Ghost Road Blues (Pine Deep 1)

“Sucking it through a tube, mind you,” Crow said, tapping the line that fed cool oxygen into his nose.

“The point is,” Terry said, lacing his hands

behind his head, “that you kicked his behind and the cops think you’re Superman. ”

“So, what did I get shot with? A kryptonite bullet?”

“According to Detective Sergeant Ferro, you must have. ”

“Great, when the nurse comes in I’ll check out her bod with my X-?ray vision. ”

“Go ahead, she looks like Steve Buscemi. ”

“And…who is Detective Sergeant Ferrell, or whatever?”

“Philly cop,” Terry said and explained the interjurisdictional arrangement.

Crow leaned back and stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. He ached to see Val, to hold her and do something to try and comfort her. “Jesus. One man did all this?”

“Uh-?huh. ”

“Um…weren’t there supposed to be three of them?”

Terry sucked his teeth. “‘Were’ is the operative word, boyo. One of them—Kenneth Boyd—is unaccounted for. Mark said that Ruger told them he had an injured buddy out in the fields, but he never showed up, and nobody’s been able to find him. ”

“Maybe he took a hike when he heard all the sirens and stuff. ”

“That’s the talk around the shop. Took the money and lit out for parts unknown. He was supposed to have a broken leg, but then we only have Ruger’s word for it, so take that for whatever it’s worth. Either way, the cops aren’t as worried about him as they are about Ruger. ”

“What about the third guy?”

“He’s dead. ”

“Cops get him?”

Terry hesitated briefly. “No. They think Karl Ruger killed him. Possibly over a dispute about the split, who knows? Point is, Ruger messed him up pretty bad. ”

“What’s ‘pretty bad’ mean?”

“You don’t want to know. ”

Crow saw the green creeping into Terry complexion, and realized that the mayor had seen the body. He didn’t pursue it. “So, then the manhunt is still on. ”

“Uh-?huh, and stronger than ever. We’re hip-?deep in cops. We even reinstated a dozen locals boys. ”

“Oh? Like who?”

Terry recited a list of names.

“Mm,” said Crow doubtfully. “I’d classify them more as ‘warm bodies’ than cops. Most of them aren’t much good for this sort of thing, wouldn’t you say?”

“I agree, but they know the turf, and they can drive a police car. A couple aren’t too bad. Jack Tunny’s okay. Eddie Oswald’s a stand-?up guy, though. ”

“For a Bible thumper. ”

“He was a good officer and stayed by the book. And B. B. Harrison’s not too wretched. We’ve paired each of our locals with one of the cops from Philly, and we have a few loaners from Black Marsh and Crestville. The Philly cops were supposed to be meeting with some FBI types half an hour ago, so pretty soon we’ll have everyone but the National Guard on the job. ”

“Wow. All trying to arrest one man. ”