Sadie rocked her head from side to side. “Mister, you don’t have to do this. If I did something wrong, I’ll make it right.”
He tossed the dirt on her chest and face. Her nose filled with dirt, and she snorted several times to clear her nostrils.
“I wish my father could see me now,” he said. “He’d be proud.”
She spit out dirt. “He wouldn’t like this. He wouldn’t.”
His smile was tender. “No, he’d be proud.”
“Jo would hate this!”
“I know. She wouldn’t understand.”
A clump of dirt hit her face, landing in her nose and eyes. She tried to shake the dirt from her head but more dirt walloped her face until she could barely breathe.
The drugs didn’t stem the panic, which now cut through her like a razor. As more dirt hit her face, her last thought was she was a nobody. There wasn’t a cavalry coming. No last-minute rescue. She was lost to the world forever.
Chapter Nineteen
Wednesday, April 17, 11:00 A.M.
Luke and Tommy should have been in school. Today they were supposed to take the midterm in history. But after a long, cold winter, the warm weather had been too tantalizing. Each had been talking about skipping and going fishing at Sweeney Lake, and last night when Luke had heard the weather forecast, he had decided today would be the big day. Today they’d skip. He’d opted not to tell Tommy last night because the kid couldn’t keep a secret worth shit. He’d waited until this morning when he knew Tommy was eating his bagel and watching Cartoon Network like he did every day.
It’s the day!
Tommy had laughed when he’d seen the text. He’d been scared. He’d worried. He’d almost said no but Luke’s next text had arrived. Pussy?
Tommy had laughed and known he couldn’t back down. They’d talked about this day for months. So he had kissed his mom good-bye, taken his lunch and headed out as if he was taking the bus to school. Luke had picked him up in his older brother’s truck at the corner, and they’d headed out of town.
Now as they sat on the dock jutting into the lake, neither one could have designed a more perfect day.
Tommy cast his line into the water. “What do you think those poor slobs are doing in school right now?”
Luke closed his eyes and tipped his head toward the warm sun. He’d wedged his pole between the open slats of the pier. “Staring at the clock and counting the seconds to the lunch bell.”
Tommy laughed. “If they could see us now.”
Luke’s stomach grumbled as he thought about lunch. He’d already eaten the school lunch his mother had made and was ready for more food. “We should go get some burgers.”
“God, man, we just got situated. Soon we’ll be snagging fish.”
Luke sat up and stared over the calm, clear waters of the lake. “We’re gonna toss ’em back. Not like we could eat them.”
Tommy turned the handle on his reel. “All you think about is food.”
Luke shrugged. “And sex with Rene Rogers. God, what I wouldn’t give to suck her tits.”
Laughing, Tommy dug in his pocket for his can of dip. “I’d definitely pay money to see those tits. You think they’re real or is she all padding?”
“My sister says they are real.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I know.”
Tommy pulled a wad of tobacco out of the silver can and wedged it in the side of his cheek. He’d offered the can to Luke who did the same.
Minutes passed before Tommy reeled in his line a little more. This time it caught. “Hey, I’ve got something.”
Luke yawned. “Catch the big one and toss it back, then we can go get something real to eat.”
Tommy reeled the line in more, noting the heavy tension weighing the line. “Yeah, sure. Get off your ass and help me with this one.”
Luke stretched his arms before reaching for the net, ready to scoop up a fish.
The fishing line bent and groaned and a couple of times Tommy had to release tension for fear it would snap. “This one has to be the granddaddy of all fish.”
Luke’s eyes snapped with more interest. “I heard there are twenty pounders in the lake.”
“Cool. If I catch one.”
Luke pulled his cell from his back pocket. “I’ll take a picture and post it.”
“Yeah. And every douche in the county will know we skipped.”
“Good point. I’ll post it on Saturday.”
Tension stretched Tommy’s line to snapping. “That’s a plan.”
Luke leaned over the dock and stared at the end of Tommy’s line, which pulled from the water as if an anchor were tied to it. “God, is that like the creature from the Black Lagoon?”
“Shit. I think you’re right.”
Luke watched Tommy struggle, and the fishing line growing tighter and tighter. “It can’t be a fish.”
“Maybe it’s an old tire.”
Tommy frowned. “I think I see something.”
Luke stared at the surface and the black object rising toward it. He lay on the dock, his belly flat, as he reached for the object. His fingers brushed wet canvas. “It’s a bag.”
Tommy grimaced as he backed up, pulling the bag closer to the dock. “See if you can grab it.”
Luke reached out and with long fingers grabbed a fistful of canvas and hauled the waterlogged bag to the dock.
Water gushed as Tommy unfastened his hook from the bag. “What the fuck?”
Luke’s heart raced with excitement. “Think it’s loaded with money or something?”
“That would be awesome. But it smells like shit.”
“Nobody tosses a bag like this in a lake if they aren’t trying to hide something.”
“Like stolen money.” His grin froze. “Or maybe it’s a body.”
Luke laughed. “Yeah, right. Shit, man, nobody tosses a body in Sweeney Lake. It’s like the most suburban lake in the world.”
His lips compressed. “Yeah, well who would toss money?”
“I don’t know. But it’s gonna be one bitching story either way.”
Tommy set his rod aside and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Open it, and let’s see.”
“You open it.”
“I caught it.”
“I dragged it in.”
Tommy shoved out a breath. “You’re such a pussy.” He knelt and reached for the zipper, only to discover it had been sealed with a plastic holder.
Luke pulled a knife from his back pocket. “Kinda drastic.” With a flick of the knife blade he released the bit of plastic and unzipped the zipper.
Tommy peered in the bag for a split second before he recoiled. “Fuck!”
Luke leaned over his shoulder and looked. “Shit!”
Inside the bag was the headless torso of a woman wrapped in plastic. Her arms and legs were gone and her skin was a grayish white texture and she looked more like a prop from a horror film than anything close to human.
Both boys scrambled off the dock, each knocking into the other as they rushed toward dry land.
Tommy was breathing so hard he nearly hyperventilated.
Luke turned to his side and vomited up the lunch he’d just eaten.
Brody arrived at Sweeney Lake after one. Cop cars, lights flashing, crowded the open land around the lake and the dock had been roped off with yellow crime scene tape.
He was annoyed he’d been called away from his desk, where he’d spent the better part of the morning reading up on Dayton and digging into his past. He’d found nothing to link Smith and Dayton. Evidence didn’t link the two killers but that didn’t mean Dayton wasn’t deadly. The Austin cops were certain he’d killed his wife, but just couldn’t prove it.
Before he’d left Jo’s early this morning, he’d made her promise she’d call if she saw Dayton. He didn’t care how benign the circumstances. If she saw him, he wanted a call.
Brody put on his hat and moved across the open land toward Santos. “Why the call?”