Where Serpents Lie (Revised March 2013) by T. Jefferson Parker

Author:T. Jefferson Parker
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-10-21T07:00:00+00:00

An hour later, I was pretty sure I had the Grantley son’s first name: Gene. The neighbors weren’t positive. And they were even less sure of his last name because Wanda had married “a bunch.” Some said Webb, or Webster, one of those. Some said Vonn. Some said Grantley. Most said they had no idea. But none of the surnames matched my lists from Bright Tomorrows or Dawn Christie; none had listed homes with detached units for sale in Orange County; none of them connected with any names we’d come up with in the Horridus investigation so far.

But the Hopkin neighbors agreed in their assessment of him: late twenties, maybe early thirties; long hair and beard, but neatly trimmed; a well-groomed fella; very quiet; didn’t seem to have a steady job; kept to himself. Ever notice how neighbors always say the same thing about these shitbaskets? They said his mother, Wanda, was small, tense and unfriendly. The young man had a van. Wanda had an older model Lincoln Town Car and the neighbors had often seen her peering under the curve of the steering wheel as she made her occasional low-speed runs through town.

One of them said the sketch from Steven Wicks’s memory was “kinda like him, all right.” The one from Brittany Elder “ain’t him.”

I found a pay phone outside a liquor store and called Johnny. Just his message tape. I tried Louis—same thing. But I got Frances at her desk.

“Frances, this is Terry.”

Her catch of breath reminded me of all the hideous suspicion now clinging to my own name, in my own department.

“I need you to listen to me for a minute—”

“—I—”

“Goddamnit Frances, listen to me!”

I told her to track the names Gene Vonn, Webb, Webster and Grantley through all our sources—county and state criminal files, DMV, TRW, the assessor’s office, tax rolls, voters’ lists, even the phone books if she had to. Triple-check it against the treasurer’s property tax rolls and the realtors’ multiple listings. I wanted his ass covered and I wanted it covered now.

“This guy killed a girl in Texas,” I said. “And I’m betting my badge he’s our man.”

There was a moment of hesitation as the ludicrousness of my statement hit us both.

“You know what I mean, Frances.”

She was silent for a moment. “You’re not where you’re supposed to be.”

“I couldn’t watch soaps all day, Frances. Look … go ahead and think what you have to think. Believe what you have to believe. But also know that those pictures were doctored, and I didn’t do what they show. You can hate me or fear me or loathe me, Frances, but I want you to know the truth. Don’t hate me so much we can’t work together when I get back in there where I belong. We’re still going to need you on the team. I guess I’m sounding, at this point, fairly ridiculous, aren’t I?”

“You went to Wichita Falls.”

“I shouldn’t say, Frances. You don’t need to know that. But you do need to know that this Gene creep abducted a six-year-old girl and killed her.

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