Black Thunder by Thurlo David

Author:Thurlo, David
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

FIFTEEN

When Ella arrived on the scene, she immediately spotted Nez and Blalock. They were standing about twenty feet back from where the county crime scene team was processing a blue, older-model sedan with a muddied license plate. The car was parked under a low-hanging cottonwood, in the shade.

As she walked up, techs were carefully easing the body out of the car, guided by one of the county’s deputy medical investigators. The victim appeared to be a Hispanic male. He’d been shot in the upper left temple and in the neck.

“That’s not our killer’s M.O.,” Justine said. “This was an in-your-face–style shooting.”

“There are a couple of empty beer cans on the floor on the passenger’s side,” one of the techs said into a throat mike as he continued to examine the interior of the car. “Three other empties are on the backseat and two unopened cans were sitting on the seat beside him. Tire tracks indicate he pulled off the road and parked before the shooting. Blood splatter indicates he was killed in the car. Blood smears on the seats and the position of the body when discovered suggest the deceased was manhandled. He was pushed over onto the passenger seat, maybe to allow the shooter or another party to remove the vic’s wallet. The fade pattern—outline of a wallet—is still present in the vic’s jeans, but the wallet hasn’t been located.”

“Road rage incident leading to murder and robbery?” Ella suggested to Blalock and Nez.

“The commonality between M.O.’s so far is that this vic was also shot twice. The other hit was in the neck, which could mean the killer’s aim was a bit off this time, the victim tried to duck, or we’re dealing with someone else entirely,” Dan said.

“This is a well-traveled area, close to a lot of school traffic. Maybe the killer struck, but something happened that kept him from repeating his usual M.O.,” Justine said. “The victim might have resisted, or a potential witness could have forced him to hightail it out of here.”

“There’s another possibility we haven’t discussed before,” Nez said. “We could be dealing with a professional hit man—a hired gun who has been working right under our noses for a while. That would explain how unrelated victims ended up dumped in the same area. And now that the original burial site has been compromised, he’s had to change his game plan and M.O.”

“By leaving the vic in the open like this, he also might be sending a message to any interested parties—including us. ‘Screw with me and you’re dead,’” Justine said.

“A pro … that could make things even more difficult,” Ella observed. “The killer wouldn’t need a motive except serving his client. But that theory still doesn’t fit in with that once-a-year pattern.”

As Nez and Blalock voiced other possible scenarios, Ella heard her cell phone’s distinctive beep signaling a text message. Moving away from them, she flipped open the phone.

This time the message was succinct: THOSE IN MY WAY DIE.

Justine, who’d watched Ella’s reaction, came over and looked down at the text message.

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