The roof of the porch sagged, its creaking punctuated by popping sounds as nails broke loose.
His bell rung, Nick dropped to hands and knees and tried to shake it off.
Hank sprang forward, raised the tip of one crutch and attempted to shove the Mordstier back, but the Wesen caught the crutch and swung it, along with Hank, around, slamming the injured detective into the wall.
As the Mordstier drew back a booted foot to strike Nick in the ribs, Wu shouted, “Stop!” He had his X26 Taser trained on the suspect.
Grunting, the Mordstier ignored Wu’s command and swung his foot forward.
Nick heard the crackling discharge of the Taser.
Roaring, the bull Wesen staggered back into the doorjamb but, incredibly, he fought off the effects of the paralyzing 50,000-volt charge and ripped the needle-tipped darts from his chest.
Instead, Wu was the one who looked stunned.
But Nick’s head had cleared. He rose from his knees and drove the Wesen against the wall, their combined weight cracking several planks along the front of the house. The Mordstier gripped the front of Nick’s jacket, lifted him up, spun him around and slammed him against the wall. Part of the wall caved in, catching Nick’s elbow.
He saw the flash of recognition—but not fear—in the Wesen’s eyes as he realized Nick was a Grimm. Some species of Wesen feared Grimms more than anything, viewing them as monsters or bogeymen. Others were simply wary of them, aware of the threat they represented. But some Wesen—usually the strongest among them—had little fear and maybe only grudging respect. The Mordstier, clearly, belonged to the last faction. He tugged Nick free and attempted to slam him into the cracked wall again.
But McCormack and Harris had abandoned their posts at the rear door. They rushed the porch on either side of the suspect, extendable batons raised and—in near-perfect choreography—clubbed the Mordstier across the shoulders.
Releasing Nick, the Wesen yanked McCormack’s baton out of his hand and swept the back of his legs with it, dropping him in an instant. With a backhanded whipping motion, he caught Harris across the cheek with the baton, snapping his head sideways. He raised a booted foot and kicked Harris in the chest with enough force to hurl him through the remaining porch support post.
Harris fell off the porch, unconscious, his momentum sweeping one of Hank’s crutches out from under him, causing the detective to fall awkwardly.
Having exchanged the Taser for his Glock 17, Wu took aim and shouted, “Drop the weapon! Now!”
Boards creaked and snapped and the porch roof ripped free and crashed between Nick and the Mordstier on the near side, Wu on the far side.
Nick covered his head to avoid the bulk of the debris, while the Wesen used the diversion to duck inside his crumbling house.
Rising in pursuit, Nick glanced back at Wu.
“Call for backup!” he called. “And somebody cover the back door.”
CHAPTER SIX
Nick entered the dilapidated house alone, his Glock 17 held in a Weaver stance as he scanned the dark, musty interior. Narrow shafts of light hosting a multitude of dust motes sliced through the gaps in the walls and boarded-up windows, revealing a warped interior and a sparse collection of tattered and torn furniture, no doubt salvaged on curbside bulk trash pickup days. Though Nick would have preferred a good old-fashioned flashlight directed along the barrel of his handgun, he’d found that his other senses had improved dramatically after he’d suffered temporary blindness from a Jinnamuru Xunte attack. Surely a benefit of his Grimm heritage—and not the only one. His strength, stamina, coordination and injury-recovery time had also improved.
Through an archway straight ahead, he saw a small kitchen. Slightly to his right, against the far wall, a staircase provided access to the second floor. And to his extreme right, an archway led into a third room on the ground floor. The Mordstier could have fled out the back door, but if the hinges were a match for the front door, Nick thought he would have heard them squeal in protest. For the same reason, Nick believed the Mordstier hadn’t ascended the stairs. That left one option.
Turning right, gun level at shoulder height, Nick eased across the creaking floor toward the archway that led into the third room. He approached the opening from the side, then pivoted into the room, sweeping left to right with the barrel of his Glock. First he noticed a single row of more than two-dozen sets of mounted antlers spaced along three walls in the room, like a wallpaper border made out of bone. Not that the walls had been papered, painted or even stained. A moldy wingback chair, two ladderback chairs and a wooden bench were arranged to face a battery-powered radio sitting on a small rectangular table centered along the far wall. A ratty, stain-spotted throw rug filled the open space in the middle of the room.
No sign of the Mordstier.
Nick retreated, intending to take the stairs to the second floor. If the Wesen had fled through the back door, Hank, Wu or McCormack would have spotted him and sounded an alarm—or he was long gone.
Nick’s gut—aided or not by his Grimm abilities—told him the suspect hadn’t fled his home. The Wesen’s presence felt as palpable to him as the mildew and decay. He couldn’t hide forever in a confined space, nor was he likely to—
Something creaked. Wood thumped against wood—behind him.
Nick spun around to face—the bare wall separating the rooms.
“What the—?”
In the blink of an eye, the wall erupted toward Nick.
Instinctively, he shielded his eyes, but couldn’t ignore the rush of movement behind the split planks tumbling all around him. A massive shape, almost doubled over, twin horns lowered to gore him.
Sidestepping, Nick escaped the worst of the impact, but caught what felt like a knee or an elbow to the gut and tumbled over backwards, losing his gun in the process. He sprang to his feet, scanning for the gun while keeping the bulk of the Wesen before him. What he hadn’t noticed during the bull rush attack through the wall, was the long-handled axe in the Mordstier’s hands.
Nick dropped to a crouch as the blade of the axe whistled overhead.
The Mordstier stomped forward to press his attack.
But Nick was ready for the reverse swing, and caught the wooden handle in both hands. He lashed out with a side kick to the Wesen’s abdomen, eliciting a grunt of pain.
The Wesen yanked the axe back in the other direction, attempting to wrest it from Nick’s grip, but Nick countered with his right foot, striking the inside of Mordstier’s left knee.
Wu charged into the dark room and attempted a low diving tackle, his shoulder plowing into the back of the suspect’s right knee.
Finally, the Wesen lost his balance.
Driving forward with the axe handle still clutched in both hands, Nick toppled the behemoth, who crashed to the floor with wood-splitting impact. But not before the Wesen caught Nick in the midsection with a boot and hurled him toward the near wall.
Though Nick lost his grip on the axe, he spun in mid-air to avoid a nasty collision, hitting the wall with the soles of both feet to kill his momentum, then sprung forward with a quick double-hop to land upright. While flipping end over end, he’d spotted his dislodged Glock in the corner, near the door.
He scrambled for the gun while, in the periphery of his vision, the Wesen sat up, shaking off the cobwebs, the axe beside his left hand. Wu, fighting some cobwebs of his own, climbed to hands and knees and tried to bring his gun to bear, but caught a vicious elbow to the ribs and fell on his side.
With a grunt, the Mordstier placed his palms on the floor, wrapping his left hand around the axe handle. He started to push himself up, but only had time to brace himself before Nick pressed the muzzle of the Glock to the back of his head, directly above the spine.
“Flinch—and I ventilate your skull.”
“I know what you are.”
“Then you know I’m not bluffing.”
The Wesen grunted. But dropped his woge.
The entire battle inside the h
ouse had taken less than a minute.
“Slowly, shove the axe away,” Nick said. “Try to pick it up and—”
“You ventilate my skull.”
“Good. We have an understanding.”
The Mordstier slid the axe away from his body and released it. With a quick swipe of his foot, Nick kicked it to the base of the stairs.
“Wu,” Nick said. “You okay?”
Wu nodded as he climbed to his feet, but winced as he pressed a hand to his sore ribs.
“Nothing broken,” he said. “If I’m lucky.”
“I’ll cover him,” Nick said. “You cuff him.”
Reluctantly, Wu holstered his sidearm. He popped open a flap on his belt and tugged out his handcuffs.
Nick backed away while keeping his gun trained on the suspect’s head, positioning himself with a clear line of fire if the Mordstier tried anything.
“What’s your name?”
“None of your damned—!”
“Name!” Nick barked, stepping forward menacingly. “Shame I had to shoot your kneecap while you resisted arrest.”
“Guerra,” the Wesen rasped, as if giving up the information pained him. “Carlos Guerra.”
“Rise, Carlos,” Nick said. “Slowly.”
Guerra climbed to his feet, stumbling a bit as one boot split a cracked floorboard in half.
Wu jumped back, reaching for his gun again.
“Relax!” Guerra said. “Rotten floor’s falling apart.”
“Some place you got here,” Wu said. “Supermarket Dumpster all out of cardboard boxes?”
“I don’t bother nobody,” Guerra said. “You got no business here.”
“Yeah, well, this could have gone a whole lot easier,” Nick said, unwavering in his stance. The situation was definitely not contained. “Hands behind your neck.”
As soon as Guerra complied, Wu slapped a cuff over one wrist, then cuffed the other one.
Hank navigated his way through the front door on his crutches, mindful of the debris from the collapsed porch roof.
“Everything under control?” he asked.
Wu called McCormack in with his shoulder mic. Harris was still out of commission, probably concussed.
“Check upstairs,” Nick told the uniform.
“I live alone,” Guerra said.
“Don’t hold it against us,” Wu said, “if we don’t take your word for it.”
Hank crossed the room, giving the damaged floor a wide berth, and peered through the shattered wall.
“Trapdoor,” he said, looking back at Nick.
“Of course,” Nick said. “Hidden under the damn throw rug.”
McCormack came through the kitchen, eyes wide as he looked around.
“Raw meat and blood on the table out there.”
“I hunt,” Guerra said. “To eat.”
McCormack pulled out his automatic and ascended the stairs.
“Open up here,” he called. “Like a loft.”
A short while later, he called down, “Clear.”
Wu checked the antler room and, through the damaged wall, Nick saw him descend a ladder into the underground room where Guerra had hidden. McCormack came down the stairs. A moment later, Wu joined them.
“Root cellar down there,” he said. “Salted meats, mason jars, pelts and bones. Plus a couple shotguns, hunting knives and lots of bloodstains.”
“Sorry,” Guerra grumbled. “No maid service this week.”
“Real talkative now,” Nick commented to Hank. Gun still trained on Guerra’s back, Nick gave him a motivational shove toward the door. “Let’s go.”
* * *
An hour later, back at the precinct, Guerra sat slumped in a chair in the interview room, his handcuffs looped around a metal bar bolted to the table, and denied any involvement in a murder.
“You’ve never been to Claremont Park?” Hank demanded.
“Of course, I have,” Guerra said. “Doesn’t mean I murdered anyone.”
“We found bones outside your… dwelling,” Nick said. “Raw meat, bones and blood in your house.”
“Animal meat, animal bones, animal blood,” he said. “Deer, rabbit, squirrel. You arresting me for hunting without a license?”
“No,” Nick said. “Assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, resisting arrest and a half-dozen other charges, maybe, but not hunting without a license. We’ll give you a pass on that one.”
“I told you to leave me alone,” Guerra grumbled. “You were trespassing.”
“You don’t own that land,” Hank pointed out. “Building a house—I’m using that term generously—on land you don’t own is a problem.”
“I told you to leave me alone.”
“Right now, guys in the lab are testing the blade on your axe to see if it matches the cuts on the human remains we found in Claremont Park,” Nick said. “You want to get ahead of this? We tell the DA you cooperated, maybe you get life instead of the death penalty.”
“You got nothing.”
“You better hope so,” Hank said, shaking his head in disgust.
The detectives rose to leave the interview room. As Nick was about to close the door behind him, Guerra called out.
“On second thought,” Guerra said. “I got something to say.”
“Yeah?” Nick asked, waiting for it.
“I want a lawyer.”
* * *
Nick rapped on Captain Sean Renard’s open door.
Renard looked up from a file he’d been reading. “Come in.”
Nick entered, followed by Hank, slowed by his crutches.
“Anything?” Renard asked.
Nick had already informed his boss that Guerra was a Wesen and violent. Communication between the two had become simpler after they had disclosed some of their mutual secrets. Renard was a half-Hexenbiest—technically, Zauberbiest—bastard, related by blood to one of the seven Royal Houses, but not allied with his family. For his part, Renard knew Nick was a Grimm.
The two had an uneasy truce, but not complete trust. Nick couldn’t be sure of Renard’s ultimate loyalties. But he had returned to Nick one of the six-hundred-year-old keys that, together with six others, would construct a map leading to something so powerful that many had died to protect its secret. Legends had arisen about the exact nature of that secret, but nobody knew for certain. The Royal Families currently had four of the keys and were desperate to get their hands on the others. With that one act—returning the key to Nick, rather than delivering it to his family—Renard had forged the tentative alliance with Nick.
“Well, he has rage issues,” Nick began. “And we have more than enough to charge him.”
“But?”
Hank sighed. “But not for the chopped-bones murder.”
“Have the lab results come in?”
“No,” Nick admitted. Though they had a powerful Wesen in custody with rage issues and a lethal axe swing, something seemed off. Hank sensed it too. If Guerra was guilty of the murder, shouldn’t he look at least somewhat worried about the charge? Instead, the guy craved isolation more than anything. He lived in a rundown shack without heat or running water. Out back, they’d found a crumbling well and a rust-mottled Ford F-1 pickup truck circa 1951, complete with bald tires and a muffler dangling by a coat hanger. Considering his prodigious size and dubious mode of transportation, Guerra would be anything but inconspicuous. “Sometimes you get a sense about these things.”
“All the same,” Renard said. “Let’s wait for the lab results before we assume he’s not our guy.”
“Right,” Hank said.
“Keep me posted.”
* * *
As Nick and Hank returned to their desks, Wu intercepted them.
“Talked to the ME,” he said. “Guerra’s axe is not the murder weapon—assuming the bone-chopping was the COD. Something about the angle of the cuts not matching the angle of the axe blade. They’re testing the other weapons confiscated from the root cellar. So far, no matches.” Wu lo
oked down at his notebook. “None of the blood or bone evidence collected is human.”
“What about the bones outside the shack?”
“Most likely deer,” Wu said.
“Looks like Guerra’s not our guy,” Hank said.
His desk phone started ringing.
“Here’s where it gets weird,” Wu continued. “Harper examined the original set of human bones and, based on discoloration, softening, brittleness and smell, she believes they were boiled.”
“Boiled?” Hank asked, incredulous. He sat on the edge of his desk, propped his crutches against it and reached for the telephone receiver with his free hand. “Like—in a pot?”
Wu nodded. “Or a witch’s cauldron.”
Hank answered the phone, his voice hushed.
“Cooked,” Nick wondered. A disturbed human might be responsible, but in Nick’s mind, the scales had started to tip toward a Wesen perpetrator.
Hank’s posture stiffened, his hand gripping the telephone receiver a little tighter. “Yes. Thanks. We’ll be right there.” He hung up, looked from Wu to Nick and said, “Claremont Park canvass turned up a second shallow grave,” he told them. “With another complete set of chopped up human bones.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The second crime scene, in the opposite direction from Guerra’s shack, resembled the first in most details: a chopped-up skeleton buried in a single mound. Except this time, Yolanda Candelas, the forensic anthropologist who’d consulted on the first scene, determined that the victim was male, middle-aged, Caucasian or possibly Hispanic.
Peralta, a junior patrol officer assigned to the canvass detail, had spotted a partially exposed rib cage—at least according to his original statement. After Nick had noticed dirt stains on the knees of the officer’s uniform, the man admitted that his left foot had made the discovery. He first saw the bones after tripping over them.
Also, as with the first site, the detectives had little to go on.
Grimm: The Chopping Block Page 4