Matt Royal Mystery - 03 - Blood Island by H. Terrell Griffin Read Free Book Online Page A

what those lawyers were going through. They weren't getting enough sleep, they were eating on the run, they had abandoned their
families for the duration, and their ulcers were burning in their guts.
    I'd been a trial lawyer in Orlando for a long time. The pressure on
those who go into the pit to do battle is enormous, and too many of them
turn to alcohol. I did. That was a big part of Laura's decision to end our
marriage, and it eventually ended my career. I wasn't run out of the profession; I just gave up and moved to Longboat Key.
    A good man talked me into taking one last case, to right a wrong done
him. I beat the alcohol problem, regained my self-respect, won the case,
and not incidentally, made some money. I had enough to live modestly for
the rest of my life, and I was content.

    At seven thirty, I called Bill Lester. I explained what Logan and I had
found out the day before, and asked him whether the North Port and
Venice young people had gone missing recently.
    "I don't think you're going to find any connection between Simmermon and the missing kids," he said. "Varn was probably lying when he
said he dropped them at Robarts."
    "I know, but I'd like to satisfy my curiosity. Will you check on it?"
    "I'll check on it and let you know. By the way, I got a note on my desk
overnight about that body you found at Pelican Man's."
    "Did you get an ID?"
    "No, but the body disappeared yesterday. From the county morgue."
    "How in the world does something like that happen?"
    "Somebody from a funeral home showed up with papers signed by
the family, directing the morgue to turn over the body. Only problem was,
after the hearse left, a supervisor looked at the papers and thought they
were a little hokey."
    "Hokey?"
    "Yeah. You know Not right somehow. How would the family have
known the body was there if it hadn't even been identified yet? Anyway, the
supervisor called the funeral home, and nobody there had heard anything
about the body or its being picked up."
    "Weird. What's Sarasota PD doing about it?" I asked.
    "Investigating. Whatever that means. They're also keeping the whole
thing under wraps. The detectives think it might be some sort of death
cult that uses bodies in their rituals. If the body was unidentified, no family would be looking for it, and they could get it with minimal fuss."
    I laughed. "This place gets kinkier and kinkier."
    "I hear you, Matt. Everybody's living the dream. I'll call you later
about the missing people."
    The chief called an hour later. "No go," he said. "Those kids in North Port
and Venice disappeared months ago, long before Simmermon came to
town. It's a dead end, Matt."
    "I'm not really surprised," I said. "There's no reason to think a traveling evangelist is kidnapping people. What about another connection, though? Young people disappearing. Can you think of any reason?"

    "The word I'm getting is that in each case there was some family
trouble going on. Probably nothing more than kids growing up and getting
out of a bad situation. Two of those reported missing turned up on their
own.
    "I checked with Sarasota PD about the vulture pit guy."
    "Anything?" I asked.
    "Nope. Not a trace. It's as if the body disappeared from the face of the
earth. No leads, no clues, nothing."
    "What about the death cult idea?"
    "Didn't go anywhere. The gang unit has never had a whiff of that
sort of thing going on around here."
    "Bill, I know you don't have a lot of manpower. I wonder how you'd
feel about me showing Varn's picture around the key. See if anybody else
remembers seeing him."
    "Not a problem. Stop by the station and I'll give you a print of his
driver's license photo."

     

CHAPTER TWELVE
    After getting the picture of Varn, I spent the rest of the morning cleaning
my boat. I showered and went to Moore's Stone Crab Restaurant for
lunch. I ate in the bar, talking idly with Debbie, the bartender. I hadn't
been in for a while, and we were catching up about mutual friends. I