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Arriving at the drive, Hull nodded at the cut barbed wire next to the gate. “We think the killers may have entered here, left from here, or both.”

“Killers, as in plural?” Thorpe asked.

“Yeah, there are multiple footprints left in the dirt floor of the barn that all seem to come and go from where Marcel was tied up. The prints are different shoe patterns and sizes. We think we’re looking at multiple suspects—at least three. We’ve got a partial print near this cut barbed wire that matches one of the prints left on the barn’s floor.” Hull glanced at Thorpe with a question. “Any ideas why they cut the barbed wire instead of just climbing the gate or cutting off the lock?”

“You sure the killers cut the wire?”

“Pretty. It’s definitely fresh.”

Thorpe feigned contemplation before responding. “Maybe they’d planned to drag Marcel out through the opening and figured they wouldn’t be able to lift his heavy ass over the gate. I don’t know.”

Hull responded with a simple nod, and the two men continued north on the gravel driveway. As they approached the barn, Thorpe saw several homicide detectives and crime-scene investigators busying themselves with measurements and photographs.

Hull stepped to the threshold of the open barn door and pointed inside. “Marcel’s still bound to the pole. No big hurry to move him—he ain’t goin’ nowhere. We’ve marked off a path that’s been processed already. We can access the body this way.” Thorpe followed on his heels, and they both paused to allow their eyes to adjust to the gloom. “We’re in the process of getting some better lights set up in here,” Hull offered.

Except for crusty, congealed blood and the ghastly swelling of flesh puckered between bands of tape, the body appeared the way Thorpe had left it. Hull walked over and stood beside the corpse.

“From what we can gather so far, the killers took Marcel down at his car, dragged him through the woods and bound him here. Marcel has a wound in his right shoulder that appears to be through-and-through. One of his nipples has been torn off and tossed over there.” Hull pointed to a patch of what now looked like shriveled leather lying in the dirt. “Don’t know the cause of death yet. His mouth, nose, throat—all his airways—were taped up. If that happened when he was still alive, it surely would have done the trick.” Hull pointed down and behind Marcel’s body. “There’s the initials I told you about. So what do you think?”

Thorpe knelt and studied the scene. “Looks like he was still alive when they pulled the nipple off. Lot of blood. He’s pretty jacked up. I’d say his killers were trying to get information from him or were just really, really, pissed off. My first impulse is to believe they were probably after something though—trying to find out where dope or money was hidden. Any signs of his car or his grandma’s house being ransacked?”

Hull shook his head. “No. Why do you think they were looking for something instead of just out to kill him?”

Thorpe stood. “Because these guys don’t do this shit. Your Mexican and El Salvadorians do this, sometimes motorcycle gangs, but generally not black gangs. They just jump in a car with their buddies and go shoot the shit out of a house, usually without checking if the target’s even inside first. The dude’s little sister is the one who ends up catching a bullet.”

Thorpe looked at a nodding Hull. The homicide detective knew all of this already but liked to hear what other people were thinking to see if it matched his own thoughts. Hull always gave the appearance of studying you while you spoke, which he probably was. An excellent interrogator, he could smell bullshit like a fly in summertime. Because the behavior represented Hull’s usual demeanor, Thorpe wasn’t alarmed. He could only remember one instance when Hull didn’t behave that way—the night Erica and Ella were killed. Hull had made it clear he didn’t believe Thorpe was a suspect in the killings.

History suggests when a wife and child are murdered, the husband is, more often than not, the culprit. Though Thorpe believed Hull didn’t seriously consider him a suspect, it would have been negligent not to cast part of the investigation his way. Hull’s detectives would have looked into Thorpe’s life to some degree, even if only to focus on those who may have held a grudge against the supervisor of the OGU.

There would have been hundreds of arrest reports to sift through. What were the circumstances? Were they sentenced to prison? If so, were they still in incarcerated? If not, were they living in the Tulsa area? That line of investigation alone would have been extremely time-consuming. Of course, Thorpe’s life away from the department would also have been scrutinized. How much of his past and current life Hull had uncovered, Thorpe wasn’t sure. This he did know: Hull was a good cop, but more importantly was a good man. If Hull unearthed something not pertinent to the case, it would only be filed away in his brain. And no one possessed a key to that labyrinth.

“What do you make of the ‘L.A.’ scribed in the dirt?” Hull inquired.

Again Thorpe paused as if gathering his thoughts. In reality, he anticipated this line of questioning and had prepared his responses. The trick was to appear spontaneous.

“We’ve gotten several tips Dwayne Foster and the late Marcel here have been shooting at one another for some time now. They’ve never hit each other. But a couple of their homeboys have taken superficial wounds. Foster’s street name is L.A. The most logical conclusion would be L.A. and friends were kicking Marcel’s ass when he realized he might not make it out of this barn alive. Marcel then wrote the initials in the dirt so the police or his crew would know who to look for.” Thorpe paused before speaking again. “Or someone other than Foster killed Marcel and set Foster up as the fall guy.”

“Interesting. Anyone else want Marcel dead?”

“Shit, Bob, that list could be almost as long as the one for you.”

“Not fucking likely,” Hull laughed. “By the way, if I ever wind up dead and tethered to a pole, make sure my ex-wives are looked at extensively.”

“You know it’s weird, Bob, we just stopped surveilling Marcel a couple of weeks ago. Didn’t get anything of use from it.” Thorpe spent a few minutes describing the investigation and what they’d learned and agreed to hand over all their notes.

“Too bad this didn’t happen then, you guys would have been here when the shit went down,” Hull commented.

“Good thing we weren’t here; we might‘ve stopped it,” Thorpe said with a grin. “Bob, I’ve already got Tyrone dressed up like a hab and en route to L.A.’s house. L.A. lives near Sixth and Lewis, so Tyrone should fit-in dressed like a homeless drunk. Jennifer’s at the office and ready—with help from your guys—to knock out a search warrant. Given the documented background we have on these two and the physical evidence here at the scene, we should be able to get a warrant pretty quick.”

Hull spoke with artificial irritation. “John, I am the head Homicide dick around these parts, you know.”

Thorpe smiled. “Too easy. What do you want from my end?”

“How ‘bout you get eyes on L.A.’s house and have one of your people start on a search warrant?”

“Gee, that’s a good idea. Where do you come up with these epiphanies?”

“Epiphanies… big words don’t compensate for your small penis,” Hull shot back.

“Small penis? Your wife been talking in her sleep again?”

“No, but your sister has.”

“Ouch. You cut me deep, Bob, real deep,” Thorpe joked. “One of your guys can get together with Jennifer. With what we’ve got on file, and with what you guys come up with here, we should be able to spit out a warrant in no time.”

The two sergeants walked to Marcel’s car where they met with Hull’s senior homicide detective, Chuck Lagrone. Lagrone was in his early sixties but looked eighty if he was a day. He was short and slight, maybe 130 pounds. Most officers physically expand along with their tenure, but Lagrone weathered away with each passing year; one day he might disappear altogether. He was a thin layer of skin wrapped tightly around bone. Because of his appearance, he’d earned the departmental nickname of “The Skull.” The Skull was one hell of a detective and, despite his looks, a genuinely nice guy. A gruff but nice guy.