Lethal Read online

  The sheriff expressed his disgust over the viciousness of the crime, then signed off with his pledge to be in touch if the murderous psycho was spotted in his parish.

  “Windbag could talk the horns off a billy goat,” Fred complained to his brother as he disconnected.

  Doral extended him a Styrofoam cup. “You look like you could use a coffee.”

  “No time.”

  “Take time.”

  Impatiently Fred removed the lid from the cup and took a sip. His head jerked back in surprise.

  Doral laughed. “Thought you could use a little pick-me-up, too.”

  “We ain’t twins for nothing. Thanks.”

  As Fred drank the liberally spiked coffee, he surveyed the line of patrol cars parked along the edge of the road. Dozens of uniformed officers from various agencies were milling around nearby, some talking on cell phones, others studying maps, most looking befuddled and intimidated by the job at hand.

  “What a mess,” Doral said under his breath.

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “As city manager, I came out to offer any help that I or the City of Tambour can provide.”

  “As lead investigator on the case, I appreciate the city’s support,” Fred said drolly. “Now that the official bullshit is out of the way, tell me where you think he ran to.”

  “You’re the cop, not me.”

  “But you’re the best tracker for miles around.”

  “Since Eddie was killed, maybe.”

  “Well, Eddie ain’t here, so you’re it. You’re part bloodhound, too. You could find a flea on a pissant.”

  “Yeah, but fleas ain’t as slippery as this guy.”

  Doral had arrived dressed not as a city official, but as a hunter, fully expecting that his twin would recruit him to join the manhunt. He took off his dozer cap and fanned his face with it as he gazed toward the edge of the woods where those involved in the search were gathering.

  “That slipperiness of his has got me worried.” Fred would admit that only to his brother. “We gotta catch this son of a bitch, Doral.”

  “Like right effing now.”

  Fred chugged the rest of his bourbon-laced coffee and tossed the empty cup onto the driver’s seat of his car. “You ready?”

  “If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up.”

  The two joined the rest of the search party. As its appointed organizer, Fred gave the command. Officers fanned out and began picking their way through the tall grass toward the tree line that demarcated the dense forest. Trainers unleashed their search dogs.

  They were commencing the search here because a motorist who’d been changing a flat on the side of the road late last night had seen a man running into the woods. He hadn’t thought anything about it until the mass slaying at the Royale Trucking Company warehouse was reported on the local news this morning. The estimated time of the shooting had roughly corresponded with the time he’d seen an individual—whom he couldn’t describe because he’d been too far away—disappearing into the woods on foot and in a hurry. He’d called the Tambour Police Department.

  It wasn’t much for Fred and the others to go on, but since they didn’t have any other leads, here they were, trying to pick up a trail that would lead them to the alleged mass murderer, one Lee Coburn.

  Doral kept his head down, studying the ground. “Is Coburn familiar with this territory?”

  “Don’t know. Could know it as good as he knows the back of his hand, or could be he’s never even seen a swamp.”

  “Let’s hope.”

  “His employee application said his residence before Tambour was Orange, Texas. But I checked the address and it’s bogus.”

  “So nobody knows for sure where he came from.”

  “Nobody to ask,” Fred said dryly. “His coworkers on the loading dock are dead.”

  “But he’s been in Tambour for thirteen months. He had to know somebody.”

  “Nobody’s come forward.”

  “Nobody would, though, would they?”

  “Guess not. After last night, who’d want to claim him as a friend?”

  “Bartender? Waitress? Somebody he traded with?”

  “Officers are canvassing. A checker at Rouse’s who’d rung up his groceries a few times said he was pleasant enough, but definitely not a friendly sort. Said he always paid in cash. We ran his Social Security number through. No credit cards came up, no debts. No account in any town bank. He cashed his paychecks at one of those places that do that for a percentage.”

  “The man didn’t want to leave a paper trail.”

  “And he didn’t.”

  Doral asked if Coburn’s neighbors had been interviewed.

  “By me personally,” Fred replied. “Everybody in the apartment complex knew him by sight. Women thought he was attractive in that certain kind of way.”

  “What certain kind of way?”

  “Wished they could fuck him, but considered him bad news.”

  “That’s a ‘way’?”

  “Of course that’s a ‘way.’ ”

  “Who told you that?”

  “It’s just something I know.” He nudged his twin in the ribs. “ ’Course I understand women better than you do.”

  “Piss up my other leg.”

  They shared a chuckle, then Fred turned serious again. “Men I talked to said they knew better than to mess with Coburn, which wasn’t a problem, because he came and went without even a nod for anybody.”

  “Girlfriends?”

  “None that anybody knew of.”

  “Boyfriends?”

  “None that anybody knew of.”

  “You search his apartment?”

  “Thoroughly. It’s a one-room efficiency on the east side of town, and not a damn thing in it to give us a clue. Work clothes in the closet. Chicken pot pies in the freezer. The man lived like a monk. One thumbed copy of Sports Illustrated on the coffee table. A TV, but no cable hookup. Nothing personal in the whole damn place. No notepad, calendar, address book. Zilch.”

  “Computer?”

  “No.”

  “What about his phone?”

  Fred had found a cell phone at the murder scene and had determined that it didn’t belong to any of the bullet-riddled bodies. “Recent calls, one to that lousy Chinese food place that delivers in town, and one came in to him from a telemarketer.”

  “That’s it? Two calls?”

  “In thirty-six hours.”

  “Well, damn.” Doral swatted at a biting fly.

  “We’re checking out the other calls in his log. See who the numbers belong to. But right now, we know nothing about Lee Coburn except that he’s out here somewhere, and that we’re gonna catch shit if we don’t find him.” Lowering his voice, Fred added, “And I’d just as soon return him in a body bag as in handcuffs. Best thing for us? We’d find his lifeless body floating in a bayou.”

  “Townsfolk wouldn’t complain. Marset was highly thought of. Practically the freaking prince of Tambour.”

  Sam Marset had been the owner of the Royale Trucking Company, president of the Rotary Club, an elder at St. Boniface Catholic Church, an Eagle Scout, a Mason. He had chaired various boards and was usually grand marshal of the town’s Mardi Gras parade. He had been a pillar of the community whom folks had admired and liked.

  He was now a corpse with a bullet hole in his head, and, as if that one hadn’t been enough to kill him, another had been fired into his chest for extra measure. The other six shooting victims probably wouldn’t be missed much, but Marset’s murder had warranted a televised press conference earlier that morning. It had been covered by numerous community newspapers from the coastal region of the state, and all of the major New Orleans television stations were represented.

  Fred had presided, flanked at the microphone by city officials, including his twin. The New Orleans P.D. had loaned Tambour police a sketch artist, who’d rendered a drawing of Coburn based on descriptions provided by neighbors: Caucasian
male around six feet three inches tall, average weight, athletic build, black hair, blue eyes, thirty-four years of age according to his employee records.

  Fred had concluded the press conference by filling television screens with the drawing and warning locals that Coburn was believed still to be in the area and should be considered armed and dangerous.

  “You laid it on pretty thick,” Doral said now, referring to Fred’s closing remarks. “No matter how slippery Lee Coburn is, everybody’s going to be after his hide. I don’t think he has a prayer of escaping the area.”

  Fred looked at his brother and raised one eyebrow. “You mean that honestly, or is that wishful thinking?”

  Before Doral could reply, Fred’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and smiled across at his brother. “Tom VanAllen. FBI to the rescue.”

  Chapter 3

  Coburn gradually backed away from the woman, but even then, her fear of him was palpable. Good. He needed her to be afraid. Fear would inspire cooperation. “They’re searching for you,” she said.

  “Behind every tree.”

  “Police, state troopers, volunteers. Dogs.”

  “I heard them yelping early this morning.”

  “They’ll catch you.”

  “They haven’t yet.”

  “You should keep running.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Mrs. Gillette?”

  Her expression became even more stark with fear, so the significance of his knowing her name hadn’t escaped her. He hadn’t randomly selected her house in which to take refuge. It—she—had been a destination.

  “Mommy, the kitty went into the bushes and won’t come out.”

  Coburn’s back was to the door, but he’d heard the little girl come in from outside, had heard the soles of her sandals slapping against the hardwood floor as she approached the kitchen. But he didn’t turn toward her. His gaze remained fixed on the kid’s mother.

  Her face had turned as white as chalk. Her lips looked practically bloodless as her eyes sawed back and forth between him and the kid. But Coburn gave her credit for keeping her voice light and cheerful. “That’s what kitties do, Em. They hide.”

  “How come?”

  “The kitty doesn’t know you, so maybe he’s afraid.”

  “That’s silly.”

  “Yes, it is. Very silly.” She shifted her gaze back to Coburn and added meaningfully, “He should know you won’t do anything.”

  Okay, he wasn’t dense. He got the message. “If you do,” he said softly, “he’ll scratch, and it will hurt.” Holding her frightened stare, he slid the pistol into the waistband of his jeans and tugged the hem of his T-shirt over it, then turned around. The kid was staring up at him with blatant curiosity.

  “Does your boo-boo hurt?”

  “My what?”

  She pointed to his head. He reached up and touched congealed blood. “No, it doesn’t hurt.”

  He stepped around her as he crossed to the table. Ever since coming into the kitchen, his mouth had been watering from the aroma of freshly baked cake. He stripped away the paper cup of a cupcake and bit off half of it, then ravenously crammed the rest of it into his mouth and reached for another. He hadn’t eaten since noon yesterday, and he’d been slogging through the swamp all night. He was starving.

  “You didn’t wash,” the kid said.

  He swallowed the cupcake practically whole. “What?”

  “You’re supposed to wash your hands before you eat.”

  “Oh yeah?” He peeled the paper off the second cupcake and took a huge bite.

  The kid nodded solemnly. “It’s the rule.”

  He shot a look at the woman, who had moved up behind her daughter and placed protective hands on her shoulders. “I don’t always go by the rules,” he said. Keeping an eye on them, he went to the fridge, opened it, and took out a plastic bottle of milk. He thumbed off the cap and tilted the bottle toward his mouth, drinking from it in gulps.

  “Mommy, he’s drinking from—”

  “I know, darling. But it’s okay just this once. He’s very thirsty.”

  The kid watched in fascination as he drank at least a third of the milk before stopping to take a breath. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and replaced the bottle in the fridge.

  The kid wrinkled her nose. “Your clothes are dirty and stinky.”

  “I fell in the creek.”

  Her eyes widened. “On accident?”

  “Sorta.”

  “Did you have wings on?”

  “Wings?”

  “Can you do a face float?”

  Clueless, he looked at the mother. She said, “She learned to do a face float in swim class.”

  “I still have to wear my wings,” the little girl said, “but I got a gold star on my fertisicate.”

  Nervously, the mother turned her around and ushered her toward the doorway into the living room. “I think it’s time for Dora. Why don’t you go watch while I talk to… to our company.”

  The child dug her heels in. “You said I could lick the bowl.”

  The mother hesitated, then took a rubber spatula from the bowl of frosting and handed it down to her. She took it happily and said to him, “Don’t eat any more cupcakes. There s’pposed to be for the birthday party.” Then she skipped out of the room.

  The woman turned to him, but said nothing until they heard the voice track of the TV show come on. Then, “How do you know my name?”

  “You’re Eddie Gillette’s widow, right?” She merely stared at him. “It’s not that tough a question. Yes or no?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, unless you’ve remarried…”

  She shook her head.

  “Then it stands to reason your name is Mrs. Gillette. What’s your first name?”

  “Honor.”

  Honor? He’d never known anybody by that name. But then this was Louisiana. People had strange names, first and last. “Well, Honor, I don’t have to introduce myself, do I?”

  “They said your name is Lee Collier.”

  “Coburn. Pleased to meet you. Sit down.” He indicated a chair at the kitchen table.

  She hesitated, then pulled the chair from beneath the table and slowly lowered herself into it.

  He worked a cell phone out of the front pocket of his jeans and punched in a number, then hooked a chair leg with the toe of his boot and sat down across the table from her. He stared at her as he listened to the telephone on the other end ring.

  She fidgeted in her seat. She clasped her hands together in her lap and looked away from him, then, almost defiantly, brought her gaze back to his and held it. She was scared half to death but trying not to show it. The lady had backbone, which was okay by him. He would much rather deal with a little moxie than bawling and begging.

  When his call was answered by an automated voice mail recording, he swore beneath his breath, then waited for the ding and said, “You know who this is. All hell’s broke loose.”

  As soon as he clicked off, she said, “You have an accomplice?”

  “You could say.”

  “Was he there during the… the shooting?”

  He merely looked at her.

  She wet her lips, pulled the lower one between her teeth. “They said on the news that seven people were killed.”

  “That’s how many I counted.”

  She crossed her arms over her middle and hugged her elbows. “Why did you kill them?”

  “What are they saying on TV?”

  “That you were a disgruntled employee.”

  He shrugged. “You could call me disgruntled.”

  “You didn’t like the trucking company?”

  “No. Especially the boss.”

  “Sam Marset. But the others were just shift workers, like you. Was it necessary to shoot them, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “They were witnesses.”

  His candor seemed to astonish and repel her. He watched a shudder
pass through her. For a time, she remained quiet, simply staring at the tabletop.

  Then slowly she raised her head and looked up at him. “How did you know my husband?”

  “Actually I never had the pleasure. But I’ve heard about him.”

  “From whom?”

  “Around Royale Trucking, his name pops up a lot.”

  “He was born and raised in Tambour. Everybody knew Eddie and loved him.”

  “You sure about that?”

  Taken aback, she said, “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Among other things, he was a cop, right?”

  “What do you mean by ‘among other things’?”

  “Your husband, the late, great Eddie the cop, was in possession of something extremely valuable. I came here to get it.”

  Before she could respond, the cell phone still in his pocket, hers, rang, startling them both. Coburn pulled it from his pocket. “Who’s Stanley?”

  “My father-in-law.”

  “Grandpa,” he said, thinking back to what the kid had said out in the yard.

  “If I don’t answer—”

  “Forget it.” He waited until the ringing stopped, then nodded toward the cupcakes. “Whose birthday is it?”

  “Stan’s. He’s coming for dinner to celebrate.”

  “What time? And I don’t advise you to lie to me.”

  “Five-thirty.”

  He glanced at the wall clock. That was almost eight hours from now. He hoped to have what he was after and be miles away from here by then. A lot depended on Eddie Gillette’s widow and how much she knew about her late husband’s extracurricular activities.

  He could tell her fear of him was genuine. But her fear could be based on any number of reasons, one of them being that she wanted to protect what she had and was afraid of him taking it away from her.

  Or she could be entirely innocent and afraid only of the danger he posed to her and her kid.

  Apparently they lived alone out here in the boondocks. There hadn’t been a trace of a man in the house. So when a bloodstained stranger showed up and threatened the isolated widow with a pistol, she would naturally be afraid.

  Although living singly didn’t necessarily equate to virtue, Coburn thought, reminding himself that he lived alone.