Chapter Five

The elevator door pinged open. Raylan stepped out, following the local police chief down the drab hallway. It had been painted a particularly nasty shade of puke green. The local police wanted him to take a look at the body. They had found signs that other girls had been held in the cabin.

A cold blast of air swept out of the morgue as the doors swung open. The body was already laid out, covered in a simple white sheet. The coroner stood next to the table, a clipboard in her hands.

"Good morning," she said. "Thanks for coming all the way over here. I'm sure it won't take long. Are you ready?"

He glanced at her, surprised by the speed. She tilted her head towards three more bodies on tables by the wall. "Got a busy day lined up. Sooner I get this done, the better. For the girl's family, too."

"Ain't that the truth?" Raylan stopped next to the table. "I'm ready."

She folded the sheet back, smoothing it with a practiced motion. The girl's body had been washed, all of the blood and dirt removed from her face. The wild blonde hair had been brushed and fastened back in a low pony tail to keep it tidy and out of the way. Her skin was the colour of old pearls, with an odd, waxy sheen.

Raylan stared at the sheet-draped body. He studied the girl's still face for a long moment, examining her features against the ones in his mind.

"This isn't the girl that I saw. They look alike, but the girl in the woods had a scar here." He touched one finger to the edge of his eyebrow. "This girl- Shelley Decosta- doesn't have that scar."

"Are you sure?" the local police chief asked. "This girl fits the description you gave pretty darn well. What with the injury and all... Well, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Raylan tensed his lips. "Yes, she does. But she's not the girl that I saw."

He nodded his thanks as the coroner, who stepped forward to re-cover the girl's body.

The police chief followed him out of the cold room. "God-damnit. You mean to say there's more than one blonde girl running about in my woods?"

Raylan nodded. "Yup."

The shorter man frowned. "Well, shit."

"I'm sorry about the patrolman you lost. That's always tough," Raylan offered as they waited for the elevator doors to open.

They stepped into the small space at the same time, both reaching for the button. A flash of movement caught Raylan's attention, and he twisted to the side just in time to avoid a punch to the kidneys.

"Don't be sorry about that little shit head. This is all his fault. If he'd done as he was told, I'd be at home right now, drinking liquor and watching something good on the TV."

Raylan backed up carefully, watching the shorter man. The police chief had drawn his gun, the muzzle pointed directly at Raylan's heart.

"What's going on?" Raylan asked, keeping his voice slow and calm. "Can we talk about this?"

The police chief shook his head. "What's going on is, you know far too much. You saw one of the girls. I'm sorry, Raylan, you seem like a decent enough guy, but I can't let you live."

"You gonna shoot me in a building full of people?" He held eye contact with the shorter man.

"Of course not. Who do you think I am?" The police chief scoffed. "We're gonna walk out of here nice and easy. You're gonna get into the car with me and I'm gonna take you some place no-one will ever find you."

"Now, look at this from my point of view. That don't sound real good to me," Raylan said. "How about we forget this ever happened, and you walk away?"

The police chief laughed. "Not gonna happen, Marshal."

"Don't make me shoot you, chief," Raylan warned, voice low. He glanced at the numbers above the door, knowing he didn't have much time left before they reached the main lobby.

"Like you could, with that arm," the chief scoffed. "That was my damn dog you shot."

Raylan eased his hand towards his gun. "He attacked me first. It was justified."

The chief swung his gun, smashing the butt into Raylan's injured shoulder. "Get your hands away from those weapons."

Bright, dazzling pain shot through him, turning the world distant and hazy for a long second. He felt hands on his body, but couldn't do anything about them, riding the pain until it passed.

When the stars cleared from his eyes, the chief had his own gun pointed at him. "You're gonna walk out of here, nice and easy, or I'll shoot the first cop that I see with this gun. Everyone will swear it was you who did it. After all, you do have a reputation for shooting first and asking questions later."

"Fine." Raylan bit off the word. "You won't get away with this, chief. They'll tear this county apart looking for me."

The chief laughed again as the doors slid open. "Maybe I'll leave a piece of you big enough for them to identify."

He gestured Raylan forward, poking him in the back with the muzzle of the gun. "Try anything, and I'll shoot you right now."

Raylan walked out of the elevator, eyes darting around the lobby. It was deserted. He paused, hearing voices. The chief jabbed the gun into his kidney again, forcing him onwards.

They reached the parking lot. Raylan paused in the doorway, scanning the open space for a friendly face. Rows of cars met his gaze, all empty and still. "Now what do we do?"

He didn't hear the answer before the world fell on top of his head and everything went dark.