Read Black notice for Free Online

Carson, head of investigations. I realized it was he whom I had seen at the mouth of the container earlier. I moved past her without a word and greeted him as I looked out to see if the removal service had shown up yet. I was relieved to see two men in jumpsuits standing by their dark blue van. They were talking to Shaw.
    "How are you, Al?" I said to Deputy Chief Carson.
    He'd been around as long as I had. He was a gentle, quiet man who had grown up on a farm.
    "Hangin' in, Doc" he said. "Looks like we got a mess on our hands."
    "Looks like it," I agreed.
    "I was out and thought I'd drop by to make sure everything's all right."
    Carson didn't just "drop by" scenes. He was uptight and looked depressed. Most important, he paid no more attention to Anderson than the rest of us did.
    "We've got it covered," Anderson outrageously broke rank and answered Deputy Chief Carson. "I've been talking to the port director . . ."
    Her voice trailed off when she saw Marino. Or maybe she smelled him first.
    "Hey, Pete," Carson said, cheering up. "What you know, old boy? They got some new dress code in the uniform division I don't know about?"
    "Detective Anderson," I said to her as she got as far away from Marino as she could. "I need to know who's working this case. And where are the crime-scene techs? And why did the removal service take so long to get here?"
    "Yeah, This is how we do undercover work, boss. We take our uniforms off," Marino was saying loudly.
    Carson guffawed.
    "And why, Detective Anderson, weren't you in there collecting evidence and helping in any way possible?" I continued grilling her.
    "I don't answer to you," she said with a shrug.
    "Let me tell you something;" I said in a tone that got her attention. "I'm exactly who you answer to when there's a dead body." .
    ". . . bet Bray had to go undercover a lot, too. Before rising to the top. Types like her, they gotta be on top," Marino said with a wink.
    The light blinked out in Carson's eyes. He looked depressed again. He looked tired, as if life had pushed him as far as he could go.
    "Al?" Marino got serious. "What the fuck's going on? How come nobody showed up at this little party?"
    A gleaming black Crown Victoria was driving toward the parking lot.
    "Well, I've got to head on," Carson abruptly said, his face etched with his mind elsewhere. "Let's hook up at the F. O. P It's your turn to buy the beer. Remember when Louisville beat Charlotte and you lost the bet, old boy?"Then Carson was gone without acknowledging Anderson in any way, because it was clear he had no power over her.
    "Hey, Anderson?" Marino said, pounding her back.
    She gasped, clamping her hand over her nose and mouth.
    "How you like working for Carson? Pretty nice guy, huh?" he said.
    She backed away and he stayed with her. Even I was rather appalled by Marino and his stinking uniform pants, filthy gloves and booties. His undershirt would never be white again, and there were big holes where seams had succumbed to his big belly. He got so close to Anderson, I thought he might kiss her.
    "You stink!" She tried to get away from him.
    "Funny how that happens in a job like this."
    "Get away from me!"
    But he wouldn't. She darted this way and that, and with each step he blocked her like a mountain until she was pressed against supersacks of injectable carbon bound for the West Indies.
    "Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?" His words grabbed her by the collar. "We get some rotting body in a cargo container in a fucking international shipping port where half the people don't speak fucking English and you decide you're gonna handle things all by yourself?"
    Gravel popped outside in the parking lot, the black Crown Victoria driving fast.
    "Miss Junior Detective gets her first case. And may as well have the chief medical examiner show up, along with a few helicopter news crews?"
    "I'm turning you in to internal affairs," Anderson yelled at him. "I'm taking out a warrant on you!"
    "For what?