Free The City PI and the Country Cop by xxxxxxxxxxxx Page A

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.
    The boy’s neck was badly abraded, to the
point that some of the flesh was hanging loose. Keir repressed a
gulp, focusing his attention on the boy’s face.
    “He’s the