The Cruelest Cut by Rick Reed Read Free Book Online

the first name and information they now had for the victim, and the lieutenant promised to get some guys out re-canvassing the area around the museum. Before he hung up, Jack told the lieutenant that Officer Kuhlenschmidt would need the rest of the day off and a ride home. Probably needed some time with the department shrink, too.
    Having done his good deed for the year, he called the Juvenile Division and got some good news. And a lot of bad news. The good news was that juvenile detectives already knew the kid’s last name and where he lived. The bad news was there was no missing persons report on Timothy Ryan, and the kid’s mother had taken off years ago and left him with one of her boyfriends. There was no mention of a father. The juvenile detective working this was trying to find the boyfriend to come and identify the body, but so far had been unable to locate him.
    Jack hung up thinking that couples should have to apply for permits and prove they have a collective IQ over twenty to have children. Unfortunately, they don’t even have to have a full set of teeth between them to breed.
    His cell phone rang. “Murphy,” he said. It was Liddell.

C HAPTER N INE
    Jack entered the autopsy room again to find Carmodi, Liddell, and two crime scene techs leaning over the table near Timmy Ryan’s head.
    â€œCheck this out,” Liddell said and moved aside.
    At the bottom of the table, one of the crime scene techs was unfolding a wadded-up piece of paper.
    Liddell said, “Carmodi found it stuffed in the kid’s throat.”
    The tech finished unfolding the paper, and they could see there was something written on it.
    â€œShit!” Carmodi exclaimed softly. The crime scene techs began snapping digital photos excitedly.
    â€œWhat is it, Doc?” Jack asked. It seemed everyone in the room knew something that he didn’t.
    Liddell leaned toward Jack and said in a whisper, “We found one of these notes last week, Jack.”
    Liddell had been back to work for several weeks, and had kept Jack up to date on some of what was happening, but he didn’t remember being told anything about a murder where a note was left at the scene. He hadn’t been much interested in what was going on while he was recuperating at home, but now he wished he’d kept up.
    â€œCrayon,” one of the crime scene techs said. “Just like the last one.”
    The note was scrawled in red crayon in what looked like a child’s handwriting. Jack read the note:
    Â 
    he caught fishes
in other mens ditches

    they pay for your sins
    Â 
    â€œWhat the hell does that mean?” Jack asked. No one seemed to have a clue.
    Â 
    Maddy Brooks threw her ruined shoes at the trash can in her office. She was furious. Not only did she ruin a pair of expensive shoes, but that incompetent, damned detective had shut her out of the story.
    Who the hell does Murphy think he is?
    She was imagining ways to make his life miserable when she noticed the two envelopes that still lay on her desk. In her haste to get to the murder scene at the river, she had not thought them important. She tore open the newest one and pulled out the note inside.
    Once again, in a childlike scrawl, in red crayon, was written:
    Â 
    he caught fishes
in other mens ditches

    they pay for your sins
    Â 
    Really! she thought angrily. Enough is enough. If these yokels think they can scare me into quitting, they don’t know who they’re messing with.
    She debated the merit of going to the station manager, but realized that she didn’t have any evidence as to who was leaving the notes. And if she started asking who had left them on her desk, it would just make her look panicky, and that would never do.
    She decided to wait and watch. But right now she needed a smoke.
    Â 
    Eddie awakened with a start. His pillow was damp, and his long hair clung to his face. His eyes hurt, and his throat felt strained, like he’d been