Stillborn Armadillos (John Lee Quarrels Book 1) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Nick Russell
her outta your head so you can move on, John Lee."
His stomach was growling as he buckled on his gun belt, and he realized he still hadn't eaten. He filled his oversized stainless steel coffee mug, poured in sugar and powdered creamer, and stirred it. Opening the refrigerator he found three hot dogs left in a pack and took them with him to eat cold along the way.
"You shouldn't eat them 'til they're cooked," Beth Ann said, as he started out the door. "You could get worms or somethin'."
John Lee just shook his head again and got into his car. He figured that dying from whatever might be in the hot dogs was still a better option than having D.W. shoot him.
Chapter 5
There were two sheriff's department cars and a white van from the state crime lab at the construction site when he arrived.
"Sorry I'm late," John Lee said, introducing himself to the three crime scene technicians.
"Looks like we're the ones that are late," said the team leader, a woman named Jayne Emerson, who looked to be in her early 40s, with short gray hair and an aggravated expression on her face. "I don't know why your boss even had us come down if he was going to let you people dig the place up anyhow. You probably destroyed any evidence there was to find."
"I'm sorry," John Lee said. "We're not exactly used to finding something like this around here."
"Exactly," the woman said. "But we are. That's our job. We'd all be a lot better off if you'd stick to writing speeding tickets and let us handle this kind of thing in the future, okay?"
"Yes ma'am," John Lee said, chastised.
She had started to turn away, but jerked her head back to him and hissed, "What did you just call me?"
"Ahhh... ma'am?"
"Let's get something straight cowboy. I am not a ma'am, or a little lady, or a girly, or whatever term of endearment comes to your tiny little redneck mind. You can refer to me by my name. Jayne. Jayne with a Y. There's only five letters in it. Even you should be able to remember that, don't you think?"
And John Lee had only thought his day was getting off to a bad start when D.W. showed up at his door! He didn't say anything because he didn't trust himself to speak. Instead he just nodded and walked to where Barry and Greg were standing drinking coffee next to one of their cars.
"Morning, John Lee. I see you met Jayne with a Y."
"Ain't she a little ray of sunshine?"
"She came outta of that van screaming at us before it even came to a complete stop," Barry told him. "Yellin' 'bout how we had completely contaminated the crime scene and they had driven all the way out here for nothin'."
"We tried telling her we took pictures and measurements and everything, but she wasn't having none of it," Greg said.
"Don't sweat it guys. She can take it up with D.W. if she wants to."
Another member of the crime scene team approached them.
"Is this the car that got shot up yesterday?"
"Yeah," John Lee said, "and before you start, I had to drive it home because we don't have enough vehicles to spare that we could let it sit here all night waiting for you guys."
The man waved his hand to cut off any explanations. "Don't worry, I understand. Jayne's having a bad day today. Sorry about that."
"Does she ever have a good day?"
The man, maybe 50, with thinning hair, thick glasses and a pug nose, put his hand on his chin as if in deep thought for a moment, and then said, "There was a Wednesday, or maybe it was a Thursday, back in 2003, when she was only a bitch and not a total raving maniac. But it was just that one day."
"You see, guys? The next time you've got Flag riding your ass, just remember it could be worse," John Lee told the other deputies.
"Were you able to recover any of the bullets fired into your vehicle?"
"The one that went through the glass here in the door went out the other side and I have no idea where it ended up," John Lee told him. "The one that went through the door went through the inside door panel on the other side but didn't come
His stomach was growling as he buckled on his gun belt, and he realized he still hadn't eaten. He filled his oversized stainless steel coffee mug, poured in sugar and powdered creamer, and stirred it. Opening the refrigerator he found three hot dogs left in a pack and took them with him to eat cold along the way.
"You shouldn't eat them 'til they're cooked," Beth Ann said, as he started out the door. "You could get worms or somethin'."
John Lee just shook his head again and got into his car. He figured that dying from whatever might be in the hot dogs was still a better option than having D.W. shoot him.
Chapter 5
There were two sheriff's department cars and a white van from the state crime lab at the construction site when he arrived.
"Sorry I'm late," John Lee said, introducing himself to the three crime scene technicians.
"Looks like we're the ones that are late," said the team leader, a woman named Jayne Emerson, who looked to be in her early 40s, with short gray hair and an aggravated expression on her face. "I don't know why your boss even had us come down if he was going to let you people dig the place up anyhow. You probably destroyed any evidence there was to find."
"I'm sorry," John Lee said. "We're not exactly used to finding something like this around here."
"Exactly," the woman said. "But we are. That's our job. We'd all be a lot better off if you'd stick to writing speeding tickets and let us handle this kind of thing in the future, okay?"
"Yes ma'am," John Lee said, chastised.
She had started to turn away, but jerked her head back to him and hissed, "What did you just call me?"
"Ahhh... ma'am?"
"Let's get something straight cowboy. I am not a ma'am, or a little lady, or a girly, or whatever term of endearment comes to your tiny little redneck mind. You can refer to me by my name. Jayne. Jayne with a Y. There's only five letters in it. Even you should be able to remember that, don't you think?"
And John Lee had only thought his day was getting off to a bad start when D.W. showed up at his door! He didn't say anything because he didn't trust himself to speak. Instead he just nodded and walked to where Barry and Greg were standing drinking coffee next to one of their cars.
"Morning, John Lee. I see you met Jayne with a Y."
"Ain't she a little ray of sunshine?"
"She came outta of that van screaming at us before it even came to a complete stop," Barry told him. "Yellin' 'bout how we had completely contaminated the crime scene and they had driven all the way out here for nothin'."
"We tried telling her we took pictures and measurements and everything, but she wasn't having none of it," Greg said.
"Don't sweat it guys. She can take it up with D.W. if she wants to."
Another member of the crime scene team approached them.
"Is this the car that got shot up yesterday?"
"Yeah," John Lee said, "and before you start, I had to drive it home because we don't have enough vehicles to spare that we could let it sit here all night waiting for you guys."
The man waved his hand to cut off any explanations. "Don't worry, I understand. Jayne's having a bad day today. Sorry about that."
"Does she ever have a good day?"
The man, maybe 50, with thinning hair, thick glasses and a pug nose, put his hand on his chin as if in deep thought for a moment, and then said, "There was a Wednesday, or maybe it was a Thursday, back in 2003, when she was only a bitch and not a total raving maniac. But it was just that one day."
"You see, guys? The next time you've got Flag riding your ass, just remember it could be worse," John Lee told the other deputies.
"Were you able to recover any of the bullets fired into your vehicle?"
"The one that went through the glass here in the door went out the other side and I have no idea where it ended up," John Lee told him. "The one that went through the door went through the inside door panel on the other side but didn't come
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