Читать книгу Death in October - Lowell Inc. Green - Страница 6

Jack (Jake) Barr would not have been on duty that night if he hadn’t broken his staff sergeant’s arm. As the chief complained bitterly during the subsequent disciplinary hearing, it wasn’t so much the broken arm as the fact that it happened during a charity hockey game. “Did it ever occur to you to take it easy, to slow down a bit for Chrissakes?” the chief had asked, shaking his head in exasperation. Jake only stared at him. After cleaning pigpens on a prairie farm for most of the first twenty years of his life, Jake Barr had a lot of living to catch up on. The thought of taking it easy, of slowing down for anything, never entered his mind.

The price was paid. Jake was yanked from the youth services section where he had been the bright (if not so young) rising star, and ordered back into uniform. He was behind the wheel of an unmarked Dodge, cruising the market area on hooker patrol when he got the call from dispatch.

“Jake, your buddy, Grant Henry, the radio man?

“He just phoned...frantic...looking for you. Sounded like he’d just had the shit kicked out of him...wants you to phone him at home right away. Geez Jake, sounds like he’s got one big problem. I don’t like the smell of this one at all. Think I should give the boys across the river a call?”

Jake’s response was emphatic. “Don’t say anything to anybody until I find out what the hell is going on up there. Hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay Jake, whatever you say. Just let me know what happens and listen, if you get yourself into a pack of shit up there in froggy land don’t say I didn’t warn you. He says you got his cell number.”

Grant answered the first ring.

“The bastards got Lee, Jake. Therese Gratton too it looks like.” He sounded frightened and angry. “They killed Niki. Nailed her to the gate!” He was almost shouting now. “For God sakes, get up here as fast as you can and Jake...listen, whatever you do, be careful. I think they’re still out there! And,” his voice calmer now, almost a whisper... “Let’s keep the Quebec police out of this as long as we can. Right now, I’m telling you, I don’t trust a damn soul...especially not on this side of the river!”