AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shh!” Bobby-Dean strained to listen. He’d grown up in these parts and the sounds, smells, and sights of the bayou, the feel of it all, was an integral part of him. But today . . .
Maybe they should just get the hell out.
Leave this work, whatever the fuck it was, to the cops. What were they looking for anyway?
“Anything suspicious, y’know, anything that looks outta place.” That’s what the deputy in charge, a big, rawboned woman in aviator sunglasses, had told the boaters and people on foot, some with dogs as they went searching for what? Other victims? A hideout? Bobby-Dean didn’t know and he wasn’t all that keen on finding out.
“You see somethin’?”
Damn that Clive, he never talked when ya wanted him to, but if ya told him to be quiet, hell, he kept runnin’ his mouth.
“Don’t know.”
Maybe it was nothing.
But then why weren’t the birds chirping?
Not even a crow cawing.
He studied the cattails and the undergrowth as the boat moved slowly through the umbra, passing by some rotted boards just under the water, the remains of a dock or pier, just as the boat jolted, the prow hitting a submerged piling.
Clive said, “What the—?” as Bobby-Dean caught the first glimpse of a flash of white beneath the water. Something—oh, Jesus. He let out a sharp little scream as the water moved, the spider lilies parting to expose a skull lying faceup just under the surface.
“Shit!” He actually jumped back, the boat tipping slightly before righting.
But his gaze was fastened on the bones—definitely a skull devoid of flesh, definitely human. Blackened eye sockets and nasal cavity, grotesque smile missing more than a few teeth.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” Clive whispered, making a quick sign of the cross over his barrel chest. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
“No—no. Make the call! To that deputy! Make the fuckin’ call!” Bobby-Dean felt his insides turn to water, but he knew they had to stay here, by the eerie bones. The cops and everyone around would think of them as local heroes for the discovery.
And that had to be worth something.
* * *
Cruz started to turn in to the motel, but spying the cop cars at the end unit, decided to keep his Harley on the street and roared past. He didn’t know what was going down, but didn’t like it. Though he had paid for his room for a week, he never left any of his belongings in the room. He traveled light by necessity, so it was easy enough to stuff two pairs of jeans and a couple of shirts and shaving kit into his saddlebags.
Adjusting his sunglasses against the bright October sun, he wondered what his next move should be.
Sooner or later he’d have to give himself up, and he figured he’d be best off with his brother, an officer of the law, at his side. Well, except for the fact that he’d fled the scene of a homicide, driven across too many state lines to count, and was now considered a fugitive.
That had been his choice rather than face the consequences of his actions in Oregon. But he had a friend working out the details of what really went down, so maybe he’d get lucky.
He couldn’t run forever.
But maybe, just maybe, for a little while longer.
* * *
Bentz’s stomach roiled.
It was all he could do not to throw up right there on the bayou as he stared at the body submerged in the water. From what he could see, he guessed the skeleton was a woman, small frame and long gray hair, but the sex wouldn’t be determined until the lab analyzed what was left of the bones. From the way they’d been picked clean, he thought they’d been there a while.
“This place gives me a case of the willies,” Montoya said, staring at the remains of the woman.
They were seated in one of three boats that had been sent to the area where the skull had been first seen by Bobby-Dean Clements and his friend Clive Jones, the very two fishermen who had seen Father John attacking Stacy Parker just the night before.
Those two men were still here, in their own boat drifting nearby, watching as divers went into the bayou to retrieve what they could. It wasn’t that the water was all that deep here, but all of the area had to be explored and examined and the sun was setting, the bayou still aside from the sound of a few birds in the trees and voices from the search team.
