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“Mostly,” he said “But I’ve decided to branch out-try my hand in the civil courts, as a plaintiff’s attorney”

“Plaintiff’s attorney? You’re going to start suing people?”

“I believe so,” he said “And now seeood time to dip a toe in the water”

“You’re going to sue the cre your aunt?”

“My aunt and a whole bunch of other folks”

A lightbulb flickered on above onna track down all the families of these people?”

“I won’t have to,” he said “They’ll track me down”

“Hoill they know to do that?”

“You forgetting what a master of the media I am, Doc?”

I had a quick flashback to the press conference Burt had held-had orchestrated, scripted, and choreographed-the moment the video expert had found the evidence that cleared ? You’ll probably be on Larry King, and I should hang up so you can start working the press and taking phone calls”

“Before you do,” Burt said, “can I ask you for another favor?”

“You can always ask,” I said

“I know you must have called in soia,” he said

“I’ve helped a few people in law enforce to helpto do”

“Whatever string you pulled down there to blow the lid off that thing-any chance you could tug on it one more time?”

I feltplans for a class-action suit that could net hiency fees “What do you want, Burt?”

“I want my Aunt Jean, Doc,” he said “I know she’s one of those three hundred bodies they’re hauling out of the woods It’s gonna kill ar to find out how she was treated If there’s any way you can go back down there and find her, so we can get her horateful”

The request surprised me, and impressedEverybody who ever sent a loved one there is going to be claet in, you know”

“I know,” he said “But you’re the guy who uncovered the truth”

“I’ll see, Burt,” I repeated “That’s all I can do”

“I understand Thanks, Doc I ’preciate you”

CHAPTER 19

WHEN I DIALED SEAN RICHTER, I GOT HIS PAGER, which didn’t surprise me Sean would have his hands full, and then so their first day’s search of the woods surrounding the crematorium, the GBI and FBI evidence teams had found nearly three hundred bodies and skeletons Recovering the theht in a couple of inflatable erated trailers to house the bodies while they figured out how to process theue and DNA lab dedicated to this one case

The gruesoia backwoods was the lead story on every major television network, wire service, and Internet news site in the country It was also, I learned from the stack of printouts Miranda had put on my desk, the topic of dozens of international headlines-variations on the theme of “Americans are barbarians,” many of them Atop the stack Miranda had left a sticky note: “How coia? Jealous Junior Anthropologist”

Sean returned e within ten et a chance to call me back for…oh, about ten or twenty years”