“’Preciated, Drake.”
“Nope, it’s appreciated you boys comin’ down here to help us out.”
The guy dipped his chin and lifted a hand.
Hix held his eyes a beat then walked away, turning his attention to his deputies, Bets standing to the side watching, Hal the same but not close to Bets, as Larry and Donna were in squats, helping Lance transfer the body onto the opened body bag.
Hix waited until they had Nat Calloway zipped in and had lifted the body onto the hand stretcher. Something Lance could carry a quarter mile through tall grass and mud, but he wouldn’t be able to carry it back loaded with a body.
“You can hang tight for five, Lance,” Hix called out, “wanna give my deputies direction and then we’ll help you get ’im out.”
“Thanks, Hixon,” Lance called back.
His team took their cue and moved to form a loose huddle under the tent.
Hix didn’t waste time.
“Hal, you stay here, help the forensics team to comb this place and all around. From here all the way back to the road and don’t be stingy about the distance you check the perimeter of this site. That said, this is a dump site. Unless you happen onto where the crime was committed, I doubt the perpetrator spent a lot of time here. If he went to the trouble of dumping a body in a place like this, he’s not gonna move a man’s body just a half mile away from where he shot him to death. There’s a lot to do. Be smart about the time you spend here.”
Hal jerked up his chin.
Hix kept at him.
“Those boys need anything, you get it for them. Mouth of this trail, such as it is, has enough vehicles at it, one of them our coroner’s van, folks are gonna be curious. Keep alert. While you’re searchin’, you see anyone is curious enough to come lookin’, you send them right back to their vehicle and on their way. Forensics team finishes up, you get back to the department and you get all the pictures printed out. Yeah?”
Hal nodded. “Yeah, boss.”
Hix looked to Donna. “Want you back at the department. You call all the sheriffs of the adjoining counties and give them a brief. Tell them where we’re at.” His gaze grew intent on her. “Donna, I want that fuckin’ truck found and I want the crime scene located. From what we got with time of death, whoever did Nat Calloway didn’t have a lot of time to take him somewhere far. But that truck could be anywhere by now. And I want it.”
“You got it, Hix.”
“You get done doin’ that, and don’t take a lot of time doin’ it, you tell Reva to watch over reception and I want you to start combing every inch of road between Glossop and Grady’s ranch. Ask the boys down in Grant to help you out seein’ as there’s a chance the crime happened on their patch. You won’t find the truck, but you might find the crime scene and we need that.”
She nodded.
“Not gonna be anything to find,” Hal put in, throwing an arm out to indicate the steady wet that was falling around the tent. “Man was probably done outside, seein’ as he was hit runnin’ away. It’s been raining since the middle of the night. Whatever there was is probably washed away.”
“We’re still looking,” Hix told him.
“We should be knocking on doors and it’s Grant County Sheriff who should be doin’ it,” Hal returned. “That’s dusty road from here to Grady but it’s got houses on it, farms, ranches. Gunshots are loud. People hear them.”
Hix’s jaw felt tight. “Yeah, and anything left of that crime scene we can find before this rain takes it, we’ll bust our balls to find it, Hal, before the rain takes it. Not goin’ house to house, some of those houses miles apart, chattin’ with folks while rain washes away a crime scene. We got no cause to believe Nat Calloway was anywhere but on the road between Grady’s ranch and his house, only about two miles of that being Grant County’s patch. Got no idea what happened, but my gut says whatever happened was on that road. Regardless, abrasions on his palms tell Lance he fell to concrete, so if we gotta focus our search, we’re doin’ it on the concrete that makes that road.”
Hix kept Hal pinned with his gaze as he took a breath and went on, annoyed it was taking time to point out the obvious to one of his deputies.
“He didn’t bleed a little, he bled a lot, Hal, and it was eighty-six degrees yesterday. That blood had all day yesterday to bake into wherever it poured out. I’m not feelin’ all that lucky right now, but we get a stroke of it, we might find a huge-ass stain. That said, the rain won’t wash away anyone’s memories. We can canvass once we’ve exhausted our attempts to locate where Nat Calloway was shot runnin’ for his life. And that’s what you’ll be doin’ after you’re done helpin’ the team, finding out if someone heard something, saw something, then you can help Donna pinpoint the site.”
Hal gave him his chastened, pissed look but Hix ignored it when Bets spoke.
“You want me on that too, boss?” Bets asked, and Hix looked to her.
“Nope, Bets. I want you to go home and get some sleep.”
Her eyes grew big then squinty.
“I found him. I should be able to—”
He cut her off. “You been up all night and a man’s been murdered. Your dedication to finding him has been noted, Bets, and it means a good deal to this case that you found him and he wasn’t out here for days, weeks, before someone bumped into that body. I appreciate it. This team appreciates it. But now I need all my deputies fresh and alert and you been up all night. You need to go home, unwind, try to relax and get some sleep. I don’t want to see you for six hours.”
When she opened her mouth, he leaned an inch toward her and lowered his voice.
“I’m not cutting you out of this case, Bets. We need to find the person who did this and I’m gonna need all of you to help do that. But we gotta go about it the right way, clearheaded and smart. I’ll give you your duties when I know you can perform them the way I already know you can perform them . . . doin’ shit right.”
She looked about to argue but then she ducked her head and nodded.
He turned to Larry. “You’re with me. We’re goin’ to talk to Faith Calloway. Then we’re goin’ back to Grady. After that, we’re helpin’ Donna and Hal.”
Larry looked sick a second before he hid it.
Hix got that look.
Larry had not ever had to tell a woman her husband and the father of her young children had been murdered.
Hix himself had only done it once, back in Indianapolis.
To say the experience sucked was an understatement, and to say that he remembered every second of it like he’d just walked out of that woman’s house was not an exaggeration.
“Wanna help Lance carry him out.”
Bets’s words took Hix’s attention from Larry back to her.
“Sorry?” he asked.
She lifted her chin. “I found him. You’re right. I’m tired. Been up all night. I’m also hyper. So I’m good for now. And I found him. I want to help get him out of this fucking place.”