Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues Read Online Free PDF Page B

flattened.
    Curious, I followed the tracks of men and machines until I came to the spot that could have been where our wreck took place. A body was being taken from a bright red pickup truck. It was already covered with a white sheet. Emergency workers were taking out a body bag.
    “Can I help you?” A tall, husky highway patrolman stopped me. His badge said Rusk . He’d removed his flat brimmed hat. There was a spot of blood on his uniform.
    “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t be here. It’s just that—”
    His forehead wrinkled. “Wait. I know you.”
    I could see he was groping for my name. I remembered his. Tim Rusk. “Skye Mertz. I used to be a Nashville police officer. My husband and I—”
    “You were involved in another accident here a few years back.” His eyes widened. “I remember you and your husband. You were both NPD, right? That was a terrible shame. I’m so sorry.”
    Looking at his open, broad face, I realized that we had worked together before that awful night. “We worked on a project before that...to reduce wrecks in the city, wasn’t it?”
    “That’s right! It was a few years before.” He smiled kindly and held out his hand. “I’m glad we’re meeting again even if this is a bad place for it. I’ve thought about you and your husband many times since then. I think you were unconscious when we pulled you from the wreck. You probably don’t even recall me being here. Why did you stop tonight, Skye?”
    “We’ve got another one out here,” a voice called from out of the closely wooded area that surrounded us. “Jesus! What a mess. How could he have been thrown this far from the vehicle?”
    Tim zeroed in on the voice in the darkness. “I gotta go. You shouldn’t be here.”
    I looked toward the voice as other emergency workers ran into the woods. Was it the same story?
    Too far to be thrown from the wreck. Never seen anything like it. Horribly mauled.  
    “I know.” I kept the tears at bay by biting my lip. “I’m leaving. Thanks for talking with me.”
    He shook my hand and then joined the rest of the workers.
    I walked back to my car feeling cold and numb in a way that had nothing to do with being a zombie. Something was happening out here in the dark woods. How common was it? Was the story always the same?
    I waited in the car until I saw Tim leaving an hour after the rest of the emergency services people. It was close to two a.m. when I approached him. I think I startled him when I called his name.
    “You still here?” He shone a flashlight in my face. “This won’t help you, Skye. You know that.”
    I put my hands in my pockets. “I know. How long until you’re off duty? I’d like to buy you a beer.”
    He frowned. “And pick my brain?”
    “Yeah. I know an all-night place right down the hill. I’m buying.”
    “Okay. I’ve already been off duty a few hours. You know how it is.”
    “I do. See you there.”
    I got the car started after a few tries. It chugged to life and finally went down the hill to the tiny tavern where Jacob and I had met sometimes. There were two pickup trucks in front. I parked near them, and Tim parked beside me.
    We went inside the dark drinking hole together. The two men at the bar glanced our way for a moment and then turned back to their beer.
    “Always glad to have a lawman come in for a drink.” The slight bartender who owned the place—Matt—put two coasters on the table in front of us. “Whatcha havin’?”
    “I’ll have a Bud and whatever the lady is having.” He nodded to me.
    “I’ll have the same and the check. I’m buying, remember?” I smiled at the bartender. “Hi, Matt. How are you?”
    “I know you,” he said. “You used to come in with that other fella. Where’s he tonight?” He meant Jacob. I’d never come here with anyone else.
    “He couldn’t be here,” I said, not going into it.
    “I’ll get those beers.”
    “What do you want, Skye?” Tim put his coaster over a wet spot on the wood