Broken Heartland Read Online Free
Author: J.M. Hayes
seemed to bring out the worst in folks, but this election was beyond anything sheâd seen before. How had the opposition found someone as self-righteous and vicious as Lieutenant Greer, then persuaded so many folks to buy into his Old-Testament, unforgiving brand of Christianity? It was exactly contrary to the version sheâd been brought up on, where turning the other cheek was the preferred option. What was wrong with Kansas? And, more particularly, Benteen County? The evangelical crusade against infidels and Democrats seemed to have found its ultimate level of insanity here.
She took advantage of the momentary silence to play another message from the departmentâs answering machine.
âThis is Mr. Juhnke over at Buffalo Springs High,â a nasal voice said. âSheriff, I thought you should know. That school bus your deputy ran into, it wasnât checked out to anybody. Whoever was using it didnât have authorization.â
***
âYoung Caucasian male,â Doc said. âMaybe fourteen or fifteen. He wasnât carrying any documents, but most of his clothes were made in Latin America.â
The sheriff tried to concentrate on what Doc was saying instead of the person he was saying it aboutâa wrecked, partially autopsied body lying on a stainless steel slab a few feet away. At least the sheriffâs nose wasnât leaking anymore. Doc had stuffed it with cotton and given him one of those artificial ice packs.
No matter how many years English had spent on this job, heâd never learned to handle the way sudden violence turned living, breathing humans into empty containers like this one.
âAnything in his pockets?â The sheriffâs voice sounded like a cartoon characterâs with all that cotton jammed in his nostrils. It might have been funny in other circumstances.
Doc shook his head. âI went through everything and did an external examination before I started cutting. Truth is, Iâm not likely to be able to help you much. I can tell you what he ate last and how long ago, but you already know when and how he died. Acute blunt-force trauma. Kid must have been trussed up and thrown in the back of that vehicle. He wasnât belted in, so when the car rolled he was thrown out a window. Then the car crushed him, but he was probably dead already.â
âTrussed?â That took the sheriff by surprise. He hadnât noticed any bindings at the scene. Of course he hadnât spent much time on the kid once he knew the boy was beyond help. Thereâd been so many other victims.
âYou probably wouldnât have noticed that, would you? I found a little piece of sliced plastic embedded in one of his wrists. Part of one of those disposable plastic pull-tight strips they use for handcuffs these days. Marks on his ankles make it look like he was bound hand and foot. The plastic probably got cut off him when he went through the window, or just tore free as he tumbled across that field.â
âYouâre saying this kid was being abducted? Held against his will?â
âLooks that way,â Doc said. âGuess I should have let you know that sooner, huh?â
The sheriff started to tell him so, then stopped himself. If heâd known at the scene, maybe he could have concentrated more on questioning the driver of the Dodge. But Doc hadnât known at the scene, either, and both of them had been too busy trying to keep Wynn and the kids from the bus alive until the emergency vehicles arrived. He hadnât had time for an interrogation. Now, with the driver transported to a hospital in Hutchinson, and with the sheriff working this investigation single-handed, knowing before this moment wouldnât have helped him one bit.
âThe driver was belted in up front where he had air bags. Still, he did things to his knee thatâll remind him of last night for the rest of his life. When I found the plastic, I called the hospital
She took advantage of the momentary silence to play another message from the departmentâs answering machine.
âThis is Mr. Juhnke over at Buffalo Springs High,â a nasal voice said. âSheriff, I thought you should know. That school bus your deputy ran into, it wasnât checked out to anybody. Whoever was using it didnât have authorization.â
***
âYoung Caucasian male,â Doc said. âMaybe fourteen or fifteen. He wasnât carrying any documents, but most of his clothes were made in Latin America.â
The sheriff tried to concentrate on what Doc was saying instead of the person he was saying it aboutâa wrecked, partially autopsied body lying on a stainless steel slab a few feet away. At least the sheriffâs nose wasnât leaking anymore. Doc had stuffed it with cotton and given him one of those artificial ice packs.
No matter how many years English had spent on this job, heâd never learned to handle the way sudden violence turned living, breathing humans into empty containers like this one.
âAnything in his pockets?â The sheriffâs voice sounded like a cartoon characterâs with all that cotton jammed in his nostrils. It might have been funny in other circumstances.
Doc shook his head. âI went through everything and did an external examination before I started cutting. Truth is, Iâm not likely to be able to help you much. I can tell you what he ate last and how long ago, but you already know when and how he died. Acute blunt-force trauma. Kid must have been trussed up and thrown in the back of that vehicle. He wasnât belted in, so when the car rolled he was thrown out a window. Then the car crushed him, but he was probably dead already.â
âTrussed?â That took the sheriff by surprise. He hadnât noticed any bindings at the scene. Of course he hadnât spent much time on the kid once he knew the boy was beyond help. Thereâd been so many other victims.
âYou probably wouldnât have noticed that, would you? I found a little piece of sliced plastic embedded in one of his wrists. Part of one of those disposable plastic pull-tight strips they use for handcuffs these days. Marks on his ankles make it look like he was bound hand and foot. The plastic probably got cut off him when he went through the window, or just tore free as he tumbled across that field.â
âYouâre saying this kid was being abducted? Held against his will?â
âLooks that way,â Doc said. âGuess I should have let you know that sooner, huh?â
The sheriff started to tell him so, then stopped himself. If heâd known at the scene, maybe he could have concentrated more on questioning the driver of the Dodge. But Doc hadnât known at the scene, either, and both of them had been too busy trying to keep Wynn and the kids from the bus alive until the emergency vehicles arrived. He hadnât had time for an interrogation. Now, with the driver transported to a hospital in Hutchinson, and with the sheriff working this investigation single-handed, knowing before this moment wouldnât have helped him one bit.
âThe driver was belted in up front where he had air bags. Still, he did things to his knee thatâll remind him of last night for the rest of his life. When I found the plastic, I called the hospital
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