Lethal Read Free

are that’s an alias, but it’s the name on his employee records and all that we have to go on at present. We lifted prints off his car… Yeah, that’s the damnedest thing. You’d think he would’ve sped away from the scene, but his car is still parked in the employee lot. Maybe he thought it would be spotted too easily. Or, I guess if you go and kill seven people in cold blood, you’renot thinking logically. Best we can tell, he fled the scene on foot.”
    Fred paused to take a breath. “I’ve already put his prints into the national pipeline. I’m betting something will turn up. A guy like this has gotta have priors. Whatever we get on him will be passed along, but I’m not waiting on further info, so you shouldn’t either. Start looking for him A.S.A.P. You got my fax?… Good. Make copies and pass them out to your deputies for distribution.”
    While the sheriff was assuring Fred of his department’s capacity for finding men at large, Fred nodded a greeting to his twin brother, Doral, who joined him where he was standing outside his patrol car.
    It was parked on the shoulder of the two-lane state highway in a sliver of shade cast by a billboard sign advertising a gentleman’s club that was located near the New Orleans airport. Sixty-five miles to the exit. The coldest drinks. The hottest women. Totally nude.
    All sounded good to Fred, but he forecast that it would be a while before he could seek entertainment. Not until Lee Coburn was accounted for.
    “You heard right, Sheriff. Bloodiest crime scene I’ve ever had the misfortune of investigating. Full-scale execution. Sam Marset was shot in the back of the head at close range.”
    The sheriff expressed his disgust over the viciousness of the crime, then signed off with his pledge to be in touch if the murderous psycho was spotted in his parish.
    “Windbag could talk the horns off a billy goat,” Fred complained to his brother as he disconnected.
    Doral extended him a Styrofoam cup. “You look like you could use a coffee.”
    “No time.”
    “Take time.”
    Impatiently Fred removed the lid from the cup and took a sip. His head jerked back in surprise.
    Doral laughed. “Thought you could use a little pick-me-up, too.”
    “We ain’t twins for nothing. Thanks.”
    As Fred drank the liberally spiked coffee, he surveyed the line of patrol cars parked along the edge of the road. Dozens of uniformed officers from various agencies were milling around nearby, some talking on cell phones, others studying maps, most looking befuddled and intimidated by the job at hand.
    “What a mess,” Doral said under his breath.
    “Tell me something I don’t know.”
    “As city manager, I came out to offer any help that I or the City of Tambour can provide.”
    “As lead investigator on the case, I appreciate the city’s support,” Fred said drolly. “Now that the official bullshit is out of the way, tell me where you think he ran to.”
    “You’re the cop, not me.”
    “But you’re the best tracker for miles around.”
    “Since Eddie was killed, maybe.”
    “Well, Eddie ain’t here, so you’re it. You’re part bloodhound, too. You could find a flea on a pissant.”
    “Yeah, but fleas ain’t as slippery as this guy.”
    Doral had arrived dressed not as a city official, but as a hunter, fully expecting that his twin would recruit him to join the manhunt. He took off his dozer cap and fanned his face with it as he gazed toward the edge of the woods where those involved in the search were gathering.
    “That slipperiness of his has got me worried.” Fred would admit that only to his brother. “We gotta catch this son of a bitch, Doral.”
    “Like right effing now.”
    Fred chugged the rest of his bourbon-laced coffee and tossed the empty cup onto the driver’s seat of his car. “You ready?”
    “If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up.”
    The two joined the rest of the search party. As its appointed organizer, Fred gave the command. Officers