Capital Crimes by Jonathan & Faye Kellerman

Author:Jonathan & Faye Kellerman [Kellerman, Faye & Faye]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2006-11-21T05:00:00+00:00

Halfway to the cabin's front door, the detectives agreed that Barnes would do the talking and Amanda would be on the watch for any weird behavior on Parker Seldey's part.

A second after they'd reached that accord, two booms exploded into the night and the sweet air turned sulfurous.

Barnes hit the ground and reached out to push Amanda out of the firing line. She did the same for him and their fingers touched momentarily.

Then both of them stretched on their bellies and two-handed their guns.

A hoarse voice screamed, "Get the hell off my property!"

Barnes screamed back: "Police. We just want to talk to you, Mr. Seldey."

"I don't want to talk to you!"

A flash from the doorway was followed by another concussive burst. Something whizzed by Barnes's right ear. Sighting a stand of small oaks, he crept and slithered for cover, while motioning for Amanda to do the same.

Not knowing if she could see him.

Hearing her I-told-you-so. Minus the usual good-natured inflection.

She did have someone to go home to...he made it to the trees.

Amanda had gotten there first.

Both of them holding their breath as Parker Seldey stepped into the porch light. Rifle in one hand, flashlight in the other.

Seldey swept the earth with the electric torch.

Amanda whispered, "Don't move, pard." Without warning, she crouched, straightened a bit, kept her body low, and ran toward the car.

Seldey shouted something incoherent and aimed the rifle at her back. Barnes fired first. Seldey pivoted toward the source, shot three times, missed Barnes by inches.

Barnes scooted back, struggling for silence. Seldey advanced on him, sweeping with the flashlight, muttering, breathing hard.

When he was twenty feet away, Barnes began to make out details, limned by sparse moonlight. Baggy T-shirt, shorts, bony knees. A thatch of hair, the woolly outlines of an untrimmed beard.

Seldey got closer. Barnes smelled him--the hormonal reek of fury and fear.

Seldey swept the ground. The beam must've caught a glimpse of something because Seldey hoisted the rifle and aimed--

Noise to his back made him pivot. A car engine racing.

Seldey aimed at that--was knocked backward by white light.

Amanda flashing the high beams, blinding Seldey.

The startled man fired into the sky.

Barnes was on him, wresting the gun away, pounding Seldey's face.

No resistance from Seldey and Barnes rolled him over, put his knee on Seldey's back. Was ready to cuff him but Amanda did it first.

Everyone panting.

They rolled Seldey over and had a look at him. Mountain-man hair almost obscured patrician features. Sharp brown eyes. Maybe not sharp. Inflamed.

Seldey said, "Why're you here? There's no full moon, they only come with the full moon."

"Who's they?" said Amanda. Squeezing the words out between gasps.

"My friends. The forest people." Seldey laughed. "Just kidding. Do you guys have any weed?" Rattling the cuffs. "And maybe you should take this shit off. If you do, I can put you out of your misery."

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.