OH GOOD. We will just sit here on the deck and watch the water, the fiddies, the dead bodies...go floating past.
I WANT MY...
NM.
OH GOOD! One more sleepless night, as of course I have no clue what those are like. Reminds me of waking up in that batcave thingus Rico and I had so much fun in. Geez.
Did sleep some I guess, but woke up feeling like the south end of a woodchuck going east AND north. Rico looked like I felt but we did our usual morning bawth thingy and then headed downstairs...where we found Billy Ray and Ofelia preparing breakfast.
"Hey guys," Billy Ray smiled...sort of and high-fived us
"Hey you two," and I turned to Billy.
"How's Rose?"
"I'm letting her sleep in..with a bit of help,"
"Good. I'm sure she needs it."
"Yep."
Ofelia came over and hugged both of us and that helped.
Then, Rico and I grabbed mugs of some of Billy's venerable coffee magic (white chocolate Raspberry) and headed out to the deck out back overlooking the river.
"You sure this is a good idea, Bearski?"
One second passed.
"FUCK YEH," I muttered loudly and then thought better of it.
"Honey, I am not going to let some bozo with a homocidal bent ruin this house for me. Been there and done that if you will remember."
He grinned.
"Sure do."
We got settled in on the oh so comfy double chaise lounger and as they say nestled. Ofelia and then Kenny and Jake followed along. Everyone looked grim, and unusually quiet. Trust me Rico and I understood.
As we did our usual 'the laziest assholes on the planet number', the sun kept rising higher and higher in the sky and my mood kept sinking lower and lower. FUCK!
After about an hour of grousing mentally, Billy ushered the 1st deputy Andy out to us and I immediately felt OH SO MUCH BETTER, being as how this STELLAH COPPAH was on the job. Pfui. I would have preferred T.J. Hooker or somebody like that, but...
"Morning folks," but I noticed without much glee in it.
"Morning," Rico and the others shot back in the same manner. I for one decided that he hadn't said good morning and as far as I was concerned it wasn't...so he was gonna have to come up with something really good. I wasn't hopeful.
"Got some news."
'Oh I just bet you do,' I thought.
Amazing how I do that. Think to myself while paying attention. Good God, must be a genetic thingy.
"Coroner says the body we found here last night (WE? What's this WE shit) was a mid-late twenties male, about six foot two in height and about 150#. He also said the cause of death seemed to be asphyxiation...
AND that the time of death couldn't be determined cause the body had been frozen for an indeterminate period."
About that late twenties thing. From what I could tell, the dude is now about as LATE twenties as it gets. Sigh. God I hate dead bodies on my lawn.
Anyway, Jake looked up at that one.
"Frozen?"
"Yep."
It got real quiet.
Finally, I gathered my wits just to prove that yes I am awake and YES I am paying attention.
"Then not only no time of death but not even a location," I sorta mumbled as much to myself as to him.
"Yep. Coulda been most anywhere."
"Out of state even?" This from Jake.
"Sure, Anything is possible."
I had no idea where Jake was going with this but he suddenly got on his cell phone and getting up went back in the house. Hmmm. This might BEAR looking into. (Sorry, couldn't help the pun).
"Sorry, but I gotta ask again. You got a good look at the deceased. You sure you didn't know him?"
I pounced.
"YES, I am POSITIVE. I am not used to knowing people and then knowing their corpses."
Ok so that is not maybe TECHNICALLY true, but I was gonna get away with it up here. Down home, nobody would have believed it. LOL.
"Of course. Sorry, had to ask and I will have to ask all of your guests as well, Sorry."
"Be my guest, officer."
Mood most foul, trust me.
After asking Rico, Ofelia and Kenny, he went back in the house and I just sat snuggled into Rico...and thinking how good he felt and how he was about the only thing that did about now. This is a feeling I would wish for everyone...he is so kewl and feels soooo good. Rico is my lifeline to sanity, I guess. He says He loves me far more than I he but I don't think that is possible, and it is at times like these that he is even more loved cause I need him so badly. One thing I know is I never want to be without his taller than tall skinnier than skinny thug self.
Yes, even in the midst of a murder scene he makes me happier than shit on a shingle, or a dead body on a riverbank. PFUI.
Dep PEW tee Andy reappeared, thanked us, and left. AWWW.
"You know what?"
"What Bearski?"
"I'd like to go out on the boat for a while.
"REALLY?"
"Yep."
"Um...ok." I noticed Rico looking at me as if he thought I had suddenly gone daft and that is an expression I have seen SOOO often, sad to say. (Later on would prove he was right).
But being the sport he is, he rounded up everyone and after Billy rounded up enough vittles to have fed the troops at Valley Forge, we forged out to the boat and quickly got underway with Zeke and Jake at the helm....headed north. For once through all this Teddy was being unusually quiet and I suspected that perhaps he thought that having his mom here right about now might help. I definitely agreed wholeheartedly. I suspect that Jake and Kenny would have agreed as well.
It was nearing noon and brightly sunny and almost eighty-five and beautiful. The only thing that wasn't was my mood, but even that began to lift as we moved up the river. Boutique River, and aptly named too. Smallish in spots, and fairly wide in others...and really pretty. Heavily wooded in most parts along it and no civilization to spoil the pristine beauty of it. Amazing but a lot of the land along the river is sanctuary and State-owned as I had found out from my Realtor friend. Our house was the only one for miles in any direction so civilization couldn't find us. ONLY THE DEAD COULD. Grrrrr.
I quickly put that thought out of my head and leaning back against Rico just let the sunshine and the warm breezes wash over me.
We had gone quite a ways and for about an hour when Billy hollered and pointed and we could then see a small island in the middle of the river and a couple of wooden tables in a wooded clearing. Hey, picnic time. There was even a boat slip so we headed in.
There were two old and beat-up wooden picnic tables, obviously there for next to forever and a firepit was clearly visible. Obviously someone had built this but it looked unused for quite some time. We offloaded our foodstuffs and some deck chairs and commenced to settle into 'ye olde picnic time.'
Right along the river on the south end of the small island was a cleared spot where the sun could get to as well as the breezes, and after lunch we moved our deck chairs over and nestled. It was awesome, The sun, the warm breezes, and the awesome lunch was enough to make us all pretty snoozy and we were and we did sorta.
Rose got up quietly after awhile and began her usual exploratory journey...heading up to the north end of the small expanse of land. Hahaha. Good ol' Rose, always game for a bit of adventure and exploration of unknown places.
Ok, this is where I am REALLY gonna get growly. Once again, wasn't long and we were all 'roused by the screams.
"OH GOD NOT AGAIN," I thought as Billy (recognizing the screams as his sister Rose), Rico and I and the rest went hell-bent toward the hollering we had heard...and then there they were. Rose and bodies. Two bodies. TWO. NOT ONE BUT TWO.
"Having a two for one Rose?" Billy said as he grabbed her and swung her around and commenced to haul her back to the boat whether or not she wanted to. I suspect she did.
"Dylan...it is really okay if we get bored. This is supposed to be a vacation."
"More like a smartly appointed heavily wooded house of horrors, methinks," I responded to Jake while Kenny got on his cell to the local sheriff and then Jake called Derek...who he told me was who he had called earlier. The deputy's admission that our first body-find might have crossed state lines made this a possible Federal crime.
OH GOOD. I was so worried we were going to be held hostage to the cabbage patch deputy 'til the end.
Fortunately there is an old dirt road running north to south on the far east side of the river and that is how the troop(er)s arrived.
The next several hours were just so much fun. Sheriff deputies crawling all over, and then the feds arrived which did NOT amuse Deputy Andy or the other Deputy Andy OR Aunt Bea although I noticed she did seem to glow a bit at one of the agents. GO BEA.
It began to look like a midnight boat ride back to the house as it seemed they didn't want us going anywhere and I wanted to SOOO bad.
CHAPTER X: ANOTHER BODY SUH?
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