Page 20 of Midnight Ride

“Nope. You sure didn’t.” He laughed.

The Arkansas boys with the cute accents went hunting and left me and Ted with their names and addresses and their statements and a half-eaten corpse.

We sat on a log a little ways away from Dick’s dead body to be clear of the flies and the maggots. First week of September and it was still pretty warm during the day and Mister Dick Morgan was stinking up this area of the woods more than a little.

Ted said smoking helped with the stink, but I was on my third American Spirit, and it wasn’t doing me any favors.

Another hour went by before Travis got to us, and then twenty minutes after that, Doctor Olson came along. The coroner wasgetting older, and he got short of wind when he had to walk a long way to a crime scene.

He said to Daddy, “Travis, you said on the phone this was another of the men in the same hunting party as the man I have in the morgue.”

Ted was on his feet showing Daddy the DL I took out of Dick Morgan’s pocket, and how it matched one of the names on the list Mrs. Oliver gave us.

Doctor Olson shook his head. He knelt beside the body and gave it a quick once over. “I can’t tell much with so much of the flesh missing, Travis. You’ll have to wait until I autopsy the corpse at the morgue.”

“Sure, Doc. One thing I can tell by looking is the age of the body. This corpse ain’t fresh. Dick Morgan has been lying out here for a couple of days.”

“Two nights out here alone would give the bears and wolves plenty of opportunity to make a mess of him,” said the doctor. “Help me get what’s left of him into the body bag. It’s not going to be easy with him all torn up like this.”

“Tammy, did you and Ted get statements from the hunters who found him?” asked Travis.

“Yep. All four of them. Nice guys from Arkansas. I ain’t never been to that state, but they seemed nice enough.”

Travis rolled his eyes like he always did when he was worried about me around guys too old for me.

We finished up at the crime scene and Ted and Travis helped the doctor get the body bag to his van. I didn’t know how much Dick Morgan weighed when he was in one piece, but he weighed less now.

“I’ll let you know when the autopsy has been completed, Travis.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

As soon as we got back to the station, Travis told Molly the details of the new victim, Richard (Dick) Morgan, and asked her to locate his next of kin.

“After you take care of that, Molly, I want background checks on every member of the hunting party.”

“Why are we checking all the others, Travis?”

“We’re looking for a murderer and I want to know who we’re dealing with. One of the guys out there might have a screw loose and before I send Tammy and Harlan stomping blindly into the bush, it would be a helluva lot safer if we knew who was out there and what they were capable of.”

“I agree,” said Molly. “Shall I include Mrs. Oliver and the first victim’s twin brother?”

“You bet. Those two ain’t normal people, Molly. There’s something going on there between the two of them, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

“They were a little different,” said Molly.

Travis hollered, “Tammy, you help Molly and give her the statements from the four Arkansas boys, and when she gets a minute, you and Ted give her your statements.”

“Copy that.”

Travis headed for the front door. “I’m late meeting Wyatt Thompson across the road. I’ll bring you something, Tam.”

“Thanks, Daddy.”

Molly smiled. “Such a good father.”

Mainliner Diner. Coyote Creek.

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