Splintered Read Online Free

late.”
    “I know,” Granite agreed. “We can’t dwell on things we can’t change. It’s not going to help us stop him. Let’s stop by the diner, grab us something good and unhealthy to eat, and then we’ll head back and see what Byte has for us, yeah?”
    “Yeah,” Hutch agreed with a nod and fired up the car. “I also want to set up a meeting with Sergeant Struk.”
    “Who’s that?”
    “I think he may be the one cop in Jefferson who might actually want to help find the killer.”
    “See, things are looking up already,” Granite pointed out.
    Hutch gave him an exasperated look. “I said might,” he reminded him.
    “Might be one decent cop on the fucking force is better than not a one. We got hope.”
    Hutch shook his head. Granite and his hope. God how he missed the days when he was as optimistic as Granite.
    They parked the car. Since their hotel was located close to the center of the city, they had no difficulties in finding a restaurant nearby. Hutch followed Granite into a small fifties-style diner and slid onto a stool next to him at the lunch counter. The heavy scent of onions and fried grease permeated the place, but rather than being an unpleasant scent as it normally would have been for Hutch, his stomach growled. He was going to pay for it later, but the thought of burgers dripping in grease was appealing at the moment.
    Granite snatched a menu from the counter and studied it. Hutch waved to the waitress pouring coffee at the other end of the counter instead. She nodded in acknowledgement.
    “You’re not going to look at the menu?” Granite asked.
    “What for? Best thing at this kind of place is a greasy burger and fries.” Hutch shrugged.
    “What can I get you fellas?”
    “Good point, we order the same thing every time,” Granite chuckled and returned the menu to the holder. He turned to the waitress with a grin. “Can we get three greasy cheeseburgers with the works and three orders of fries, please?”
    She looked a little stunned as she wrote Granite’s order down and then asked Hutch, “And for you?”
    “I’ll just have a glass of water.”
    “I’ll have one too,” Granite added and rolled his eyes at the grin Hutch gave him. “Could you make the burgers to go?”
    “Sure,” she responded with a wink.
    The waitress set two glasses down in front of them as she passed by, and Granite picked his up, stabbing the ice with his straw as he sat back on his stool. “Didn’t really learn anything from Akira’s roommate that we didn’t already know,” Granite said cautiously. “A lot of dead men and little is being done to find the perp. Where do we go from here?”
    “Burns my ass,” Hutch grumbled. “This case is way bigger than I anticipated, and to be honest, I don’t know where to start.”
    “At the beginning is always a good place,” Granite pointed out. “You know this guy is smart. Not only is he choosing victims that law enforcement cares little about, but he’s also counting on the cases not being linked by spreading their bodies over multiple jurisdictions.”
    Hutch swirled the ice around in his glass, staring at it as he chewed on Granite’s words. He only concurred with part of Granite’s assessment. “I agree he’s choosing his dump sites carefully, but he’s not choosing his prey based on the homophobic attitudes of cops, but his own,” Hutch surmised.
    “You think he’s part of some hate group out to rid the world of fags?” Granite asked crudely.
    Hutch thrummed his fingers on the counter as he tossed the idea around in his head. He supposed it was a possibility, but it didn’t feel right. The ritual of torture and mutilation, the careful planning of dump sites, the fact that all the victims were small and effeminate, spoke of a much more personal need than anything associated with the teachings of a hate group. Had the killer simply hated gay men, wanted them to suffer, he wouldn’t care about their size or their demeanor.
    He was