A Forest of Corpses Page 7

  "Pre law," he said stiffly.

  "Going to be a lawyer?" When he nodded I asked, "What changed your mind?"

  "Other lawyers."

  "Yes, they can have that affect on you. The Lieutenant was pre law, too. I think she had the same epiphany."

  He grunted, never taking his eyes off the road.

  "Let's check out this Momo sighting," I said. "We can round up a judge later to go over this for us."

  We rolled onto Por la Mar Drive, about a block from the beach proper. I spotted the black and white pulled up in front of a small, grassy park. Two uniformed officers stood on either side of a stoop-shouldered black woman who dragged a 79

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  ratty, tag-along piece of luggage in one hand and a small, round white and tan long-haired dog on a tartan-colored leash in the other. She appeared to be arguing with them.

  When Miguel and I drew nearer, the older of the two unis touched his hand to the brim of his hat and murmured,

  "Ma'am, here are the detectives to talk to you. You just tell them what you told us, and everything will be all right."

  She turned shrewd eyes toward us. Her face was a mass of wrinkles and seams with patches of wiry hair sticking out of her head at odd angles. She had a mouthful of broken and rotting teeth. "You two goin' to stop them boys what done Sly?"

  "Sly? Do you mean Issac Simpson?"

  "That was his slave name. His God name was Sly."

  She tugged on the dog's leash and the pair headed toward the beach. Miguel and I fell in step with her. "What can you tell us, ma'am?" I asked. "We want to catch these boys and make them pay for what they did to Mr. Simps—Sly. Can you help us?"

  "Don't know what you think I can do." She kept walking, and for a woman who had to be at least in her late sixties, she was agile. Even her dog had to trot to keep up with her.

  "They come around ev'ry day, no one do a thing. Not then, not now."

  "We're here to do something, ma'am," Miguel said gently.

  "You have fought a good fight, you have finished the course and kept the faith. Now you must tell us what you know, and find peace."

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  I had no idea what he had just said to her, but her eyes lit up. "Do you think Sly be at peace?"

  "I do, ma'am. I surely do. God teaches us that all we need to do is come to him as innocents and we are welcomed into His kingdom," Miguel said. He had her enthralled. I watched their interplay with fascination, knowing that at this moment I couldn't touch this guy. He was golden.

  "Can I be at peace, too?"

  "You can." Miguel took her arm, ignoring her filth encrusted clothes, and stopped her. "You know what you need to do. Peace is yours, but you need to ask for it."

  "I'm asking—"

  "You have to ask Him."

  Her mouth tightened and she jerked on her luggage. "Him?

  Did He help us when those boys came after us ev'ry day?

  When we begged that man to help us, did He come? No, he just sent them with guns and they shot Sly." Tears leaked from her rheumy eyes. "They was gonna shoot me too, but Butterfly chased them off."

  Her fond eyes looked down at the dog who was rubbing his head on the grass. Its white plume of tail curled over its back, and from what I could see the dog looked to be in better shape than its owner, who might have weighed a hundred and ten pounds wet.

  "Well, we plan on putting them someplace where they can't ever hurt you or Butterfly again." Miguel crouched down and fondled the dog's head. "We already have one in custody.

  We need your help to put the others away." He glanced at me, then at her. "Will you do that? Will you help us?"

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  "How can I help?"

  "You saw these men, right? Can you describe them to us?

  Could you help one of our people draw a picture of them?"

  "Will you come down to the police station and do a line up for us?" I asked.

  Panic filled her face so I backed away, leaving Miguel to calm her. Clearly he had the rapport with her. When he straightened to sooth her, I dropped into a crouch and fell to petting the hairy animal, which wiggled in what I assumed was ecstasy at my touch. At least the damn dog liked me.

  The dog's reaction seemed to calm her. She even offered me a smile, which I returned. I met Miguel's gaze.

  "She'll come?" The dog licked my hand, and it was all I could do not to wipe the slobber off on my pant leg. With a final, gingerly pat on its head I stood up, straightening my shoulders and smoothing my jacket. Miguel nodded.

  "Good, good. We'll have someone pick her up—"

  "I'll bring her down."

  "Now? No, that's not possible." I wasn't about to sit in the unmarked with this woman and her dog. Miguel shook his head.

  "I'll come back for her."

  "That's better. Get a food voucher when you get back to the station—treat her to lunch. Make sure..." I glanced down at the fawning dog rubbing its head against my pant leg.

  "Make sure Butterfly gets something, too."

  We left her in the safe hands of the two unis after Miguel promised them he would return within a half hour. We were 82

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  both firm in our instructions that they were to make sure she didn't get out of their sight.

  Back in our Crown I drove this time. "Good work," I said.

  "Think she'll be a good eye witness?"

  "I think she'll do fine. She's a strong woman."

  "Let's hope so. I don't want those mutts to walk because she flaked out at the end."

  "She's doing this for her friend. She won't flake."

  In the end, she proved him right. She picked Ramiro out of a line up, and when we finally tracked down and hauled in Fideo later that day, she picked him out of the line-up within seconds. She gave us a decent description of the other gang bangers who had been harassing both her and Simpson and we got warrants for them, too.

  I was right. The judge signed off on the original search for weapons, but held off on the drug search 'for the moment', so we had to pass on that while we searched the house top to bottom.

  Found a second weapon, a sawed off, and a couple of switchblades we took into evidence. They'd all be tested, and might tie our boy into other crimes. I could only hope.

  All in all a damn good day's work.

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  Jason

  I bounced through the door at the end of the day. Alex wasn't home yet. Good. I wanted to get my surprise ready for him. I put the champagne on ice and pulled the pair of lobsters out of the cooler I had packed them in at the fish market in town. I readied the big steamer on the stove and a second, smaller one for the corn we were going to have with the lobster. By the time I heard his truck pull into the driveway, I had everything ready.

  I lit two candles on the dining room table, dropped the squirming lobsters into the pot, then hurried in to get changed. I knew Alex would grab a shower before anything else, so I had time. Skimming on my skintight leathers I added the black mesh shirt that showed off my shaved chest and made me look a lot buffer than I was in reality. At least it was Alex's favorite by far, so, whether I believed it or not, it didn't matter.

  I hit the kitchen just as Alex padded in barefoot, hair still damp. He bussed me on the mouth and briefly cupped my ass in his big hand.

  "Good day at work?" I asked.

  "Yeah, it was actually. Nailed the guys involved in a shooting a few weeks ago. That was one case I wasn't sure we'd ever clear."

  "Good for you. Who were they?"

  "Nobody you need to concern yourself with." He sniffed the air. "What's that smell?"

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  "Dinner," I said and picked up a potholder. "Go on, take a seat. You can open the champagne. I'll be there in thirty seconds."

  "Champagne?" He peered into the pot at the now brilliant red crustaceans. "Lobster? You win the lottery when I wasn't looking? What's up?"

  "I'll tell you over dinner."

  When I came in carrying our plates, the two shell crackers, and the steamed corn on the cob, plus pots of butter for both of us, Alex was seated with the champagne open and the flutes filled. He waited for me to set his plate down and raised his glass to me.

  "To whatever this is about." We sipped and he raised one eyebrow. "Okay, now tell me what it is about."

  "I got my end of year marks."

  "And?"

  "I got a 4.0 on my biology finals."

  I beamed, waiting for Alex to react. He stared at me, unblinking, and said nothing. I waited, barely able to breathe.

  Our eyes were locked. This was what we had both said we wanted when I decided to go back to school. It was what I'd always wanted, but been too strung out and stupid to go after. Was he not happy for me?

  "Alex?"

  His face lit up with a look of the purest joy I think I've ever seen on him. "I knew you could do it. Didn't I tell you that you could do it?"

  "Yeah, you did, Sir." I ducked my head, suddenly shy.

  "Come on, eat before it gets cold."

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  I grabbed my lobster cracker and deftly used it to split the claw, dipping the flesh in melted butter and savoring the richness. Before I met Alex I'd never even imagined ever eating, let alone cooking, lobster. There were a lot of things I'd never imagined before meeting him. He must have seen my adoration on my face. He grew quiet and sipped his champagne.

  "Better finish up here quick. We're not going to make it to dessert, you know."

  He was right. We didn't. Thank God I hadn't made any.

  Who knew there were that many uses for simple dairy butter?

  Later, in bed, my face nestled against his chest, idly playing with the damp hair on his chest, I looked up to meet his smiling, satisfied gaze. "Does this mean our hiking trip is on?"

  His arm tightened around me. "Of course. I promised, didn't I?

  "You'll have fun. You'll see."

  "You're there. It'll be fun." Still, he sounded skeptical. I was going to have to work extra hard to make this trip special for both of us. Especially if I ever wanted to do it again.

  "You'll see, Sir. I promise."

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  Spider

  "It smells funny."

  Jason looked up from unloading our gear—all of mine newly purchased and unused, well, mostly unused—from the back of my Toyota pickup. "What does?"

  I sniffed. "The air."

  "How does air smell funny?"

  I sniffed again. Jason watched me quizzically. There was something missing. Or was it something there that hadn't been there before? Dust. Green smells, like the smells from our backyard when Jason was busy digging up one of his newly planted flowerbeds. The warm sun on my cotton covered arms—Jason said we needed to dress for the weather that might come, that the mountains often got cool, even in late June. All I could feel was sweat trickling down my spine and pits. I hoped he was right, otherwise I was seriously overdressed and was going to be a roasting turkey soon.

  Jason was close enough that I could smell him too. And that was a huge mistake. Everything about him always brought memories of what we had together. What I had never had with another man.

  I turned away abruptly, taking another deep breath and trying to will down my arousal. To distract myself, I took out our digital camera and captured Jason getting his own gear on. He threw me a goofy grin, then stuck out his tongue. I laughed, snapped some pictures, went to tuck the camera back in my pack, when he took it from me.

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  "My turn," he said and took a half a dozen pictures of me looking around the trailhead we had parked in. I stared up at the folds of hills and steep slopes covered with trees so densely packed I had to wonder how we were going to get through them. From our level I could see several well-traveled trails leading into it. A few dusty cars were already in the lot, but no one was in sight. I guess they were already inside the park, doing whatever it is people did up here.

  Whatever it was, I was soon going to find out. I was still skeptical, but I'd come too far to back out now. It would disappoint Jason, and suddenly that was more important to me than whether or not I was comfortable. There had to be an upside to this vacation, if only being alone with Jason with no outside distractions for a week. That had to be worth some discomfort. We'd never spent more than a day or two alone, without one of our jobs or school interfering, separating us.

  I'm surprised taking a vacation had never occurred to me before.

  "It's all that fresh air," I muttered, drawing the smile I was looking for from him. His smile was always a burst of sunshine, even on the darkest day. I sometimes wished I could smile like that. "It can't be good for you. Germs and viruses and God knows what all waiting there to be breathed in."

  Jason stepped close to me. He handed me the camera with a grin. "I think it's healthier than city air."

  "Don't believe it. Full of bugs and other unspeakable things."

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  "I've breathed in bugs," he said, eyes dancing. "Really, it's no big deal."

  "Thanks, I think I'll pass on that experience." More and more it was becoming clear I was in an alien world. A world Jason was intimately familiar with. I wasn't used to being in that position. I wasn't sure I liked it. No, I was sure. I didn't like it. I also knew I tolerated it for Jason. Nancy had been right. What that man did to me.

  Jason was still grinning when he handed me my backpack.

  While I shrugged it on he pulled his iPhone with its GPS

  locater out. Sometimes I wondered if buying it for him was an indulgence. I spoiled him rotten. I knew it, but I still couldn't stop doing it. I knew we weren't going to be here long enough to get lost. He was also quick to assure me he had a really good sense of direction and never got lost, even without mechanical help. He could have his toys because they gave him so much pleasure. Even more so when I was the giver.

  "That's all of it then," he said. "We should lock up and head out."

  He glanced up at the cloud-flecked sky. A cool breeze flowed off the upper slopes playing around the Tilley hat I had crammed on my head. I fumbled my shades out and slid them on, looking up to find Jason still watching me. I was still thinking about the sign we had seen on our way up here, warning about bears for the next seven miles.

  "Remember, it's only eight days," he said, as though reading my mind.

  I wanted to ask him how many bears could we see in a week, then he licked his lips while I was staring at his mouth.

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  I looked away from him, not wanting to see his tongue slide over his moist lips, think about it wrapped around my cock, doing that humming thing. I scanned the trailhead where we would leave my Toyota while we spent the next eight days hiking and camping in the forests of the Matilja Wilderness area. Already several cars occupied the unpaved lot that wasn't much more than a wide place in the road.

  While I cooled my over-heated libido, a Jeep pulled in amid a cloud of dust and rattling gravel. It discharged a trio, two women and a man. A hulking great German Shepherd jumped out after them. It shook itself and took up a place beside the man. The oldest woman might have been Jason's age. The other two were younger, maybe eighteen. Both women were classic Californian blonde beauties. The man could only be described as Hollywood cute. I let my gaze
linger on his basket then looked up to find Jason watching me. He flashed me a knowing smile, and bent to check the laces on his Merrell's.

  The trio passed near us.

  The dog wandered over our way and before I could say anything, Jason was crouched down tousling the thing's ears and thick ruff. The dog grinned at him, showing an impressive array of teeth.

  The dog's owner stopped between us. The older blonde smiled at me "Hey," she said.

  I nodded silently. Jason straightened and stood, his hand still on top of the dog's head. "Hey, where you from?"

  "Portland," she said. "We're only here for six days. We usually come for longer, but this year Brad wanted to go to 90

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  Big Sur, so we stayed there a week. What about you, where do you live?"

  I could see Jason was a little taken back by the girl's loquaciousness. Jason wasn't a chatterbox. It turned out this girl was. It also turned out she didn't need any encouragement to keep talking, like having someone answer her mostly rhetorical questions.

  "I love this place," she gushed. "I've been coming here since I was ten. Daddy used to be a park ranger, so I got to spend all summer here. I'd live here if I could. Don't you just love it?"

  "Er, yes." Jason threw me a silent plea, which I answered by smoothly stepping up.

  "Pleasure to meet you, miss," I said, taking Jason's arm.

  "But we have to finish gearing up." I touched the brim of my Tilley. "Nice meeting you. Nice dog. Shouldn't it be on a leash?"

  I knew that would piss them off and it did. The guy puffed up like a bantam, but was smart enough not to make a big deal about it. He muttered something under his breath before stalking away from us back to their Jeep. Jason gave the dog one final pat then came back over to me. He looked after the animal wistfully.

  "I didn't know you liked dogs," I said, touching his arm again, not liking the way he looked at it.