I blocked and put a hard left into his rib cage.
Eddie buckled over with a groan.
I followed with an uppercut to his jaw. It knocked his head back, and he tumbled to the ground.
My hand grabbed my pistol, and I took aim. “Don’t move! Roll onto your stomach and put your hands behind your head.”
Eddie complied.
I approached with caution, knelt down, and slapped the cuffs on his wrists. “Dumbass,” I muttered before reading him his rights.
I called dispatch and had them send patrol units.
Deputies arrived and found their way in through the back door. I told them to consider the entire closet evidence and not to disturb anything. We secured the area, and I yanked the dirtbag to his feet and escorted him out of the house.
“Bad choice,” I said as I walked Eddie down the driveway.
I stuffed him into the back of a patrol car and slammed the door.
Forensic investigators arrived, collected the dress and everything else in the closet. Maybe Eddie was full of it, and the whole ploy was a ruse to catch me off guard. Or maybe there was some truth to it.
I returned to the station, filled out a report, then paid Eddie a visit in the interrogation room. “Genius move.”
He frowned and said nothing.
“Start talking. Run me through the whole scenario again. You better pray we find blood evidence on that dress.”
After a long moment of silence, Eddie said, “I’m not saying anything else without a lawyer.”
52
The sun had crested the horizon by the time I got back to theAvventura. I peeled out of my clothes and slipped into a warm bed with Ariel. I could get used to this kind of thing.
She stirred. In a soft, sleepy whisper, she said, “Is everything okay?”
“It is now.”
Her dreamy eyes widened when she saw my face. “What happened?”
“A suspect got stupid.”
She made a sad face and gently kissed my bruised cheek and split lip. Ariel snuggled close, and I dozed off for a few hours of shut-eye.
The sheriff called and put a damper on any plans I had about sleeping in. "There are still a bunch of morons out there hunting that shark," Daniels said. "Apparently, some college kids were out on a center console, chumming the water when that thingattacked and capsized the boat. Needless to say, it didn't turn out too well for them.”
I cringed.
"You're able to track that thing, aren't you?”
"Yep.”
"We need to devise a plan to capture it, sedate it, and haul it back to the Oceanographic Institute or some other facility that can handle it.”
"I'll call Jay and see if he's got a pen large enough." I took a deep breath. “That's not going to be an easy task. Words can't convey the size or strength of that thing. I don't even know if a sedative would be effective.”
"Shoot it with enough tranquilizer, anything will go down."
I ended the call and dialed Jay.
