The Betrayed (Krewe of Hunters) Read Online Free PDF Page B

someone he met?”
    Aidan shook his head. “I’m almost certain it’s not,” he said. “I think he grabbed that matchbook wherever he was—could’ve been anywhere—and jotted down a note. I agree with you that it’s highly unlikely he was ever in that strip club—not when he was here on an important speaking engagement. I think he just saw the matchbook somewhere. In a dressing room or at a lunch counter, maybe. Or someone gave it to him. And I think
Lizzie grave
means...Lizzie’s grave. But the first thing we need to do is discover the identity of our other victim.”
    “God help us,” Purbeck said. “We started out looking for a body. Now...now, we’ve got to find another head.” He turned to Mo Deauville. “You and Rollo ready?”
    Aidan believed she was fighting her own mental battle, but she nodded. “Yes, of course,” she said. She brought the wolfhound to where the headless corpse leaned. The cops made way for her. The dog stood at a distance, but lifted his nose high—almost as if he were weighing the merits of a perfume.
    Mo Deauville commanded the dog to sit, then approached the corpse and rested her hand gently on the woman’s shoulder.
    As if she could...somehow
feel
something. A communication—from the corpse!
    She lowered her head, then looked at Purbeck.
    “We’re ready,” she said.
    She touched the dog’s head. Aidan couldn’t be sure, but he thought she was giving Rollo some kind of signal.
    Well, of course she was. She was asking him to find...the rest of the woman.
    No, it seemed to be more than that.
    But she quickly set off, tightly clutching the dog’s leash.
    With the exception of the crime scene personnel and a few cops left standing guard, everyone trailed after her. They went up and down hills as they walked through one cemetery to get to the other, and eventually wound up on the street again.
    “Oh, no. Oh, God, no,” Purbeck said.
    Yes.
    Across the street, at yet another headless horseman effigy, this one in front of a dry cleaning business, a crowd was gathering.
    People weren’t alarmed; they seemed to be in awe.
    There were pictures being taken.
    The crowd wasn’t even being particularly ghoulish. The horseman stood in the midst of a Halloween display of pumpkins, bats, black cats and flying witches.
    “Get the people away,” Purbeck said quietly.
    Rollo woofed.
    Voorhaven and Van Camp went running across the street, along with half-a-dozen men in uniform.
    Aidan glanced at Mo. She stood there, holding Rollo’s leash. She didn’t turn away, although he could tell she wasn’t going any closer. There was a stoic expression on her face, but sadness in her eyes.
    “Thank you,” Aidan murmured to her. He crossed the street and hurried over to the display. The area was now being cleared of people.
    He knew the crowd hadn’t understood that the horseman with its witch’s head wasn’t part of this gruesome display. The head...was
real.
    Purbeck followed him. As Aidan stepped up onto a bale of hay beside a wire-and-plastic assembly, he heard the lieutenant mutter.
    “God, I pray this means both our bodies are complete!”
    Aidan thought they were. It was difficult to be sure, but he had to believe this was what they were looking for. The “witch’s” wealth of long dark hair had been adorned with a black pointed hat. Van Camp stood on a second bale near him, silently inspecting the scene. He motioned to one of the photographers to capture the image from a number of different angles. When the photographer finished the initial shots, Aidan turned to Van Camp, who nodded. He removed the hat and passed it down to Jimmy Voorhaven. Jimmy bagged it, then he carefully brushed aside the tangle of dark hair.
    “Mid-thirties?” Van Camp murmured. “Attractive, good bone structure. It doesn’t appear that any of the bones in the face were broken or disturbed.”
    “No bruises or contusions. Naturally, the skin is somewhat...”
    “Yeah,” Van Camp said.
    “You