to hide that he was with the police force. Of course, the light blue gloves he wore on his hands were a beacon, but he wasn’t about to go without the protection. Not here, where illness ran rampant.
The men standing around the burn barrel stayed in their place, stretching their fingers out toward the warmth of the fire. He and Alex slid in amongst them. “Hear you had some excitement this morning.”
Two of the younger men he didn’t recognize shot gazes between themselves. One was caked with dirt and the body odor emanating was potent. Another one looked as though he might have had a shower within the last few weeks… or maybe took a dunk in one of the ponds at the Hope City Park, something the city council complained about often. The older man sighed. “Not much exciting happens here.”
“Whatever happened, happened right here.” Kyle tilted his head in a nod toward one of the large boxes. “I know that’s where you lay your head. You didn’t see anything that happened twenty yards away?”
“I was sleeping.”
One of the younger men decided to jump into the conversation. “Yeah, we was sleepin’.”
“Shut the fuck up,” the first man said. Turning his gaze back to Kyle, he shrugged. “Shit happens. You know that.”
“Yeah, what I want to know is how you slept through all three getting rolled?”
“When I sleep, I sleep hard.”
Alex snorted, and Kyle’s lips twitched as he cut his eyes toward his partner. “So you wake up this morning to three dead, naked men around the burn barrel and aren’t surprised?”
“Nothin’ much surprises me around here,” the older man said.
With a chin lift acknowledging he knew exactly what the man meant, he stepped back from the burn barrel and began walking toward the darker areas under the bridge. Here, the early morning light didn’t penetrate so brightly. The cardboard of some of the structures was deteriorating… time for some of the residents to go dumpster diving for more boxes, as well as food.
A slight breeze blew, unable to sweep away the stench of unwashed bodies and refuse. His stomach clenched, and for a few seconds, he regretted the strong coffee he had downed on the way to pick up Alex.
Hastening his steps, he glanced to the side, seeing a woman relieving herself behind her shelter. She jerked her pants up and stumbled along, her gait unsteady. As she swung her head around, he recognized the glaze in her eyes and wondered what drug of choice had helped her sleep.
A glance inside a few of the structures, revealed some residents still asleep, curled up in their sleeping bags, blankets, and a few tucked in tightly with their dogs. The animals eyed him as warily as the humans.
Another burn barrel stood nearby, this one’s flames burning higher. Recognizing one of the men, he nodded. “Manny.”
Manny grinned, exposing his tobacco-stained teeth— what few he had left. “Dee-tective,” he greeted. “I wondered if you might show up.”
“Well, me and Alex just figured we’d take a little early morning stroll around the cottages.”
Manny began to chuckle, which immediately rolled into deep-chested coughing. Alex pulled out an unopened bottle of water from his pocket, untwisted the lid, and handed it to Manny.
Manny’s thin fingers reached out and curled around the bottle, and he drank deeply. After several long gulps and more strangled coughing, he finally sucked in a ragged breath. Lifting the bottle slightly, he nodded. “Appreciate it.”
“Yeah, well, make sure you put the empty in a recycle bin when you’re finished.”
Manny grinned again, shaking his head. “You know it, Dee-tective. Don’t want to do no pollutin’ around here.”
More men closed ranks, moving toward the barrel, each looking as rough as the next. A couple of the older ones had sleep creases down their faces, their gazes pinned on the fire warming the area. Several younger men wandered over, their eyes alert as they stared at Kyle and Alex.
Turning his attention back to Manny, he asked, “You got anything for me?”
Manny scrubbed his hand through his scruffy beard, his eyes darting all around before landing back on Kyle’s face. “A lot of shit going around. Far’s I can tell, same ol’, same ol’.”
“What about those three stiffs from last night?”
Lifting his shoulders, Manny shuffled from foot to foot. “Talk this morning was old dinosaur.” Shaking his head, he muttered, “Dumb fuck.”
He had wondered if they’d all been using heroin. “And the younger ones?”