Full Moonlight by Vincent Zandri

Author:Vincent Zandri [Zandri, Vincent]
Format: epub
Tags: Crime, Mystery & Detective, Private Investigators, Suspense, Thriller
Publisher: Blackwitch Press
Published: 2013-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

***

By the time I arrive at the cemetery, the EMTs are back. Miller is standing over an open grave while a crew of uniformed cops are traipsing all around the property. Two blue and whites are also present, their flashers competing with the full moon to illuminate the green grass and gray headstones.

There’s not one body lying on the ground but two. The both of them covered in rubber sheets.

I give Miller a wave and proceed to the first, far smaller body. Uncovering the sheet, I’m shocked to see that the body doesn’t belong to a human being at all. But a dog. A German Shepherd. Its throat has been violently lacerated, probably from a bite. It’s staring out at me with an open mouth filled with white fangs and black, now dead eyes. I cover the animal back up and proceed to the second, larger body.

I recognize the face right away. What’s left of it, that is. What hasn’t been chewed down to the bone. Sam Baker, the caretaker. My employer.

Replacing the sheet, I stand. My entire body is quivering and I’m not entirely sure why. Being the son of a mortician, I’ve been looking at dead bodies my entire life. Some of them more mutilated than Sam’s. To me, death and the violent means by which it is sometimes administered should have the same effect as shopping for paper products in the grocery store. Just another everyday occurrence. But not this time. Not now. Not inside this cemetery.

“Theories, Moonlight?” comes the voice of Detective Miller.

I don’t answer him. At least not right away. Instead I’m feeling something pasty on my hands. I look down at them and view them in the light. They’re covered in blood. In fact, my shirt is also stained with blood. Lots of it.

“Cat got the tongue, Moonlight?” Miller says, slowly slipping his service pistol from his shoulder holster. Then, cocking his head over his shoulder at the uniforms. “Boys!”

One of them comes around behind me, grabs both my arms, barks at me to get down on my knees. He cuffs me. Cuffs me so hard the metal breaks the skin on my wrists.

“I’ve been home in bed!” I shout. “I slept for fifteen hours straight.”

I feel a boot heel smashed against my back and I go down onto my face, kiss the dirt. The sting from the cuffs cutting into my wrists shooting up and down my arms.

“We found some hairs on Sam’s body, Moonlight. Match the same one I found on you early this morning in my office.” Crossing his arms over his chest. “And Moonlight, you take a bath in blood today?”

“I can explain that,” I say. But my mouth is pressed so hard against the ground it comes out sounding, “I ’splain sat.”

“Help him up,” says Miller. “Hear what he’s got to say.”

The cop does it. Not without sending more pain shooting up my arms.

“Let’s have it, Moonlight.”

“I had a steak before I went to sleep this morning. Some of it got all over me.

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