The Wild Hog Murders Read Online Free PDF

sting and scar if it hit bare skin.
    So far Rhodes hadn’t had any complaints from hunters, who probably thought they could deal with the Chandlers in their own way, so Rhodes didn’t know if the rumors were true. If they were, Rhodes figured the Chandlers had more to be worried about than the hunters, who, after all, were using real ammo. It wouldn’t be smart for the Chandlers to go after them.
    “You haven’t bothered the hunters, have you?” Rhodes asked.
    Andy stiffened and seemed to get even taller. “What right do they have to kill innocent animals?”
    Rhodes didn’t think that answered his question. He said, “The hogs aren’t exactly innocent.”
    “They’re just doing what comes naturally, and people are slaughtering them.”
    Rhodes didn’t see that he’d get anywhere by arguing, but Andy was just getting started.
    “The next thing you know, they’ll be hunting them from helicopters. Did you know hunters from other states can arrange to come to Texas just to hunt hogs?”
    Ranchers could already hunt hogs from helicopters and had been doing it for years in some parts of the state. It wasn’t a sport. It was what Andy had called it, a slaughter. Still, the hogs had to be controlled somehow.
    “I don’t think anybody came here in a helicopter or from out of state to kill your pig,” Rhodes said.
    “Maybe not,” Andy said, “but somebody killed it—and mutilated it. What are you going to do about it?”
    “I’ll try to find out who’s responsible.”
    “You’d better do more than try,” Janice said.
    She didn’t tell him what would happen if he didn’t, which was just as well, since he hadn’t had any luck. There were no clues at all other than the pig parts, and Rhodes could learn nothing from them.
    The next call had come a few days later. Baby was back, or his head was. It was a lot the worse for wear, but Andy said it was Baby, all right. It was in the road by the gate, almost exactly where the other pig parts had been.
    “This has to stop,” Andy said.
    This time his mother wasn’t with him. Andy said she just couldn’t face the sight of Baby’s head lying there like that.
    Rhodes started to say that he thought things had already come to a stop because there wasn’t anything else of Baby that was missing, but he knew that wouldn’t be wise.
    “When did you find it?” he asked.
    “This morning when I came down to put a letter in the mailbox.”
    The Chandlers were on one of the rural routes, and a big black mailbox stood on a post near the gate. Andy must have put the letter inside already, because the box was closed and the red flag on the side was up.
    “Any idea when it was put here?” Rhodes asked.
    “Had to have been last night,” Andy told him. “I had to get some stuff from Walmart’s, and it was dark when I got back. Baby wasn’t here then.” Andy shook his head. “I’m real disappointed in you, Sheriff. I thought you’d have found the killers before now.”
    Rhodes wasn’t ashamed. He might have found some answers if he’d had anything to go on, but he didn’t. He suspected it was hog hunters, but every farmer and rancher in the county hated hogs. Any of them might have decided to have a little fun at the Chandlers’ expense.
    “Fun” was the right word, too, because whoever had killed Baby had probably thought it would be quite a joke to leave the remains for the Chandlers to find. Rhodes didn’t consider it a joke, and the Chandlers certainly didn’t, either, but there were those who would.
    “It better not happen to any of our other animals,” Andy said. “I can’t be responsible for what we might do if somebody sick enough to do this tries it again.”
    It was Andy’s final comment that had Rhodes worried now as he watched Yancey snatch up the squeeze toy that Speedo had dropped on the grass. Yancey bounded away, with Speedo in hot pursuit.
    Rhodes worried that the Chandlers might decide to load their shotguns with something more