“Good morning, Sheriff Oates,” T. J. said in a high-pitched, squeaky voice.
“T. J.,” Bill said touching the brim of his hat, then, with no further fanfare, he reached down and drew back the sheet.
Sharon was a horrid sight. All that was left of her torso was a shredded mass. The ribs on her left side were exposed, and her right side was almost completely gone, ribs, organs, and all. Below her chest, her lower torso was similar to the right side of her chest, with only her spine keeping her body from being completely separated into two parts.
T. J.’s eyes became as wide as saucers and his cheeks turned a pale shade of green.
Bill motioned to a smaller blood soaked sheet about twenty feet away and said, “Her head’s over there if you want to look.”
The chubby little judge didn’t even glance in that direction. He retched once then stumbled to the edge of the pen where he promptly lost his lunch.
“That was cold,” Carl said, smiling.
Bill winked at him.
“Sorry it took me so long to get here. I was out at Bon Weir,” Emilio Rodriguez said as he came through the iron gate at the pen’s entrance.
When Bill arrived and saw the familiar tracks around Sharon’s corpse, he had immediately called in and told the dispatcher to get Emilio on the way.
“It looks like our friend decided to try human meat,” Bill said gesturing at Sharon; the sheet was still pulled back.
Emilio put a hand to his mouth and gasped, “Damn!”
“I figured since you’ve been part of this thing from the get-go you might want to come out and have a look.”
Emilio gave Bill a wry smile, “Gee, thanks.”
Bill and Emilio then combed the area looking at the tracks, noting when the beast was moving on two or four legs. When they finished, Bill walked over to where T. J. was standing at a distance from the body and said, “I assume you’re gonna order an autopsy.”
T. J., who hadn’t regained his composure and whose face still had a pale green tint, just nodded his head.
Bill then walked back over to the body, where Emilio and the deputies were standing. “I hope y’all didn’t go and forget the camera,” Bill said to Carl and Darren.
Greg had warned Carl and Darren about last night’s camera episode. “Got it in my trunk,” Carl said.
“Go get it.”
As Carl started back up the hill he called back down, “Jones is here.”
The group looked back up the hill and saw two men from Jones Funeral Home dressed in suits. Bill waited until they were at the gate, then said, “I hope y’all brought a body bag.”
CHAPTER 4
Footprints
At 6:15 a.m., roughly the same time that Sarah Infante got in her car to go check on her cousin, James picked up the phone and dialed Greg’s number.
After several rings, Sandy picked up the phone. “Hello?” she said in that extremely heavy voice of one who’s been awakened from a deep sleep.
“Is Greg there?” James asked.
“No, uh, wait. I think I hear him driving up?” she said in the same tired voice, then added, with a slightly agitated edge, “Who is this?”
“James. It’s important.”
“Oh, okay.” There was a long pause. James heard Sandy telling Greg that James was on the phone.
“This early?” Greg asked.
“He said it’s important.” Sandy replied.
“Hey, James. What’re you doin’ wakin’ Sandy up this early? You know she looks like hell when she hasn’t had her beauty sleep,” Greg said light heartedly. This followed by an “Ow!” as Sandy pinched him.
“We need to talk.”
“Now?”
“Yeah.”
“Is everything okay?” Greg asked, now with all the playfulness gone from his voice.
“Where can I meet you?”
“They start serving breakfast at the Steak Shack at six-thirty. How does that sound?”
“Fine, I’ll meet you there.”
“Nothing’s wrong with Angie’s pregnancy, is there?” Greg asked.
“No, I’ll tell you when I get there.”
“Um, okay.”
James woke Angie and gave her the excuse he had already made up during the night. James still didn’t want to tell Angie about the dreams, so he told her Greg was having problems with his in-laws and wanted to meet him for breakfast and talk about it. This was a very believable tale since Greg and Sandy were always having rounds with Sandy’s mother and stepfather.
A small town with a population of only eighteen hundred, Newton wasn’t exactly packed with four-star restaurants. There were a couple of filling stations that served food from under a heat lamp and the Steak Shack. The Steak Shack was a tidy little restaurant that served good chicken-fried steak, and, in a day and age when many restaurants charge for water, the morning coffee was still free.
James arrived at the Steak Shack well ahead of Greg, who lived further out of town. The restaurant’s tables and windows were decorated in a strange combination of purple and white in support of the Newton Eagles high school football team, and orange and black Halloween decorations. Halloween was just two days away. James picked a table in the back of the restaurant, away from the other early risers. When the freckle-faced teenage waitress came over and asked for his order, he told her he just wanted coffee for now and that he was waiting on someone.
A couple minutes after James arrived, Greg came through the door, still dressed in his uniform. He saw James in the back and started that way, but was stopped by Charlie Cole, who was sitting near the front and had a joke he was just itching to tell.
“Why don’t roosters wear pants?”
Greg shrugged.
“Their pecker’s on their heads.”
Greg grinned through the joke and let out a burst of laughter before patting Charlie on the shoulder and saying it was good to see him. He then bolted for the back of the restaurant, where James was seated.
All the laughter left Greg’s face as he sat down. “What’s wrong?” he asked
“I’ve been having those dreams again.”
For a brief moment Greg’s forehead wrinkled in a look of confusion. He looked as if he didn’t have the foggiest idea what James was talking about.
Then his eyes widened. “Those dreams? The visions?”
“Yeah.”
“What about?”
“The thing that killed Mr. Harvey’s cows and Sharon Perrett’s horse.”
Greg’s eyes actually managed to grow even wider.
After a sip of coffee James continued. “It killed Sharon last night.”
“Are y’all ready to order yet?” the little waitress asked. The sudden voice from behind him made Greg jump.
“Give us a couple seconds, Alissa,” Greg said without turning around.
“Okey-Doke. Just holler when y’all are ready,” Alissa said with a smile, then she turned on her heels and trotted back toward the front. Greg waited until he knew she’d had enough time to get out of earshot before asking, “You sure?”
“I think so.”
“I probably need to go out to her house and have a look around then.”
“No,” James said shaking his head. “How are you gonna explain how you knew? Besides someone’s bound to check on her after what happened yesterday.”
Greg paused, then asked, “Is it an animal or some nut?”
“It’s not human. That’s for sure.”
Greg leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and slowly shook his head as he tried to take it all in. He then opened his eyes and suggested, “Let’s order.” He turned around called out, “Alissa, I think we’re ready.”