The Fury - Jason Pinter [12]
me know if you have any suspects, how the investiga
tion is going. If you catch the bastard."
"Far as it doesn't interfere with the investigation, sure.
I'll keep you informed. Again, I'm sorry for your loss."
I shook Makhoulian's hand, then watched as he
climbed into the Crown Vic and drove off. Once he was
gone, I trudged to the subway, took it back uptown to
my apartment. When I got out I called Wallace
Langston at the Gazette. Nobody picked up, so I left a
message on his voice mail.
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Jason Pinter
"Wallace, it's Henry. Listen, I don't know how to say
this...a man who was apparently my brother was shot
and killed last night. His name is Stephen Gaines. I
don't know much else, but I had to let you know. I'll give
you a call when I know more but...I thought you should
know in case anyone calls for comment. Anyway, call
me back."
I hung up. Thought about it. I knew the Gazette
would run a piece on the murder. Even though crime
was down in the city, murders still got ink. It wouldn't
be a long article. As of right now there was no suspect.
There was no conspiracy. Gaines was a junkie, likely
killed over whatever drug fiends were killed over.
Stolen stashes. Territory beefs. He wasn't famous,
wasn't some rich guy's son. Nobody knew him. Not
even his family.
It would get a paragraph, two at most. I wouldn't
write it. And unless there were future developments, my
brother's death would be just another junkie murder in
a city where you'd need a landfill for all his brethren.
Stephen Gaines's death was just as short and seem
ingly unremarkable as his life.
I entered my apartment to find Amanda sitting on the
couch. She was reading a sports magazine, but didn't
seem that interested in it. Her eyes perked up when I
entered, then narrowed when she saw that mine did not.
I took a seat on the couch next to her.
Amanda and I had met several years ago. When I was
wanted for murder, she was the only person brave
enough to help me. She trusted me despite all common
sense saying she shouldn't. I fell for her right away. It
was easy. I'm a sucker for a beautiful woman with crisp,
The Fury
41
auburn hair, a smile that will make you stop in your
tracks, wit that will keep you laughing all night and a
perfectly placed mole by her collarbone that you could
trace every night with your finger. Hypothetically.
But despite all that, I nearly lost it all. I had pushed
her away, and it wasn't until I spent time without her
that I realized just how much I'd lost. She knew that
because of the kind of person I was, the kind of job I
had, she might be put in harm's way. As long as we
faced obstacles together, she'd said, there was nothing
we couldn't overcome. Since we'd reconciled, the last
few months had been wonderful. We started our rela
tionship going backward, in a way. We went out to
dinners. We saw movies. I sent her flowers at work, she
gave the best neck massages this side of the Golden
Door Spa.
Once we restarted our relationship, I made two
promises to her. First, I would tell her everything. Even
the hardest things, she would be allowed to judge and
decide for herself. And second, every decision would
be a joint one. I would never again make a decision
about our relationship on my own. That was a hardlearned lesson. One I should have known right away.
So sitting there next to her, I knew she had a right
to know about what Detective Makhoulian told me
about Stephen Gaines. And she had a right to know
about my father.
So I told her. Everything. I told her about seeing
Gaines on the street. About the call from Detective Sevi
Makhoulian. That Gaines had been murdered, viciously.
And that my father had sired Stephen when his mother,
Helen, was just nineteen. I still couldn't wrap my mind
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around the idea that Gaines was my brother. Certain
things you can be told and accept as gospel. This was
not one of them.
When I finished, we both sat there. Amanda looked
stunned, unsure of what to say. Putting myself in her
shoes, I'd