Page 37 of Evil Bones
Casting me one baleful look, Slidell started walking a grid to the left of mine. Again, the only sounds were his heavy breathing and the shuffling of dead leaves underfoot. Not a single forest creature had anything to say.
Then, in my peripheral vision I noticed Skinny stoop to plucksomething from the ground. Bringing his hand to eye level, he inspected his find.
“Yo.”
“What?”
He curled impatient fingers with his free hand, indicating that I should join him.
I walked over.
“Let me see those pics again.”
I reopened the file and handed him my phone.
He scrolled through the photos, eventually paused. Moved on. Stopped again. Continued scrolling.
“Sonofabitch.” With feeling.
“What?”
“What’s your take on that thing down among the roots?”
I retrieved the phone and enlarged the image with a finger-thumb spread. Studied the item on the screen.
“No idea.” I said. “What is it?”
“Fuck if I know. But check this out.”
Slidell extended his upturned palm. Lying on it was an object resembling the one he’d spotted in the earlier scene photo.
“You found that here?” Stupid question. I’d just seen him pick it up.
Tight nod.
“So far we don’t have much tying this whole freak show to one perp,” he said, with none of the derision I’d expected. “Or leading us to him. I mean, there’s no pattern to the type of animal, the type of tree, the type of pose. The creep changes his MO slightly every time, except for nailing up some poor critter and keeping a body part.”
Slidell was composing his voice into a careful monotone, masking an underlying anger I didn’t fully understand. Why such a high level of emotion?
I said nothing.
Slidell raised his upturned palm.
“But he messed up with this. And it’s going to put his sick ass in the can.”
CHAPTER 9
“What’s your take?”
Slidell was asking about the thing he’d plucked from the tangle of tree roots.
“Hold it out,” I said.
He did.
Activating my phone’s magnifier app, I brought the screen close and slid the yellow button to the right. The image exploded and detail emerged.
I could see that the outer margins were ragged, suggesting the object had once been larger in size. Though mud-speckled and discolored, it had also been lighter in color. One side was edged with blue rubber.
