River Bodies (Northampton County #1)(17)

“Hey, John,” Chitter called from the living room. “You might want to get in here.”

The rest of the guys were rousing, and some of their girls too. Clothes were sorted, and everyone dressed. They surrounded the TV when the local news came back on, the volume on as high as anyone could stand it. Yellow crime scene tape marked off the area behind the reporter. She was talking about a body that had been found next to one of the cement columns under the pedestrian bridge.

“That didn’t take long,” Chitter said and glanced in John’s direction.

“Shut up,” John said. Chitter should’ve known better than to say anything in front of the girls, even if it was just some stupid innocuous remark. Business was never discussed in the presence of non–club members.

The reporter shoved her microphone in the face of an elderly man whom John recognized from town. The man’s name was Paul. He owned the antique store along Route 611 and what was also Delaware Drive. John had gone into the store once or twice with Beth and not since.

Paul told the reporter he’d been out with his grandson on the river fishing when they had spotted the body. The camera zoomed in on the grandson’s face, but the boy hid behind Paul’s leg. Paul rubbed his grandson’s back, comforting him as the camera lens swung back to the reporter.

The front door flew open, and Hap stepped inside. “Jesus Christ, it stinks in here.”

Some of the guys looked over their shoulders at Hap, then turned back to the news.

Hap looked at the TV, then at John. “Get these girls out of here,” he said to the other members. “Now.”

Chitter and some of the guys grumbled, but they did what they were told. They collected the girls, including the one John had found in his bed, and escorted them out of the house. Hap was the oldest member of the club and the one most respected. No one questioned Hap’s orders.

In the next few minutes, their motorcycles fired up, making it impossible to hear the TV. But once the guys had gone, John found the silence was worse.

“I’ll send over a couple of prospects to clean this place up,” Hap said and poured a cup of coffee. He handed it to John.

John took it. He felt numb on the inside, void of any emotion as he stared at the TV and the pretty news reporter who was trying to get one of the police officers to answer her questions.

“No comment,” the officer said.

The station was about to cut away to another segment when there was a commotion coming from behind the yellow tape.

An officer yelled, “Hey, Parker. You’re going to want to see this.”





CHAPTER NINE

Detective Parker Reed squatted next to the body. His stomach turned. He was sure the color had drained from his face. “What exactly are we looking at?”

“A field dressing,” Nathan said. He moved a flap of skin with his gloved hand. “Gutted like an animal. And see this.” He pointed to an area on the skin in the upper chest. “That’s from a bullet.” He turned toward Parker. “Do we know where this happened?”

“No.” Parker’s mouth was slick with warm saliva.

“Well, you might want to start by looking for this guy’s intestines, his heart, liver.”

“Right.” Parker stood, covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

Nathan smiled, shaking his head.

Parker had seen other dead bodies on the job from gunshot wounds, car wrecks, and drownings. And once he’d seen the body of a burn victim. But this was his first case as lead detective, and he’d never seen one carved up like an animal, dumped into the river like a piece of trash.

He swallowed hard. “How long was this one in the water?” he asked.

“Not that long. I’m guessing less than twenty-four hours,” Nathan said, looking back at the body, puzzling out the injuries.

Parker hesitated, collected himself, pulled it together, before he headed up the bank and ducked under the crime scene tape. The local news van was parked near the bridge. A small crowd had gathered. The reporter was interviewing Paul and his grandson live on camera. She caught Parker’s eye.

“No comment,” he said, deflecting her. He continued walking. The reporter returned her attention to Paul, never missing a beat.

Parker stopped next to his unmarked cruiser where Bill was standing, scratching his head. Bill had been sent from headquarters to assist Parker until they found him a permanent partner. Parker worked out of the field station. Headquarters was located in Bethlehem, a forty-minute drive away.

“What do you have for me?” Parker asked Bill.

“I talked to a few people, but no one knows anything. No one’s come forward about a missing person,” Bill said.

“Let’s check with the Jersey police too. Maybe someone reported a missing person on their side.” It had been less than twenty-four hours, and the chance of a missing person report having been filed was a long shot, but they had to start somewhere. The sooner they identified the victim, the closer they’d come to finding out who had done this.

“It’s like that other one,” Bill said, keeping his voice down. “That other body they pulled from the river back when we were just a couple of kids.”

Parker didn’t say anything, but that was exactly what he was thinking.





CHAPTER TEN