John Sandford - Naked Prey

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."

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 the 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."

The kid was in bed, the housekeeper was in her apartment. Lucas went up and took a quick shower, and got back downstairs just as Weather arrived with the sandwiches. They sat at the kitchen table, eating them and splitting a bag of potato chips. "I thought things would go easier, with the new job," Weather said. "I think Cheryl thought so, too. Del's been in some scrapes, but nothing bad since that deal with the pinking shears."