The Greeks of Beaubien Street Read Online Free

grainy because of the dark. It had been early, just after midnight. The light on the camera was barely bright enough. The city didn’t have the money to employ a professional photographer with lights or to replace the infrared camera that was misplaced , but Jill didn’t mind. She could see what she needed to see along with the scan. The scene was wide at first. She could just make out the body in the distance. Gretchen was lying on her back, nude one arm thrown over her body, the other at an odd angle at her side. She’d been thrown on the ground. Her thighs were together, but legs sprawled from the knees down. Even in the dark, you could tell she was beautiful. Her hair stood around her head like a halo. As the focus came in closer, Jill saw more. Gretchen Parker had small, youthful breasts, not augmented. If she had been a professional, she might have had large implants. Her crotch was shaved, but that didn’t mean anything anymore. It was getting harder and harder to make generalizations based on personal hygiene. As the camera got closer, Jill could see that Gretchen’s eyes were open. Her mouth was open in a silent scream, her chin mashed down on her chest. Unnatural. The camera swept the area, but it was difficult to see much detail. Then the film went to daylight. The body was gone, but the area was undisturbed. Jill was grateful for the additional footage.
    Even in the daylight, it was a gruesome looking alleyway. The cracked concrete covered in a thick layer of broken glass had the look of abandonment many parts of the city were slowly adopting. A large hotel and several restaurants backed up to the alley. There was a plot of grass with an Ailanthus tree growing through a crack near the body at the entrance to a blind alley. Whoever killed Gretchen had driven slowly by and thrown her out of the car. The camera swept a higher view; the windows of the buildings surrounding the alley came into the shot. She didn’t notice anything suspicious there. The video played a loop and the scene with the body played again. Jill could feel the way the air must have felt on Gretchen’s skin. She sensed the surprise the young woman experienced as she watched someone pull a gun out and fire at her. The impact of the bullet, the caliber large enough to blow her heart apart and take most of her back with it, must have thrown her back several feet.
    Jill’s heart was beating faster. She could feel it racing, irregular. She would watch the scan, too because she had to, but she already knew what happened to Gretchen Parker. She was no working girl. Someone she knew well did this to her. And although she wouldn’t document her thoughts, Jill felt the remorse and sadness of the murderer. Of course, she would have to work the case step by step, but now they wouldn’t have to waste precious time on unnecessary investigative work. She turned the video off and, in the darkness of the screening room, closed her eyes and said, “Thank you, God.”
     

Chapter 2
    By nine in the morning, Jacob and Marianne Parker had received the call every parent dreaded. Now, they were on their way to the morgue to see their beloved Gretchen one last time. Traffic on the Interstate 75 was bumper to bumper, but Jacob didn’t notice. In the past, he would have bitched about the “fuckers who drive like a bunch of old ladies”. His hand would fold into a fist and he would shake it out the open window of his Cadillac, screaming at the drivers in the cars on either side of him because the car in front wouldn’t be able to see him. His wife was always mortified, but he would argue, “What use is a good tirade if it isn’t heard?” Today, he was pale and silent, his watery blue eyes red and swollen. Marianne couldn’t stop crying. They were exhausted; sleep had been impossible for the past two nights. Marianne’s hair and makeup had been perfect since Gretchen hadn’t come home from a date Friday evening. She had known, as any mother would, that