Zero Day (John Puller, #1)(26)

Cole straightened up and put her hands on her hips. “Why the subterfuge? Even if we didn’t catch it here, the post would have.”

“The post might have. Maybe they were counting on you having to get a paramedic to do the cutting and missing it. Or no X-ray so they don’t see the bullet in the brain. Happens all the time, unfortunately, and they probably thought it was worth a shot here. The good news is there’s no exit wound on either one. That means the rounds are still in them.” He eyed Lou. “This is obviously not the guy you spoke with yesterday.”

“No. He was a lot thinner and was clean-shaven,” conceded Lou a bit lamely.

“Give us a full description of him.”

Lou did so.

Puller said, “We’ll have to check for ID here.”

Cole spoke up. “And this guy was obviously already dead when that guy was pulling a slick one on you, Lou. Get his description to dispatch and put out a BOLO. Go do it now, although the guy’s probably long gone.”

Lou left and she turned to Puller. “Now we’ve got two crime scenes to work. This is going to drain my resources fast. Think the Army can spare some more people?”

“Don’t know,” said Puller, who thought, They could only spare me initially. Does that change now or not?

“Well, they have to be connected. At least we know that. Way too big a coincidence to have two murders on the same street at the same time by two different sets of killers.”

When he didn’t respond to this she said again, “They have to be connected, right?”

“Nothing has to be anything. It has to be proven.”

“But you got any early theories as to why they might be tied together?”

Puller eyed the window. “That looks directly across to the Reynolds place.”

Cole went to stand by the window and looked out. “So you’re thinking these folks saw something over there and had to be silenced?”

“But if you reverse it the Reynoldses’ front window looks right back at this place.”

Cole nodded, seeing where this line of reasoning was going. “So it’s chicken and egg? Who saw what first?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, it really has to be one or the other.”

“No it doesn’t,” said Puller.

CHAPTER

18


THE BODIES YIELDED FEW CLUES.

The basement was far more interesting.

Puller and Cole had searched the lower level and come to a door that was locked. With Cole’s okay, Puller opened the door using a tire iron he found in an old storage bin set against one wall. The revealed room was ten feet wide and twelve feet deep.

On a long folding table were propane tanks, bottles of paint thinner, a can of camp stove fuel, Mason jars, rolls of tubing, gas cylinders, pill bottles and rock salt, funnels and clamps, coffee filters, pillowcases, coolers, and thermos bottles.

“You got a biohazard team?” asked Puller, putting a hand over his mouth and nose to shield his lungs from the smell of solvents and chemicals.

“Meth lab,” said Cole.

“Meth lab,” repeated Puller. “You got a biohazard team?” he asked again. “This thing could blow up. And take the crime scene upstairs with it.”

“We don’t have a biohazard team, Puller.”

“Then I’ll make one.”

Twenty minutes later, with the neighbors and Cole and her deputies watching, Puller reentered the house dressed in a hooded green biohazard suit with an air filter, red shoe coverings, and green gloves, all of which he kept packed in his rucksack. Puller methodically pored over the site, dusting for and lifting prints, separating potentially volatile substances from each other, and photographing and tagging all of it. Two hours later he stepped outside and noted the sun was nearly down. He took off his hood. His body was drenched with sweat. The house had been hot. Inside the suit added at least another twenty degrees.

Cole saw the beads of sweat on his face, the flattened wet hair. She handed him a bottle of cold water. “You okay? You look whipped.”

He drank down half the liquid. “I’m good. Lot of stuff in there. I worked a bunch of drug lab cases in the Army. That lab was pretty rudimentary but effective. They could turn out some decent product, just not that much.”

“While you were working that I found a place to take the bodies.”

“Where?”

“Local funeral home. They have refrigeration facilities.”

“It needs to be secure.”

“I’m posting two deputies here and one there. Rotate 24/7.”

Puller stretched out his back.

“You hungry?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“There’s a good restaurant in town. It’s open late.”

“Late enough for me to grab a shower and change my clothes?”

“Yes. I plan on doing the same. Try to get the stench out.”

“Tell me how to get there.”

“Where are you staying?”

“Annie’s Motel.”

“Restaurant’s only three minutes from there, two blocks to the east. Hang a right on Cyrus Street. Can’t miss it. Hell, everything here is only three minutes from each other. That kind of town.”

“Forty minutes to the hotel. Ten minutes to shower and dress. Five minutes there. I’ll see you in sixty minutes.”