The Chilling Spree Read Online Free Page B

it?” Lenny asked.  “I mean, if this is
blood, how the hell did somebody get that much of it back here to
dump into Scott’s gear?”
    I glanced at the glowering Fulk.  His
attention hadn’t strayed an inch away from Devlin.  In fact,
they seemed to be engaged in some sort of nonverbal warfare. 
I nudged Devlin with my elbow.  “You wanna take a look at it,
or shall I?”
    “Be my guest.”  His lips didn’t
actually move, and there was little doubt in my mind that if Devlin
had worn his sidearm into the concert, it would’ve been trained on
a spot between Fulk’s sandy eyebrows.
    A heavy sigh later, I joined the guitar tech
beside the stack which was little more than the speakers
used to amplify the guitar.  I peered into the wooden
case.  “Where’s the cover for this thing?”
    Fulk pointed at a metal mesh tray that had
been removed.
    “And do you normally store this device
upright?”
    “Unless it’s being shipped,” Madden piped
up.  He joined my side and stared into the box.  I gauged
his reaction carefully.  His nose wrinkled.  “Jesus,
that’s disgusting!”
    I pulled out the phone and dialed a
number.
    “Forsythe.”
    “Hey, Ken, it’s Helen.  How fast can
you get a team over to the amphitheater?”
    “As in right now?  Isn’t there some
sort of wild party down there tonight?”
    “Uh-huh,” I said.  “A rock
concert.  Devlin and I got called in on a case.  We’ve
got a piece of equipment drowning in blood and we need to figure
out if it’s vandalism or something else.”
    “Human blood?”
    “That would be the salient question, it
seems.  So how fast?”
    “I’ll grab a team and head over right
away.  You and Dev are at the scene right now?”
    “I’m about to sequester this single piece of
evidence we’ve got at the moment,” I said.  “We’ll start
processing witnesses while we wait for your team to get here.”
    “Hold on,” Scott Madden growled. 
“You’re bringing more cops over here, and gonna question us, but
we’ve got 20 thousand people out there expecting to see us perform
twenty minutes ago.”
    I held up one hand.
    “I heard,” Ken said.  “We’ll be there
ASAP.”
    “Thank you.  We’ll try our best to
corral anyone with access to the area for a statement, but there’s
not much point in doing a whole lot until we know if this is a
prank or foul play.”
    “Gotcha.”
    I disconnected the call and gave Madden a
hard stare.  “Sir, I understand that this is highly
inconvenient for you and your fans, but if a crime was committed
here tonight, we need to protect the evidence and ask questions
now, not after your concert.  I apologize if that puts a
damper on your plans for the night, but this is a legal matter now,
and frankly, you have no choice anymore.”
    “Fuckin’ a, man,” he muttered and glared at
his tour manager.
    “It doesn’t mean you can’t go on with the
show,” I focused my attention on Fulk.  “We need to chat with
him first, and your manager.”
    Dev cut in.  “We’ll need a list of all
the patrons with back stage access.”
    Madden reached out and fingered the pass
around my neck.  “Including the two of you?” he asked.
    “I think we’re aware of our status,” Devlin
bristled and stepped closer to me.  “And I’ll give you one
warning, Mr. Madden.  Detective Eriksson doesn’t like being
manhandled.  She won’t hesitate to defend herself from
unwanted contact with anyone.”
    He grinned.  “Like her even more
now.”
    “Fulk, can you make sure that the amp from
–”
    “Already done, boss,” he said to
Swanson.  “They can hit the stage right away.  I’ll talk
to her and you can give the information to Mackenzie.”
    I wondered at the pecking order in the world
of music tours.  The so-called boss took nothing but orders
and flack from what I could see.
    “You’ll still be around after we finish our
set, right?” Madden asked.  “You gotta take our statements and
stuff,