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Valaski snorted "Like there are going to be footprints!"

Beth Ingraed "This is…this isn’t pro," Beth told hi Valaski, coh"

He stepped back as Valaski moved in to see the body He swore softly "Jeez, Liam, think you could find ’em for me when they’re a little fresher?"

"Think you can tell me time of death?"

Valaski stared at him, and then hunkered down by the corpse He ain, shook his head, reached alloves

"Any clue as to how he died?" Liam asked

"You mean you didn’t check for a pulse?" Valaski asked dryly

"I left hiing--oh, wait, no, I can’t I’m sorry, there are no eyes"

"Good Lord, Franklin--"

"Sorry! I’unshot wound It et hiue, that’s all there is to it I can’t tell you et him out of here and cleaned up I’loved; he wore high galoshes, having known he was headed into the lasses, the mask over his nose and mouth He did a cursory inspection of the body, and then seemed to freeze

He looked at Liaive you much info on how and when he died yet, but…"

"But?"

"I can tell you who he is"

Liam was startled "Who?"

Valaski waved a hand toward him to come around and hunker down as well Mercifully, he offered his on the blackened T-shirt the

Liam had definitely seen the shirt before Even as he stared at it through the stains of marsh water and body fluids, he saw the emble wings, a large bird, and White in cursive over the emblem

It was Gary White, Key West’s own part-ti to break into the place with Chris Vargas just a week ago

Now dead and decaying at the Merlin house

Kelsey paced in the kitchen, drinking a third cup of coffee and glancing at her watch She had to be at Cutter’s funeral soon It wouldn’t be right for the deceased’s granddaughter to be late

But she felt as if she’d been wired and charged

Someone had been dead on the property for days now, and they had just discovered the body What had happened to hihly unlikely that anyone could have decided just to walk down to the Merlin property to die of natural causes

At last, Liam came back into the house

Involuntarily, she took a step back fro up to the shower"

"Who was it? How did they die?" she demanded "Did you know him?"

He nodded "Not real well, but he was a Key West character Gary White He was a part-time musician I don’t kno he died" He hesitated "The body is in very bad shape"

"Yes, but--I watch TV," she said "They have ways--"

"Yes, they do Franklin Valaski, the medical examiner--"

"I know him," she interrupted curtly "You mentioned he checked out Cutter, and he ca hiue He’ll conduct the necessary autopsy and tests We’ll knoe can soon enough I don’t believe he’s been dead more than a week--I saw him then--but when he was killed after that, I don’t know Because of the situation with the water and the rove roots, birds…crabs…it may be difficult to pinpoint the time of death very clearly"

She jerked a nod at hiot here," she said "I kept thinking that it was so…left behind by Cutter"