“Why would we join the man that tried to kill us?”
“He doesn’t want to kill all of you, just you because you’re the detective.”
“What does he know about me?”
“He knows everything about you; he doesn’t care about your friends. I was just supposed to kill you, he knew they would abandon your mission in your absence,” the boy says, Marshall looks at Princeton who shrugs his shoulders.
“If we have the boy here, I say we pull a page from Hank’s book and pretend you’re dead. I can get back in the good graces of his group, then, when he’s alone, you and Chester put the clamps on him.”
“He’s never alone,” the boy says.
“The only way that would work is with his cooperation. If he does not return, the man in brown will know he failed. Besides, if you tried to join up with them again they would kill you.”
“I, sir, am a hard man to kill,” Princeton replies. Marshall looks at the boy again.
“You know where they’re headed; he had to tell you so you could meet up with him afterwards. That man turned your mother and father and you into cannibals to cover up for murders that he ordered, he turned you into what you are but no man is beyond redemption, I’m offering to save them, you could be free along with them, so I can follow those tracks as far as they go or you can tell me where he’ll be and I can free them all but the choice is yours.”
“If I thought you had a chance, I might consider your offer,” the animal king reasons.
“I say we kill him and just follow the trail,” Princeton suggests.
“We are not executioners,” Marshall says.
“I don’t know exactly what ‘we’ are. I know you don’t wanna take a life but I don’t have any qualms about it. This young man has eaten people, kids, adults, he don’t give a shit, he made his choice, he ain’t fit to live. This young man will not change and he is dangerous alive, he will turn on us as soon as he gets the chance, he’ll run back to that brown wizard and he’ll ruin us all. In my mind, we don’t really have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice. This is my case and we do it my way,” Marshall says.
“Your way will get us killed and your case will unravel, so yes we have a choice but your way will lead to failure while my way allows us to succeed.”
“If we lose the trail along the way, then all is lost.”
“I am a skilled tracker, we will not lose their trail, but the boy cannot go free, he cannot be trusted.”
“But I don’t need to trust him, I need him to trust me, I can stop the man in brown and I can save your family, so what’s it going to be kid?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: UP THE MISSISSIPPI
“I am capable of terrible things,” Chester admits as they watch the morning sun come up.
“I know,” Marshall replies.
“Then why did you pick me?”
“You survived on the streets, same beat I used to work. We crossed paths before but you didn’t remember me. You did what you were told and you escaped from that life, leaving a trail of bodies behind you yet you were never caught. The man that we are hunting is not unlike you in many ways, the setting is rural, his reasons differ, he’s created his own mythology, but he is able to reinvent himself, he’s able to hide the past.”
“I understand what he is, but I’m not like him.”
“What’s inside of him is inside of you, it’s inside of me too. Together, I know that we can find him. Sometimes, to see the truth, you must step outside of yourself.”
“How did you know you could trust me?”
“I didn’t, I don’t trust anyone.”
“No offense, but I’ve been around you for a few months now and there’s never any women.”
“My last partner was a woman.”
“I saw the picture of that woman in a red dress, who was she?”
“She was my ex-wife.”
“She was a knockout. What happened?”
“We changed.”
“Did she change or did you change?”
“She changed; I guess we both did a little bit.”
“It’s not right for a man to not try to get laid every now and again.”
“Well, Chester, it’s not like I’m asexual, but I have work to do and I have to stay focused. Now where the hell is the kid?” Marshall asks Chester.
“He said he had to get something,” Chester replies.
“He’s been gone too long,” Marshall says, shortly after he utters those words, they hear the thundering of hooves through the forest.
“Whoa, there, slow down boy,” Princeton says, as he pulls the reigns up on a brown stallion.
“Where’d the hell you get that horse?” Marshall asks.
“Don’t you worry where the hell I got this horse. I don’t ask you where you got your portable lab, nor your tracking devices, night vision goggles, your bulletproof vest and all the bells and whistles, now do I?” Princeton asks.
“I obtained all of my equipment legally.”
“I s’pose you’s tryin’ to say I didn’t obtain this here bronco that I had to tame legally, huh?”
“That was the implication.”
“I broke this horse and that makes him mine, I got my lasso and a saddle, I’s fit to track this brown wizard and his murderin’ clan.”
“The boy told us where they are headed,” Chester says.
“Listen, black Bruce Banner, if you want to trust the words of that cannibal boy, then you go right ahead but I intend to follow their tracks to discern their location.”
“How am I the black Bruce Banner? If anything I would be his alter ego,” Chester replies.
“Listen, I’ve read my comic books and I knows what I’m speaking of, you is like Bruce Banner because you is all mild-mannered and shit, but when the chips are down, you will be all rage.”
“It makes sense, your plan that is, your skills are in tracking and you’ll be able to do that effectively on horseback, we’ll drive to Perryville, follow the Mississippi up, let you track them on the ground, it makes perfect sense,” Marshall replies.
“Hell yes, it makes sense but I tole you ‘fore, trackin’ ain’t my only skill. I just ain’t had a chance to show you what I is capable of yet.”
“You took down the animal king, the man in brown’s hand-picked assassin,” Marshall says.
“Oh now, that boy didn’t stand a fair chance. I can knock a bird out of the sky from thirty, maybe sixty yards with my naked eyes, kill any damn animal I come across, outdraw any man in this fair state, maybe the whole Midwest, charm the dresses and panties off women, drink men twice my size under the table and play poker like the devil if the devil do exist though I do not believe in such claptrap.”
“The more you talk, the more my head hurts,” Chester admits.
“You might wanna get that checked out now. Yo’ head may explode like in that scanner movie. Marshall gonna need ya and you ain’t got no chance against that wizard if yo’ head ain’t right.”
“We will be in the car, following the river to the location, you track them on horseback and stay in touch, I will be monitoring your location, should you get close to them, do not make your presence known,” Marshall advises.
“I don’t intend to, I don’t wanna get that box opened on me or that lizard-beast settin’ me on fire, I’s got treasure to claim and I don’t intend to die until I claim it.”
“You will claim your treasure if it’s still there,” Marshall assures him.
“It will be there, I can feel it in my bones. Now as I was about to say before Chester interrupted me with his head troubles, one of my other skills is knowin’ backwoods folk. Not just knowin’ some of them personally like I do but knowin’ how they’s speak and how to reason with them. For instance, backwoods meth-heads do not sleep though one can bargain with ‘dem because they is woefully poor, ya just can’t turn your back on ‘dem for they will shiv you in the ribs or shoot ya, chop you up and feed ya to wolves, literally. Now I d
on’t intend on runnin’ into any of ‘dem but, if we do, I’s do the talkin’, dey know to fear me now but dey won’t fear city folk even a big ol’ bull like Chester and Marshall with yo brains, dey won’t listen to either one you now, they has their own culture and their own code. That’s where he got that girl from, story was he rescued her from abject poverty, he says she’s his daughter but they don’t look to be blood relation.”
“The girl, yes, once we plan we will have to take her into account, make sure she is safe as well as any other children with them and the parents of the boy.”
“Detective, you’s the only man I know of who’d want to spare two cannibals.”
“I promised him I would save them and what I swear to, I do.”
Princeton follows the tracks in the woods on horseback, he sees that there are around fifty of them marching through the woods, he watches the leaves on the trees and follows the tracks on his horse to the right of the footprints, he follows them east and up along the bank of the Mississippi River though the tracks are still in the forests only. Princeton calls Marshall, “So far, so good, there be fifty of dem all in one throng.”
“Good work, keep us posted,’ Marshall says, “we’re headed up to Cape Girardeau. If anything changes, let me know.”
“Will do, sir,” Princeton responds and continues tracking them, riding faster once he realizes the tracks are continuously moving north, he hears the churning of the river and he thinks about the treasure, he can see its sparkling gold as he opens the vault, he sees Handsome Hank with his back turned to him, as he turns his head to look at Princeton, the images in his head fade, he looks back at the ground and watches the tracks as his bronco thunders through the woods. He stops at a spring a few hours later and drinks from it, letting the bronco drink from it too, then he feeds his horse oats and an apple that he has in his saddle bag, he rubs his horse on the nose. “What’s wrong, boy?” he says as he sees the horse’s eyes widen. “You spooked? You’s with me, there ain’t no danger, maybe we’s getting’ close.” Princeton mounts his bronco again and continues galloping north for a solid two hours, he slows the horse to a trot while he eats some jerky, an hour later and he’s still following the tracks, he follows them at a fast clip all through the day and makes camp for the night after the sun has set. He hitches his horse to a tree and builds a fire, he heats up a can of beans and eats them out of the can, then he calls Marshall. “I is goin’ to rest for the night, I don’t want the horse to tire too much, so far no sight of dem but I got dem tracks locked in on.”
“We’ll stop in Cape Girardeau to eat, then we’ll probably head through to Perryville. How are you doing supply-wise?” Marshall asks.
“I have enough provisions to last me three days. If I have to, I can hunt for food but I’d prefer not to as the gunfire would spook the horse and may alert the wizard if he is nearby. You ain’t gonna sleep none?”
“You know I don’t sleep much. Chester will sleep in the car.”
“You’s goin’ to need to get your rest if you’s goin’ to beat that wizard.”
“It’s better if I don’t, when I dream, I keep relivin’ my past. I get to see Gina too but, well, sometimes I see her when I’m awake too.”
“I know, I saw you talkin’ to someone before but there ain’t nobody there. We’re all haunted by somethin’ detective, if it makes you feel better, sometimes I see Hank and I’m wide-awake.”
“We may be on opposite sides of the law but we have a lot in common.”
“I know we do but, as I told you before, you’re gonna have to let her go.”
“I know, I’m just not sure if I’m ready yet. That’s the hardest part.”
“Just promise me somethin’, will ya?”
“That depends on what you tell me.”
“We’s friends, you gotta promise me that one day, you won’t come lookin’ for me.”
“Listen, I looked into your past shortly after you joined us. Between you and me, the robbing and stealing, those men that you killed in that bar fight, arrests for public drunkenness and assault; it’s not for me to judge you, that’s not my job. Provided you don’t go on a killing spree, I won’t have a reason to track you down.”
“Those men was armed and it was a fair duel.”
“The odds were not in your favor.”
“If a man draws on me, the odds are always in my favor.”
“There were three of them.”
“Like I said, if they draw on me, the odds are always in my favor.”
“Fair enough.”
“I’m assuming Chester has a past too.”
“You would be right in your assumption. But both of you did what you needed to do for survival. I catch serial killers and career criminals unless I’m working for a client. You both have your pasts and I will never be the man that judges either of you for it.”
“Then what does that make you? I don’t mean it in an accusatory way but we is part of your gang and we has both killed men.”
“Everyone is capable of change. I know you may not believe it yet but it is the truth. The three of us are on the same side, we are trying to capture an evil man, neither one of you is evil; you just did what you had to do to survive. I’ve made mistakes that you are well aware of too.”
“Yes, but your mistakes arose out of your occupation.”
“That doesn’t change anything. We are in the same boat, the three of us. You acknowledge our similarities but you still believe I am on one side of the line and you are on the other.”
“That’s because we are.”
“Princeton, between us, there is no line.”
“If you say so, I’m gonna smoke and then I’s gonna sleep, I’m more tuckered out than a whore on a Saturday night.”
“We’ll be thinking about you as we eat at a greasy diner.”
“You two is fuckers, I mean that with the utmost respect.”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Marshall says. That night, Princeton dreams of the man in brown and a ring of fire. Princeton continues following the trail north through the woods and nearing the end of his second day tracking the man in brown and his followers, he notices a pair of tracks that split from the group, he calls Marshall.
“I’s found somethin’ unusual.”
“What did you find?”
“One set of boot prints deviates from the group, from the size of them; it looks to be an adult.”
“Follow them and see where they lead, you can always pick up the trail of the rest of them later.”
“All right, but I feel peculiar about this.”
“If it is him, just don’t get spotted.”
“I won’t.” Princeton follows the tracks to the bank of the Mississippi and sees that they head north, when he is past Perryville, he sees where the prints have stopped and looks at the steamboat docked there, he leads the horse around the area and doesn’t see where the tracks pick up again. He calls Marshall again and tells him, “the prints stop and there’s a big ol’ steamboat for tourists.”
“And the footprints don’t pick up again?”
“No, I checked.”
“Find out where that steamboat is headed.” Princeton asks the gray-bearded captain where it’s going.
“We’s always stop at Sainte Genevieve,” the captain responds.
“Did you ever see a man board dressed in a brown suit with a brown fedora and a green vest?” Princeton asks.
“I don’t recall a man dressed like that, doesn’t mean he wasn’t here though, we get hundreds of people a day on this here steamboat.” Princeton calls Marshall again.
“The captain says the steamboat is headed for Sainte Geneveive.”
“That’s not too far from Festus, head up to Sainte Geneveive and see if the tracks pick up again.”
“I’ll do that; I’ll follow the tracks of the throng up there through the woods. I asked the captain about a man boarding the steamboat matching the description of the man in brown.”
“W
hat did he say?”
“He said he couldn’t recall. But he also said the volume of people he sees could lead to his uncertainty about who boarded.”
“If the tracks pick up at Sainte Genevieve, then I think I understand his plan.”
“Do you mind explainin’ what his plan would be?”
“If the tracks pick up at Sainte Genevieve and rejoin the followers, then he deposited something on that boat.”
“What would that something be?”
“If I had to speculate, I would guess he is stepping up his game. It could be a bomb.”
“Why would he plant a bomb on a steamboat full of tourists?”
“I learned a long time ago, there is no point to trying to understand madness. He would do it merely for the fact that it gives him leverage.”
“Why would he need leverage if he thinks that you’re dead?”
“Knowing him, he’s planning for every contingency, and he’s prepared for the fact that the boy may have failed.” Princeton heads back to the trail of footprints and continues following them north, he makes camp for the night again and then proceeds to Sainte Genevieve the next morning, leaving the tracks of the followers behind, sure enough he sees footprints leading from the dock back to the woods and rejoining the tracks of the followers. He calls Marshall again as he looks out across the dark waters of the Mississippi.
“You were right, the tracks lead back to those of his followers and they’s fresh. The boat is docking here as I speak, I can search it.”
“I do not want you getting on that boat, I will call it in, we’ll get it evacuated until they discover what he hid there. Keep following those tracks and report when you discover their location, keep your distance.”
Princeton does as Marshall asked and follows the tracks for hours until he comes close to a clearing and there he sees them standing in a circle around him in the woods, Princeton circles around them in a wide circumference, careful not to make any noise, he tries to listen in but he can’t hear them without moving closer and he doesn’t want to risk discovery. He continues heading north and then calls Marshall when he is at a reasonable distance.
Detective Tumbler and the Man in Brown (Detective Tumbler Trilogy Book 2) Page 20
