Devil's Nightmare: Premonitions (Devil's Nightmare, Book 2)
Page 29
Aaron’s mouth twisted with a roll of his eyes. “That was a long time ago, and I never laid a hand on her. Now what about the keys?”
“You’re lying. You beat her and left her just because she was pregnant.”
“Excuse me?” Aaron grabbed Cody and pulled him over on his back.
“You heard me.”
“You don’t know a goddamn thing about what happened between me and my ex-wife. And I don’t know where you found that article or where this is coming from, but that story is bullshit. You understand me?”
“But you did leave her.”
“We got divorced. We had our reasons, but—what the hell does it matter to you, anyway?” Aaron stood up and snatched the article from the desk. “You know what? I don’t care. You want to change the subject and keep dodging my questions? Fine. I’m done playing these games with you. I’ve tried to be the sympathetic fatherly type, but I’ve got two homicides and one of the victim’s keys in your desk drawer. What the hell am I supposed to think about that? Huh? Tell me. You need to talk to me, Cody.”
“I found them in the pasture, okay?” Cody’s voice was just short of a yell. “Now, get out of my room and leave me alone.”
Aaron clenched his jaw and took a deep breath. He crumbled the article in his hand and tossed it in Cody’s trashcan. He grabbed the keys, and as he walked towards the door, he turned and said, “Where, exactly, in the pasture did you find them? Or are you going to make me figure that out on my own?”
Cody rolled back over, turning his back to Aaron. “Look for the buzzards.”
†
Maria fastened her seatbelt and gave Aaron a kiss through her open driver’s side window. “Thanks for staying home with Cody today.” She reminded Samantha to buckle up before starting the car.
“Don’t worry; I won’t let the house burn down or anything.”
Maria laughed and told him that she loved him.
“Love you too, babe.” He waved as the silver Mercedes rolled down the gravel driveway and disappeared around the corner into the canopy of trees. He looked out into the pasture, but didn’t see any buzzards. “Cody!”
“What?” He stepped out on the porch barefoot with the hair on his head sticking up in all directions. “I told you that… Oh.”
“Yeah, no buzzards. Get your shoes on and show me where you found those keys.”
Cody went back inside the house and returned a few minutes later with his shoes in his hand. While he put them on, coyotes barked and howled nearby.
“Wait here,” Aaron said, while Cody put on his shoes. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get my gun.”
As soon as Aaron returned with his pistol, they entered the tall weeds of the pasture and spotted six coyotes near a large oak tree about a football field’s length away.
“That’s where I found the keys.” Cody pointed to the oak tree. “Underneath that tree.”
“Where the coyotes are? Great.” Aaron kept crouch-walking towards the small pack of canines. “Stay behind me.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Cody lifted the collar of his shirt to his nose as they got closer to their destination. “Ugh. What’s that smell?”
The six coyotes were gathered around a carcass on the ground near the tree. Aaron shielded the sun from his eyes and squinted. It wasn’t an animal. It was a human corpse. They ripped bits of cloth and flesh from it, growled, and snapped at each other as they fed. Two of the coyotes spotted Aaron and Cody and growled at them. Aaron fired a single shot into the sky. Five of the coyotes ran away. However, one of them continued to feed. Aaron approached the animal with caution, his gun aimed and ready to shoot.
“Get!” Cody yelled, but it didn’t respond. “That thing must be deaf or something.”
Aaron fired another shot, but the coyote didn’t even wince, and continued to eat. “I think you might be right.” He stepped around the front of the coyote and waved his gun at it. “Go on! Get!”
The coyote jolted backwards and ran away in the direction that the other coyotes had gone, disappearing into the overgrowth.
“Jesus.”
The coyotes had uncovered the shallow grave of a human body hacked into several pieces. They had already eaten most of the meat and organs from the torso, leaving mostly a rib cage and some articles of ripped clothing. The skeletal and headless corpse lay on top of the lower half of the body. The legs had been severed below the pelvis and chopped at the joints. The arms had similar dissections. The hands and feet were missing.
Cody pointed at the tattered pants. “There’s something sticking out of the pocket.”
Aaron pushed some dirt away with the barrel of his gun. A piece of paper protruded about a quarter of an inch out of the jeans pocket. “Do me a favor. Run back to the house and get me a pair of latex gloves and small tongs out of the kit in my car. And the digital camera.”
“Anything else? How about a beer?”
Aaron’s phone chimed. “Don’t be a smart ass. Just go.” He set his gun on the ground and checked the message.
Results back from the lab, the message from Sergeant Henderson stated. We have a match. Call me ASAP!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Confessions
“That’s impossible. Are you absolutely positive?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Sergeant Henderson held a Juvenile Justice Information System printout in one hand and his phone pressed against his ear with the other. The document showed a photo of Cody Sumner, a full set of fingerprints, and summarized a misdemeanor assault charge dated March 24, 2011. “I got nothing on IAFIS, so I ran the partial we found on the flash drive through JJIS. I took a shot in the dark thinking maybe we’d get a hit on the Slavic kid. This was the last thing I would have expected to pop up.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“Aaron?”
“Yeah, I’m here. Something is not right here. When I adopted Cody, he didn’t have a juvenile record. Now all of a sudden he does?”
“I’m just sharing what the system spit out. I’m just as surprised as you are.” Henderson slipped the report in the case file for Daniel Corbin’s homicide. “There’s something else.”
“There’s more?”
Henderson sat against the edge of his desk. “That juvenile record is the least of our problems. The hair I found on the knife matched his DNA.”
“Bullshit. JJIS doesn’t have DNA profiles. Only CODIS—”
“We did it the old fashioned way.” Sergeant Henderson pulled his chair away from his desk and sat in it. “I got a DNA sample from Cody’s water bottle. The one in Richard’s trashcan.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I’m sorry, Aaron. I had to be sure. I wasn’t trying to go behind your back. But it matched the hair sample we sent to the lab. What do you want me to do?”
There was a long silent pause before Aaron spoke. “I need some time to process this. But right now, we have another pressing development.”
“More important than your kid’s hair showing up on—”
“I think I found Corbin’s body.”
Henderson pushed his chair back as he rose from it. “What? Where?”
“A pack of coyotes dug up a shallow grave. Pretty much picked the body clean, except for his limbs and lower half. But I’m pretty sure it’s him.”
“Are you at the scene?”
“Yeah, I am. Out in a field… on my property.”
“Say again?”
“You heard me.”
Henderson snatched his keys off the desk. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“And Scott?”
“Yeah?”
“Who else knows?”
“About Cody? Just you, for now.” Henderson grabbed the Daniel Corbin case file and leaned against the wall next to the office door. “You know I’m going to have to bring him in, right?”
“I know, but don’t say anything to Ri
chard until we have a chance to talk to Cody.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t. But how do you want to handle this?”
“I don’t know yet. Anyway, I’ve got to get off the phone. We’ll talk about it when you get here.”
†
Cody had one hand behind his back when he returned with the gloves, small tongs, and camera that Aaron had asked for. He had a big grin on his face.
“What’s so funny?”
Cody brought his hidden hand forward, revealing a bottle of beer.
“You actually brought me a beer.” Aaron formed half a smile and accepted the bottle. “You’re excused, oh sarcastic one.” His smile subsided as Cody jogged back to the house. It was then that Aaron realized the kid had neglected to bring him a bottle opener.
Aaron set the beer down and snapped several photos of the human carcass and the surrounding area where he’d found the remains. He used the tongs to remove the parchment from the pants pocket. He blew the loose dirt off the small piece of paper and flipped it over. It had another message written in blood, but no scripture reference… Remember Saint Hedwig
†
“Where you headed with that case file?” Sheriff Donovan stepped in front of Sergeant Henderson as he was about to leave the building.
“Aaron and I need to go over a few things on the Corbin case.”
“And you can’t do that here at the office?” Sheriff Donovan grabbed the file from Henderson’s hand. “You know these files ain’t supposed to leave the building.”
“I know, but—”
“And where is Sanders, anyhow?” The Sheriff checked the time on his watch. “It’s almost nine already.”
“I think he’s taking care of his sick kid.”
“Who? Cody? Yeah, I’ll bet he’s sick. That boy is in a heap of trouble for what he done to Chris Hollingsworth.” He opened the file and a few of the documents fell onto the floor. Henderson reached for them, but the Sheriff beat him to it. “You tell Aaron I need to have a little pow-wow with him when the two of you are done going over this file.”
His eyes widened as he stuffed the papers back into the folder. Scott closed his eyes and slouched. Sheriff Donovan frowned at Sergeant Henderson, removed Cody’s JJIS and DNA reports and handed the rest of the file back to him.
“What in God’s name is this? And when were you plannin’ on tellin’ me about it?” Sheriff Donovan held the reports in front of him. “You don’t reckon this would be need-to-know information to share with me? This right here is some serious horse manure.”
“Sir, I’m sorry. I just wanted to give Aaron a chance to confront Cody about this before—”
“What yer gonna do is take Deputy Copeland with you and arrest that little delinquent for murder.”
“Sir, with all due respect, something doesn’t add up. Aaron says Cody has never been in trouble with the law before, and I believe him.”
“Cut the conspiracy theory crapola. We’ve got his fingerprints and DNA. What in tarnation else you want?” Sheriff Donovan flailed his arms outward. “A video of him doin’ the killings? ‘Cause, short of seeing his face on that video, we got that.”
“There is no reason why Cody would have a record in any of our systems.”
Sheriff Donovan laughed. “So, you saying someone planted it into a secure system? You saying it’s some sorta’ setup?”
“I’m not saying that. I just think we should handle this delicately. I mean, think about it. If we arrest Cody outright, imagine the negative publicity you’re going to get with the upcoming election? You’re the one that recruited Aaron.”
“This ain’t about politics, Sergeant.” Sheriff Donovan frowned. He had hired Aaron out of a pool of several other qualified candidates, two of which were natives of Lost Maples. “But, I hate to admit you have a point there. I already got the Mayor on my rear end about them murders. And his son sittin’ in the hospital ain’t doing Cody no favors. You see our predicament?”
“We don’t know the whole story behind that.”
“Don’t matter. You just make darn sure you get Cody back here, so we can figure out this mess.” He leaned against the wall with one arm. “You know, the more I think about it, I’m beginnin’ to feel a bit of shenanigans going on myself. It don’t feel right in the gut.”
“And Cody’s not exactly a big kid. He’s what, five-two? Hundred pounds?”
“But we still got his fingerprints on that computer drive. And his hair on the knife that killed that Corbin kid. That’s more than enough to convict him in a court of law.”
“Um, speaking of Daniel Corbin.” Sergeant Henderson scratched his nose. “There’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
†
A small caravan of Lost Maples County Sheriff’s Department vehicles arrived at Aaron’s residence a quarter after ten in the morning. Aaron shook his head as Sergeant Henderson, Deputy Copeland, and Sheriff Donovan rolled their vehicles to a stop in front of the house. It was clear that Henderson had been unable to keep his mouth shut until after they’d had a chance to sort everything out with Cody.
Aaron gave Sergeant Henderson a telling glare as he walked towards the Sheriff’s SUV and opened the driver’s side door.
“Good morning, Sheriff.”
“Where’s Cody?” Sheriff Donovan asked while stepping out of the vehicle.
So much for polite informalities. “Inside taking a shower.” Aaron shut the door. “So, I take it Scott told you about the prints and DNA.”
“And the body.”
Sergeant Henderson got out of his car and apologized.
“Save it, Scott,” Aaron said.
Sheriff Donovan cleaned his sunglasses with a cloth he pulled out of his pocket. “Where’s the body?”
“Out in the field. I covered it with a tarp to try and keep the buzzards away, but the coyotes had already picked the torso clean.”
Aaron led the trio of law enforcement personnel to the site of the shallow grave and uncovered the tarp. A few maggots crawled on the dead flesh. Blowfly eggs had already hatched, indicating the body had only been out in the elements for approximately one day. Identifying the body would require sending the remains to the medical examiner in San Antonio. He would be able to match the severed head found in the ice bag freezer at the truck stop with the neck bone on the skeletal torso found in the field on Aaron’s property. However, it would be more of a formality, as there remained little doubt that it was Daniel Corbin.
While Sergeant Henderson and Deputy Copeland processed the crime scene, Sheriff Donovan pulled Aaron aside. “Have you talked to Cody?”
“No, I haven’t, but I know he didn’t do this.”
Scott hadn’t been able to keep the information about Cody’s fingerprints and DNA from the Sheriff, but they had at least avoided the press from swarming his property by staying off the radio. Sheriff Donovan had also delayed reporting the find to the coroner’s office.
“I know this is hard on ya’, but you gotta put personal feelings aside. I don’t want to believe Cody had anything to do with this, either, but we gotta consider the evidence.” Sheriff Donovan raised his hand before Aaron could speak. “You ain’t gotta say it. But the fact of the matter is that his fingerprints are on that computer drive, and his hair was found in Mr. Corbin’s apartment.” He motioned a hand towards the corpse nearby. “And then we have the body on your property.”
“He didn’t do this, Richard,” Aaron insisted again. “That file in JJIS is bullshit.”
“Maybe it is, but how ‘bout the physical evidence?” Sheriff Donovan placed a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “This ain’t personal. We just gotta work through it.”
“You’re wrong about that. This is very personal. Whoever is doing this left that body on my property and a note written in blood.” He showed the Sheriff the parchment with the bloody message on it.
“Saint Hedwig? Ain’t that where you—”
“Yes, it is. Now do you understand my dilemma here?”
Aaron glanced at Henderson, who was kneeling beside the corpse writing some notes in a pad. “If these murders are in any way affiliated with the cult in Austin, you’ll need me on this case.”
“I’m sorry, Aaron. I can’t have you on this case.”
Aaron recalled a similar conversation with Chief Hernandez, who had pulled him off the case in Austin and given the lead to Detective Riley, who’d ended up being an undercover agent with the FBI. He nibbled on the inside of his lower lip and stared at Sheriff Donovan.
“What is it?”
“I’m curious why you want me off this case all of a sudden?”
“You’re too personally involved. And like it or not, yer boy is a suspect. It’s that simple. And I think you’d best be lawyering up, too.”
“Unbelievable.” Aaron glared at the Sheriff, turned, and walked away.
“Lieutenant!” Sheriff Donovan yelled out, and stepped in front of Aaron, stopping him with a hand against his chest. “I seen the way you was looking at me. I ain’t the bad guy here. You need to focus on protecting yer family, and that includes Cody’s legal defense. I’m doing this fer yer own good.”
“How is kicking me off to the sidelines for my own good?”
“Look, fer what it’s worth, I don’t believe Cody did this, but I can’t sweep the evidence under the rug. We got protocol to follow and we gotta bring him in. We can’t avoid it.” He pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it to Aaron. “I want to help. Call this firm. They got some of the best criminal defense attorneys in the region.”
Aaron took the card. Cody was still observing from the porch. “And what about the media?”
“Don’t you worry about them vermin. I’ll take care of it.”
†
Aaron and Sergeant Henderson spent an hour with Cody, seated on the couch in the living room. Aaron let Sergeant Henderson do most of the questioning about the evidence pointing to his involvement in the death of Daniel Corbin. As expected, Cody claimed he didn’t know Daniel Corbin and had never been to his apartment.