The City PI and the Country Cop (8 page)

Arriving at the park, Teague realized it was
still relatively early. Too early for the killer to put in an
appearance, he was certain. It was also getting chilly, making him
wish he was wearing more than the jeans and light sweater, over a
regular shirt, that he’d put on before leaving the motel.

He didn’t see Keir, but suspected he would
when he walked along the path that wound through the trees and
occasionally along the river. There were still people out and
about—families, couples, and a few lone men.

An hour later the families had disappeared,
the couples were doing more cuddling than actually walking, and the
men were still wandering. He saw two of them hook up and vanish
into the trees.
They’re going to freeze their dicks off.
Presuming they’re not taking a shortcut to one of their
homes.

He spotted Keir twice. Once along the river
bank where he was chatting with an older man. Then Keir shook his
head and the man took off with a disgruntled look on his face. The
second time, Keir was sitting cross-legged, leaning against a tree
trunk. Deciding it was time to play his role in this charade,
Teague strolled over. Resting one hand against the tree, he waited
until two guys came into view then said just loudly enough to be
overheard, “You look cold and lonely.”

Keir snorted and said softly, “Is that the
best you can do?”

“Go with it. I’m out of practice,” Teague
murmured.

“I might be interested,” Keir said, raising
his voice some. “Depends.”

“On what?”

“What it’s worth to you.”

By that time the men had passed them and
disappeared around a curve in the path. Keir chuckled. “You aren’t
a cruiser, are you?”

“Shows, huh? In bars, back in the day, I did
all right. I never felt the desire to pick up someone off the
street.” Teague checked the time and grumbled, “It’s only eleven.
Am I the only guy who’s approached you?”

Rather than answer the question, Keir said,
“Let’s head back there.” He pointed to dense strand of trees. “If
anyone, especially our killer, is watching we’d better act like I’m
going to give you some head.”

Teague started into the trees, taking out his
wallet as he did. Keir came up beside him, held out his hand, and
when Teague mimed paying him, Keir led the way to their supposed
destination.

Keir said, once they were safely hidden,
“I’ve had a couple of offers.” He chuckled. “In the old days I’d
have jumped on them. As it is, I asked them the same thing I did
you, what it was worth to them. Apparently not much and I told them
both it was no deal. I might be pretending to be down and out, but
I don’t sell a blowjob for ten dollars, no matter what.”

“And if one of them had offered more?”

“I’d have figured out something. Probably
played the ‘how do I know you’re not a cop?’ card, then acted like
I didn’t believe them.”

“Good. Okay, we’ve been here long enough.
Find another place to settle and I’ll stay out of sight. If you
don’t get any bites that seem hinky we’ll call it quits for
tonight.”

“Got it.” Keir adjusted his backpack and
wandered away. Teague followed at a safe distance, staying well
within the trees, and for the next hour they waited. One more man
propositioned Keir, getting very incensed when the young man told
him he wasn’t in the charity business.

Eventually, Keir headed down the path to some
thick undergrowth. Teague watched as Keir went around to the side
away from the path and unfastened the sleeping bag he had rolled up
across the top of his pack. He slid the bag under the bushes,
crawled into it and, using the backpack as a pillow, seemed to
settle in to sleep. Teague debated going back to the motel.
After all, he knows what he’s doing. He made it through last
night without me keeping an eye on him.
Still, unwilling to
leave Keir there without backup, which was why he was there in the
first place, Teague found a place under the overhanging boughs of a
tall pine tree, leaned up against the trunk, and did his best to
stay awake, hoping morning would come soon.

* * * *

“Time to get up.”

Teague’s eyes snapped open and his hands
fisted until he realized the blurry person kneeling beside him was
Keir. “Some backup I am,” Teague muttered, feeling around until he
found where his glasses had ended up.

“Well, you didn’t get a nap yesterday, the
way I did,” Keir said. “Get back to the motel and sleep. I’ll join
you there later.”

“How will you get in?”

“At that place? A two-year-old could pick the
lock with his diaper pin. Just make sure you don’t put the security
latch on.”

By the time Keir had finished talking; Teague
was awake enough to realize he was shivering in the cool, early
morning air. With a grin, Keir dug a well-used hoodie from his
pack. Teague put it on, which helped. Just not enough to make him
really warm. Still, it was better than nothing. “I’m getting too
old to pull all-nighters,” he muttered.

“Naw. You just have to plan ahead. Or we do.
Tomorrow night you’ll dress warmer to start with, and I’ll stick
one of your…You do have more sweaters I hope.”

“I have a good, thick sweatshirt.”

“That’ll do it. I’ll put one in my backpack
for you. Okay, get out of here. I’ll see you in an hour or
two.”

“What are you going to do in the mean
time?”

“Hang around here. Maybe go into town and do
a bit of spanging. Make my presence known and hope the killer homes
in on me as his next victim, if he’s still around.”

“All right. See you when you get there.”
Teague climbed to his feet after crawling out from under the tree’s
branches, and headed back to where he’d parked the car.

* * * *

Keir made it back to the motel as he said he
would. When Teague opened the door before Keir could pick the lock,
the young man waggled a finger at him. “You’re supposed to be
sleeping.”

“I will. Now that I know you’re safe.”

“Damn. What could happen to me during the
day, in town?”

Teague shrugged. “Worst case scenario. You
could get picked up for loitering.”

“And Hoyt would get me out of jail before
they brought me breakfast.”

“True, I guess.” Teague yawned widely.

“Stop that. Now I’m yawning.” Which he did,
prodigiously.

“No wonder. You should be beyond beat.”

“Naw. I think I fell asleep before you did.”
Keir started toward his bed, saying, “I don’t suppose you picked up
breakfast.”

“Yep. Sorry. It’s in the bag on the desk.
This place in sorely lacking in amenities, like a fridge and a
coffee maker.”

“I doubt it could have gone bad in a couple
of hours,” Keir commented as he grabbed the bag to check the
contents. “Cold. Yeah. But still edible.”

Keir was halfway through his breakfast
sandwich when there was a knock on the door. Teague went to answer
then let Hoyt in. The detective did not look happy and for a second
Teague thought it was because Keir was there. He found out
differently when Hoyt asked perfunctorily why Teague and Keir
weren’t answering their phones.

“Because I turned mine off while we were at
the park last night,” Teague replied, immediately taking it from
his pocket to turn on again.

“Same here,” Keir said although he did
nothing about it at the moment.

“There’s been another killing,” Hoyt told
them angrily. “Before you ask, not at the park. The body was found
by a man walking his dog, three miles north of the park, in a
forested, unpopulated area close to the river.”

“Same MO?” Teague asked.

“Naked, hogtied, sodomized, hung. And this
time, according to the county coroner, it looks like the boy was
partially hung three times, undoubtedly as part of the
killer’s…games,” Hoyt replied angrily.

“Just like the killings in Grande County.
What about torture?”

“Broken fingers, like Grimes. Two on the
right hand, one on left.”

Keir commented with a weak grin, “Maybe the
killer’s given up smoking.”

Before Hoyt could lay into Keir for his bad
joke—and he looked as if he was going to—Teague asked, “When was
the victim found?”

“Just before daylight,” Hoyt replied.
“According to the guy, it was actually the dog that discovered the
vic. As soon as the guy saw the body he called us.”

Keir started taking off his hoodie and shirt
as he asked, “Is the body still there?”

“No. It’s at the morgue,” Hoyt said. “And
what are you doing?”

“I can’t go look at the victim dressed like
this.”

“Who says you’re going to, no matter how
you’re dressed?”

“Me,” Keir told him. “I want to know if
it’s…If he’s the same kid I saw two nights ago in the park.”

“Young? Dirty dark blond hair? Maybe
five-nine?”

Keir nodded. “Close enough but I still want
to take a look at him.”

Looking resigned, Hoyt told him to wear a
watchcap if he had one, to cover his head as much as possible. “We
don’t want anyone seeing you with me and recognizing you from the
park.”

“Uh-uh,” Teague said. “Keir, put on what you
were just took off. Hoyt, if he looks like you picked him up
because he’s been hanging in the park and you want to question him,
it could put him right in the killer’s sights, which is exactly
what we want.”

After a moment’s thought, Hoyt nodded in
agreement. “That means I’ll have to make a show taking him in. So
get out of here, Keir. You don’t have to go back to the park. Just
shuffle your way into town.”

“Shuffle? I don’t do ‘shuffle’. I’ll walk.
Hell, I’ll make it look like I’m trying to hitch a ride. That’ll
give you a legit reason to stop me.”

“That works.”

Keir asked Teague, “Are you coming, too?”

“I can’t. There’s no reason for me to be
viewing the body.”

“Okay.” Having finished redressing, Keir
headed to the door. “Give me five minutes and then come get me,
Hoyt.”

“Go.” Hoyt watched Keir slip out of the room
and shook his head. “Bossy, and a smartass, but he knows what he’s
doing it seems.”

Teague smiled. “That’s why he’s working for
me.”

“You look beat,” Hoyt commented.

“I spent the night in the park. First acting
like a john, then keeping an eye on Keir. It was probably three,
four in the morning when I fell asleep, and I—” Teague yawned,
“—wasn’t planning on doing that but…”

“Stakeouts can be the most boring things in
the world,” Hoyt agreed. “I have a feeling though, if anything had
happened you’d have been awake in a second.”

“Let’s hope. But tonight I’m going to be sure
I have a thermos of coffee. It’s not like I can’t find a place to
piss when I need to. Hell, that’ll keep me awake, too.”

“Yep. Okay, I’d better go pick me up a
hitchhiker.”

“Keep me updated.”

“Of course. Probably here. I can get in and
out with no one’s being the wiser as long as I park the car down
the street at the—” Hoyt actually smiled for the first time since
he’d come into the room, “—doughnut shop.”

Teague chuckled tiredly. “That works.”

* * * *

Hoyt pulled up beside Keir, where the young
man stood at the side of the road with his thumb out. They went
through the show of Hoyt telling him hitchhiking was illegal and
then putting Keir in the backseat of the car.

“You forgot to read me my rights,” Keir said
with a smirk.

“Since I’m only bringing you in, not
arresting you, I don’t have to, as I’m sure you well know.”

“I do.” Keir leaned his head against the back
of the seat. “If I had to guess, our killer is staying somewhere in
the area.”

“Presumption, but logical,” Hoyt agreed. “How
large an area is another question. He could be hiding out in any of
several small towns within a thirty mile radius of Faircrest. Or,
he could be holed up in the same motel Teague’s at. Or be renting
an apartment or house. Teague and I discussed that possibility when
he first got here.”

“Were the kid’s clothes at the murder
site?”

“Nope. Just like with the others, the killer
took them with him. This time he didn’t leave the wallet behind. Of
course the kid might not have had one.”

“Is it possible Grimes and this new victim
were tortured and sodomized somewhere else and then brought to
where their bodies were found for the hanging?”

“The crime scene people think it all happened
on site.” Hoyt grimaced. “There were bits of leaves in Grimes’s
anus. That wouldn’t have happened if he was in a house or a
building or what have you.”

“And with the new victim?”

“He hasn’t been autopsied yet.”

Keir blew out a sigh of relief. The last
thing he wanted was to be viewing the boy’s cut-up body.

Hoyt pulled up and parked behind the police
department, telling Keir that the morgue was in the basement of the
building.

“Have you ever seen a dead body before?” Hoyt
asked.

“Unfortunately, I have, although not in a
situation like this. I’ve been to my fair share of funerals where
they insisted on open caskets.”

Hoyt opened the door to the basement and the
morgue area, stepping aside to let Keir enter. Keir had visions, as
inane as he knew they were, of something out of a horror movie with
an ill-lit room and half-open drawers holding mutilated bodies.
Instead, they walked down a short, well lit hall, into what at
first glance could have been a doctor’s examination room with white
tile walls, modern cabinets, a sink, and a stainless steel table.
The only thing different was that the table held a body which at
the moment was covered by a white sheet.

A distinguished looking man dressed in lab
coat over scrub pants turned to greet Hoyt, who introduced him to
Keir as Doctor Marshall. With a nod from Hoyt, Doctor Marshall
pulled back the sheet covering the murdered boy far enough to
reveal his face and shoulders.