Eye of the Witch Read Online Free Page A

seemed ready and eager, and probably both had more confidence in me than I deserved. But their confidence felt like a shot in the arm. I had flown back to New Castle with reservations about getting involved in another serious case. My fear of failing notwithstanding, the thought of letting Carlos down I thought would crush me. I gathered the photos and stacked them into a neat pile.
    “ That’s fine, then,” I said. “Starting from scratch might prove the best place to start anyway. Let’s take it from the end and work backward.”
    “ The end,” said Spinelli, almost to himself, “for Detective Webber, the end was the sidewalk outside her apartment building last Friday night.”
    Carlos and I traded looks. We were undoubtedly thinking the same thing. Dominic Spinelli may have been one of the youngest detectives ever assigned to the Second Precinct, but he had an experienced sense of investigative direction. I stood up, pressed my hat to my chest and asked, “Do we have the address?”
    Carlos answered, “We do.” He scooped the photos back into the envelope and handed it to Detective Spinelli. “Dom, will you do me a favor?”
    Spinelli took the package and tucked it under his arm. “Sure.”
    “ Find out everything you can on this guy, Rivera. I mean it. I want to know where he lives, what he drives, who he sees, if he’s ever had run-ins with the law: EVERYTHING.”
    “ All right.”
    “ And see what you can dig up on that waitress, too. You got it?”
    “ Got it,” Spinelli answered, and he vanished down the hallway like a ghost.
    Carlos turned to me and smiled proudly. “Huh? How’s that for diligence?”
    “ Nice.”
    “ Damn straight. Does he remind you of me when I was just starting out?”
    “ A little,” I said.
    “ Yeah? Why, because of his tenacious thirst for knowledge?”
    “ No, because he’s just a tad clumsy.” I pointed down the hall at the trail of photos that spilled from the envelope Spinelli had carried away under his arm.
    Carlos shrugged it off. “Yeah, well you should taste his lasagna. The kid’s got marinara running through his veins.”
    I shook my head and laughed. “Oh, like that’ll come in handy in this profession.”
    “ It could,” he said, as we started down the hall, picking up photos of Ricardo Rivera along the way. “Especially on long stakeouts. Hey that reminds me. You hungry?”
    I considered it. I hadn’t eaten since the day before and it was already pushing noon. But I didn’t feel very hungry, only anxious. I attributed that to the thought of going back to work on a new case. It was bad enough that the last one still haunted me. The possibility of a new one ending poorly frightened me to tears. Eating anything just seemed like a bad idea. Nevertheless, I knew Carlos. The guy is always hungry. And unless we could close the case on Karen Webber by simply scooping up the photos of Ricardo Rivera, then I knew I would have to sit down and eat with the man sometime.
    “ Sure,” I said. “I could eat. What did you have in mind?”
    “ I was thinking maybe The Percolator. They have some awesome lunch specials there.”
    “ The old Perk, huh?”
    “ Yeah, it’ll be like old times. What do you say?”
    What could I say? The Percolator was like a second home to me for nearly forty years. I started going there when coffee was just a nickel. Of course that was the price for civilians. Cop coffee was always free. I started thinking that maybe Carlos was on to something. Still, I had to ease into the idea of putting solid food into my belly.
    “ I’ll tell you what, Carlos,” I said. “How `bout we go check out things at Karen’s apartment first, and then we’ll grab some grub?”
    He soured his face at that. “I guess.” He sounded disappointed. “In that case….” By then we were back in the lobby. Carlos dug deep into his pocket and pulled out a fistful of change. “Let me grab a Snickers.” He dropped some quarters into the vending