For You (The 'Burg #1)(151)

“He goes to trial, we’re not tryin’ him for rape, Sully.”

“Just fittin’ the puzzle pieces together and they’re all formin’ one picture.” Colt just stared at him and Sully asked, “You want more?”

“You got it?”

“Yeah, or, Chris got it. He went to Skipp’s, pickin’ up somethin’, who knows what, Chris is always workin’ on his house. He saw that Skipp carries three different kinds of hatchets, two types of axes. One of the hatchets looks real familiar to Chris so he asks Skipp about the hatchets and Denny. Skipp, now, this’ll surprise you, the old fart keeps everything. Every invoice for every nut and bolt he’s sold since 1977 when he opened the shop. All organized, all at hand. Skipp remembers Denny, as you would, a man in expensive clothes buyin’ a bunch of hatchets. He starts sortin’ through his little file drawers and pulls out the invoices. Four different trips, Denny bought all three hatchets and both axes. One of those hatchets, same make as the one found in the alley by Angie’s body. None of the remaining was found in the house.”

“He took ‘em with him.”

“Did Miller with one of ‘em, I reckon.”

“Any way Skipp can trace the hatchet in evidence to his shop?” Colt asked.

Sully shook his head. “But, with all the rest of it, a defense attorney would have a helluva job passin’ that off as coincidence, ‘specially if the other four are recovered and that one’s missin’.”

This, fortunately, was true.

Sully took in breath through his nostrils and then said, “Now I got some bad news.”

Colt slowly closed his eyes before he opened them and asked, “And that would be?”

“Monica Merriweather.”

“Fuck,” Colt clipped, he knew what was coming.

“She heard news of Pete, wasn’t hard to put that together with Angie and then snoop around and find Butch. Not to mention Marie and rumor flyin’ around. She came in today too, askin’ questions. The Feds are pissed. They’ve kept the media from linking these cases and they don’t want it out. The idea of some irritatin’ woman who thinks she’s Woodward and Bernstein and works for small town weekly paper breakin’ this story has them in fits.”

“You talk to her?”

Sully nodded but said, “She wants to talk to you.”

Colt leaned back deep in his chair, pointed his face to the ceiling and put both his palms to his forehead.

Only person Sully couldn’t sweet talk or swing to his way of thinking was Monica Merriweather. That was because, if she asked and was persistent enough, she could get to Colt and she liked getting to Colt. She also liked getting into his space and touching him a lot. When he first met her, he thought she was just a toucher. Later, when he saw her around other people, he noticed she saved that just for him.

Colt dropped his hands and looked at Sully. “You tell her I’m not workin’ this case?”

“Seein’ as you were first on the scene, I’m your partner and I am workin’ this case, this is our town, but we still got a task force made up of boys from every department in the county, not to mention the frickin’ Ef Bee Eye, I didn’t share that morsel with her because she’d know somethin’ was up if I did.”

Christ, he hated it when Sully was smarter than him.

“Feds would appreciate it, you have a word with her,” Sully said.

He had no choice and that pissed him off.

“I’ll have a word with her,” Colt replied.

“Got much on the robbery?” Sully asked.

“Got everything on it. Asshole didn’t wear gloves, prints everywhere and he made a mess. He pinged huge when we ran his prints. Junkie from the city, what he’s doin’ out in the sticks is anyone’s guess but riper pickin’s, likely. Figure they got lucky on timing, the family had a redeye back up from vacationing in Florida. Big house, lotsa shit. He probably wouldn’t of cared they were home or not and, if he’s jonesin’ and they confronted him, no tellin’ what he’d do.”

“You run him down?”

“Called into IMPD to check what they know about him and Drew and Sean headed into the city because Feb and I had to go to Amy’s funeral. Drew reports, not surprisingly, he’s not home. His woman says he disappears a lot.”

“Bet he does.”

“Drew and Sean also ran down a couple of his known hangouts but he’s gone. He’s scored and he’s not sharin’ so he’s disappeared.”

“Anything show up in pawn shops?”

“Not yet, least not the ones he’s known to use.”

“So I’m guessin’ IMPD Vice know him.”

“They say he asks for his favorite cell when they bring him in.”

“Jesus,” Sully muttered. “City’s closin’ in on us, Colt.”

“Funny, that,” Colt replied. “City’s closin’ in and the worst crime we ever had was one of our own against our own.”

“Yeah,” Sully said softly, “funny.”

* * * * *

Twenty minutes later, Colt walked into J&J’s.

It was Friday night and the place was a crush. Everyone was on, Ruthie and Jackie working tables, Darryl clearing them, Morrie, Jack and Feb behind the bar.