Hell's Roundabout. Benjamin Vance

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СКАЧАТЬ and beautiful woman and frankly I can’t understand why you’re unattached. In addition, Mr. Gilbertson would be genuinely stupid to kick you out before the home is transferred or sold because you’re like a paying caretaker; watching the place nearly full time for him.”

      She looked at Army with another question in her eyes, but left it unasked. Instead she asked about Charley. Of course the descriptions overflowed until he stopped abruptly and asked if she had any children. She did not, but wished for them before she left child bearing age behind her. Army said he hoped for more kids someday too and he thought he caught a sparkle in Chiara’s green eyes. If he did, it would certainly have to wait on him. He thought he was entirely too raw and still aching.

      Army left Chiara and the mine and the cold and the snow the following day. He carried no regrets with him. His heart was sufficiently full of those. He had everyone’s number, address and name, should he ever need them again. He checked out with the Sheriff of St. Lawrence County and left for the sunny state of California. As he leaned back into his aisle seat to rest, he smiled at the irony. Due to the best of his mental abilities and observation skills, he was certain the car on the hill never backed up.

      5.

      It was good to see the sun of California again, even though he’d been gone only a short time. He was picked up at the airport by Deputy Don Gilbert and dropped off at the Sheriff’s Office. Since it was mid-day, he started on his report and trip expense records. The report took about an hour and the expense vouchers about twenty minutes. He checked with Les Gilbert’s office regarding any current findings and found they’d been successful in assembling a partial face from Mr. Davis, one of the victims. It fit the photos his daughter provided. Also some singed grey hair found impacted against a tree was consistent with an aged female. That was all the new information available. DNA results were not complete and after welcoming him back, Larry Englestein told him nothing else substantive had been found in the reassembled car parts.

      However, Army wanted to see the evidence for himself, so after he finished his reports and had a short talk with the Sheriff, he went to the collection yard where the vehicle parts were waiting under blue tarps. They’d not been thoroughly washed yet, so he could smell the piles before he pulled the tarps back to check. Looking under the first tarp, it was obvious it had been a red Ford Mustang. He was awed at the utter destruction of the frame and plastic parts, but all four tires and wheels were present and accounted for. It gave him hope that he could compare treads on the second car with the photos he took of the tracks in New York.

      He pulled back the second tarp and surprisingly no tires were evident. What was obvious; the plastic parts of the auto were melted and most had combined with what was left of the ruptured battery packs and few metal parts. It looked like one big pile of incompletely incinerated automotive trash, and it didn’t smell of rotted flesh, it just smelled of fire and … sulphur, ozone or hot sulphur springs. The implications actually made him shudder.

      When he returned to the office he sought out Larry and asked him about the pile of rubble, “Larry, were there any tires in the remains of the second car; the Prius?”

      “No siree, there weren’t even any rims left, Army. I can’t figure that one out unless someone took ‘em, and that was impossible unless someone took ‘em at the time they reported the collision.”

      “Yeah, I need to talk to the person who reported the wreck. Do they live around here?”

      “Hell, you know I don’t know. You’ll probably have to talk with Marlene and pull the 911 recording on that one, Army. I don’t think anyone’s questioned the person yet.”

      “Okay, cool, I’ll get with Marlene. I got some photos of tire treads from a Prius in New York and it’d be nice to compare them with tires from the mess that used to be a Prius setting in the assembly yard.”

      Somewhat guarded, Larry asked, “Did you catch that smell from that pile?”

      “Oh yeah, it smells like sulphur, doesn’t it?”

      “It smells to me like it went through hell and then blew up all over the road, or impacted the other car like a rocket. It gives me the creeps.”

      “Based on the shit I heard and saw in New York, I really need to find those tires Larry. I’m going to talk to the person that reported it, and then I’m going to cover that area all the way to the hill.”

      “What did you find in New York? Some good looking honey?”

      “Yeah, as a matter of fact, and she’d be right up your alley; pretty, intelligent and an artist. Oh, yeah she’s single too.”

      “Sounds great, you have her number?”

      Army laughed and said, “Screw you Larry. No way would I give you her number. She’s a nice, unassuming person.”

      The reporting individual turned out to be a Mrs. Renata Stein. She and her husband owned a summer cabin up the canyon road and she’d been winterizing it when she drove to town for a late meal and came upon the accident site. She and her husband were from Fresno and they were easy to find via her telephone number. Army called and Mrs. Stein answered.

      He found Mr. Stein was a very occupied business owner in Fresno and had not been with Mrs. Stein on the cabin winterizing trip. Army initially found that difficult to accept, especially in winter, but who was he to judge. He asked Mrs. Stein many questions, recorded their conversation and only found one tidbit of information he didn’t know before the call. Mrs. Stein told him there was still some fire on the hill west of the accident site when she arrived. He asked again to be sure and she was definite. If there was still fire somewhere and it had just rained or snowed in the canyon, then it must have just happened when she came upon it.

      Army decided he and Charley and whoever else wanted to volunteer were going to comb the entire hillside looking for clues. It would have to happen on a weekend and perhaps he could combine it with a fishing outing with Charley. In any case, he would need more helpers than just Charley. He checked with the other active deputies and found no one willing to sacrifice even an hour of their precious weekend. He called all seven of the reserve deputies and found two who would help, so two would have to be enough.

      When Charley learned of the trip he was ecstatic. He’d get to do his two favorite things; fish and be an investigator, and it was only one day away. He inundated his father with questions Thursday evening and Army realized after a time that he could have made a mistake inviting Charley. If they did find something grisly in the area, would he be able to foresee any damage it might do to Charley psychologically, or would it actually be good for his son to see one of the dirtier realities of life?

      The next day he decided to let the Sheriff in on what he planned to do over the weekend and why he planned to do it. He found that no one had briefed Andy Shepard on the condition of the second vehicle. When he told Andy he just looked at Army a moment and told Beth that he and Army were going to the assembly yard to check out the vehicle from the canyon explosion. They arrived in the Sheriff’s car and Army smelled the sulphur before they got through the gate. Of course since it was the Sheriff, two of the yard employees came rushing out to offer their help and to say hello. When the Sheriff told them what he wanted to see they were happy to uncover the mess; previously an automobile.

      When Andy saw it, and after he took it all in, he said, “Holy Mother of God, Army! What happened to this vehicle? I’ve never seen anything like this. What’s that smell and where’re the tires and rims?”

      “Well boss, the smell is like sulphur, and I’d like to know where the tires are too. This thing СКАЧАТЬ