Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [504]
According to his mother, it had been an abnormally long time. “It’s not good for such a young man to be so alone,” she would tell him at every opportunity. But after Kate he had chosen to be alone. Besides, how could he begin to fill the void that Kate had left? When she drowned it was as if she had taken him down under with her. Even now he couldn’t think about her without remembering, without feeling her cold, lifeless body, without remembering all those hands trying to pull him away as he continued over and over to pump her chest and try to breathe life into her blue-lipped mouth.
Suddenly Adam realized Simon was staring at him, waiting for him.
“You okay, Professor Bonzado?”
“I’m fine.” He turned back to the road, pretending to be distracted, then realized he had actually forgotten something. “What time do you need to get to your job?”
Simon checked his wristwatch. “Not until later this afternoon.”
“You still have my keys?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Simon shifted the sandwich bags to one hand while he dug in his jeans pockets for the keys.
“You mind going back to the El Camino?”
Simon looked eager to please.
“There’s a pry bar that might help us open up some of the barrels. You mind getting that?”
“No, not at all.” He started handing the bags to Adam, making sure he had a grasp of everything. “Is it still under the seat?”
“I tossed it into the bed, but I bet it got shoved clear to the back when we loaded everything else.”
As Simon headed back, Adam took a deep breath, hoping to wipe out the images of Kate he thought he had buried long ago. Henry waved at him, then met him halfway, rescuing several of the bags before Adam dropped them.
“Hey, everybody. Lunch,” Henry yelled.
Adam watched the group stop, setting tools down and placing evidence bags in containers. They gathered around as if there was nothing unusual about sitting down to eat sandwiches and drink Cokes in the middle of a rock quarry surrounded by barrels stuffed with dead and rotting bodies.
“Where did you get these?” Agent O’Dell asked, unwrapping a sandwich.
“Vinny’s Deli.”
“Vinny’s has the best sandwiches in Connecticut, O’Dell,” Henry told her, but Adam could tell she hadn’t asked because it looked absolutely mouthwatering. If she had, she wouldn’t be so interested in the white paper it had been wrapped in.
“This looks like the same stuff you found with Mr. Earlman,” she said, looking at Carl.
“I think you’re right.”
“What the hell are you two talking about?” Henry seemed a little pissed off that they weren’t paying attention to their sandwiches.
“This white, waxy paper,” she explained, and now Adam remembered it. “We found something like this in the barrel with Mr. Earlman.”
“Lots of people use this stuff, O’Dell.”
“Actually, I don’t think so, Sheriff. I’ve never seen this stuff on the shelves of your regular grocery store. I bet it’s a specialty item.”
“So what the hell are you two saying? That the killer has himself a sandwich while he’s slicing and dicing his victims?”
Adam wondered if it was simply the exhaustion that had Henry’s face flushed and his voice raised. Maybe the fall sunshine that heated up the rocks and caused the beads of sweat on his upper lip had taken a toll on the aging sheriff. Or was Henry’s panic slipping out? So far he had almost appeared too calm.
Whatever it was, Henry was waiting for an answer, standing in front of O’Dell, towering over her. She didn’t look the least bit intimidated by the big man, and instead ripped off a piece of the paper to stick in her pocket. Everyone else stood watching, waiting, as if for permission to return to their lunches. Adam couldn’t figure out why Henry was suddenly being so tough on Agent O’Dell. After all, he had invited her into the investigation, hadn’t he?
“You think this could be important?” Henry finally asked, his tone