Dead Man's Song (Pine Deep 2)

Barney’s face was flushed with anger, but he took a couple of br

eaths and nodded. “Whatever you need, Dr. Weinstock. ”

They looked at each other for a long moment, then Weinstock gave a single curt nod. “Okay, I am going to do the autopsies on these officers, and you are going to assist me, correct?”

“Yes, sir. ”

“However, once you leave this room, you are going to forget everything that happened here, understand? Everything you see. Everything I say when I make my notes. ” He paused. “Everything. ”

“Yes, Dr. Weinstock. Absolutely clear. You can count on me. ”

Weinstock wiped sweat from his face with a paper towel. “Good,” he said softly. “Good man. ”

“Dr. Weinstock…what’s going on? What’s happening?”

Weinstock looked at him for a very long time, his dark eyes intense, bright, but also watery. “What’s happening?” he murmured. He gave a short, harsh bark of a laugh. “What’s happening is something that can’t be happening. ”

Barney frowned at him and felt very afraid.

Chapter 13

(1)

When Jim Polk’s cell phone rang he nearly pissed on his shoes. He jiggled and finished as fast as he could and was zipping up with one hand while digging his phone out of his pocket with the other. He flipped it open, saw Vic’s name on the caller ID and almost—almost—didn’t answer. Instead he flicked a glance at the police cruiser parked at an angle to the entrance to the Guthrie farm, where he could see his partner, Dixie McVey, reading a copy of Celebrity Skin magazine. Oblivious. Polk shifted out of sight behind a big oak and punched the RECEIVE button. “Yeah,” he said.

“You alone?” Vic asked.

“Yeah. Me and Dix are doing some bullshit shift, sitting on our thumbs outside of the Guthrie place. Waste of fu—”

“Are you alone?” Vic repeated, adding some edge to it. “Can McVey hear you?”

“No, I stepped out to take a whiz. ”

“Well, put your pecker back in your drawers and listen up. ”

“Okay, okay…go ahead,” Polk said neutrally, absolutely sure he didn’t want to hear whatever it was Vic was going to say.

“What’s the scoop on this manhunt bullshit?”

“They’re still looking for Boyd. Nobody’s found shit. ”

Vic chuckled. “They will. I just made sure Boyd would be spotted far away from here. ”

“You tried that shit before and the dumb son of a bitch came back. ”

“Ancient history, it’s all been sorted out now. I can guarantee that he’ll do what we want from now on. ”

Polk felt sick. “About that, Vic…why’d he have to let Boyd kill Nels Cowan? Nels was okay. ”

“Well, life’s a bitch sometimes, but trust me when I tell you it wasn’t part of the Plan. Boyd screwed up but now he’s more or less on a leash. Either way, these things have a way of working out, so I’m looking at it less as a killing and more as a recruitment. ”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what you think it means, Jimmy. ”

The sickness in Polk’s stomach turned to greasy slush. “Oh, Jesus…”

“That ain’t why I called, though. Your cousin Kenny still work at the quarry? Still the shift foreman?”