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After about half an hour I’d plowed through the whole stack of paper And, sadly, no asteroid had yet landed on Mr Steve Lo up the papers, I made ready to return to the desk and once more try to bluff nized as the head of security walked past me and to the coffee stand Hard to rade haircut, and Secret Service-type suit
"Morning, Sandra," he said to the barista "Medium Americano, please" He paid then casually scanned the area while he waited for his order His eyes rested briefly on nition in his eyes I returned the polite nod with a chin lift ofin my power to keephis voice, I kneithout a shadow of a doubt that this was the unpoint and stolen the body of Zeke Lyons
Chapter 16
I gave the stack of fiction-heavy eot the hell out of there, doing my best to not draw any more attention to nize ive him any more opportunity for that little fact to click in
Besides, I’d already confirmed what I’d suspected: so completely fucked up And Sofia was either involved or in a shitload of trouble
I headed straight for the sheriff’s office and the entry ations" I didn’t take any chances and identified el Crawford with the coroner’s office" before asking to see Detective Ben Roth However, I was told that Detective Roth was out observing an exhu! "Of Zeke Lyons?"
"That’s the one," she replied
I thanked her and left I knew exactly where Zeke was buried Since no one had coiven a pauper’s burial at Riverwood Funeral Home
Ten minutes later I pulled up at the cemetery The area set off for the pauper burials was distinct mostly because it lacked any headstones Riverwood had a contract with the parish to bury any body that remained unclaiet the idea that this would be a great way to get around the cost of having a proper funeral and burial for their loved one, the graves weren’t rave they could actually visit, they’d have to pay for a plot Riverwood kept track of as buried where using markers and GPS coordinates, which was how they nohere to dig
I’d stupidly expected there to beearth--which really didon the other side of the backhoe was Allen Prejean, looking as sour as ever He was facing away and didn’t see me, which suited rave, savingto pass by Allen Ben looked like he hadn’t changed clothes since I’d last seen hie by the impressive array of wrinkles that patterned his shirt As I approached he jerked his head up in a way thatup, or at least close to it
It took hiain," he roped for so up with, "What the fuck, dude?"
He sighed, scrubbed both hands over his face "Sorry But you have no idea the shitstor into uy was soesturing at the backhoe
"God Yes" He let out a groan "You should hear the various theories being thrown around People are batshit insane"
"Sorry, Ben," I said "I was only hoping to help y’all figure out why soh "I know But on one side I have people insisting that the first victi and couldn’t have possibly actually been Lyons, though the prints that were taken from that body have been checked three different times now and still come up the same as the ones taken froure out how the dead guy froetting any of his own fingerprints on it"
"And the scar…" I said
"Yeah That’s the part that’s freaking everyone the hell out I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve looked at those crime scene pics and compared them to the Driver’s License pics I have of Lyons" Ben spread his hands helplessly "It looks exactly like the sauy So, what? A father and son who happen to have the saerprints," I said
He srimly "Yeah Well, I also have the people who say that the older guy’s from an alternate died to regrow the guy’s body" He rolled his eyes "I’ you, the crazy theories are all over the place But the ‘real’ Norht his ihbors They also confirmed that he worked at NuQuesCor"