Shades of Blue

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Book: Read Shades of Blue for Free Online
Authors: Bill Moody
Tags: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General
papers from the lot the lawyer Scott had given me so this is something else entirely. Cal never struck me as a secretive man, so why this? I put out the cigarette and tear off the envelope.
    Inside, is a note and another smaller business size envelope.
    Evan,
    I know what you’re thinking. A cliché from a detective novel, a clue taped to a drawer but I’m not thinking creatively these days. Somehow I know you’ll be the one to find it. As for the other envelope, it’s up to you whether to open it or not. Might be better to just tear it up and throw it away. I’m sorry we didn’t spend more time together, but what time we did have was good, at least for me. I’m sorry things went down the way they did. Hope you don’t think too badly of me.
    I read and reread the note, puzzling over it, wondering how long it had been here. The masking tape looks fairly fresh, so maybe just a few weeks, a few days? I put the note aside and reach for the other envelope turning it in my hands.
    Tear it up and throw it away? Cal, you knew me better than that. Inside is a grainy black and white photograph of a very young Calvin Hughes, standing next to a baby carriage, smiling at the camera. All very uncharacteristic for Cal. In the background there’s a view of a building and part of a sign I can hardly make out. OTEL. Hotel but the name isn’t visible if there is one.
    A clue? What does he mean? A clue for what? Don’t think too badly of him? About what?
    “Evan? You in here?”
    “Dana? Yeah in the bedroom.” She comes in carrying a plastic bucket filled with cleaning material supplies and some rags.
    “Thought I’d give this place a going over.” She sees me holding the photo and the note from Cal. “What have you got there?”
    I hand them both to her. “What do you make of these?”
    She reads the note and studies the photo. “Where were they? Hey, that’s Cal isn’t it? He was a good looking dude.”
    I show her the drawer. “They were taped to the bottom of this drawer.”
    She reads the note again. “God, that’s weird. I don’t know, but he wanted you to find it that’s for sure. Oh my God,” she says, “do you think Cal had a baby?” She studies the photo again.
    “Cal? I don’t think he was ever married.” She gives me a look. “Okay, he could still have a child, but what am I supposed to do?”
    “You’ll figure it out,” she says. She looks at me and smiles. “Sherlock. Hey you’re a detective.” She grabs the bucket. “I got cleaning to do.”
    I put the note and photo aside and finish the bedroom, boxing up the things I want to keep and putting all the old clothes in the trash bags. The drawer full of papers I put in a shoe box I find in the closet. I’ll go over those later.
    I grab my cell phone and go looking for Dana. She’s in the kitchen scrubbing the sink and has trashed virtually everything from the refrigerator. “I’m done in the bedroom,” I say. “How about a pizza? There’s a place down on Franklin, I think.”
    “Manny’s? Sure,” she says. “I’m almost finished here.”
    I look around. “You don’t have to do this you know.”
    “Yes I do. I’m going to live here and I want to keep my landlord happy. You go get the pizza. Everything on it, okay. The works.”
    “Coming up.” I drag some of the trash bags downstairs and set them out for pickup and walk down to Franklin.
    I order one of Manny’s Deluxe to go and while I’m waiting, I step outside, light a cigarette and call Andie’s pager. She calls back in five minutes.
    “Hello.”
    “Evan? Where are you? How’s it going?”
    “I’m just waiting for a pizza. It’s not fun. Just doesn’t seem right Cal isn’t here.”
    “I know it must be hard, but better to get it over with. Have you decided what to do about the house?”
    “Yeah, this girl who’s been helping Cal, walking the dog and all, I’m going to rent it to her for now. She’s a grad student at UCLA.”
    “That’s fast. How well do

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