Blood Money Read Online Free Page A

shoulders. He had on a white button-down shirt and black pants.
    "Anything serious?" Peterson asked, rummaging through the contents of the cart. He picked up a sugared doughnut and looked at it longingly.
    "Might be - I wouldn't count on seeing him for a while," the man said, shrugging. "That's fresh," he said, pointing at the doughnut the chief had picked up.
    "Looks it," Peterson said. "But I'm on a diet." He patted his stomach and put down the doughnut. "Give me a decaffeinated coffee - black. And I'll take one of these." He picked up a small bran muffin and shook his head ruefully. "Good for the old ticker, they tell me," he said.
    The man behind the cart nodded and handed Peterson his coffee. "That's what I hear, too. You got heart problems?"
    Peterson shrugged. "Nothing serious."
    "Good. Just make sure you take it easy," the man behind the cart said.
    "I plan to," Peterson said. He raised the cup to his lips and took a sip. "That's good coffee. Almost tastes like the real thing."
    "I'm glad you like it," the man behind the cart said. "It's a fresh pot." His eyes were the most piercing shade of blue - almost a purple, really - that Frank had ever seen. They were also remarkably unlined for a man who otherwise looked to be in his late forties.
    "You want something?" the chief asked Frank.
    "A cup of coffee, maybe?" the man asked.
    Frank shook his head. "Joe and I had a big lunch."
    "Okay, then." The chief nodded to the man behind the cart. "See you later."
    "Take it easy," the man said, and disappeared down the hall.
    Frank and Peterson returned to the office the chief was using and sat down again.
    Peterson took a bite of the muffin, and then another sip of his coffee. "Anyway, no, I don't think this has anything to do with the will. We have about fifteen witnesses who saw Carew and Poletti get into a shoving match on the Brooklyn Heights promenade early yesterday evening. Poletti threatened Carew in front of all of them."
    Frank nodded. "One of the other beneficiaries could be setting Poletti up - "
    "In order for somebody to get a lot more money, he'd have to knock off Johnny Carew and Billy Delaney - the heads of two of the largest East Coast crime families. Nobody's that dumb." Peterson wiped a hand across his forehead and grimaced. "It feels hot in here all of a sudden. Did they turn up the heat?"
    Frank shook his head. "Feels the same to me."
    The chief loosened his tie and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. "Anyway, not only would they have to kill Carew and Delaney, they'd have to get at yours truly, the chief of police. And how are they going to do that?"
    "I see your point, but - "
    Frank looked at Peterson. The chief was really sweating now, and he also looked very gray. "Are you all right?"
    Peterson shook his head. "I'm not sure. I feel dizzy, I - " He stood suddenly and gasped, swaying on his feet.
    Frank was at his side in an instant to help ease him back down in his chair. The back of Peterson's shirt was drenched in sweat.
    "Frank," the chief said slowly, a look of horror spreading across his face. "I'm having a heart attack!"

Chapter 5
    "I just hope whoever's got the cart hasn't wrecked it," Ed said, leading Lewis down a long, narrow hallway. Joe trailed a few paces behind; they had left Emily with one of the officers in charge of the holding cells. "I'm responsible for whatever happens to it, you know."
    "Let's just find the guy," Lewis said. "Then we'll worry about what he's done."
    And why, Joe added silently.
    The basement of the police station was a maze of identical cinder-block corridors. Again, Joe was reminded of high school: any second, he expected to hear bells ring and to see students pour out of classes into the halls. There were even lockers along one wall, he saw.
    As they crossed another corridor, Joe heard a noise off to his left. He turned and looked in that direction.
    About fifty feet away a man in a white shirt had his back to them. He had long gray hair and was stooped over, and