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John and qhuinn were a couple of yards behind Zsadist as the three of the modern house The place was number six on the list of yet-to -be-hit properties, and they stopped in the shadows of a couple of trees at the edge of the lawn

Standing there, John had a serious case of the creeps With its sprawling elegance, it was too much like the home he&039;d had for such a short time with Tohr and Wellsie

Zsadist looked over his shoulder "You want to stay here, John?"

When John nodded, the Brother said, "Figured Creepingwith hi s and doors As he disappeared around the back of the house, Qhuinn glanced over

"Why is this creeping you out?"

John shrugged I used to live in soood as a human"

It was after that

"Oh, you ht"

God, the house must have been built by the sae at all the s, he thought of his bedroolass door The closet had been barren when he&039;d arrived, but it had gotten filled with the first new clothes he&039;d ever had

Meht Tohr and Wellsie had taken him in Mexican food She&039;d cooked Mexican food and put it all out on the table, big platters of enchiladas and quesadillas Back then, when he&039;d been a pretrans, his sto mortified that he&039;d only be able to push the food around his plate

Except then Wellsie had put a bowl of white rice with ginger sauce in front of him

As she&039;d taken her chair, he&039;d wept, just curled his fragile little body into itself and cried for the kindness After having spent all his life feeling as if he were different, from out of nowhere he&039;d found soive it to him

That was a parent, wasn&039;t it They knew you better than you knew yourself, and they took care of you when you couldn&039;t care for yourself

Zsadist came back up to them "Empty and unsacked Next house?"

Qhuinn looked at the list "Four Twenty-five Easterly Court¡ª"

Z&039;s phone went off with a soft chi up to his ear "What&039;s up, Rehv?"

John&039;s eyes shifted back to the house, but then returned to Z as the Brother said, "What? Are you kiddingserious? You&039;re sure, you&039;re one hundred percent sure?" When the Brother hung up, Z stared at the phone "I have to go honed

"Can you guys cover the next three addys?" As John nodded, the Brother looked at hiely "Keep your phone close, son You hear me?"

When John nodded, Z disappeared

"Okay, clearly whatever that is, it&039;s not our biz" Qhuinn folded up the list and put it in his jeans pocket "Shall we outtie?"

John glanced back at the house After a ned, I&039;m sorry about your parents

Qhuinn&039;s reply was a while in co "Thanks"

I ht you were an orphan?"

For a while I wasn&039;t

There was a long silence Then Qhuinn said, "Coet out of here We need to hit Easterly"

John thought for a minute You mind if we stop somewhere else first? It&039;s not far

"Sure Where?"

I want to go to Lash&039;s house

"Why?"

I don&039;t know I guess I want to see where this all started And I want to look in his rooh?"

If the shutters are still on autotih the glass

"Well hell, if that&039;s where you want to go, okay"

The two of them dematerialized to the side yard of the Tudor The shutters were up for the night, and in a blink they were standing inside the sitting room

The smell was so bad, John felt like someone had taken steel wool to the inside of his nose and used the shit like a Q-tipall the way to his frontal lobe

Covering his hed

"Fuck," Qhuinn said, doing the same

The two of them looked down There was blood all over the carpet and the sofa, the stains brown fro dried

They followed the streaks out into the foyer

"Oh, Jesus"

John lifted his head Through the lovely archway of the dining rooht out of a Rob Zombie movie The bodies of Lash&039;s ular chairs, were facing a beautifully set table Their pallor was that of sidewalk paveray, and their fine clothes were like the rugs, streaked in brown

There were flies

"Man, those lessers are sick, for real"

John sed down the bile in his throat and walked over

"Shit, do you really need a close-up there, buddy?"

Peering into the roonore the horror and note the details The platter that the roasted chicken was on had blood es

The killer had put it on the table After he&039;d arranged the bodies, o up to Lash&039;s roo upstairs was totally freaky, because they were alone in the house¡ªbut not really So close to sound Certainly the smell followed John and Qhuinn up the stairwell

"His crib&039;s on the third floor," Qhuinn said when they got to the second-floor landing

They walked into Lash&039;s bedroom, and it was such a non-event co room Bed Desk Stereo Computer TV

Bureau

John went over and saw the draith the bloody prints These were too sed to tell whether or not a swirl pattern had been left He picked up a rando, because that hat they did on the TV shows Inside, ed to read

His heart stopped beating and he bent down closer There was one print that was especially clear, on the corner of a Jacob & Co watch box

He whistled to bring Qhuinn&039;s head around Do lessers leave fingerprints?