Clean Slate

a novel of suspense by Rob Kantner

Clean Slate by Rob Kantner It was meant to be a routine roust. But it got way out of hand.

For years, Debby Brody has made her living providing discreet personal services to the city's power elite. But lately she's made one of those people nervous. So a high-profile police bust was arranged, to send her the message to get gone and stay there. During the bust, certain documents from Brody's files somehow fell into police hands -- files that, the madam let it be known, named names.

Which created a media feeding-frenzy, and made certain judges, police commanders, and other officials even more nervous.

Into this explosive situation comes Mac McGladrey, a career pardon/parole officer, newly returned to his big-city job from a year-long leave. Hardly recovered from one of the most horrendous losses a person can endure, he wants only to reconnect with his many friends, resume his place in his large and diverse family, create a home, and – above all else – avoid trouble. In these ways the Navy vet plans to achieve for the first time a quiet life.

Instead, Mac involves himself in the suspicious death of Eddie Fant, a Vietnam War hero, chronic petty lawbreaker, and probationer. The trail, tricky and diverging, leads tantalizingly toward the city's most powerful political and police figures -- including Chief Judge Wayne Wildern, who has always been Mac's patron and good and loyal friend.

Or so Mac believes. . . .

Read the novel now:

Chapter 1	Mac heard the fluttering and skittering of hundreds of creatures: barn music. . .Immediately he knew something was wrong.
Chapter 2	The Judge said, "Division Ten busted a madam in Riverwood named Brody. Ever had her, Mac?"
Chapter 3	Earl wanted Debby Brody jailed to send the message that she was no longer welcome to be the Judge's secret little play-toy.
Chapter 4	If it was an act, it was award-caliber, but then, Suzanne had always had a flair for the theatrical.
Chapter 5	"Aw, come on," Earl answered Clarisa. "You know you like it." He gestured toward the bedroom. "After you."
Chapter 6	"If what you're asking is, do I think Suzanne took and picked Nicholas up and chucked him out that window -- no, I don't think that's what she did."
Chapter 7	"Girl like Brody, she knows the ways of the world. Give her a chance to avoid doing time at the Stockade, she'll grab it."
Chapter 8	"I still have the emails," Earl said easily. "I know where the girl is. And I still have the videotape you made."
Chapter 9	I need a detective, Mac thought. Not here. In Detroit.
Chapter 10	"Chain of custody?" Earl jibed, scrawling his signature at the bottom. "This shit's going up the chimney in about fifteen minutes."
Chapter 11	"I wish you had died over there! I wish you'd been blown to smithereens!"
Chapter 12	Earl answered, "I personally saw the hooker papers make the trip up the chimney. Most satisfactory."
Chapter 13	Earl never wanted a broad to think he'd been gotten to, but Ruth was getting to him, no doubt about it.
Chapter 14	Eddie looked sad-faced but somehow determined. "I figure, a man ought to get taken care of, for taking care of his friends."
Chapter 15	"One of my clowns, he's supposed to've been here at nine this morning. No sign of him."
Chapter 16	"We had a minor loose end," Earl said. "I don't want to know about that," the Judge answered.
Chapter 17	"So you want me to find out if Suzanne was seeing somebody. Assuming it's yes, how much detail do you want?"
Chapter 18	"What you need," Perkins said, "is a good romp in the hay with a trashy don't-give-a-shit babe."
Chapter 19	As he headed up the hall, Mac remembered the handgun in his desk drawer. He had not thought of it, not even once. . . .
Chapter 20	"Squashed like a rat in a closet, poor bastard."
Chapter 21	"What if the truck was tampered with? That would make it murder, wouldn't it?"
Chapter 22	What Earl wanted to do at that point was back this McGladrey idiot up against the wall and, very quietly and with dead certitude, hiss threats.
Chapter 23	Just not right, Mac thought, for the man to vanish forever, with questions unanswered.
Chapter 24	It had taken her one clip to knock him down, and another to finish him off, as she stood close, aimed down, fired with focused, jaw-clenched deliberation.
Chapter 25	"I heard Eddie had a girl friend," Mac said, "and I'm trying to find her."
Chapter 26	"Trust," Jessica said, "is the last word to use on me. It's gotten me double-crossed, locked up, bankrupt, fucked. . . And someday it'll probably get me killed."
Chapter 27	Earl applied what amounted to a strangle-hold on his lover, curling his clenched fist around and pulling back on her neck hard.
Chapter 28	Suzanne said archly: "You'd be surprised what I've seen. I've been around. I'm no nun."
Chapter 29	"Ms. Brody told me that she left St. Marys because she fears for her life."
Chapter 30	Libby Lewis was streaking across Mac's sky today like a shooting star toward the end of a very long and very black night. Her he could feel his hands on.
Chapter 31	"Eddie offered to slip me some of the hooker papers and stuff, in return for a finder's fee."
Chapter 32	As Libby climbed in the passenger side, Mac felt the edgy-tangy feeling of anticipation, a sensation he'd thought long gone for him.
Chapter 33	The proceedings, prompted by urgency and need, were less smooth and more bumptious as they tried to kiss and and disrobe at the same time.
Chapter 34	"Kim gave us a couple more names of Bucaro's potential victims. I found one of them, I'm going to see her in a bit."
Chapter 35	"It's not true," Diana said, voice thick and tremulous. "You've got the wrong girl. I don't know why Jessie would say something f-f-filthy like that about me."
Chapter 36	"Don't worry," the Judge said airily. "If Earl tripped on his dick, he'll just have to take the hit. But cornering him -- putting paid to him – in those details lives the devil, my friend."
Chapter 37	Mac continued to hold Libby, and they kissed, looking deeply into each other's eyes. She was smiling. "In a word," she said hoarsely, "Kew-el."
Chapter 38	Mac felt disspirited at the sleazy little crypto-truths with which he'd fobbed Libby off. But, in his own defense, he felt guarded about how much she should know.
Chapter 39	"Suzanne? At Rackmasters? I know her," Bucaro said. "Your brother Paul, the one hip-deep in hock to shylocks? Him I know too. How well do you know your brother?"
Chapter 40	Earl knew that one more protest would make the detectives think he had something to hide. Could Earl have left hair behind in the struggle with Medardo? Unlikely.
Chapter 41	"You'll have your story," Mac told Libby. "What I want is Bucaro's head on a pike."
Chapter 42	"I think Bucaro is dangerous, Mac." Lowering her voice, Suzanne pleaded, "I'm your wife. If you've done something wrong, I wish you'd tell me."
Chapter 43	"No more for us the cold pizza between boinks. I need to fatten you up so you can service me properly."
Chapter 44	"Libby's like a doorknob. Everybody gets a turn."
Chapter 45	"Every moment we delay is another moment Bucaro stays on the street doing what he does. You want that?"
Chapter 46	"You know who I am," Ruth told Earl. "And you know what's at stake. And you're not about to do anything stupid here. Are you."
Chapter 47	Earl thought about the 'documentary' on which he had begun work the evening before. It was his ace in the hole. It was also a hell of a nice souvenir to spend time with.
Chapter 48	"I know I'm going to die, Mr. McGladrey. Very soon. And I heard what you said, at my work before. And I have things I need to make right."
Chapter 49	"Be sure to keep this under your hat," Mac told Jessica. "Word gets out too soon, there'll be hell to pay."
Chapter 50	Mac reflected on the Judge's words, and tone, and something else indefinable. And an inner voice intoned, in a sour sad litany: he's lying, he's lying, the son of a bitch is lying.
Chapter 51	Mac raised his right hand, swore to be truthful, and sat. Now, up on the stand facing out, the hearing room seemed to him vast. This Mac was not used to.
Chapter 52	"We demand that McGladrey be suspended from his duties, and that this matter be remanded to the Office of the Prosecutor for further investigation, and criminal charges."
Chapter 53	"Judge Wildern is reliving his glory days in his head, and he's so distracted with that – and, from what I hear, back-channel nooky – that he has no idea of the hangmen with long sharp knives slowly circling him."
Chapter 54	That little bitch, Earl thought: she couldn't even keep house. His head started to pound as the implications unfolded in his mind. This was not just a hiccup. This was bad, bad, bad.
Chapter 55	Mac searched the woman's eyes for what he always sought when starting to work with a person: a spark, warmth, anything. And for the first time ever, what he saw in Debby Brody's eyes was: Zip. No light. Nothing.
Chapter 56	"Some of the girls, they've sworn out statements about you. The DA's gonna have it, and the newspapers, too. You're on the dime, Mister Bucaro. You're pinned to the wall."
Chapter 57	Bucaro was going down. Hard, fast, and soon. Mac wanted the Judge to know that. Let the sweating begin.
Chapter 58	Earl heard loud sounds of gagging and retching. Private bathroom, he thought. Well, the Judge always insisted on good facilities. Vent it out, your Honor, he thought. Then we'll get down to business.
Chapter 59	All Mac could think was get help, get help, get help right now. He was just turning back toward the kitchen when he heard Ruth's quiet voice: "Oh, my. I wasn't ready for you to see that yet."
Chapter 60	If there was ever a time for a silver tongue, this was it. Mac resisted the insane urge to laugh. Mom said sitting around talking is what I do best. Here's where we put that theory to the test.
Chapter 61	"Frankly," Suzanne said, "I'm glad you did it. Because otherwise you'd be dead. And I want no part of a world without you in it."
Chapter 62 New this week!	Having been to the darkest valley over Nicholas, Mac knew he would come back from this. Given time, and a little rest.