Seventeen Skulls by Joe Powers

Author:Joe Powers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
Published: 2021-07-22T21:14:17+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven

As they pulled away from Phil’s house, Bernie gazed out the window. Neither of them spoke until they were out of sight of the house.

“Do you really believe any of that shit?” Bernie asked.

Mike dodged ruts in the road as he maneuvered the truck along. “I know how it sounds, but yeah, I do. For one thing, there’s no way Phil’s smart enough to make any of that up. If he was going to lie to us about Grant, he’d just downplay their involvement together. He went into a lot of detail about things that normally just aren’t on the radar of a guy like Phil.”

“I’ll give you that,” Bernie admitted. “Don’t you think he might have embellished a little bit, though? Once he got rolling, the story seemed to take on a life of its own. ‘Phil was here’? Come on.”

“All right, maybe he added a little flavor here and there. But overall, it’s more than a guy like Phil could fabricate. If I had to guess, I’d say we’ve found our homeless killer.”

“Look, even if I’m willing to buy into the idea of a guy being able to do what Phil claimed—and I’m not saying I do, necessarily—the first question I have is why? Why would Grant come all the way back here to kill people? A bunch of nameless, homeless guys, at that?”

“Grant’s a psychopath, Bernie. You know that as well as I do. Who knows what’s rattling around in that head of his, especially after spending a couple of decades in lockdown?”

“All right, but reasoning aside, how do we prove it, let alone stop it?”

“I don’t know yet. But we’re going to figure it out.” His phone rang, interrupting his train of thought. He glanced at the display and pulled over to the side of the road. “Hello?” He paused to listen. “How long?” Another pause. “Got an ID on him?” Bernie shot him a questioning look. Mike held up his hand. “Okay. Yeah, sounds like it. Okay, thanks Brendan, I appreciate the call. I owe you one. Yeah, you too.” He ended the call.

Bernie stared. “Well?”

“That was a buddy of mine on the city force. They found another body. He thought it might be one of ours.”

“When, just now?”

“About an hour ago. I need to call Jen.”

Bernie got out of the truck and lit up a smoke while Mike made the call.

Jen picked up on the second ring. “Hello, Officer. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Nothing good, I’m afraid. I just got a call from a friend of mine, city cop. They found another body.”

“Oh no. Did he think it was related to the others?”

“He told me he couldn’t be sure. They pulled him out of the river. It looked like the guy’s been dead for a few days.”

“What does that have to do with…? Oh.”

“Yeah. Sorry for the visual—they tend to look just about the way you’d imagine. On the plus side, they were able to identify him. His name was Gordon Boyd.

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