The Montauk Monster Read Online Free

it somewhere no one could see or smell while the process worked? This makes no sense.”
    Henderson sucked on his teeth. “Well, it couldn’t be the Westies anyway. None of them are left to do the deed.” He looked over at Dalton’s squad car. “You’re not getting out of here until lunch.”
    “Don’t remind me.”
    Henderson stumbled into Dalton and turned to give holy hell to whoever knocked into him.
    Jake Winn, his uniform wrinkled and hat pushed as far forward as it could go, stared at the coffee in Henderson’s hand.
    “I thought you were gonna get me one. I only got two hours’ sleep before the call came in.”
    Henderson pointed at Dalton. “He found them. He wins.”
    Winn was about the same age as Henderson but looked a few years younger. He was leaner, with no trace of gray in his hair or mustache. He had sharp, dark eyes framed by the start of crow’s-feet. The man was a consummate gym rat who took crap from no one.
    “At least let me get some of yours, dipshit,” Winn said, grabbing Henderson’s cup and tipping it back. He swallowed hard and said, “You know whose fucking car that is, right?”
    “I do,” Dalton said. “I ran the plates after I found the bodies.”
    Winn held up a hand. “Don’t say it. Norm can figure it out on his own.”
    Walking over to the abandoned car, Henderson clicked on his flashlight, scanning the outside, then the interior. The beam settled on a hula girl bobblehead glued to the front dash.
    “That’s Randy Jenks’s piece of crap,” he said, his voice troubled.
    “You think that’s Randy over there?” Winn said.
    Dalton said, “I saw the heads before the skin and hair started dissolving. There’s no way to tell. If there are teeth left, we might be able to get a positive ID.”
    Winn grumbled, “I’m not waiting for a dentist. I’m going to head on over to Randy’s, see if he’s home. Maybe someone stole his car, ended up here, came across the wrong angry bastard. At least I hope that’s what happened.”
    Dalton finished his coffee and threw the cup in a nearby trash bin. “That’s a good idea. Hey, did Randy have a wife or girlfriend?”
    Winn removed his hat and ran his hands through his close-cropped hair. “Norm, was he still with that girl, what’s her name?”
    “Sherry. Nah, they broke up months ago. I heard about it from his mother during the PAL basketball camp. He was real broke up about it. I’d be upset if I lost a girl like that, too.”
    “How come you want to know if Randy had a girl?” Winn asked.
    “Because I thought I saw a breast.”
    “A tit? Over there?” Winn said.
    Dalton nodded. “It was hard to tell, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. I’m not used to seeing them unattached to a torso.”
    Dalton could see the muscles in Henderson’s jaws clench. “Come on, Jake, I’ll go with you. We’ll let you know if we find him.”
    “Thanks. I’ll be here, watching the sun come up,” Dalton said.
    “There are worse ways to pull a double,” Winn said.
    Dalton thought about what lay over the dune and wondered what exactly that would be.
     
     
    Kelly James pulled her dad’s pilfered Prius over to the side of the road, keeping her foot on the brake. If her parents found out she’d snuck out, borrowed the car and came home at three thirty in the morning, she’d be grounded until the first day of senior year. She rested her head against the steering wheel, getting her courage up.
    They’d never understand.
    When June had told her that Joey was going to be at Wendy’s party—with that slut Adriana—there was no way she could sit home without going crazy. Joey had just broken up with her a week ago with the typical “Look, you’ll always be in my heart, babe, but I’m going to college five states away in a couple of months. It’s not fair to both of us. You know those long-distance relationships never work. This way, you’re free to be yourself and not worry about me. Senior year is supposed to be