Shallow Grave-J Collins 3 Read Online Free

there weren’t tracks. Most wildlife had migrated to greener pastures.
    I smoked. Crouched, snuff ed my cigarette with my bootheel, and set the camera next to my feet.
    Th
    e ground was cold, but hadn’t yet yielded to a hard frost. Small clumps of pale gray-green buck brush had survived without regular precipitation. Th e plants
    dropped prickly, oval-shaped brown seeds this time of year. Th
    ose irritating burrs would attach to anything: clothes, hair, rubber, even plastic. I leaned back to see if any had stuck on the cuff s of my favorite jeans and lost 19

    my balance. Instead of pulverizing the camera, I twisted to the left and fell on my ass.
    I wished my butt had still been numb. As I swung around and pushed myself up on my hands and knees, I spied a long, black strand half-hidden beneath a skeletal sage plant.
    My fi ngers tugged at the frayed end until the string untangled from the branches. I held it up for a better view.
    Weird. It looked like some kind of braided rope, weighted at the end with unusually colorful beads; the top was a small piece of leather. Although covered in dust, it wasn’t faded, which told me it hadn’t been out in this harsh environment very long.
    Sirens blared. Tires crunched. Reality encroached.
    I glanced up at the approaching emergency vehicles.
    Two sheriff ’s department cars followed the ambulance. Th
    e swirling red lights gave the bleak day an illusion of color.
    I pocketed the spent butt and wound the object into a ball before picking up the camera.
    Kevin waited patiently at the edge of the bluff , his shoulders hunched against the bitter wind, his hands toasty inside his sub-zero Northface ski jacket pockets.
    Th
    e ambulance crew climbed out, assessed the situation and dragged out a stretcher from the back end of the van.
    20

    As the crew picked their way down the incline, Sheriff Tom Richards emerged from his car, slapped on his hat and motioned for Deputy Al to stay behind and deal with the Chevy Cavalier barreling across the fi eld.
    June Everett I assumed. Probably curious about the commotion, angry with her husband, and clueless her life had changed forever.
    Th
    e other deputy, one I didn’t know, trailed after the stretcher and EMTs.
    I swung the camera in position and followed the sheriff .
    Th
    e sheriff demanded, “What happened here?”
    I melted into the background to get Kevin’s explanation and the sheriff ’s reaction on tape.
    Kevin provided a summary of our objective and a detailed description of what we’d seen.
    One of the ambulance guys shouted. I aimed the camera at him, avoiding shots of Lang.
    Th
    e blue fringe ball on the man’s ski hat bobbed as he shook his head. He touched his watch, signaling he’d call the time of death.
    Th
    e young deputy snapped pictures, the excitement of the situation an unexpected bonus. He had to be a rookie; his whiskers were little more than dandelion tufts, his eyes clear and hopeful. Even his crisp uniform looked fresh out of the plastic packaging. Th
    at youthful optimism
    21

    would be replaced with cynicism by year’s end.
    Sheriff Richards sighed. “You sure the man you were following was Langston Everett?”
    “Fairly sure,” Kevin said.
    He removed his radio and told Al to detain Mrs. Everett for positive identifi cation.
    My stomach rolled the remnants of my lunch into a hard lump.
    “Did it appear he lost control of the machine?”
    “Yes, sir. One minute he was in front of us, then airborne, and gone the next.”
    “So you weren’t chasing him?”
    “No, sir,” Kevin said. “We stayed far enough behind he didn’t notice we were following him. In fact, he never even turned around.” He pointed to me. “Verify it with the tape.”
    Th
    e sheriff glowered at the camera, then at me.

    “Collins, what are you doing?”
    “Recording the events for our client, sir.”
    His hackles rose at my sir comment. “Shut that thing off .”
    I complied, only because I had a minute worth of tape