“Are Jake and Carl around?”Trent asked.
“Been around all day,” Dewi said.“No way it was one of them, if that was your question.Besides, they’d have no reason for the theatrics, and they wouldn’t hide that they did it.Make sure to snap a few pics of it before you destroy it.Text them to me.They’ll want to see it.I’d say freeze it so they can play soccer with it next time they’re at the compound, but that’s probably not the wisest thing to keep around in a freezer.”
“Uh, gee, yathink?”
“That sound you hear is me flipping you a bird, big brother.Do we even bother following up with the shipping company, like ask to see surveillance video or anything?”
“No,” Trent said.“Not worth it.”
“So what the hell was Dorland doing over here early?He’s not supposed to be here for over a week.He told me he was arriving the day before, but he hadn’t sent me the flight info yet.”
Ken had been listening to the conversation, which was on speaker.He stood, picked up his laptop, and showed her his screen.
From Seattle, a breaking news alert.
“Shit, hold up.Ken just found something,” she said.“Police recovered a headless body a couple of hours ago, naked, no hands, in Seattle.No ID, obviously.Freshly killed.”
“Well, I think that answers our question,” Trent said.
“Were his hands in the box?”Dewi asked.
“No, just his head.And that they didn’t put it on dry ice tells me they killed him over here, not in Australia.They weren’t worried about him getting ripe.Plus, they wouldn’t have bothered to bring his body here.All three of us agree it’s fresh.No more than twelve hours old, and probably from this morning.The blood’s still a little tacky in places.”
“Ick.Well, do we keep looking into it?”Dewy asked.
“I’m not looking a gift corpse in the mouth,” Trent said.
“Ugh.Oh!Did you look in his mouth in case they put something in it like someSilence of the Lambsbullshit?Maybe that’s how they knew we’d know who sent it.”
“Dewi, I’mnotlooking in his mouth.”
“I’ll do it,” she heard Badger say in the background.“Looks like there might be something.Web, ye got more of them gloves?”
“Yeah.”
A moment later, Trent came back on the line.“You suck, little sis.”
She nearly crowed.“What’d you find?”
He heavily sighed.“A thumb drive in a sealed plastic baggie.”
Trent
After taking more pictures and ensuring the head didn’t offer any other surprises, they destroyed it in the small incinerator Web had behind his store.This wasn’t the first time they’d disposed of body parts in it, but this was the first time the body part in question had been sent to them from elsewhere and not parted out on-site.
Taking the thumb drive back to Peyton’s office, Trent grabbed an old laptop that wasn’t connected to the internet—or anything else—and plugged the drive in.
The version of anti-virus software on the laptop was six months old and detected no malware.The only file on the thumb drive was a video.
He looked at Badger.
“Go ahead,” he told Trent, looking grim.
They hitplay.
The video opened showing Ray Dorland sitting naked and bound tightly to a heavy metal chair, wrapped tightly with chain and duct tape.Behind him, black plastic sheeting had been draped, not only obscuring the location but in preparation for protecting it from…
Well, from what Trent guessed would happen next.
