Ghost Road Blues (Pine Deep 1)

“What do you want to do? Should we go check it out?”

“Uh-?uh, honey. I’m not going anywhere near that car until we get some backup. ” He nodded at her sidearm. “You any good with that?”

“I suck,” she said.

“Swell. ”

“I’m better with a shotgun,” she said hopefully. “Can’t miss with a shotgun. ”

“Yeah. Got one in the unit?”

“In the trunk. ”

“Get it. ” Together they backed up to their unit. Rhoda popped the trunk and Head kept the barrel of the pistol trained on the smashed corridor of cornstalks.

Rhoda removed the pump-?action shotgun from the clips that fastened it to the underside of the hood. It was a Mossberg Bullpup 12 with a pistol grip and thirty-?inch barrel. With a hand that even in the darkness was visibly shaking, she worked the pump and blew out a puff of air that had soured in her lungs.

Head glanced at it out of the corner of his eye and his eyebrows went up. “That’s a lot of shotgun for a small town. ”

“The chief likes ’em. ”

“How about you?”

She shrugged. “As long as it doesn’t knock me on my behind, I don’t much care one way or another. ”

Nodding, Head indicated the crash site with his pistol. “Point that cannon right there. I’m going to call for backup. ” He reached into the unit and lifted the handset. “What’s your call number?”

“Unit Two. ”

“What’s the call-?in protocol?”

“Just ask for Ginny. ”

Head smiled and shook his head. Gotta love small-?town America. Clicking on the mike, he said, “Unit Two to, um, Ginny. Unit Two to Ginny. Over. ”

“Who’s this?” a woman’s voice demanded sharply.

“Officer Jerry Head. I’m in Unit Two with Officer Thomas. ”

“Oh, okay. What can I do for you?”

“Is Detective Sergeant Ferro there?”

“Yes. He’s having coffee. ”

“Can you put him on the line, please?”

“He’s in the conference room with…oh, well, really, Mr. Wolfe, I didn’t say that…. I was just about to…no, I…” The conversation on the other end suddenly became agitated as Ginny and at least two other voices lapsed into an argument. Then a new voice came on the line. “Unit Two, this is Ferro. Over. ”

“Sergeant, this is Jerry Head. Officer Thomas and I are on A-32, approximately fourteen miles from the center of town, on the eastern stretch. ”

“Copy that. ”

“We’re Code Six investigating skid marks indicating a vehicle recently gone off the road and into some cornfields. It looks like a single-?vehicle accident, possibly a blowout, though the tracks are clean with no rubber debris. ”

“Have you located the vehicle itself?”

“Negative. Request backup so we can check it out. ”