Read Online Consumed by E. H. Reinhard - Free Book Online Page A

vehicle.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    I woke up before six, showered, shaved, spoke with my parents about nothing for the better part of an hour, and grabbed a coffee from the front desk of the hotel before seven thirty. The coffee they provided was surprisingly awful, and I realized I would need to address my caffeine intake more after a bit. Ball had taken my call around ten o’clock the prior night and said he’d get the twins on everything I’d requested and e-mail me whatever they found as soon as they had it. Before Beth left the previous night, we’d put together a loose plan for the day—basically to meet up with the Nashville PD and go do a little street walking to see if we could get anywhere with the local women for hire. We were talking about leaving around eight, yet I hadn’t seen or heard from Beth yet that morning.
    I pulled on my suit jacket and headed for the bathroom. I stared in the mirror and straightened my dark-blue tie. The gray in my hair and wrinkles at the corners of my eyes didn’t look as bad as the last time I’d looked—I chalked it up to my day starting well and headed for the door to go see what was going on with Beth.
    I was two steps from the door when I heard banging from the other side. I glanced through the peephole to see hair bouncing up and down, so I pulled the door open.
    Beth stood in the hall, hopping on one foot while she tried to put a shoe on the other. “Come on, we have to go,” she said.
    “Okay. Where’s the fire?”
    “I just talked to Clifford. They found two more bodies this morning.”
    “You’re shitting me.”
    “No. I’m actually not. Are you ready or what?”
    “Yeah, just let me grab my things.” My hopes for a good day had vanished before they could fully take hold. I stepped back into the room, gathered everything I’d need for the day, and followed Beth from the hotel, across the sky bridge, and to her car. I hopped in the passenger side, and we headed for Clarksville County.
    As Beth merged onto the highway, she glanced over at me. “Clifford said that neither body has been removed from the scenes, and he instructed them to not remove the bodies until we’re able to view both sites. The two dump sites are twenty minutes apart.”
    “Did he send you the locations?” I asked.
    “Yeah, Clifford sent them to my phone. He’s meeting us at the closer of the two. The town is called Sango. Here.” Beth passed her phone to me. “Hit the prompts to make the phone navigate to the first location.”
    I did, and the screen showed our route. The drive time showed as thirty-five minutes. I handed Beth’s phone back to her.
    “Forensics team?” I asked.
    Beth leaned forward and placed her phone between the dash and the windshield. “I’d assume it will come from the sheriff’s department,” she said.
    “Any idea if Clifford is in contact with them?”
    “I don’t know,” Beth said.
    I rubbed the back of my neck and pulled my cell phone from my pocket.
    “Who are you calling?” Beth asked.
    “The chief deputy. We need to see where the local sheriff’s department is at with this, and I want to make sure we have a forensics team at both sites.”
    “One would think that they would,” Beth said.
    “Yeah, I’m not putting too much stock in the local effort here.”
    I searched the number for the sheriff’s department and dialed.
    “Clarksville County Sheriff, how can I help you?”
    “Agent Rawlings with the FBI. I’d like to speak with Chief Deputy Whissell.”
    “Um, one moment.”
    Soft jazz music played in my ear as I sat on hold.
    The woman came back on a moment later. “He’s actually out of the office at the moment. Would you like to leave a message for him?”
    “Do you have a direct number? It’s regarding the two body dumps that occurred this morning.”
    “Oh, yeah, okay. Let me put you through.”
    I heard a click, which I assumed was her redirecting me to his mobile phone.
    “Whissell,” he answered.
    “It’s Agent