A County Sherrif on the brink of self destuction. A series of grisely murders. Drug smuggelers and F.B.I. agents . Ancient Indian legends of a being half spirit halfmyth that takes peoples souls and can summon up the Devil Himself ! All this and more await you in The Soul Taker. a page turner from begining to end , this is the First book in the Starbuck & Onehorse mystery/ adventure series . Once you start it , you won't want to put it down. join the gang from Dullknife County as they embark on this wild ride , you'll be glad you did.

THE SOUL TAKER

By Charlie Beaverby

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Charlie Beaver
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-2713-1

Chapter One

MASON FOUND THE dirt road turnoff that would lead him to the caves by the reservation boundary from county road 212, he could see the black State Police cruiser parked on the right side of the road and he eased his old patrol car up behind it and got out. Pete Lomax was in his early fifties, a former Marine, he was a tall, lean built man with wide shoulders, like the sheriff's and in his State Policeman's uniform he seemed to be bigger than he really was. Starbuck shook hands with the grizzled grey-haired man and then asked, "What have we got, Pete?"

Lomax cleared his throat and it was easy to see he had been crying, which for a rock of a man like him, was totally out of character, "She's down there by the caves, on the side of a hill, A spelunker by the name of Christian Numar called it in. I've got him in the back of my car, he's really shook up, seems as normal as anyone could be who likes to crawl into caves and such.", Lomax gestured to the man in the backseat of his car then he went on, "I recognized her right away, those blue eyes and that curly blonde hair, hard to miss who it was."

"Well, hell, Pete, we've both seen that little girl most of her life around here, her face is hard to mistake.", Starbuck chimed in as he could hear the sirens in the distance that told him his deputies and the crime scene unit were on their way.

Lomax shook his head, "You'll understand why I couldn't have made a facial identification when you get down there, Mace, I'm waitin' up here for the rest of 'em to get here."

Starbuck shot his friend a strange look then he began to slowly and carefully make his way down the dirt road to the murdered little girl.

"Idoe's on his way.", Lomax shouted out to the lanky man in the kaki clothes as he watched him walk towards the two large cave entrances that seemed to loom out of the huge cliff face that was a bend in a dry wash that once upon a time used to be part of an ocean some one million years in the past, "God, help your dreams after today, my friend.", Lomax whispered as he closed his eyes and shook his head, "I know mine are fucked from now on.", he added.

The sheriff had seen a lot of death and dying in his life, from the horrors of the jungles of southeast Asia to the years he had spent as a deputy sheriff then as sheriff, to finding his beloved wife that fateful night that still haunted him, but he wasn't ready for what he found as he neared the caves. The body of the little girl was laying face up on a slope of a sand dune just yards away from the mouth of the first cave entrance. There was her curly blonde hair, her beautiful blue eyes, now glazed over, but Starbuck realized why his friend had said what he had and opted to stay behind. The was no skin on the child at all! Someone, some monster, someone without a soul or moral conscious had skinned her. Starbuck staggered back a bit. He could feel the color draining from his face. His hangover was no longer a concern as he tried desperately not to vomit. He shook his head trying to clear his spinning mind, to regain his composure when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and spun around at the same time his right hand resting on the handle of his holstered forty five colt., "Jesus Christ!", he hollered out causing an echo.

"Close, but it's just me.", came the booming voice of his oldest and best friend in the world, Idoe Onehorse who was also a sergeant on the Awoti reservation police force, "Pete sent me down here when I pulled up said you might need somebody to lean on. Didn't mean to spook you so bad, kemosabe, what's up?"

Starbuck shook his head and straightened up a bit then he pointed over to the body on the dune. The big, bear of a man followed with his eyes to where his friend pointed and the he sank down onto his knees. Mason went over to him and placed a hand on the big man's shoulder, before he could say anything, Onehorse sighed out, "Oh, Dear Lord, Who would do somethin' like that?", then he went silent, just stared at the horrible sight shaking his head.

"I don't know, tonto, I don't know, but as God as my witness, I'm here to tell you that if it's the last thing I do on this earth, I'm gonna' find out who and I'm gonna' take 'em down." The Sheriff of Dullknife County helped his friend to stand then, after they both took in a deep breath they went to work searching for signs of any evidence that could tell them what happened and where and how and hopefully who. They were only about halfway up to where the body lay when the crime scene unit showed up.

"No tire tracks, nothing but the sets of footprints from Mr. Numar, you and Mr. Onehorse. Seems Mr. Numar left his vehicle at the motel he's staying at, some kind of jogger as well as a spelunker." Bret Stoddard said as he shook hands with the two men on the side of the sand dune, he was twenty-three years young and one of the C.S.I. photographers, "Holy Mother of God.", he cried out loud as he saw the body of the little girl, then he grew pale and looked sick.

"Keep it together kid, just take pictures of her from every angle you can, but, after we get done looking around, okay?", Starbuck stared at the young man for a long moment, then he received a reassuring nod and he and Onehorse continued on up the dune. It was odd, for there was no blood, no tracks of any kind save for some rabbit and mule deer prints in the sand. It was if she had floated there and came to rest on the side of the sand hill. They couldn't determine what killed her for there seemed to be no obvious signs of trauma to her body, of course it was difficult because of the state she was in.

"I think I can see bruising around her throat, but I can't swear, Mason, it's too, well, too hard to tell.", Idoe shook his head again as he searched the area over and over for a sign of any kind of footprints at all, "Whoever put her here not only killed her somewhere else, but, they wiped away their tracks better than I've ever seen it done.", the big reservation cop added, his tone weary and almost sad.

"Yeah, I've seen some aces in my time when it comes to seclusion and evasion, but, this one takes it to a whole new level. This ain't normal by any means at all.", Starbuck raised his arms up and hollered out to the team around him. "Every bush, every particle of sand, very freakin' jackrabbit and mesquite thorn! I want it all checked, photographed and sifted through!", the he looked down to the body of the little girl, "Let's get her to the coroner's office.", he then just walked down the dune, looking tired and worn out already, and the day had just begun.

The coroner's office was adjacent to the hospital on the edge of town, Dr. Elenore Shievers was in her office when Starbuck and Onehorse arrived. They could tell by the look on her face, that this horrible crime had touched her as well as everyone in the county. Shievers was at one time a beautiful woman, who still had the figure of the professional, exotic dancer she used to be. Now in her late fifties, she was the resident medical examiner for the county and the resident reason for most of the gossip around Preston.

"My two favorite men in the county, how's it hangin' boys?", she quipped out as she adjusted the Ben Franklin styled glasses that always seemed to be perched on her nose.

"Bad day, Doc. What do you got for us?", Starbuck answered as he sat down across from her at the desk she was sitting behind.

She waited for Onehorse to ease into the other chair, then she reached into her top left drawer and took out a bottle of crown royal, "You'll need this, I know I do." she said as she poured out three double shots of the amber liquid into some Styrofoam cups that were on her desk top.

"Jeesh, doc, it's not even noon, yet.", Onehorse said as he watched the good doctor slid the cups towards him and his friend. "Are you going to monitor the time or drink?", She asked back as she glared at the big Indian for a moment.

"I didn't say no, now did I?", so saying Onehorse downed the cup in one gulp.

Shievers did the same and then they both looked to the lean, wide shouldered sheriff,

"None for me, doc, I'm tryin' to quit.", He said quietly.

"Well, hallelujah, Mason, since when?", Idoe asked as he and Dr. Shievers stared at the man in amazement.

"Since I saw Belinda Russell.", he answered back.

"Well, then, let's get to it.", Shievers stood up as she opened the file that was laying on her desk top, "Your initial thoughts about the bruising on her throat was correct, Idoe, She died due to strangulation, one hand, the left hand by what I've been able to determine, was used to choke the life out of her, then..", her words trailed off for a moment, then she began again, "Then her skin was removed, very efficiently, very methodically, and completely."

"You think to remove any traces of evidence, doc.?", Starbuck asked.

"I don't know, All I do know is there was no signs of sexual contact, no signs of any trauma other than the neck, no blows to the head or what have you? Do you know where she was last seen, has Ben been able to tell you anything?", Shievers looked at them almost impatiently.

"Running that down as we speak, doc, as for Ben Russell, he had a heart attack right after Doc Wilson got to him, this whole situation couldn't be worse as far as he goes.", Starbuck had his hands in the air as he spoke, "Was there anything on the body that could point us as to where this may have happened?"

"I found almost microscopic pieces of a substance I've been able to get identified by my buddy up at the university. I had my assistant take it up there as soon as I discovered it. My professor friend I.D. them a fragments of flint.", Doctor Shievers poured herself another cup of Crown, "He says off of the blade of a flint knife, like the ones used by early man and your ancestors Idoe to skin animals and scrape hides with."

Both men stood up and looked at one another for a moment, then the sheriff told the county coroner, "Elenore, nothing about this flint knife thing gets released, you hear, let's keep that to ourselves for awhile anyways.", as she nodded back to him he looked at his oldest friend in the world and he asked him, "Idoe do you think one of the folks up on the reservation could be responsible for something like this?"

The big man mulled the question over for a long moment then he answered back,

"As far as I know of, Mason, we ain't never skinned nobody. Now I don't hold a P.H.D. on our people as some of us do, like my sister and my old friend Simon, But as far as I know, there's no way Our culture even mentions something like that."

"Well, bottom line is, somebody damn sure did it. And it's up to us to find out who.", Starbuck gave the good doctor a wave goodbye as he left as did Onehorse, then they were out of the door and headed to his office. As they approached, they could see it was already surrounded by reporters from all over the State!

After what seemed to be an endless question and answer session with the members of the media, Mason and Idoe were finally able to sift through what little they had on the killing. They had found out that Belinda had been at a camp over the weekend at a ranch just outside of town near to where her body had been found. It was at one time a working ranch, but, hard times and ever-changing owners had left it sitting empty and run down for years. Then a consortium of local businessmen and women got together and revamped the place, put in a campground kitchen, and opened it up as a getaway retreat for businesses, church organizations, State and federal offices and the national guard. Belinda's group was with the local church. According to the testimony, Starbuck's deputy had gotten from the campground's director, by the time they had noticed her missing from the group, her body had been found by the out of town cave enthusiast

And called in to the State Police.

"Seems like everyone at the camp has an alibi, Mason.", Idoe was scratching his thick head of black hair as he spoke, "When the mother of one of the other girls from the church tucked all of them in last night, little Belinda was there, when they all got up to eat breakfast, she wasn't."

"I don't care, my friend, we're going out there tomorrow and if it takes all day we're not leavin' til I'm satisfied with their alibi's.", Starbuck tossed a handful of photo's from the crime scene unit on his desk in disgust as he hissed out the words.

"I knew you'd be sayin' that.", his huge Indian friend remarked as he picked up the pictures and went through them, "Nice shots of the sand dunes, some rabbit tracks and what I'd judge to be a set of trophy mule deer tracks, they do good work, kemosabe.", the reservation sergeant laid them back down on his oldest friend's desk.

"Yeah, I know, I guess we could put out an A.P.B. on the rabbit and the deer, huh?", Starbuck's mood was darkening and his stomach felt like it was going to turn itself inside out as he sat behind his des. The desk where he knew there was a half full bottle of Jack Daniels that was practically calling his name. But, he just sat there ignoring the calls and the pain in the pit of his stomach. He had swore to solve this case sober and even if it killed him, he would do so.

"I guess me having a reservation to keep an eyeball on doesn't even concern the high Sheriff of Dullknife County?", Idoe tried to lighten the mood.

"With or without you I'll be at the camp at sunrise. Don't matter to me!", Starbuck growled out.

"If you were anybody but who you are, my boy, you'd be pickin' up teeth!", Idoe wasn't playing as he shot the words out, "All that we've been through together and you dare to speak to me like that!", the big man added as he stood and started for the door, "You're getting' mean and nasty, Mr. Starbuck, and if you ain't careful somebody's gonna' take you down a peg 'er two!"

Mason sat in his chair and watched the best friend he had in the world almost reach the door before he said, "I'm sorry.", the words almost echoed in the room. As Onehorse turned around with a surprised look on his face, Starbuck continued, "I've been a prick for quite awhile now, an I've let myself turn into a drunk. I uh, I just don't know, Idoe, things just got all screwed up. But, I do know this! I've got to find the bastard that did this thing to that sweet little girl! And I know that I can't do it alone, an I know that I'm sorry, man, I really am for what I said and a whole lot of other things."

Onehorse slowly walked back over to his friend's desk and sat down next to him, "You ain't gonna' try to kiss me now are you?", the big Awoti asked playfully.

"Well, if you'd a lingered at the door a little longer, maybe.", Starbuck joked as the both of them shared a quick laugh, then they went back to work.

"You know, instead of sittin' here, we could be back at the scene," Idoe offered out as he went on, "I could get my second in command from the outpost to meet us out there and I know for a fact you wouldn't have to twist ol' Dusty's arm too hard to leave his domino game and come out an help us look for the somethin' that you an me both know is out there somewhere just waitin' for us to find."

Starbuck stood up from his desk and he straightened his hat on his head and grinned down at Onehorse, "That kiss thing still mite be on the table, big guy."

Idoe stood up as well and quipped back, "Naw, we'd better not, we got work to do an all."

Soon they were out of the Sheriff's office, Idoe went to get his only subordinate, Billy longbow on the radio in his old ford truck, and Starbuck went to the bar downtown by the courthouse where he knew his old boss would be at this time every day. After only a few minutes inside, he returned with the legendary retired sheriff in tow, and the three of them headed out of town to the scene of the murder....

"Billy on his way?", Mac lane asked the big reservation cop that sat next to him in the backseat of the old patrol car.

Idoe nodded yes then asked, "How'd you know I'd sent for him?"

Dusty Mac Lane smiled and answered, "Just reasoned it out, he's young and we're all a bunch of old farts, somebody's got to do the leg work, right."

There was another round of short lived laughter, then it was all business.

Chapter Two

BILLY LONGBOW WAS there waiting for them to arrive, he had the worst feeling he had ever had running through his body as he did. His whole life he had been sensitive to certain things, good or bad vibes he called it. Right now it all bad as he watched the old patrol car ease up to where he stood. From the moment he had parked his reservation police power wagon on the side of the county road and walked over to the dirt road cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape, he had gotten the bad vibes. And even though he was smiling outside as the trio of men got out of the car to greet him, inside he was wound up tighter than a eight day clock. He was on edge and wary of everything and everyone around him. He only hoped they would be done before it got dark.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from THE SOUL TAKERby Charlie Beaverby Copyright © 2009 by Charlie Beaver. Excerpted by permission.
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