Day of the Dead - J. A. Jance [38]
“Any ID?” Brian asked.
“Not so far. I didn’t want to foul things up, so I stayed away. Dispatch tells me CSI is on the way.”
“Right,” Brian said. “I’ll go talk to the witness. How’s the dog, friendly or not?”
Ruben cast a cautious glance at the animal. “She says he’s fine, but if I were you, I wouldn’t make any sudden moves.”
Keeping one eye on the dog, Brian moved toward the open door. “Ms. Lammers?” he asked.
A blond-haired woman, red-eyed and still sniffling, peered out of the vehicle at him. “Yes,” she said tentatively. “But please, call me Sue. Mrs. Lammers is my mother-in-law.”
“I’m Detective Fellows,” Brian said, offering his ID. “Mind if I ask you a few questions?”
“Sure,” she said.
As the woman climbed out of the vehicle, Brian estimated her to be in her early forties. She wore a sweatshirt, faded jeans, and hiking boots. “I saw him,” she said, brushing her short hair away with a hand that was still visibly shaking. “I’m sure I saw him.”
“Who?” Brian asked. He opened his notebook.
“The guy. The one who dumped her. He was parked on the shoulder as Ranger and I walked up the power-line road. As we got closer, I think he saw us coming and took off.”
“Which way?” Brian asked.
“He headed back toward Vail. I don’t know where he went after that. The intersection is behind the crest of the hill. I couldn’t see which way he turned.”
“What kind of vehicle?”
“A pickup of some kind. I wasn’t close enough to see a license or what model it was. Dark-colored. Dark blue or maybe purple. With a matching camper shell.”
“What were you doing?” Brian asked.
“Ranger, my dog, and I were taking a walk.”
“From where?”
“My husband and I have a place down the road. Two miles or so from here. On Fast Horse Ranch.”
Brian looked around. “Is your husband here?”
“He’s at the house. I haven’t called him,” Sue Lammers added after a pause. “We had a fight. I took Ranger out so I could cool off.”
“What time did this happen?”
“You mean what time did I find the body?”
Brian nodded.
“Over an hour ago now,” she told him. “Ranger ran on ahead of me. He does that sometimes, but he’s scared of trains. There was one coming—a big freight train—so Ranger came back. I saw he was carrying something and thought it was a stick.” Her lip trembled. “But it wasn’t a stick at all,” she continued. “It was an arm—a piece of an arm.” Again she paused, swallowing convulsively before going on. “It was still all bloody.”
She spoke with the air of one trying to forget even as she remembered. Tears welled in her eyes. Brian gave her a moment to compose herself while he mentally calculated the distance a pickup truck, traveling at legal highway speed, might have covered in the space of an hour.
Just then a van containing two members of the CSI team pulled up behind Brian’s vehicle. Deputy Gomez went to meet them. He led them forward, pointing as he went. Brian stayed with Sue Lammers.
“Did you see anything that would help us?”
“No. He was too far away.”
“He?” Brian asked. “You’re sure it was a male?”
“Not really,” Sue admitted. “I mean, it looked like a man. I saw him walk from the truck into the desert and then back again. He went back and forth a couple of times. I thought he was dumping garbage, but I worried about it all the same. I mean, I was out here by myself. The last trip he made, he must have seen me. That’s when he jumped into the truck and took off.”
“When you go walking by yourself like this, are you armed?” Brian asked.
“No,” Sue said quickly. “I have my cell phone along in case anything happens, but that’s all. I don’t believe in carrying weapons. Neither does my husband.”
Maybe you should, Brian thought. He said, “You mentioned the driver made several trips back and forth to the truck?”
“Yes.”
“Was he carrying something each time?”
“Yes.”
Brian was about to ask Sue Lammers another question when Deputy Gomez hurried up to them. “Excuse me, Detective Fellows,” he said. “I think we just found something important.”
“What’s that?”
“A bundle of bloody clothing,