Page 100 of It Runs in the Family

“Wait here.”

I nodded.

He got to his feet and crouched, hurrying down the fence toward the west.

I wasn’t sure what he hoped to gain by going away from the crime scene, but I was going to trust he knew what he was doing.

It took a couple of minutes for my tears to dry up, then my curiosity got the better of me. I got on my knees and peered through the hole, preparing myself to see the woman again.

A man wearing a white suit was taking photos of her. About half a minute later, two deputies gently rolled her onto her back after a count of three. It made me feel slightly better to see they were treating her with respect, even if she wasn’t alive to realize it.

The man in the white suit took more photos, then the deputies counted to three again and rolled her onto her side, taking more photos of her back, focusing on her head.

I was curious about the white spot on her shirt, so I grabbed my phone and opened my camera, zooming in on the logo. I took a couple of photos of the logo. Then, against my better judgment, I took a couple photos of her face and her full body too.

Someone brought over a blue bundle and unfolded it. I realized it was a body bag.

I didn’t want to watch them put her in a bag, so I turned my attention to the other deputies, also scanning the area for Boone. A quick glance down the fence proved he was nowhere in sight. I knew there was a small dip that could be hiding him, but what did he hope to learn down there?

A couple of deputies moved closer to my side of the road. My mouth dropped open when I realized one of them was Cal Pruett.

“Heard she’s a waitress,” he said to a deputy I didn’t know.

The deputy didn’t say anything. In fact, he seemed to be trying to ignore Cal.

“She must have pissed someone off to be dumped and killed on the side of the road like that,” Cal mused, resting his hands on top of his utility belt.

“Yeah,” the deputy said in a noncommittal tone. “Could be.”

“Wonder if she had a mouth on her. Maybe she ran it a little too much and pissed off the man in her life.”

The deputy turned to him and gave him a look of disbelief, but Cal didn’t seem to notice.

“She didn’t have any ID,” Cal said. “Wonder what happened to it?”

“Guess the detectives’ll figure it out.”

Her not having ID had to mean something. People didn’t usually go off without identification.

Cal was clearly irritated the deputy wouldn’t engage with him, so he wandered away. The deputy let out a loud sigh of relief.

A man in a suit headed for the deputy in front of me, keeping his back to Cal, who was in the middle of the road, trying to look important.

“You need something, Detective Colby?” the deputy asked respectfully.

Detective Colby looked over his shoulder at Cal, then turned back to the deputy. “What’d Big Balls have to say?”

“He was runnin’ his mouth, as usual,” the deputy said, his disgust obvious. “Suggestin’ the victim pissed off the man in her life.” His jaw set. “Implyin’ she deserved it.”

Detective Colby cursed under his breath. “I told the sergeant I don’t want him on crime scenes. Looks like I’m gonna have to talk to him again.”

“He’s a stain on the department,” the deputy said.

“You’re tellin’ me,” the detective agreed. “But the sheriff refuses to fire him. Makes me wonder what Big Balls has got on him.”

I filed that information away. I’d figure out what to do with it later.

“We got an ID on her yet, detective?” the deputy asked.