Survivors Will Be Shot Again (19 page)

Within another day or so, the buzzards and hogs would have pretty much done away with the body and left nothing but a few scraps of clothing and some bones, making identification difficult if not impossible. Rhodes had a pretty good idea who it was, though. He wasn't going to rush to judgment, but as far as he knew, only one person was missing from Clearview, and that was Riley Farmer. What was left of the face looked a lot like Farmer, too.

Rhodes got out his cell phone and called Hack. “Is Buddy on his way to Allison's?”

“Yep,” Hack said. “Should be there in a little bit. Is there really a body there?”

“There really is,” Rhodes said.

Hack didn't ask any more questions, proving once again that he could be a professional when it counted. Rhodes hung up and took a closer look at the body. Flies buzzed all around it. Ants crawled over it. There were other insects as well, but Rhodes couldn't identify them. It was impossible to tell for sure how Farmer, and Rhodes was now almost sure that's who it was, had died, thanks to the depredations of the animals, but the area of Farmer's back was a mess. Rhodes thought he might have been shot. He patted the back pockets of the pants but found no wallet. No cell phone, either. They'd have to identify the body for certain some other way.

By the time Rhodes had finished his quick examination, he heard Seepy's voice.

“He's right over there,” Seepy said. “By that big tree. That's where the smell is, too. Do you want video of him with the body?”

“I don't think my readers are ready for video quite that gory,” Jennifer said.

“If it bleeds, it leads,” Seepy said. “That's what I've heard, anyway.”

Rhodes stepped out from behind the tree. “You've been reading too much about TV news.”

“It's true of the Internet, too,” Seepy said. “Haven't you heard of clickbait headlines?”

“Do they have anything to do with fishing lures?”

Jennifer and Seepy laughed. Terry looked as if he had no idea what was so funny.

“The Sheriff Walked into the Woods,” Seepy said. “You'll Never Guess What He Found There!”

Rhodes could almost hear the capital letters.

“That's a clickbait headline,” Seepy said. “You put a few of those on your Web site, Jennifer, and you'll double your hits.”

“You're worth every penny I'm paying you,” Jennifer said.

“Have we discussed salary?”

“Not yet.” Jennifer pointed to where the body lay. “I can see a pair of boots sticking out over by that tree. That's as gory as I'm willing to go. Could I get some video of you standing over there, Mr. Allison?”

“Sure,” Terry said. “Why not?”

Terry walked over to the tree, and Jennifer took a few seconds of video while Rhodes looked around the woods, trying to get his mental GPS to clarify things for him.

“Does Crockett's Creek run back there behind the trees?” Rhodes asked Terry when Jennifer was finished with her video.

“Yeah. Runs right across the back end of my property. I don't ever go back there, but I heard it was running pretty high earlier this year.”

“How far is it to the creek?”

“Not too far. Half a mile, maybe.”

“I'm going to take a walk down that way. Terry, I'd like for you to go back up to the camp house and watch for my deputy. He should be here in a few minutes. Bring him down here and show him where the body is. He'll know what to do.”

“Sure thing,” Terry said.

He seemed happy about the Internet fame that was about to be his, and he wasn't even panting from his walk, which surprised Rhodes a little.

“Jennifer, you and Seepy can go on back to town,” Rhodes said. “Don't go over there and mess up the crime scene while I'm gone.”

“What are you going to do?” Seepy asked.

“I'll just look around.”

“I know you,” Seepy said. “You have a hunch about something. Let's go with him, Jennifer. We citizens have a right to take video of the cops anytime we want to.”

“Just as long as you don't interfere with us in the performance of our duties,” Rhodes said.

“We wouldn't think of it,” Seepy said.

“That'll be the day,” Rhodes said.

“John Wayne,
The Searchers,
” Seepy said.

“Buddy Holly,” Rhodes said, “but he stole it from the Duke.”

Rhodes headed back into the trees. He didn't like leaving the body, but it had been there for a while without anybody watching it, and Buddy would be along in a minute. Rhodes didn't think the buzzards would act before the deputy arrived.

As he walked, Rhodes wondered for the first time if Buddy had been named for Buddy Holly. Maybe he'd ask him.

Rhodes didn't look back to see if Jennifer and Seepy were following him. He didn't have to. He could hear them. They weren't skilled woodspersons, and for that matter neither was he. However, he didn't think he was making quite as much noise as they were.

Seepy was right about the hunch. Now and then Rhodes had one, and it usually paid to check it out. Sometimes he got lucky. Maybe this would be one of those times.

Walking half a mile over open ground was one thing. Walking half a mile through trees wasn't quite as easy, but it didn't take Rhodes very long to find what he'd had the hunch about. He was almost to the creek when he spotted a small cleared area with some marijuana plants growing in it.

Terry Allison was a lot like Billy Bacon, a man who owned some property that he didn't really know what to do with, a man who seldom if ever went past the front half of the land he owned, which happened to back up on Crockett's Creek, a nice water supply for anybody who needed it to grow a little cash crop.

The patch was fenced with the same kind of wire as the one on Billy Bacon's land. There was a pump with a pipe leading to the creek, but there was no alligator inside the fence. There was a small puddle of muddy water, but that was all Rhodes could see. Although the puddle didn't appear big enough to hold a gator of any size, Rhodes thought he ought to take a look. He had just opened the gate when Seepy and Jennifer arrived.

“Oh, boy,” Seepy said. “More pot.”

“It's not for you,” Rhodes told him.

Seepy looked offended. “I didn't say I wanted it. I'm just glad to see that someone around here is helping me with my crusade.”

“What crusade?” Jennifer asked.

“Don't get him started,” Rhodes said, but it was too late. Seepy had already launched into his speech about the benefits of medical marijuana and how it should be tested more widely. Rhodes shut his ears and went into the marijuana patch.

He'd taken only a few steps inside the fence when something roiled the water in the puddle. Rhodes stopped where he was and waited.

He didn't have to wait long, as an alligator snapping turtle came waddling out of the water on its clawed, webbed feet. It was as big as a manhole cover, and three ridges of spikes ran down its shell. Its tail was flat and scaly. It opened its beaky mouth, which could easily have held a softball if Rhodes had brought one with him to toss inside. It breathed like a miniature Darth Vader.

“Gosh-gosh-gosh,” Jennifer said. “What
is
that thing?”

“Alligator snapping turtle,” Rhodes told her. “They aren't usually aggressive, but this one seems to be.”

Jennifer already had her camera out. “Will it hurt us?”

“Not if we don't let it. Don't get close. It could snap your leg in two with that beak.”

Jennifer backed up, but she kept the camera running. “Are you going to do anything heroic?”

“Are you asking me or Seepy?” Rhodes looked around. “Where is Seepy, anyway?”

Seepy stood well outside the fence and didn't appear interested in coming inside.

“I guess you were asking me,” Rhodes said, “and I'm not going to do anything heroic. I'm not going to do anything at all unless I have to. I don't want to shoot the turtle. It's considered a threatened species in this state.”

There was more to it than that. In addition to the fact that the turtles were protected, Rhodes happened to like turtles. Not this particular turtle, but other, smaller, ones. He associated them with good luck and felt they'd helped him out a number of times. He liked to think he was a rational person, so he never told anybody about him and turtles. He certainly wasn't going to tell Seepy, even though Seepy would have understood. Seepy had a mystical side and even believed in ghosts.

“People make soup out of turtles like that,” Seepy called from his position outside the fence. “Just one more good reason to become a vegan.”

While the conversation had been going on, the turtle had lumbered closer. It didn't appear to have any intention of stopping. Rhodes had seen several snappers in his lifetime, but he'd never seen one like this. They were usually shy and incurious. This one didn't appear to be either.

“If they bite down on your arm or leg,” Seepy called, “they won't let go until it thunders.”

“That's just an old wives' tale,” Rhodes said. “Don't worry about that. Besides, if that thing bites you, it won't have to hold on. It'll cut right through bone and all. We'd better get out of here, Jennifer.”

He didn't have to tell her twice. She was already on the way out. The turtle kept right on coming.

“Shut the gate,” Seepy said when Rhodes and Jennifer were outside the fence, but Rhodes wasn't listening. He was looking around for a fallen tree limb. He'd decided to do something after all. He saw a limb about the size of a baseball bat not too far away and went to pick it up.

“He's coming out the gate,” Seepy said.

“You could use one of your karate moves on him,” Rhodes said. “The ones you learned from Professor Lansdale.”

“Not karate,” Seepy said. “Chen Shuan. And he didn't teach me how to fight turtles. I don't know where the pressure points are.”

Rhodes picked up the limb and swished it through the air.

“You going to hit him with that thing?” Buddy said, walking up through the trees. “Because if you are, I'll have to arrest you.”

“You're supposed to be working the crime scene,” Rhodes said.

“Terry told me you were wandering around in the woods, and I thought you might need some help. Sure enough, you do.”

“What about the buzzards?”

“I told Terry to stand by the tree and scare 'em off if they decided to pay a visit. I told him to be careful about the crime scene. He's already walked around there anyway.”

“You have any ideas about this turtle?” Rhodes asked.

Buddy patted the big Magnum at his hip.

“That would be a lot worse than hitting him with this stick,” Rhodes said. “I'd be the one who'd have to arrest somebody if you shot him.”

“Better call Alton Boyd, then. He's the animal expert.”

Rhodes wasn't going to call Alton. He thought he could handle the turtle by himself. It had stopped moving. Maybe it was tired. It was about ten feet from Rhodes, and it looked right at him as if daring him to come closer.

“I've just never seen anything like that before,” Jennifer said. “It looks like something that escaped from Jurassic Park.”

“Only smaller,” Seepy said.

The turtle took a step forward.

“Not small enough,” Jennifer said. She started the camera again.

Rhodes took a step toward the turtle and extended the tree limb. The turtle's head flashed out like a striking snake, and its beak bit down on the limb.

“Gosh-gosh-gosh,” Jennifer said. “That's really scary. I'm glad I got it on video. It'll look great on the Web site. It might be a little shaky, though.”

“Heroic Sheriff Confronts Prehistoric Beast,” Seepy said. “What Happened Next Will Amaze You!”

“Great clickbait headline,” Buddy said.

“What
will
happen next?” Jennifer asked.

The turtle hadn't broken the limb, and true to the old wives' tale, it was hanging on. Rhodes started to drag it.

“I'm going to see if I can get it to the creek,” Rhodes said. “It will be a lot happier there than it was in that puddle.”

“What if it decides it would rather clamp down on you instead of that limb?”

“I'll make a run for it,” Rhodes said. “I might be slow, but I think I can still outrun a turtle.”

“Have that camera ready, Jennifer,” Seepy said.

“I'm ready.”

“Let the games begin,” Seepy said.

 

Chapter 16

The turtle proved cooperative for most of the short distance to the creek. It didn't let go of the limb, and it didn't dig in with its claws and try to prevent Rhodes from dragging it. Once it even walked forward a couple of steps on its own. Rhodes thought later that he should have known it wouldn't be that easy all the way to the creek.

Rhodes had seen a place where the bank had a little cut in it that would allow him to walk down close to the water's edge. There were some cow tracks in it.

Rhodes thought that if he left the turtle at the top of the cut, the turtle would figure out for itself that being in the creek was preferable to being in a mud hole. The creek would have fish and frogs in it, and the turtle could fend for itself rather than depending on someone to bring it some food. It occurred to Rhodes that it might be hungry. That might explain why it was so aggressive.

Rhodes's foot slipped as he started down the bank. There was nothing to grab hold of, and he couldn't stop himself as he slid down to the creek. He'd kept his hold on the limb, so the turtle was coming right along with him. However, just as Rhodes's feet touched the water, the turtle decided it was time to let go. Because it was also sliding at that point, it was sliding straight toward Rhodes.

Rhodes's feet didn't find any purchase in the slimy mud of the creek bottom. He looked at the turtle and saw that it was heading directly for his face, its mouth wide open.