Read Murder on Amsterdam Avenue for Free Online

ever seen before. If hell is any hotter, I’ll be surprised.”
    â€œYou look good,” Frank said, exaggerating a little. Gino looked thinner and tired. “Your mother told me you came through without a scratch.”
    â€œI was lucky.” The boy’s dark eyes clouded. Many of the Rough Riders had not come back from Cuba.
    â€œWe all read about your charge up San Juan Hill,” Frank said, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.
    â€œIt was really Kettle Hill. Colonel Roosevelt said San Juan Hill sounded better, so that’s what the newspapers called it. It was the next hill over, so we figured it didn’t matter.”
    â€œWhatever it was, it made Roosevelt a hero. They’re talking to him about running for governor.”
    â€œHe’ll be good at it. I thought he did some stupid things when he was police commissioner, but he was a good soldier. He took care of his men and kept us out of trouble whenever he could.”
    â€œAre you glad you left the police and joined up?”
    Gino met Frank’s gaze directly for the first time. “I am. When the colonel said he wanted policemen and athletes in his regiment, well, I figured I could qualify. I didn’t know who else would be there, though. Mr. Malloy, I served with the sons of millionaires from Fifth Avenue and cowboys from Texas. We even had some Indians. But Colonel Roosevelt, he treated us all the same, and we treated each other all the same, too. All that mattered was if you could fight.”
    â€œI’m sure you did well, Gino. And you beat the Spanish.”
    He shook his head. “I don’t know that the Cubans even noticed. They didn’t even seem grateful that we came. I never saw people so poor. I thought things were bad in Mulberry Bend and places like that, but you’ve never seen anything like the way those people live. They didn’t have anything at all. They’d follow the army around and steal whatever we set down. They took our food and our equipment and our clothes, whatever they could carry away. I’m not sure they even cared who was ruling them.”
    Frank didn’t know what to say to that. The newspapers hadn’t mentioned anything about the Cubans or how they lived. All the stories had been about the bravery of the American forces and how quickly they’d beaten the Spanish army. “But you said you’re glad you went.”
    Gino nodded. “I learned a lot, but . . . I’d never seen a man die before. That may sound funny, because we’ve seen lots of dead people, but I never saw someone actually die.”
    â€œYou lost a lot of good men.”
    Gino looked away, and Frank thought he must be remembering those men. After a moment, though, he forced a grin. “So, what have you been doing while I was gone?”
    â€œTrying to stay out of sight. You wouldn’t believe how many people have asked me for money.”
    â€œAre you serious? People ask you for money?”
    â€œAll the time. I had to move my mother and Brian here even though the house isn’t ready yet, just so they wouldn’t be bothered anymore.”
    â€œWhere are they?” he asked, glancing around.
    â€œAt the deaf school. Ma takes him every day and stays there, helping out.”
    â€œAnd you just sit here all by yourself?”
    â€œI’m supervising the workmen.” As if to illustrate his point, someone started pounding upstairs somewhere.
    â€œDo you miss the police work at all?”
    Frank had been asked to leave the police department when they found out he’d come into a fortune. “I miss the work. I don’t miss the rest of it.”
    Gino grinned. “Me, too. Especially after the army. If you think the department was bad, the army was ten times worse. They couldn’t even get supplies to us, and they only issued us one suit of clothes and one blanket each, so if anything happened . . .” His eyes