PROLOGUE

 

Julian Glover sauntered out of the Tiki House Massage Pallor and into the scope of a .50 caliber rifle.

His assassin sat perched high above the streets of Baltimore on the roof of a long-abandoned office building. The face and body of the killer, covered in black, were invisible to anyone below.

Glover had no idea what was about to happen. His arrogance and self-confidence, traits that had seen him through the previous months of speculation about his guilt or innocence, were of no help now.

He was about to die.

No one deserved it more. Glover had taken so much from so many. As head of the huge conglomerate, Baltimore Textile, he had amassed hundreds of millions of dollars, then run the company into the ground. With it, he took the company’s retirement accounts, and left two hundred employees broke and with no future. Glover himself continued to prosper even as the Justice Department pursued a securities fraud charge against him, which his lawyer had managed to tie up in court for two years, and with no end in sight. They had indicted four of his underlings, but it seemed Glover was coated with Teflon. No charge would stick.

It didn’t matter now. This was the killer’s dream: To bring Julian Glover to justice. Along with the others. Now it was becoming a reality.

The killer pulled the trigger and watched Glover’s head disintegrate in the scope. No remorse. No guilt. He deserved it.

Screams came from the street below and echoed across the roof.

It couldn’t have gone any better.

One down. Five to go.

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

Saturday afternoon, I had just finished one of Farley's baseball-sized crab cakes when my police radio started to squawk. A second later, my cell phone rang. After a quick slug of my root beer, I answered the cell. On the other end, Lieutenant Cole-man's voice was tense.

"Carter, we just had an assassination downtown. Where are you now?"

"Lexington Market. Did you say, assassination?"

"I should've known. Swallow your crab cake and get your ass over to Pratt and Harbor. Someone just blew away Julian Glover."

"Julian Glover, as in Baltimore Textile?"

"That's the one. It's a mess over there; see if you can make some order of it. I'll have Teagman meet you. Get back to me." The line cut off.

On the way to the scene I started ratcheting possibilities through my mind. It wasn't hard to understand why someone would want Glover dead. He had remained unscathed as his company went through bankruptcy a year earlier. Hundreds of employees lost their jobs and their pensions while he sold millions in stock before the company collapsed. They'd convicted several high-level managers of cooking the books, but Glover himself escaped prosecution.

Now, it seemed, someone had paid him back in kind.

When I arrived at the scene, Mark Teagman met me. A veteran detective I've often worked with, he was tall and lean with sharp angular features, which made him look much younger that his fifty years.

"What a mess, Carter," he said.

It was a mess, too. Glover lay sprawled face up in the crosswalk of the intersection. He obviously had taken a high-powered bullet to the head. The face was intact, but the rest of his skull was gone.

"Must have been a big round?" I said."Any witnesses?"

Teagman nodded."Yeah, several. But they all said basically the same thing. Glover was crossing the street, when his head blew up."

"I can't argue with that."

I glanced around. Tall office buildings surrounded us on three sides. Most likely someone fired from one of them. A knot of onlookers stood outside the crosswalk staring at Glover's body. From behind them, a small Asian man approached me.

"Excuse me, officer."

"Detective," I corrected him.

He smiled ruefully."I just wanted to let you know. The dead man. I saw him come out of there." He pointed to a sign above a modest brick building:

ORIENTAL MASSAGE

I recognized it as a well-known brothel.

Teagman grinned."Looks like he was getting his pipes cleaned."

I looked down at the ruined head."I hope he enjoyed it."

 

CHAPTER TWO

I got home that night a little past seven, and Tansy had prepared a meal fit for a king. She had sublet her apartment in Philadelphia for the summer and was staying with me during school break. It was great having her home again, and I knew she was enjoying it, too. I'd left her room just as it always was, stuffed animals and all. It amazed me, how much she had already learned about medicine in just two years of pre med. She was going to make a fine doctor, someday. I know her mother would have been very proud.

"I could get used to this," I said, as Tansey sat her signature meatloaf down next to a bowl of whipped potatoes.

"Don't get too used to it. You're cooking tomorrow."

"Oh, didn't I mention I was taking you out for dinner tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Oh, daddy, I promised Brianna I'd go with her to Towson Mall."

"Ouch. Who's Brianna?"

Tansey dried her hands and sat across from me. "She's an old friend. I hadn't seen her since high school until the other day. I ran into her at the donut shop. Getting your donuts that you don't need."

I smiled sheepishly.

"So you made plans?"

"Yea, you know, get together, talk about boys and clothes."

"She goes to school?"

"No, she said she went to Europe after high school, did some traveling."

I was savoring my meat loaf and gravy. "Love this dinner, Tans. If these potatoes were any smoother, I could drink them."

"No daddy, your beverage of choice is gravy."

We both laughed.

"How bout if your friend Brianna joins us for dinner tomorrow night, would you reconsider?"

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind. Just let me double check with her, and I'll let you know later tonight."

The evening was relaxed, with lots of laughter and reminiscing. At one point Tansey reminded me of the time she'd went to the movies and stayed through all the matinees of ET. When she finally got home, I had a maple switch waiting for her, but I was so glad to see her, I just threw it in the trash and went back for another screening of the movie. She always did have me wrapped around her finger.

I finally rose from the table and proclaimed, "I'll take care of the dishes–later."

"Suits me. I'm gonna go call Brianna and ask about dinner tomorrow."

I cleared the dishes from the table and stacked them in the sink, then headed for my favorite chair. A few minutes later I was aroused from a doze and saw Tansey standing over me with the phone. "Daddy," her voice persisted. "It's for you. Lieutenant Coleman."