The City PI and the Country Cop (11 page)

“I bet you’re going to tell me you have to
leave since you work tomorrow,” Teague replied, trying to look
disappointed.

“I’m afraid so. Are you still going to be
here Saturday?”

Teague shook his head. “I wish, but I do have
to get home. Even the best vacations have to end sometime.”

Will grinned. “You could always do what I
did. Pull up roots and move here.”

“As tempting the idea might be, I like my job
and my house.”

“Oh well, can’t blame a guy for trying.
Especially when it comes to man as…interesting as you.”

“That was a very bad attempt at a pick-up
line, Will.”

Will laughed. “Yeah I know. Okay, I do have
to get out of here. If you’re still in town tomorrow…”

“I should be. If I haven’t fallen out of the
raft and been swept downstream to God only knows where.”

Grinning, Will replied, “I think they’d get
you before that happened. So, tomorrow night? Here?”

“Yep.”

“Great.” Will hesitated momentarily, gazing
at Teague, with a murmured, “I bet you’re twice as good-looking
without the glasses.” Then he spun around and walked quickly out of
the club.

Oh boy. I don’t think I’ll come back here
again. I do not need that sort of complication. I’m sure he’s a
nice guy but he’s not…
Teague blew out a long breath.
We need
to get this job over with! I have to get back where I belong before
something happens with Hoyt that I won’t be able to rationally deal
with. Ego talking? Maybe. But I don’t think so. We’re drawn to each
other and it won’t work. It
won’t
. So, yeah. Catch the
killer and beat a fast retreat before we both get hurt.

* * * *

Teague returned to the motel room just long
enough to put on a sweatshirt and jacket. From there, he stopped at
a small diner to have them fill his thermos with coffee. By then it
was dark so he moved on to the park. Before he entered, he called
Keir.

“I’m here,” he said when Keir answered.

“Good. I’m just leaving the parking lot.”
There was a low chuckle. “I could have made twenty if I’d been
willing.”

“How did you fend the guy off?”

“Easy. Told him no condom, no blowjob. Thank
God he didn’t have one.”

Teague frowned. “And if he had?”

“I’d have done what was necessary not to
break my cover,” Keir replied tightly. “All right, I’m going
through the park.”

“I see you. It’s busier than I expected.”

“I know. I’m surprised.” Keir snorted softly.
“There’s a couple of homeless guys who did as we thought and laid
low during the police sweep. I let them know it should be safe
enough now. Then we have the end of summer lovebirds taking
advantage of the fact it’s still sort of warm.”

“Warm? Feels pretty chilly to me.” As they
talked, Teague walked to the trees bordering the park. “I’m off to
your right.”

“Wimp,” Keir said, humor in his voice. “Okay,
I’ll take the path. There’s a bench I can use where I’ll be visible
to any guy looking for some…relief.”

“I remember it. I’ll find a spot where I can
watch.”

“Voyeur,” Keir replied with a laugh.

“Hoyt’s right. You’re a smartass. Okay. Be
careful and you know how to let me know if our man approaches you
and tries something.”

“Yeah. Work nightmare into what I’m saying to
him. I’m not stupid.”

“Keir,” Teague muttered. “I know you’re
not.”

“Thanks. Okay. Over and out as they say.”

Keir went silent and Teague closed his phone.
From now on they’d be in contact via their ear phones. Next he
called Hoyt to fill him in, getting a terse acknowledgement in
reply that he was where he could see both Teague and Keir. Teague
glanced around but couldn’t spot Hoyt.

Undoubtedly because he knows this area a lot
better than I do. So now we wait, and pray.

* * * *

It was after two when Keir let Teague know he
was going to find somewhere safe to crash. Teague acknowledged then
let Hoyt know what was happening while tailing Keir from his
vantage point a few yards away. He saw Keir step off the main path
onto a narrower one that wended its way down to the river. Seconds
later, Teague thought he saw something move in the deep shadows
about a hundred yards ahead of him and froze where he was standing.
Straining his eyes, he tried to determine what was there—if
anything. When nothing moved and there was no sound other than that
of the river well off to his left, he inched forward and, deciding
it was safe, quickly crossed the path to the one Keir had gone
down.

It sloped steeply as it wound through the
trees and low brush. At one point Teague heard a muttered “Shit”
through the ear phone and wondered what Keir had tripped over. As
dark as it was, the only light coming from the three-quarter moon,
Teague almost tripped himself a couple of times. Then, as he came
around what he hoped was the last curve before the river, he
spotted Keir. The young man was barely visible, crouching by a
thicket. Then he disappeared completely, so quickly it was as if
someone had pulled him into the underbrush.

“Keir,” Teague murmured, hoping he could be
heard in Keir’s ear phone. There was no reply. Nothing but silence.
“Damn it, acknowledge!”

More silence. Then Teague heard something
rustling not too far from where Keir had vanished. Seconds later
came three words. “What a night…” The last word cut off
suddenly.

A second voice, Holt’s, came over the ear
phone, asking “Trouble?”

“Yes!” Teague spat out as he made a dash to
the thicket. When he rounded it into the trees, he spotted Keir’s
backpack. It would have been invisible it hadn’t landed in a tiny
clear area next to a pine tree. Ahead of him, there were sounds of
a struggle. He raced in that direction, ignoring branches that
whipped his arms and face. The sounds continued, moving away but
more slowly than Teague was approaching them. He burst out of a
stand of trees into a small clearing.

Ahead of him the figure of a man came into
view, holding a short length of rope. The other end of the rope
seemed to be wrapped around his captive’s throat. With a sharp
shove, the man forced his victim to his knees and for a second the
moonlight lit Keir’s face before he tumbled prone into the weeds.
Teague realized in an instant that Keir’s hands were bound behind
him.

“Stay where you are,” the man growled. He
pulled the rope hard and Keir’s head was yanked a foot off the
ground. “I will kill him. Slowly. While you watch.” The man reached
behind his back and when he brought his hand forward again Teague
saw the glint of metal that told him the man had a gun. “And then
you’re next, Don. If that’s your real name.”

“Will?” Teague said in disbelief.

Will chuckled. “In the flesh. Now hands in
the air, then move closer.” Teague did as he was ordered until Will
told him to stop.

“He’s going to choke to death,” Teague said
angrily.

“You bet he is, but not immediately.” Will
lowered the hand holding the rope and Keir was again face-first in
the weedy dirt. “Turn and back up to me,” Will said. “Slowly. Keep
your hands up.”

“If I don’t?”

Teague got his reply when Will fired. The
bullet grazed Teague’s thigh, leaving a trail of pain behind.

“Next time, it will be higher. Maybe in your
arm. Your shoulder. I’m an expert shot.” Will jerked the rope
around Keir’s throat again and the young man gurgled as his head
and shoulders left the ground.

“Drop the gun!” Hoyt ordered, his voice
filled with fury as he stepped into view behind Will. “Now!”

Will whirled around, firing as he did.

Teague heard Hoyt swear, but not before he
also shot. Will went down and as the moon rose above the tops of
the trees Teague saw blood pouring from a wound in his side. Teague
took two limping steps, bent and picked up Will’s fallen gun. Then
he moved to Keir, unfastening the rope around the young man’s neck.
“Knife?” Teague asked after removing the gag from Keir’s mouth.

“Waistband,” Keir rasped out. Teague found it
and cut the rope binding Keir’s wrists.

Then he went over to Hoyt, who was leaning
against a tree trunk, his phone pressed to his ear. Teague saw the
shoulder of Hoyt’s dark blue jacket turn even darker and knew that
it was blood and he’d been hit.

Teague grabbed Hoyt when he began to fall,
easing him down to lean against the tree, the phone still clasped
tightly against his ear while he managed to tell whoever was on the
other end of the line that they needed an ambulance…”or three. Plus
some officers. Track me with that damned GPS. We’re in the park.
Close to the river.” That was all he managed to say before he
passed out.

Teague grabbed the phone and gave the man on
the other end a few more details and a somewhat better set of
directions for how to find them. At the same time he pulled the
right side of Hoyt’s jacket and shirt back as far as possible to
see how badly he’d been shot.

“Use this,” Keir said, coming up beside them.
He held out a cut off sweatshirt sleeve. Using his knife, he sliced
through Hoyt’s shirt so they could see the wound.

Teague pressed it to Hoyt’s shoulder,
glancing at Will as he did. The man was curled in a fetal position,
his arms lashed behind his back, blood soaking into the ground.

“Guess I was the only one who didn’t get
shot,” Keir commented. “How bad is yours?”

“Flesh wound,” Teague replied tersely. “Where
are the damned medics? Hoyt’s bleeding badly. If the bullet hit a
vein…”

“Calm down. They’ll get here. We’re not
exactly in the middle of Main Street.”

They heard sirens off in the distance. Keir
got up immediately, heading out of the clearing. “I’ll bring them
back,” he called over his shoulder.

It seemed like forever, although Teague knew
logically it was only minutes, before Keir returned, closely
followed by EMTs, police officers, and the police chief.

* * * *

Once Teague and Keir were released from the
ER at the county hospital—mid-morning after the battle with Will
Endicott—they were escorted back into town, to the police
department.

“How is Hoyt doing?” were the first words out
of Teague’s mouth when he walked through the door to Chief Davis’s
office. He had tried to find out before he left the hospital but
was told that HIPAA wouldn’t allow the hospital to tell him more
than that Hoyt was alive. He’d figured that would be the case, but
gave it a try nonetheless.

“He’ll be in intensive care for the next
twenty-four hours,” the chief replied. “Since I have his power of
attorney in case of emergencies, the doctors were able to give me
the details. The bullet, thank God, missed the subclavian artery.
If it hadn’t, he might well have bled out before the EMTs even got
to him. It nicked the—” the chief glanced at a notepad on his desk.
“The brachial plexus—which the doc told me is a bundle of nerves
that control arm function—and fractured his clavicle. He made it
through surgery and the doctor is fairly certain that he’ll regain
the full function of his arm.”

Teague blew out a long breath of relief
before asking, “What about Will Endicott?”

“To start with, that’s not his real name but
I’ll get to that in a moment. The bullet went in, shattering two
lower ribs. From there it bounced around, hitting his spleen and a
kidney. He’s undergone preliminary surgery but it will take another
round, they say, before all the damage is repaired. We won’t be
able to interview him for several days.”

“But he will live?”

“Barring complications, which are possible of
course.”

Teague nodded. “Who is he in actuality?”

Again the chief consulted his notes. “I
received the results on his fingerprints twenty minutes ago from
IAFIS. According to them, he is Bradley William Irwin, male
Caucasian, age thirty-two, born in Bent Township, which is in the
northwest corner of the state.” Looking up again, he said, “That’s
all we have on him at the moment but once we do a background
check…”

“Do you mind if I have my agency run one? I
know it’s stepping on your toes.”

Chief Davis frowned momentarily before
replying. “If you have people who know what they’re doing, I don’t
see why not.”

“I do, and they’re experts. It’s part of what
we do on a daily basis.”

The chief handed over his notes and Teague
placed a call to Jake Baxter, relaying the information and why he
needed to know everything he could find on Mr. Irwin as soon as
possible.

While Teague was on the phone, Chief Davis
asked Keir how he was doing.

“According to the docs, I’ll live,” Keir
replied with a small grin. He touched the bandages on his throat.
“Abrasions, strain from when he jerked me off the ground with the
rope, but other than that I’m good.”

“What about up here?” the chief asked,
tapping his temple.

“Meaning because I almost became victim
number six? I knew that wouldn’t happen. I had Teague and Hoyt as
backup. Still…” His expression darkened. “I got a taste, however
mild, of what those boys went through. Not the sodomy, thank God,
but the terror and the strangling.” He shuddered.

Teague put his arm around Keir’s shoulders,
saying quietly, “You did a great job. Thanks to you there won’t be
any more kids going through what they did.”

“Thanks to both of you, and Hoyt,” Chief
Davis added firmly. “I take it your wound was relatively minor,
Teague, since you’re up and moving already.”

“Yep. It was superficial. In and out with
nothing major hit. They shot me full of antibiotics and a
painkiller, bandaged the wound, and told me to get out of their
hair. Well, maybe not the last but…”

The chief chuckled. “Understood. What are
your plans now?”

“After we find out more about Will, or rather
Bradley Irwin? Stay here until you can interrogate him. I want; no,
I need to know why he began killing the same way as the murderer
almost thirty years ago. Did Irwin know him? Or is he just a
copycat?”