AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Male, the legs look long, if the rest of the body matched he’d have been well over six feet tall, but if he was one of those people who have long legs but a short waist, he might be five-ten, or even as short as five-nine.”
“I take it you just have the lower half of the body.”
“Bitten off just above the belt, he has one of those really big metal buckles that only rodeo stars are supposed to wear, but his cowboy boots are the fancy kind that never fit into a stirrup.”
“So is there any ID on the wannabe cowboy?”
“None that we’ve found.”
“How thick is the waist you have left?” I asked.
“Thicker than mine, the legs are muscular like he lifts seriously, or lifted.”
“Half again as thick as your waist, twice as thick as your waist, give me a ballpark here, Brice.”
“Twice, or not much smaller.”
“I don’t believe a Komodo dragon could bite someone that big in half.”
Kaazim motioned at me to mute the phone. “Give me a second, Brice,” I said, and made sure no one could overhear us. “We’re clear, what’s up?”
He asked, “Is the other marshal certain that it was one bite that cleaved the man in two, or could it have been multiple bites?”
“Excellent point,” I said, and unmuted the phone so I could ask Kaazim’s question worded a little differently.
“The medical examiner is going to answer that one. To all of us standing here looking at what’s left, it looks like something huge just bit the body in half, but none of us are experts on animal attacks, and I have never seen anything like this in any of my supernatural training.”
“I’d ask you to send me pictures of the bite marks, but I’ve never seen anyone bitten in half; torn in half, but not bitten.”
Kaazim motioned at me, so I looked at him. He mouthed,I have. Huh? “Brice, I’ve got a security person in the car who says he’s seen injuries like this. Are you cool with me showing him the pictures?”
“If you trust him, that’s good enough for me, and if he knows anything that can help us on this I’ll share everything we got.”
“Dolph wouldn’t agree with that.”
“The lieutenant isn’t here, Sergeant Zerbrowski is.”
I smiled. “True, send us the pictures of the bite marks, I’ll let him look at the prints now.”
“I’ll hang up, see if any of the looky-loos are actual witnesses. You’ll have the other photos in a minute.”
“Good luck, though if they saw anything this big and this inhuman they’d be babbling and having hysterics by now.”
“You’d think, but you never know.” I heard his voice distant like he was talking to someone else, and then he hung up. I handed my phone to Kaazim so he could look at the footprints. He made them larger and smaller, studying them, and then the phone bingled again.
Kaazim asked, “Do you wish to look at the new photos first?”
“No, help yourself.” In my head I thought I’d seen enough torn-up bodies for one lifetime. I’d delay it as long as I could since I didn’t think I had a clue what kind of beastie had done this. I cuddled closer to Nicky and was content to wait for a new nightmare to be added to all the others in my head.
“Your fellow marshal is right about one thing,” Kaazim said.
“What?” I asked. Nicky hugged me a little tighter as if he felt some nervousness that I wasn’t even aware of. I didn’t protest; closer was good.
“It is a single bite.”
I started to sit up straighter, but Nicky pressed me closer, and I realized he was right, there were no other cops to complain about me cuddling while I discussed the crime. I let myself put one hand on his thigh and make slow circles on his slacks.
“Do you know anything that could do this?”
