The Killing Moon: A Novel

was staying here where the camera is?'

'I'd like to,' said Hess. 'I'd like to very much.'

Maddox waited. 'And?'

'We checked with the Ansons, his foster parents. They haven't seen him in days.'

'The Ansons aren't known as the most diligent guardians,' Maddox said. Then he thought about it. 'Wait a minute. Are you saying he's missing?'

'That's what I'm saying.'

For the first time since he'd met him, Hess saw Maddox look surprised.

33

BUCKY

BUCKY WAS WAITING with Eddie and Mort Lees when Maddox came out the back door. Maddox hesitated, and thought Bucky didn't see it, then continued down the steps toward his patrol car.

Bucky moved out in front of the others, touching his own abraded cheek as though it were wet with paint. 'Thought only girls kicked.'

Maddox said, 'All I could manage with you letting your boys here do the real fighting.'

Bucky grinned. 'I'm gonna miss you, Maddox.'

'Oh? I'm going somewhere?'

'You getting along good with the troopers? Hanging out at Scarecrow's apartment there? You seem to be their boy now.'

'Yeah,' said Maddox, keeping an eye on the others. 'They're a fun bunch.'

'Uptight shits,' said Bucky. 'Their whistles and faggoty-ass boots. The fucking gay Gestapo, marching in here.' He nodded at the station. 'Putting us out of our own house like cats.'

Eddie chimed in. 'Mountie assholes.'

Bucky said, 'Scarecrow needs to be caught? So put me on it. I've tangled with him before.'

Maddox said, 'Slapping around a guy in handcuffs isn't exactly tangling.'

Bucky grinned harder, enjoying this. Maddox couldn't touch him anymore. 'You think Frond wishes he'd kept his big mouth shut now? Trying to turn me in? They say karma's a bitch?but man. That same piece of shit he was defending coming back and killing his ass? So funny it's almost sad.'

Maddox said, 'Sinclair would be in prison right now if your tangling hadn't gotten him out of that drunk driving conviction. If you hadn't messed up the arrest.'

Bucky was having a hard time keeping victory from bursting out of him. 'I really am gonna miss you, Maddox.'

'Is that right?'

Bucky stepped closer. 'How's it feel? No Pinty here to bail you out anymore. Nobody to run to. What's it like, being all alone?'

'Pinty's coming back.'

'That's not what I heard. Not what I saw there out on his back patio. Reality is, the old man's time has come and gone. And so has his pet cop's. Once Pinty kicks, you can consider yourself unemployed.'

Maddox said, 'You're not police chief yet.'

'But I will be. That's the beauty of it. With no Pinty to hold me back anymore? I might even run for his seat on the board of selectmen when it opens up.' Bucky looked to the others for enthusiasm. 'Be the new Pinty in town.'

They were all smiles. Maddox was pretending hard that Bucky wasn't getting under his skin, but the truth was so obvious, and so good.

The rear screen door squealed. A plainclothes trooper looked out. 'Maddox? The K-9 units are here. Hess wants you over at the bridge.'

Maddox thumbed back at his patrol car. 'I was on my way home.'

The trooper said, 'You're the one who found the bike. Hess wants you there.' He turned and went back inside, the door whacking shut.

Maddox cursed under his breath. That surprised Bucky. So Maddox wasn't sucking up to them after all. He was their lackey. This gave Bucky another quiet thrill.

'K-9?' he said, almost laughing before he could get it out. 'I guess somebody's got to scoop up all that dog shit.'

That broke up the others.

'Put that paper diploma of yours to good use,' said Bucky, another kick in the shins.

But Maddox didn't sulk. Instead, he came up eye to eye, his voice dropping so that only Bucky could hear him. 'Your day is coming.'

Bucky tried hard to keep up his mirth. Maddox's eyes were eager and hard, like he had more to say but preferred to sit on his information like a fucking hen on a warm egg.

Bluffing. All bullshit. Maddox knew nothing. Smug fuck.

Bucky burned so hot that he had to remind himself that he was in fact winning here. That everything, from Frond being murdered to Pinty going down, was falling his way. Like a giant hand clearing a path for him. Everything meant to be. All he had to do was sit back, and Maddox would be next. Then absolutely nothing would stand in his way.

Maddox turned and walked to the stairs, Bucky resurrecting his grin for the others. 'I'm gonna miss him,' Bucky said. 'I truly am.'

34

MADDOX

MADDOX DROVE FAST, setting aside his disgust for Pail in order to focus on the missing Frankie Sculp. That sullen kid with the dyed-gold hair. His hungry eyes and shoved-in face, as though the doctor had flat-handed him at birth. His face rippled with acne, his skin the color and consistency of a peeled-apart peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

'He knows a way, he said. All the cops. He's going to turn this shit-fucking town upside down.'

Maddox shouldn't have let him go. Shouldn't have tossed him back for fear of scaring away the bigger fish

But then again, it hardly mattered what Maddox or anyone else did. Truth was, Frankie had the mark on him. Maddox had seen it before. The kid had been bred to cut a path to his own self-destruction. Maddox only hoped he had not arrived there yet. Maddox would have to start looking for Frankie himself, though with Pinty being in the hospital, and Hess yanking his leash, his walking-around time was severely limited.

He passed the red STATE FARM INSURANCE AGENT sign at the end of Walt Heavey's driveway, thinking of the hand-rolled cigarette butt he had found there, frowning again at the thought of Sinclair lurking around Heavey's house. That weak-minded fool. Why, of all people, would he kill Frond? The one guy who had intervened on his behalf with Bucky's abuse? Even if Sinclair had somehow found out about Frond sleeping with his sister?Sinclair had no stake in that. He and Val were brother and sister in name only.

Maddox neared the one-lane bridge that marked the paved end of Edge Road and the beginning of a tagged-on half mile of dirt and rock. He pulled over behind an unmarked cruiser and walked to the gravel turnout just before the short, rusted span that bore no name. The three rat-tailed boys who had called it 'Toad Bridge' stood below, on the hard bank of the dribbling, heat-strangled brook, showing state police Crime Scene Services technicians where they had discovered Sinclair's bicycle.

Walt Heavey was also present, having walked down from his house. He was testifying in front of Hess, who stood back off the road in the shade, spraying his big arms with bug repellent. 'I'm telling you, there is something going on in these woods.'

'This woman at your boys' window,' said Hess, arms glistening sleeve to wrist. 'She had long black hair. How long?'

'Below the shoulder.'

Hess was working the wig angle. Sinclair had been known to wear that thing out on his balcony after dusk, overlooking the center of town. He asked Heavey, 'Ever hear anything in the woods at night like music, or chanting?'

Heavey gave this serious thought. 'No, sir. But you are looking at a man in the insurance game fourteen years now, as level as they come. And I am telling you, there is something going on in these woods.'

Hess thanked him and Heavey went away satisfied. Hess handed the aerosol can back to Bryson and turned to Maddox. 'He said something about you shooting a deer the same night he heard his gunshot?'

'Back up the road by the falls.'

Hess smoothed a goatee that was not there and said no more. His sandy hair was thinned back from his forehead, showing a lot of scalp. Premature hair loss was a common trait among hard-core weight trainers, especially those who had relied on supplements in the past.

Handlers led two lean German shepherds out of a K-9 van on long leather leashes, sitting them at attention about ten meters back from the bridge. Hess admired the dogs' muscular obedience, until something farther back along the road put a shadow of anger across his face.

Maddox turned and saw the orange highway department pickup parked back at the turn. Ripsbaugh was unloading an armful of traffic cones.

Hess summoned a uniformed trooper to his side, his voice quiet but forceful. 'I want him out of here.'

Maddox stepped up before the trooper started off. 'I'll do it,' he said.

Hess looked at Maddox, wondering why he would bother, then