The Night Stalker_ A Novel of Suspense - James Swain [50]
I nodded.
“LeAnn is one of our delivery customers. I have known her a long time. I sometimes deliver her groceries and check up on her. She is a good woman.”
Vorbe was beating around the bush. I pushed myself away from the wall. Buster lifted his head off the floor.
“Are you having a problem with her?” I asked.
“No, with her son, Jed.”
“What happened?”
“Jed is a troubled young man. For several years he’s been coming here on a regular basis, and hanging around the Dumpsters. None of the employees wanted to confront him. Finally, I could not tolerate it anymore, and I asked him to stay away.”
“Did he?”
“For a while. Then this morning, an employee saw someone who looked like Jed sitting by the Dumpsters in a black sports car. I went outside to speak with him, but he sped away before I had the chance.”
“Did you actually see him?”
“Just the back of his head.”
“Was it him or not?”
Vorbe hesitated. “I thought it was him.”
“What time was this?” I asked.
“Nine-fifteen, thereabouts.”
“Was there someone in the car with him?”
“No, he was alone. I have known Jed since he was a little boy, and I don’t want to cause problems. But he must stop coming here. He’s scaring my employees. That is why I called the police station.”
I saw something that I hadn’t seen before, which was that Vorbe was scared. He knew something was wrong, even if he didn’t know what it was. I probably should have called the police at that point, but I didn’t. I wanted to first see for myself.
I clicked my fingers and Buster rose from the floor.
“Show me where Jed was,” I said.
Vorbe escorted me through the back of the grocery. We stopped at a large sliding metal door, and he pressed a red button on the wall. The door automatically lifted, and blinding sunlight flooded over us. I followed him onto a loading dock. The Dumpsters were directly across from us. They were big and smelly and surrounded by buzzing flies.
We took a flight of stairs to ground level, and Buster immediately began to circle the Dumpsters. He’d locked onto a scent, and I saw him paw at a pancake-sized stain on the ground. Kneeling, I touched the stain with the tip of my finger. It was sticky and red. When blood is exposed to air it takes on the consistency of the gook on my finger. Vorbe stood behind me, breathing heavily.
“I need something to stand on,” I said.
Vorbe got a milk crate from the side of the loading dock, and brought it to me. I stood on it, and used both hands to raise the Dumpster’s lid. The smell that greeted me was a toxic blend of rotten fish and produce. Taking a deep breath, I looked inside. The interior was filled with black garbage bags. By law, garbage had to be put in plastic bags in order to be collected. I sifted through the bags while breathing through my mouth.
A bag in front caught my eye. It was covered with dirt, and made me think that it had been laid on the ground. I grabbed the corners, and pulled it out. My eyes fell on the bag directly beneath it. Something sharp was sticking through the plastic. I gingerly touched it. It was a woman’s nose, small and perfectly shaped.
Shit.
I smoothed the plastic with both hands and gently pushed down. A woman’s face appeared, her mouth frozen in a silent, never-ending scream. I stared at the face for what felt like an eternity, then tore the plastic away with my fingers.
Piper Stone stared up at me, her lifeless eyes wide open. Her skin was cold to the touch, and she wore a necklace of ugly purple bruises. Her killer had broken her neck, then folded her up like a bundle of sticks, and tossed her away. Tears burned my eyes. I had only met Stone for an hour, but she had impressed me as one of the good guys. It made her death that much more painful, and I hopped off the milk crate.
“What did you find?” Vorbe asked.
“A body,” I said.
Vorbe grabbed the milk crate I’d been standing on, and turned it into a seat. Falling onto it, he emitted an unearthly moan.
“I cannot believe this is happening again!” he declared.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I stepped into the building