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before I had to be at work.
Why would you want to go fishing in this cold?
I had the taste for some pan-fry. I don t mind a little cold my daddy and I
used to fish the swamp in cold weather all the time. Fish you get taste better
than the ones you catch in warm weather.
And you were due in to work when?
Three this afternoon. I figured I could get a nice mess of cats and clean em
and freeze em and fry up a plate of them for lunch and still have time to
shower and shave and not smell like dead whale by the time I went in.
So you came out here with your boat and& what?
Put it in right over there. He pointed to a well-worn low spot in the tall
grass the spot was a popular put-in point for any number of swamp fishermen.
Eric nodded. And?
Started to row out toward the cypress knobs fish like to collect around the
base of those, and you can do pretty good with a jar of worms and maybe a
couple of poppers.
And& ?
Tom looked queasy again. Boat sort of thumped and skidded along something.
You know how when you hit something solid you can feel it jar all the way
through your bones, and when something hits you that isn t fixed in place, it
sort of& slides along the boat. Nasty feeling.
I know, Eric agreed.
I got bumped by something big. Figure it wasn t a catfish Lord knows I was
hoping it wasn t a gator lost up our way, but in this weather I don t worry so
much about gators. I flashed my light into the water and saw her staring up at
me, her face under the water and her hair all fanned out. I pissed myself
right then and there. Scared me so bad I damn near fell out of the boat.
Eric glanced at Tom s pants, flicked the flashlight on them for a better view,
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and looked up into Tom s eyes. You go home to change before you call me?
No. After.
Eric considered the times involved, and nodded. Might have been possible, if
only barely. Tom was known to stand on the gas pedal when he drove. You knew
who she was?
After a minute. She didn t look like herself, but after a minute, I could
make out who she was.
You try to pull her out?
Yes.
Didn t make it.
It took you and Carlin and me and that grappling hook you have to work her
loose and fish her out of there into your boat. Don t know how you think I
could have done that by myself. But I surely did try.
I m going to have to confiscate your boat, Eric said. For evidence.
What?
You re my best suspect right at the moment.
The hell you say!
Didn t say I thought you did it just that you were my best suspect. I m
sorry. You were sure in the wrong place at the wrong time but until I have
better evidence, I m going to have to impound your boat.
Tom studied him, surprisingly calm for a man standing there under suspicion of
murder. Well& that s all right. You ll find some real evidence, I reckon. The
innocent don t need to worry. But I have to tell you, I think it s pretty bad
that I try to do the right damn thing, and now I m going to be accused of
killing her.
You aren t accused of anything yet, Tom. I don t have an autopsy. I don t
have any evidence. I haven t searched her body or her house or her car or
listened to her answering machine or anything else. All I have is a corpse in
a bag on its way to autopsy and the boy who found it way too soon after
somebody dumped it in a swamp to hide it.
Tom stared at him. You re not going to railroad me with this, are you, Eric?
I know you got a lot on your mind don t just decide I m the easy answer to the
smallest problem you got because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,
you hear?
Never railroaded anyone yet, Eric said stiffly. Sure nice to know how much
you think of my work ethics. He shooed Tom toward his car. Go home. I ll be
in touch if I need you. Just don t leave town.
Eric spent his morning taking plaster castings of tire prints and footprints
and everything else he could find from around the swamp, looking for any
little thing that might be evidence. Then he drove over to Debora s apartment
and let himself in. The place was lived-in messy a few books piled in front of
the worn sofa, one opened to a page and left facedown on the coffee table, a
cup of coffee sitting half-finished beside it. But there were no signs of
violence, no signs that anyone had been in the place who had no business being
there. Eric lifted fingerprints from every questionable surface, but doubted
that he d get anything useful that way. When he was finished, he checked the
answering machine. No messages. He looked through her closets, rummaged
through her drawers, took both her diary and a stack of notebooks as evidence.
He thought about the note that the coroner had found on her body.
That note made him sick to his stomach.
He went into her bedroom, found the full-length mirror bolted to her wall, and
ran his fingertips across its surface lightly. The gate hummed softly.
But as he stood there, he had the gut-twisting certainty that he was being
watched. The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up, and the metallic
taste of fear filled his mouth. Wanting to flee at a dead run, he instead
turned around nonchalantly and walked back to the kitchen, and dialed Willie s
number. Hey. Need you to come over to Debora s and shut down the gate here
for me. He listened to Willie s weary grumbling for a moment, then said,
Really need to have it done right now. Things being the way they are, I don t
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want to leave one untended. If we get someone to take her place, you ll have
to build a new one but that just can t be helped. I don t know that we ll get
someone else to fill her place& . Yeah. I ll be right here.
When he d finished at Debora s he drove to the sheriff s station, filled Pete
in on what they had to do, then worked out all the devious details. It took
some orchestrating, but Eric made sure his ruse looked good. Pete, in one
squad car, drove around to the back of Lauren s house while he pulled up in
front driving the other. They both had their lights flashing. They had to make
it a show had to make it look good. Because someone was watching.
When Pete was in position, Eric waited a minute longer, then walked slowly up
the stairs to the front porch, loosened his gun in its holster, and rang the
bell. He made sure anyone watching from the street could see the piece of
paper he held in his left hand.
He rang the bell, and after a minute, Lauren came to the front door, holding
her son in her arms. He showed her the paper, took her son away from her, and
Pete came through the back of the house, carrying a box of stuff. That was,
Eric thought, a nice touch. Pete put down the box, cuffed Lauren s hands in
front of her. Jake started to cry and reach for his mama.
Make it look good. Make it look really good. Because somewhere a killer is
watching us.
Eric carried the child to the car; Pete marched Lauren to it, opened the back
door, ushered her in. Eric handed her son to her. Pete slammed the door shut,
went back to the house, locked it up, brought the box of stuff to the other
car.
Both cars, lights still flashing, paraded back to the station.
Only when they were safely back in the station and away from anything that
anyone might see did Eric take Lauren s handcuffs off.
You mind telling me what that was all about? Lauren asked. She stroked
Jake s hair. He clung to her, his head pressed against her shoulder, staring
daggers at Eric.
You just got an unshakable alibi, Eric told her. I now know that you aren t
working with the Sentinels, and that you don t have a partner on the inside
who is feeding you information.
Thanks for the show of faith. I told you that before you decided to throw a
parade. What changed your mind?
Someone killed one of the Sentinels a friend of mine and signed your name to
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