Broken Monsters. Lauren Beukes

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      ‘Shouldn’t it be John Fawn?’ Croff jokes.

      ‘What?’

      ‘The deer. It wasn’t a doe.’

      ‘All right,’ she concedes, rubbing out ‘doe’ and replacing it with ‘fawn’.

      ‘John Yearling,’ Boyd musters. ‘Unlike you pussies, I spend time in the woods.’

      ‘Bambi,’ Stricker says.

      And that settles it. There is that frisson of rightness, everyone smiling and nodding. Coffee and black humor: the fuel that keeps cops going.

      ‘Very cute,’ Miranda says. ‘I hear anyone referring to this body as Bambi in public and I’ll put you on traffic duty forever. Do not write that down, Versado.’

      ‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.’ She scrubs ‘Bambi’ and goes back to ‘John Doe’.

      Under that, she writes:

       ID the body

       Find the murder scene

       Motivation

       Murders with similar MOs

       Boyd: Hunting associations, park rangers, nature clubs

      ‘Aw, shit,’ her partner complains.

      ‘Us pussies couldn’t possibly interview big bad hunter types,’ Gabi mocks. ‘You’ve already got an in.’

      ‘That’s true. But season’s in full swing. You got a million registered hunters in Michigan alone. You want me to go through all of them?’

      ‘You could start with the ones with any kind of record for violence.’

      ‘Apart from shooting widdle animals, you mean?’ Croff says in an Elmer Fudd voice, working his hustle for all it’s worth. Every department has workers and slugs, and Croff is definitely Team Mollusc. He lets Stricker do the hard stuff and relies on his smart mouth and leaning on his connections for the rest.

      ‘Domestic assault charges. Unnecessary cruelty to animals. Shooting out of season.’

      ‘Was it a white-tail or a black-tail?’

      Gabi takes the photograph off the wall and hands it to Boyd. ‘White. That any help determining where the animal came from?’

      Boyd puts on his glasses and squints at the photo. ‘Means it’s from a local population. Black-tail would have been better. He would have had to bring it in from Oregon or Canada. It would have been much easier to trace.’

      ‘There are deer on Belle Isle,’ Sparkles says.

      ‘Those are European,’ Boyd scoffs. ‘Fallow deer. This animal is definitely a white-tail, five months old.’

      ‘How can you tell?’

      ‘Hasn’t lost its spots yet,’ he says smugly, tapping the white flecks on the flank.

      ‘And fawning happens in May or June,’ Washington says. ‘Don’t make out like it’s rocket science, Bob.’

      ‘So we know it’s probably from Michigan state, and probably killed recently because the age matches up, more or less.’

      ‘Unless the killer has a freezer full of dead fawns,’ Stricker says.

      ‘Point,’ Gabi says. ‘It’s a good fit. Did he get lucky on the first go, or is there a pile of dead deer somewhere of all the ones that didn’t match? Bob, I want you to add taxidermists to your list.’

      ‘Give me a break! I’ve already got a million hunters. Where the fuck am I supposed to get that?’

      ‘There’s probably a professional association,’ Stricker says. ‘Look on the Internet.’

      ‘That sounded a lot like you volunteering.’

      ‘Sure. I’ll take it.’

      ‘Fine,’ Gabi says. ‘And look into associated stuff too.’

       Stricker: Taxidermy. Circus freak shows. Other

      She can’t help thinking that ‘other’ is not a bad category for their relationship. The divorce rate among cops is high. Not un-coincidentally, high levels of interdepartmental affairs, too. The bosses will turn a blind eye if you keep it on the down-low. She didn’t get involved in any of that while she and William were still trying to work things out. But here she is now, screwing brutally competent Detective Stricker on those days their off-duties coincide.

      ‘All right, so what’s the motivation? Apart from being a sick fuck?’

      ‘It’s on display. He wants attention,’ Washington says.

      ‘Not like he put it up on a pedestal on the riverwalk.’

      ‘But she’s right. He did want it to be found. He’s not trying to cover it up. Kid and an animal.’

      ‘Black kid and an animal,’ Washington points out. ‘What’s that say?’

      ‘Could be racially motivated.’

       Washington: Race crimes / local hate groups

      ‘What about Satanists?’ Croff says. ‘Could be an occult murder.’

      ‘Sure.’ Gabi rolls her eyes.

      ‘Or voodoo hoodoo shit.’

       Satanists. Occult. Voodoo hoodoo shit

      ‘You good with that, Ovella?’

      She folds her arms, revealing glittering fingertips – the diamanté appliqués on her nails lead a lot of people to underestimate her. ‘Because I’m black? Or because I’m Catholic?’

      ‘Satanists are usually white,’ Boyd chips in, trying to be helpful.

      ‘That’s racist,’ Croff grins. ‘You’re insulting Satanists of color.’

      ‘You wanna throw in the Michigan Dogman?’ Washington complains.

      ‘Knock it off,’ Gabi says. ‘We need warm bodies on the phone calling the other precincts and districts on broadly similar murders. Don’t let anyone try to dump their cold cases on you.’

      ‘Can I sit down now?’ the rookie asks.

      ‘Not yet, Sparkles. Was there anything else you noticed at the scene?’

      ‘There was no blood or nothing. And he looked real peaceful. I think he didn’t even see it СКАЧАТЬ