*****
Part 1 (original, not mine - but available here):
Lee’s seen a
lot of terrible things in her day, but this is the
worst. She can’t exactly put a finger on why it’s the worst; she’s seen more gory, more brutal,
more degrading. But this one makes her knees weak and her gorge rise and
the skin on her face crawl. This one just about sends her vomiting in a
corner like the rookie who just dashed outside.
It’s the
nails. Long nails, their round, waffle-patterned heads out of balance
with the length of their bodies. A number of them are drowning in the
pool of spilled blood like teeth knocked loose in a fight. More tumble
out of upended boxes near the corpse. And fifty-six of them are buried in the
corpse itself. Some deeper than others. Some are reduced to dark circles on his skin, weird birthmarks; others turn
him into the world’s biggest voodoo doll. No part of him has been
spared. Lee shudders. There are signs of struggle, but mostly in
the immediate area around the body. Like someone sat on him and just
started hammering. Patiently, carefully, nail after nail.
“Officer.”
Lee’s almost
glad to see that Charlie’s as pale as she is.
PART 2 (my addition):
The nail gun didn't make sense, 400 PSI concrete nailer to be
exact. Charlie found it in the plastic
case, bloody tip, no prints, next to a belt-sander and an upended circular
saw. "Everybody," Charlie
tells Lee, "knows nail guns are belt-fed, canister-fed,
spring-loaded. Automated is the word." Lee looks puzzled. "Or maybe girls don't know these
things." He tries not to look at
the body as he tells her this.
"Whatever," she says. And the boxes of nails? Single-shot hatred. Somebody really didn't like the guy.
The only good news was the deposit receipt from Karls'
Rentals on Alpine. Looked like Karl was
out $135, minus the damage deposit.
Alpine's a borderline street. On
one side the houses are nicer and the lawns are mowed. On the other side, graffiti crawls up alley
walls like new ivy.
The shop has a bell on the door and
bars on the windows. A nuanced odor of
oil, electrical tape, and old man lingers about the place. A retiree with a white mustache sits behind
the counter on a gunmetal colored stool.
He looks up from a suduko booklet and asks, "Help ya?"
Lee shows him the receipt and asks about the
nail gun.
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