“No, you didn’t. You looked at me like a woman, which is a problem all on its own.”
That comment rubs me the wrong way and my temper flies.
“A problem? You didn’t think it was a problem earlier when I had my tongue down your throat and you were riding my leg.”
Her mouth goes slack before she slams it shut, her hands in fists by her side.
“This was a bad idea,” she grinds out between clenched teeth.
Those words make my stomach churn and I reach out for her, wanting to make it right. I never get the chance as she turns on her heel and briskly walks toward the coroner’s van, where her assistant is already waiting.
She climbs in the passenger seat as I watch, catching only a glimpse of her face staring straight ahead as the van drives off.
A heavy hand lands on my shoulder.
“You fucked up already.”
Chapter 13
Jay
“Don’t.”
I shrug off Blackfoot’s hand and start moving toward the old trailer, but he falls into step beside me.
“It’s inevitable, you know? Fucked up myself a few times in my early days with Autumn. Heck, I figure it’s par for the course with women like that.”
I stop and swing around on him.
“And what kind of women is that?”
Keith’s hands come up. The asshole looks amused.
“The kind that’s beautiful, strong, and capable, and so fucking independent they make you feel useless. Yet they’re like catnip to guys like us. It’s no wonder we fuck up, and trust me, this won’t be your last time either.”
My sarcastic, “Thanks,” is received with a grin.
“Gonna be worth it in the end, partner. You’ll figure it out. Doc is a good woman and if you can find a way to keep her without tying her down, you’ll be a lucky bastard.”
“I know it,” I concede, kicking at sand with the toe of my boot. “Known it for years.”
“Years? You’ve been carrying a torch for the woman for that long? Jesus, man, what’s wrong with you? Why wait ’til now?”
I glare at him and he stares right back, until the disbelief on his face morphs into realization.
“Your detective badge. That’s it, isn’t it?” He slaps a hand to his forehead. “Of course. You started taking courses not long after she took over for Doc Franco, yet you made it clear when you joined the force you had no ambition to do anything other than what you were hired to do. That badge was all about her.”
There’s a reason Blackfoot is good at what he does. He has the ability to store meaningless details and useless bits of information no one else would find significant, and shuffle them around until the pieces fit.
I don’t have anything to say, so I start moving again. Keith’s footsteps follow but thank fuck it seems he’s done talking. Or so I thought, until I hear him mumble, “This’ll be fun to watch.”
Tom Ward is slumped in his chair, sleeping it off. His head lists at an unnatural angle and one arm is hanging down, his hand keeping a precarious hold on a cell phone. The only reason I know he’s alive is the godawful wet rattle coming from his slack mouth.
Blackfoot rounds him on the other side and plucks the phone from his dangling hand. The man is so out of it, he doesn’t even notice. We move a small distance away before Keith takes a look at the phone. It’s an older flip phone.
“Last call made was ten minutes ago. Number shows up as Billy.”
My attention is drawn to two bouncing beams coming across the field behind the trailer. Ramirez and Mackay, one of the uniformed officers walk into view.
“Fucking waste of time,” Ramirez announces. “It’s pitch-black out there. If there’s anything to be found we’ll have to wait for daylight.”
“Okay, let’s pack him up.” Blackfoot points at the unconscious man by the trailer. “Let him sleep it off in a holding cell and have a chat with him when he’s sober.” He turns to Mackay. “Need you to block off the dirt road, make sure no one comes through. I’ll make sure someone comes to relieve you in a few hours.”
“Yes, sir.” The fresh recruit nods eagerly.
Tony is already trying to hoist Tom Ward out of his chair, but it takes the two of us to get him into the back of the cruiser.
“We’ll meet back at the station,” Keith announces.
I’m thinking there won’t be much sleep tonight as I follow his taillights back to the road. Glancing over I notice Meredith’s purse on the floor in front of the passenger seat. Shit. She’s gonna need that. It’ll give me an excuse to swing by her place in the morning, see if I can do some damage control.
I force my thoughts from her and try to focus on the case as I make my way to the station.
“I was thinking,” I mention, as Blackfoot and Ramirez come walking into the bullpen fifteen minutes later. I assume they were putting Ward away for the night. “All three drop sites are on the south side of town, all accessible from US-550.”
“Yeah? And?” Ramirez drags his chair over and sits down, propping his feet on my desk.
“What if that’s a route he drives regularly? The dumps wouldn’t take him out of his regular routine and if anyone saw him it wouldn’t be too hard to come up with a reasonable explanation.”
“It’s possible,” Blackfoot admits. “But a bit thin.”
I nod. He’s right, if that was all it wouldn’t be enough.
“On its own it is. But think about this; our guy would need space and privacy to house an industrial vacuum sealer and dismember a body without anyone asking questions. He doesn’t want nosy neighbors.”
Tony nods. “I’ll buy that. Lots of places could fit the bill on that side of town heading toward the state border.”
“Look.” Blackfoot leans his elbows on his desk. “He could just as well live somewhere in the mountains and maybe drive to work south of town every day.”
“I agree, but they didn’t have a power outage up on the mountain back at the end of April.”
Keith pulls his eyebrows together as he narrows his eyes on me.
“What are you talking about?”
“Last week of April, a transformer blew right by the airport.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that freak ice storm, right?” Ramirez fills in.
I nod. “Took them a few days to fix because of the weather. Some parts south of County Road 302 were out of power for almost a week.”
“And you know this because…”
Blackfoot is still eyeing me skeptically.
“I live there. I had a generator running for six days.”
“Since when? I thought you had an apartment in town?”
“Bought the farm about two years ago.”
“Farm?” He shakes his head at me. “Fuck, man, you really make it hard for anyone to know you, don’t you?”
There’s nothing to say to that because he’s right, so I continue to hammer home the point I was making.
“Anyway, Meredith just heard from the entomologist this afternoon, whose findings seem to indicate the body was frozen at some point as well. I guess the official report is coming, but from what I understand the approximate time of death would’ve been between four to ten weeks.”