Part 8 (1/2)

”He's in court. I just wanted somebody else to know where I was, in case I get--” Then he was gone.

Through her confusion, Rae was aware of Sam's voice droning on the other conversation. ”I see. I see. Have you notified Mr. and Mrs. Farris?”

She had the eerie feeling that the two calls shared a common subject matter. But Sam's brooding face showed no overt change of expression as he hung up the receiver.

”We'll have to reschedule,” he said. ”Something terrible has happened. Dee's son Kevin has died.”

The renovation crew of one had arrived at the Golden house right on schedule. Danny had left several messages on Kevin's cell phone to let him know in advance, but he'd never returned the calls.

Then the call from Pat Keech: ”Danny,” Pat gagged and Danny could hear the vomit in his voice, ”you got a problem. There's a dead body in the house and if you go by the stench, he's been ripening for quite a spell.”

”Call nine-one-one.” Common sense on his side for a change, Danny determined instantly that there was no way he was going into that house before the law got there.

”I done that first. They're on their way.”

Then panic grabbed Danny's heart in a hammer lock. He was afraid to ask Pat for a description of the deceased. Logically, it would be Kevin or one of his drug buddies. But Josh had not yet made contact, and Danny still hadn't told anybody his son was missing. Head in the sand again or maybe up his a.s.s. There had always been animosity between Josh and Kevin, usually over Kevin's disrespectful treatment of Beth. But if the little t.u.r.d had harmed Josh, he would...would what? He was too late to do anything.

He made the twenty-five minute drive to Golden in forty, telling himself it was the old truck's fault. There was a Jeffco Sheriff's car in the driveway, and two deputies were talking to Pat as Danny parked. Somehow he couldn't make his legs move to get out of the truck.

Just for the h.e.l.l of it, he punched in Josh's number on his cell for the umpteen thousandth time and-there was a G.o.d! His son answered.

”Dad?”

He sounded far away, scared, but alive. Danny felt real tears on his face and joy at the prospect of Kevin rotting away, no longer a problem.

The reception sucked. He could hear Josh fading in and out. Just sounds, but his son's voice didn't need words.

Some words finally came through. ”I'm with Beth.”

”Where?”

Josh didn't answer. Bad reception or he didn't want to tell.

”Mr. La.s.siter?” A lean, young deputy was at Danny's window. His freckled face had some of those premature worry lines that come early to fair skinned folk.

”We need you to come inside and make an identification as soon as the crime scene people are finished.”

Then he noticed the second county vehicle parked across the street. His legs moved freely now. He got out of the truck and started toward Pat, but the kid deputy blocked his way.

”Mr. Keech is going to meet us at the station to give his statement.”

Pat got into his truck without looking in Danny's direction. As he turned back toward the house, Danny caught the glint of something s.h.i.+ny in his grizzled beard.

”When did you last see your stepson Kevin Cantrell? He lived here, right?” The kid was in his face, a pen and notepad at the ready.

Not recently. Danny shuffled through his recollections of Kevin, none of them pleasant. ”Would you believe, not since his mother's funeral?”

”And that was when?”

”February.”

”This year?”

”Yes.”

Danny heard voices coming from the front of the house as the crime scene crew exited carrying plastic bags.

The second deputy, chubby and seasoned, motioned to them from the front door. As Kid Cop and Danny approached, Seasoned offered them disposable masks. Kid popped his on, but Danny waved away the offer. How bad could it be? Josh was alive. Kevin was inconsequential.

Inside, the house looked worse than he remembered when he'd let Pat in to do his estimate. Danny's eyes raced ahead of his nose as he saw what must be Kevin, except something had been eating on his face. Probably rats. The place was littered with garbage, beer cans and...Danny felt his breakfast lurch into reverse as his sense of smell kicked in with a vengeance.

”It's him,” he choked out just before he puked all over Kid Cop, who stood between him and the front door.

They needed Danny's statement. Routine, said the older cop. For obvious reasons, Danny no longer thought of him as ”seasoned.” Any term a.s.sociated with food or eating was definitely off limits for whatever length of time it took to get the d.a.m.n smell out of his head. He wondered how smells could echo long after you leave their source.

The route to the Jefferson County complex was fresh in his mind from his recent trip to the coroner's office with Rae. Two days had pa.s.sed, but everything from that day was still pressing uncomfortably on his psyche.

Danny cleaned up as best he could in the public restroom before presenting himself at the desk and giving his name. Through a gla.s.s part.i.tion he could see Pat walking into a room with a couple of plain clothes guys.

”Have a seat, Mr. La.s.siter.” A pleasant-faced woman deputy in Jeffco olive drab motioned him toward a chair. She looked like someone's mother.

Danny remembered that Dee had been someone's mother. His last memory of her had been after she'd been all prettied up for the funeral. She'd looked like a wax doll. But Kevin was death in the raw. If he didn't get some air, he was going to be sick again.

”Where are you going?” Mother Cop was on his case.

”Just out for a smoke.”

She nodded as if she understood. He went out front and called Rae. Danny knew she didn't bill for these short calls, but Sandy did. The reception was almost as bad as it'd been with Josh, and he noticed that the battery was mostly dead. He'd forgotten to charge it. Then he smoked, but it didn't take the smell of death away.

As he started back into the building, a gold Lexus pulled into the parking area. Danny recognized his brother-in-law's car before he saw Nate in the driver's seat. Beside him, the woman behind a pair of Serengetis looked like Morgan, though her hair was covered by a yellow scarf.

Should he wait and hold the door to the building open for them? Attempt conversation? Morgan's body language, as she came toward him like a drill sergeant, killed that idea. Danny didn't have to see her eyes to know what was in them. He let go of the door, but not quick enough. Morgan caught it on the fly. She and Nate bore down upon him like the furies until they all stopped at Mother Cop's desk ”Nice to see you're up and about, Morgan,” Danny blurted. Morgan shook her head as if she were trying to rid her ear of a buzzing insect. Nate's face wore a surprised expression. Perhaps his words had been somewhat inappropriate and his smile, too bright, but he'd tried to be civil, hadn't he?

Opportunely, two plain clothes men stepped from the inner sanctum where Pat had gone and guided Danny and his in-laws toward separate interrogation rooms.

”Take a seat, Mr. La.s.siter.”

Danny a.s.sumed this must be good cop. Then bad cop entered and he was a she. At least, that was Danny's first impression. They didn't introduce themselves or each other. Just got down to business.

”When did you last see your stepson Kevin Cantrell?”

”About twenty minutes ago.”

The cops exchanged eye-rolls.

”I'll rephrase,” said Good Cop. ”When did you last see Kevin Cantrell alive?”

”At his mother's funeral. End of February.”