Naked Prey

by John Sandford

  “Yeah, it’s all over town—the feds and those state guys are up at the dump, digging the place up. Ray Zahn’s up there, they rousted out old Phil Bussard, must have him up there with the ’dozer. Must be looking for those girls.”

  “Aw, Jiminy,” Anderson said. He walked out of the drugstore and climbed into his truck, did an illegal U-turn, and headed out of town. He got madder and madder, thinking about it, as he went north—he was smearing cherry Chap Stick on his lips when he realized that he’d just shoplifted it under the eyes of an assistant county attorney.

  “These people,” he said aloud, meaning the BCA, but especially Lucas Davenport. He was so arrogant, so holier-than-thou, out here in the sticks with his expensive Patagonia parka and his forty-thousand-dollar truck that no self-respecting American ought to be driving. Like to see him get that thing fixed when it blows up on Highway 36, he thought; like to see him find parts for a gosh-darned Acura out here. They’d have to tow that sucker back to the Cities.

  They had their hot jobs up at the capital hanging out with that faggot Henderson, and they didn’t understand that he couldn’t be cut out of this investigation—not if he wanted to keep this job, the best job he’d ever had and would ever have. These people.

  He had a little fantasy of arranging a breakdown for Davenport’s Acura, noticed that he’d just gone through Broderick at eighty-five miles an hour, saw lights on at Calb’s and wondered if the feds might be in there, too, got even madder, and pushed the truck to ninety.

  At the turnoff to the dump, he thought, Easy does it. You’re cool, now. He continued down the approach road. There were no vehicles parked at the gate, but from the high seat in the truck, he could see over the rise of the dump to a brilliant cluster of lights off to his right. People at work.

  He took the truck that way, bouncing over the ruts left by the bulldozer, saw Zahn walking back to his car, then Davenport and Capslock walking toward the fancy Acura.

  The radio went, on the command frequency. “Sheriff, you there?”

  He ignored it, pulled up beside Davenport and Capslock, and hopped out.

  “What’s going on here?” he asked Lucas.

  “Take a look in the hole,” Lucas said. “We think it’s Mrs. Calb.”

  “Aw, jeez . . . How come I wasn’t in on this?”

  Lucas said, “I gotta apologize for that, but we got some information that, uh, the guy we’re looking for might be with the sheriff’s department.”

  Anderson had started toward the hole, but that turned him around. “My department?”

  “Yeah. We think it might be Loren Singleton. Katina’s boyfriend.”

  “Singleton? I just, I just . . . Aw, shoot.” He walked over to look in the hole. They’d exposed most of the bag, and he could see a woman’s thigh and lower leg. Could be Gloria Calb; about the right size.

  “We got another bag underneath it,” Bussard said, leaning on his shovel, looking up at the sheriff. He smelled like old Campbell’s tomato soup. “Looks like a man’s shoe. The boys here think it’s gotta be Gene.”

  Lucas stepped up next to Anderson. “We were gonna come get you, and then go get Singleton. Since he’s your guy, we figured you might want to be there to make the official arrest . . .”

  Aw, shoot.

  THEY ALL WENT back to their trucks, Anderson thinking that they’d never have called him, not until they had Singleton trussed up like a Christmas turkey. They were treating him like the village idiot, and if he hadn’t gotten up here in time, everybody in Custer County would have known about it.

  Anderson got in his truck and the radio bleated again, “Sheriff, are you there? Sheriff?”

  He picked up the handset and said, “Yeah, this is me. What do you want?”

  “We got a strange call from Margery Singleton. That’s Loren Singleton’s mother. She said she’s afraid he’s done something awful and that he might hurt some more people. I don’t know, she sounded a little overcooked, but I thought I’d call you . . .”

  ZAHN WAS LEADING the parade out of the dump, Lucas behind him, Anderson in the third truck, and as they pulled out of the approach road, Anderson began honking his horn and flashing his lights. They all stopped and Anderson ran up beside Lucas’s truck.

  “Loren Singleton’s mom just called in. She said she thinks Loren’s done something awful, and he’s headed up to Broderick and thinks he might hurt some more people. She said he mentioned that Letty kid.”

  “Aw, shit,” Lucas said. He shouted “Tell Ray,” and accelerated away, barely giving Anderson time to jump back from the truck.

  Anderson watched as Lucas swerved around Zahn and out onto the approach road. Zahn had stopped with all the horn honking, and had gotten out of his car when Anderson had gotten out of his. Zahn yelled, “What?”

  “Loren’s on his way to Broderick; he’s after that Letty kid.”

  Zahn didn’t say anything—just got in his car and tore out after Lucas. Anderson got back in his truck and followed, onto the approach road. Then he picked up his handset, called the dispatcher and said, “You gotta get the phone number of that church up in Broderick. Tell them that they’re in danger, that Loren’s coming after them. Tell them to lock their doors.”

  The call was, he thought later, the only good thing he’d done all night—but it was very good.

  25

  Loren Singleton had just gotten his truck in Calb’s garage when another truck went through town at high speed. He heard it, didn’t see it—but its urgency carried a message. Something had happened north of Broderick, and the only thing north of Broderick for a long distance was the dump.

  In his heart, he knew they’d found something. He sat slumped in his truck, the radio muttering at him, and then, distantly, playing an old Wayne Newton tune, “Danke Schoen.” He turned it up a bit, and the song hit him emotionally, and he began to weep, thinking about Katina, but also about himself. The chances of Mom getting anything together were just about zero, he thought. He was toast.

  He finally wiped his eyes with the heels of his hands, pulled on his gloves, got the .380 out from under the car seat, put on his cop hat, took a deep breath, and headed out to the church.

  RUTH LEWIS HAD finished her calls north. Letty was sleepy from the pain pills, and had given up her book and was watching one of the nuns’ DVD movies, Thelma and Louise, her injured leg up on a pile of pillows. The older woman was in her cubicle, doing her afternoon prayers. Ruth, restless, thought about collecting Letty and walking over to the diner, or getting back in the car and checking at the dump, to see if anything had been found.

  Thelma and Louise was starting to show noise—either that, Ruth thought, or the DVD machine was breaking down. She leaned against the doorway, watching the movie over Letty’s head, when the phone rang in the kitchen. She hurried back, picked it up. The sheriff’s dispatcher, talking all in a rush: “Loren Singleton’s mom says he’s coming up there with a gun he might hurt you and you’re all supposed to get out of there quick, the sheriff’s on his way right now but Loren may be ahead of him . . .”

  The doorbell rang.

  RUTH DROPPED THE phone and ran toward the front of the church, stopped in the doorway of the TV room, and said, quietly as she could, but with urgency, “Loren Singleton’s on his way. Get up in the loft and hide.”

  The doorbell rang again and Letty, not asking questions, limped past Ruth, and Ruth went to the front of the church and peeked out the small window at the front. Loren Singleton, hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched against the wind, was standing on the concrete stoop.

  She backed away. Silence was best, she thought. Then the older woman, interrupted at her prayers, called, “Ruth? Did you get the door?”

  The doorbell rang again and then the doorknob rattled, and she heard Singleton yell, “Sheriff’s deputy. Open up.”

  The older woman came out, puzzled, and asked, “What’s going on?” Ruth grabbed her by the arm, saw Letty disappearing into the loft at the back, and dragged
the older woman toward the back of the church. “Loren Singleton . . . the sheriff says he might be here to hurt Letty.”

  “What?”

  They were at a window, and Ruth looked out—but there was nothing out there except a few snow-whipped buildings, hundreds of feet apart, and the plains. If they ran out the back door, and if Singleton saw them, there’d be no place to go, or to hide.

  “I don’t . . .” she began, and at that moment, Singleton kicked in the door. He did it like a cop, a quick heavy kick at the doorknob, and the door buckled, without quite breaking clean. Then he kicked it again, and Ruth said to the older woman, “Hide. Anywhere.” She turned toward the door to confront Singleton.

  Singleton loomed in the doorway and Ruth shouted at him, “The sheriff’s coming. They just called and they know!”

  Singleton had a gun in his hand, but the message got through to him and he stopped, breathing hard, maybe thinking and then Letty, from up in the loft, yelled, “You killed my mom, you sonofabitch.”

  Ruth’s heart sank.

  Letty added, “I shot you once and I’ll shoot you again if you don’t get out of here.”

  Singleton saw her up in the loft, and shouted, “You little . . .” He lifted his gun hand as though he might shoot at her, and Letty shot him and he fell down.

  “Letty,” Ruth yelled. “Stop. Stop!”

  “Get up and I’ll shoot you again, you sonofabitch,” Letty yelled.

  Ruth walked carefully toward the front of the church, where Singleton was trying to roll over on his stomach. Ruth could see a gun lying on the floor off to the side. He couldn’t see her coming as he tried to push himself up, and she stepped around him and kicked the gun off to the side and waved at Letty, who shouted, “Get away from him, Ruth.”

  Singleton got his feet underneath himself, and he looked sideways at Ruth and said, “Little bitch shot me right in the stomach. God that hurts.”

  “We can get you to the hospital.”

  “Fuck that,” Singleton said. “How did you know I was coming?”

  “Your mom called, I guess. She was afraid you’d hurt somebody. Was it . . . did you . . . are you the one who hurt Katina?”

  Singleton was puzzled. “Mom?”

  “Called the sheriff,” Ruth said. “Did you hurt Katina?”

  From the back of the church, Letty shouted, “Get away from him, Ruth. Get away from him.”

  Ruth waved at her. “Did you . . .”

  “But, Mom . . .” Singleton was puzzled.

  “What?”

  He looked at her, his eyes rolling a little. “But, Mom . . . I mean, she did it all. She had the idea. She gave the shots to the girls. She got the money. She shot Katina . . .” He managed to focus on Ruth, and tears started. “I wouldn’t hurt Katina. I didn’t, I didn’t . . .”

  There was a scuffling, sliding gravel sound outside, cars pulling into the graveled lot, and Singleton pushed himself to his feet and said, “You better get out of here.”

  He pushed his parka back and slipped a service revolver out of a holster and said, “Better back away . . .”

  She backed away and he lurched into the doorway and Letty yelled, “Watch out, watch out,” and shot him again in the back, and he lurched forward and lifted the pistol and Ruth heard men yelling outside and Letty shot him in the back again, and Singleton pulled the trigger on his pistol once and then buckled under a volley of pistol shots, taking two steps back and falling into the church.

  Then she heard somebody shout, “Del . . . Del . . .”

  THE ACURA COULD go a hundred and five, but didn’t like it: didn’t like the tar joints on the county highway and Lucas felt like a pea being rattled in a tin can. Del was shouting, “Go, go,” and in the rearview mirror, Lucas could see Zahn slowly closing on them. Within a minute or two, Zahn was fifty yards back, and he hung there; they were only two minutes out of town.

  They were still more than a mile out when they saw somebody walking across the highway far ahead. At that distance, he was the apparent size of a flea seen from across a room, but Del said, “That’s him: that’s gotta be him.”

  They were a little more than a mile out when they saw him kick in the door of the church, and Del pulled out his pistol and said, “Put me right on the door.”

  Lucas said, “Going too fast. I don’t know where I can put us. That’s all gravel in there.”

  Seconds later, they were skidding across the gravel, Zahn fishtailing into the lot right behind them, trying to keep from colliding. Lucas stopped a little beyond the church door and Del was out and then Lucas was out and he saw Zahn drawing his pistol and aiming over the roof of the cruiser and then Singleton was in the door and Lucas leveled his gun at him and started shouting—didn’t know what he was shouting, he was shouting a noise, and he heard what sounded like gunfire—and then Singleton, who’d been moving in a slow jerking motion, suddenly and spasmodically lifted one hand and there was a gun in it and he fired and Del went down and Lucas and Zahn opened fire and Singleton slumped back into the church.

  Lucas ran around the truck. “Del . . . Del . . .”

  RUTH LEWIS CAME to the door, cautiously. Letty was right behind her with her gun. Lewis stopped to look at Singleton, but Letty came through and saw Del on the ground and said, “Oh, no, is he hurt bad? Is he hurt?”

  Lucas was kneeling beside him, Zahn standing over them both, and Del asked, “How bad?”

  “Your leg is fucked up,” Lucas said. “Doesn’t seem to be pumping blood. You want to wait for an ambulance or you wanna go for a ride?”

  Zahn, above them, said, “I called for an ambulance, it’ll be here in seven minutes. I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse. If you wait, you’ll have a comfortable ride.”

  “I’ll wait,” said Del.

  “Let’s get some blankets under him,” Ruth Lewis said. “Loren’s dead.”

  “We found the Calbs out at the dump—Loren killed your sister, and the Calbs, and Letty’s mother, and the Sorrells, and probably the two children,” Lucas told her. “Guy’s done a lot of damage.”

  “Mmm,” she said, distantly. Lucas thought she might be going into shock. Then, “I’ll get the blankets. The ground’s so cold.” She hurried back into the church.

  Letty squatted next to Del. “I shot him three more times,” she said. “I heard you coming and he went to the door with his gun, and I shot him three times but he kept going.”

  “Aw, man,” Lucas said. “This is awful.”

  “Guy committed suicide,” Del said. “Just wish . . . just wish . . .”

  Ruth Lewis ran inside, saw the .380 kicked against the wall. Blankets. She needed blankets for Del. She went to the closest bed, stripped off the blankets, then got some more from the next cubicle. And she thought: Mom?

  On the way back out, she saw the cluster of people around Del, and she stepped sideways and picked up the little .380 and put it in her pocket.

  RUTH CAME BACK with the blankets, and they pushed them under Del’s butt and back and good leg, and Del asked everybody, pain in his eyes, “I won’t lose the leg, will I?”

  Zahn said, “With our hospital, you never know,” and when Del did a kind of eyeball double-take, he said quickly, “Just kidding. Hang on, there. That fuckin’ Loren.”

  26

  Del was stabilized in Armstrong and then flown back to the Cities, where he was met by Weather, by Rose Marie, and by the governor himself.

  Lucas stayed behind for a hard two days after Singleton was shot. They brought Margery Singleton in, a bird-like woman shocked by what they were saying. “It can’t be my boy; it can’t be my boy,” she said. “He’s dead? You say he’s dead?” The sheriff eventually patted her on the back, thanked her for the phone call, and sent her on her way.

  They debriefed Ruth Lewis, who was accompanied by an influential Minneapolis attorney who did the heavy lifting for the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The drug runs weren’t mentioned, but she told them what she “suspected” about t
he car theft ring.

  All of Calb’s employees were interviewed, except for three who’d departed for parts unknown. All of those interviewed professed to have been mystified by the number of Toyotas they’d been painting. They’d all heard that it was a deal with some insurance company to fix slightly flawed new Toyotas.

  Letty was interviewed and sent down to the Cities with the older woman from the church. She was scheduled for more work on her hand.

  THE FBI CREW found first Tammy Sorrell’s grave, led there by the Christmas wrap at the edge of the dump cut, and then, later the same day, Annie Burke’s.

  Lucas turned the details over to the crew from Bemidji, and on the third day, left Custer County. An Alberta Clipper was coming through, and he stayed close to the front all the way down, driving through the feathery snow, listening to the FM stations come and go.

  HE ARRIVED HOME to find his wife putting her coat on.

  “Going to Subway. I thought I’d be back before you got here,” Weather said, after kissing him hello.

  “I can go if you want,” Lucas offered.

  “No, I’ll go. Back in fifteen.”

  “Talk to Del today?”

  “Yes. Went over, talked to him, looked at the films. I’m no orthopod, but I think what you heard is right,” Weather said. “The break’s a bad one—some of the bone got blown back into his calf. Twenty years ago, before they got so good with bone grafts, he’d be stuck with a pretty bad limp. Now, it’ll be a while before he’s out jogging, but I don’t think he’ll limp.”

  “Cheryl’s pissed at me,” Lucas said. “That happens. The wife always gets a little pissed at the partner when somebody gets hit.”

  “You feel bad about it?”

  “Some,” Lucas said. “But I don’t know what else I could have done. We thought he was in there killing them.”

  The phone rang, Weather picked it up, listened, said, “Yes, just a second.” She covered the mouthpiece with her hand, said, “It’s Sheriff Anderson from Armstrong,” and, “I’m going to Subway.”