Richard Montanari by The Echo Man Page A

new suit, which Jessica had
to admit looked pretty good on him. It was a charcoal gray two-button.
        'Think
about it,' he said. 'If I put all that stuff in my pockets it would ruin the
line.'
        'The
line?' Jessica put her hand on the butt of her weapon. 'Okay, who are you and
what have you done with my partner?'
        Byrne
laughed.
        'Well,
now that you carry a bag,' Jessica continued, 'you should keep in mind one of
the first things they taught us at the academy.'
        'I
may be older than slate, but I seem to recall going to that academy myself.
Over on State Road, right?'
        'That's
the one,' Jessica said. 'But what I meant by "us" was, well, women.''
        Byrne
braced himself, said nothing.
        'They
taught us to never, ever, carry your weapon in a purse.'
        There
was that word again. Byrne looked at the sky, back at Jessica. 'This is going
to go on for a while, isn't it?'
        'Oh
yeah.'
     
        The
CSU team was still processing the scene on Federal Street, which now had
crime-scene tape crossing both ends of the alley. As always, a crowd had
gathered to watch the proceedings. It always amazed Jessica how no one ever saw
anything, heard anything, witnessed anything, but as soon as the investigation
got underway, as soon as there was some sort of urban circus to attend,
everyone was suddenly available to gawk and rubberneck, conveniently off work
and out of school.
        When
Jessica and Byrne came around the corner there was a meeting of supervisors.
Among them was ADA Michael Drummond.
        'Counselor,'
Byrne said.
        'Twice
in one day,' Drummond replied. 'People will talk.' He turned to Jessica. 'Nice
to see you, Jess.'
        'Always
a pleasure,' Jessica said. 'But what brings you out here?'
        'I've
got court in about an hour, but these were orders from Valhalla. New DA, new
initiatives. Anything that happens this close to a school gets priority. My
boss wants to watch this one from the beginning. He barks, I fetch.'
        'Gotcha.'
        'Copy
me in on everything?' Drummond asked.
        'Not
a problem,' Jessica said.
        Jessica
and Byrne watched as Drummond crossed the street, positioning himself far from
the crime scene. Jessica knew why. If an ADA was close to the action, he might
witness something, and therefore be called as a witness on his own case, which
was grounds for dismissal. It was a game they all knew how to play.
        Jessica
watched as Byrne walked up to the mouth of the alley, spoke to the uniformed
officer. The uniform pointed to the two buildings behind the crime scene,
nodded his head. Byrne took out his notebook, began to jot down details.
        Jessica
had seen it before.
        Murder
had been done here, and Kevin Byrne was in his element.

 
        

Chapter 9
        
        Byrne
walked down the alley, his senses on high alert, his adrenalin surging. It was
odd, to say the least. No matter how fatigued he was - today, on a 1 to 10, he
would clock in at a bone-weary 7 - it all seemed to melt away when he got to a
crime scene. Crime scenes were crack for investigators. Addictive, euphoric,
replenishing, ultimately depleting. There was no other feeling like it. The
best meal, the finest wine, even soul-shaking sex did not come close.
         Okay,
Byrne thought. Maybe sex .
        He
took in the approach to the area where the body had been found. The air was
suffused with the stench of rotting fruit coming from the Dumpster a few yards
away, and the unmistakable aroma of death coming from the shoe store.
        He
walked down the stairs, opened the door. Although the smell was almost
overpowering in here, it was not the first thing he sensed. Instead, that was a
feeling, an impression that he had just stepped across the boundary of a
killer's mind, had just become an interloper in a realm of madness.
         There
is a pairing, a balance, a partnership .
        Byrne
stopped,