watch.
    “ When he gets here,” she said.
    “ Well, we don’t move him soon, he’s gonna start stinking. “
    Locke bent down next to the victim. He was seated with his back against the wall in the living room. His blue eyes were still open. A cut ran down the side of his face. A small, round wound marked by powder burns was visible over the young man’s left eye; it still oozed a clear liquid. The wall behind his head was caked in drying blood and bits of bone. She leaned back and looked at the four other leaks in the guy’s torso: one in his right shoulder, two in his stomach, the last in the right side of his chest. There was also a hole in his right hand.
    “ Now if you’re not going to be of any use,” Locke said, looking up at the ME, “get out of the way. And don’t touch anything.”
    “ I know the drill, Detective. This isn’t my first scene.”
    The ME turned away from Locke and took a few steps toward the front door.
    Locke muttered to herself, “This isn’t my first scene either, asshole.”
    Over the ME’s shoulder, Locke saw a middle aged man in a dark hooded sweatshirt and jeans enter the apartment. He slipped a lanyard around his neck that held his credentials, nodded to Officer Kramer, and walked over to her. He looked pissed.
    “ Now, what the fuck did I tell you before I left yesterday?”
    She stood and said, “I know Carter, but-“
    “ No buts.” He sounded like her father. “What did I say?”
    She hung her phone. “Don’t pick up any phone.”
    “ Don’t pick up no phones. What was so hard about that? Just sit in the office, do paper work, maybe prelim a couple witnesses. That’s it. But no, you just had to pop your cherry.”
    “ There was no one else in the office. I had to pick it up.”
    “ Okay, you pick up the phone, take down the particulars, and then call up Mac or Nate.”
    “ They caught one out on Broad.