CHAPTER 46
The long night did not start off well.
The police cruiser skidded to a stop at the curb with its rack lights turning and its siren blaring, crushing the quiet of the night.
Officer Hooper climbed out and pulled his gun as soon as Puller stepped clear of the house. The other cop with him was a man who looked similar enough in appearance to be Hooper’s brother. He had his gun out too.
“I can’t freaking believe this,” said Hooper as he eyed Puller.
Puller said, “Landry’s off duty. Why are you still working?”
“None of your business,” snapped Hooper. He turned to his partner. “Boyd, this is the jerk-off I was telling you about.”
Puller said, “Body’s in the upstairs bathroom.”
“If you screwed with the crime scene you are in serious shit trouble,” said Hooper, keeping his gun pointed in Puller’s direction.
“Hoop,” said Boyd. “Who’s to say he’s not our guy?”
“I called it in,” said Puller. “I waited here for you to arrive. Why would I do that if I’m ‘the guy’?”
Hooper said condescendingly, “Well, that way we wouldn’t suspect you. Shit, you Army guys all that stupid?”
“And the motive?” asked Puller.
“Not our problem,” said Hooper. “That’s your problem.”
“Actually, our criminal justice system adheres to the ‘innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt’ philosophy,” said Puller. “So it is your problem.”
Another cruiser pulled up with an ambulance in tow. Chief Bullock climbed out. He was dressed in civilian clothes, so Puller assumed he’d gotten the call at home.
He walked straight past Hooper and Boyd and up to Puller.
“What do we got?”
“Dead man in the bath. No signs of a struggle. Could be he had a medical crisis and went unconscious. Post will tell us a lot more. I saw a car driving away from here a few minutes before I found the body. Blue Ford Fiesta with a big dent in the passenger door.”
“Know who was in it?”
“Woman named Jane Ryon. She was a caregiver to my aunt. And she knew the deceased as well. I don’t know if she was coming from this house or not. If so, she has a lot of explaining to do.”
Hooper and Boyd just stood there open- mouthed as Bullock and Puller talked.
Finally Bullock looked over and said, “Hey, Hoop, what the hell you waiting for? Secure the damn area. We have a potential crime scene here. You too, Boyd.”
Hooper and Boyd holstered their guns and hurried to do this.
Bullock turned back to Puller. “Some days I don’t know why I bother, with the likes of those people constituting my police force.”
“You’ve got Landry.”
“If I had all Landrys you’d never hear me complain one second.”
He looked up at the house. “If this turns out to be a homicide, that’ll be four in just a few days. I don’t like that. Way out of proportion to the population down here. Scare the tourists away. Town council won’t like that.”
“Any leads on the Storrows’ murders?”
“Not a one. No one saw anything. No one heard anything. But they were murdered, no doubt of that.”
“Cookie, the man in the tub, knew the Storrows.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“He told me so.”
“That’s a link.”
“Yes, it is.”
“My tech will be here any minute. In the meantime I better go see for myself.”
“You better.”
He started off. Puller didn’t move.
“You coming?”
“In a minute. Got something to check first.”
Bullock went into the house and Puller hustled to his truck, passing by first Hooper and then Boyd as they were stringing up yellow police tape. Both cops gave him dirty looks, which he ignored.
He popped the rear door on the Tahoe and dug through his duffel. He found the photos he’d taken from his aunt’s house. He rifled quickly through them.
It took him all of two minutes before he found it. He held it up, letting the interior truck light fall fully on the photo.
In the picture was his aunt.
And Mr. and Mrs. Storrow bracketing her. He recognized their faces from the newspaper story that morning.
Apparently, like Cookie, she’d been friends with them too.
And now they were all dead.
He looked at Cookie’s house and then at his aunt’s house.
If this kept up there might not be anyone left alive on Orion Street.