The Blight Way by Patrick F. McManus Read Free Book Online Page A

down and even laying down.”
    â€œAny other sign?”
    â€œThey left a couple of shell casings. Nine millimeter.Probably picked up most of them but couldn’t find them all in the dark.”
    â€œYeah,” Tully said. “You leave the casings where you found them?”
    â€œYup. Picked one up with a little stick to check the caliber. Marked each casing with a stick.”
    â€œGot to be automatics.”
    â€œYup.”
    â€œAt least we’ll have the ejector and firing-pin marks on the casings to identify the murder weapons, if we ever find them.”
    Tully walked back to the car and bent down, looking in the driver’s window. “The clothes these guys are wearing, pretty spiffy, wouldn’t you say? There’s nobody around here dresses like that. Shirts must have cost a hundred dollars each, probably more. I don’t think anybody in all Idaho dresses like that.”
    â€œCalifornia,” Pap said. “Los Angeles. Jeep’s a rental from Spokane International. I checked the papers in the glove compartment. They picked it up at ten last night.”
    A branch cracked back in the woods. Then another one.
    â€œSomebody’s coming,” Tully said.
    â€œProbably Dave the Indian,” Pap said. “I never been around anybody made so much noise walking through the woods as Dave the Indian.”

Chapter 8
    Dave stopped and stared at the bullet-riddled Jeep and the bodies. “I never expected this,” he said.
    â€œUs neither,” Pap said.
    â€œYou find anything?” Tully asked.
    â€œYep. Looks like our man was trailed by one guy,” Dave said. “Shot the victim twice with a small-caliber rifle, just like you thought, Bo. Probably a two-twenty-three caliber. No exit wounds. That’s according to your medical examiner. The shooter was about a hundred yards away. There’s a big pasture gate there with a tall post on each end. I think he used the right post for a rest. He may have picked up one of the shell casings, but I found the other one in the tall grass near the post. It’s a two-twenty-three. And I found Holt’s shoe, too. The lace came loose and he must have run right out of it. I think the shooter picked it up, too, and then flung it off to one side. I marked it with a stick. Might have some prints on it. There’s some soft spots out there, and Ithink you can get some good casts of the shooter’s tracks. From the looks of them, I’d say he was wearing rubber boots.”
    â€œGood job,” Tully said.
    â€œOne more thing,” Dave said. “The shooter walked over and checked the victim, probably to make sure he was dead.”
    â€œNotice anything else out there?”
    â€œNot much. Except I sure wouldn’t want this killer after me. He just walked steadily along tracking the guy through the grass. Every once in a while the victim would hunker down in tall grass, maybe to rest or hide, but then he’d see this guy coming after him through the moonlight and he’d take off running. The guy just kept after him, hardly ever even breaking stride, waiting for his shot. He got it at the big gate, when the vic started to climb over that fence.”
    â€œThe shooter doesn’t sound anything like our local screw-ups,” Tully said.
    â€œNo, he doesn’t,” Dave said. He glanced at his watch. “Hey, it’s past lunchtime. These fellows aren’t going anywhere. Let’s head over to the restaurant and I’ll buy you all lunch.”
    â€œSounds good to me,” Tully said. “But the county buys.”
    â€œLet me think about that,” Dave said. “Okay.”
    Tully walked back to the Explorer and drove it up closer to the Jeep. The three of them circled the area with crime-scene tape.
    Tully called the Idaho State Police on the radio to find out what had happened to the patrolman who wassupposed to be sent up. The ISP radio person said he was