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Chapter One
“I can’t say I’ve seen anything quite like this, Sheriff” Deputy Bart Phillips rose fro His pale skin was nearly green His lips were dry and cracked More noticeable than anything else, at least to those who considered Bart a friend, was the clear note of defeat in his once-vibrant voice
Sheriff of the county, Blaine McKinney, paced the line of bodies “We’rehere”
“That’s a given,” Bart said “But don’t think for one ain It’ll be dark soon Surrounding counties sent in every coroner they had Our oasn’t good enough for you Hell, Blaine, even I knew there wasn’t anything to find here These corpses are in perfect condition There isn’t a scratch on ’em anywhere”
“Corpses? These people are still dead” Blaine h “And thirty-two fa back at the station They want answers How aest I tell them?”
“You tell theeant Keen stepped forward “You tell the you could I’ll attest to that”
Blaine slowly turned One thing about it, the young detective had sure calmed her feisty ass down today Norrind with every stride, Pageant hadn’t hesitated when the call came in The “call” had been placed at around seven o’clock during their daily shift change The deasn’t even off the ground and they were summoned to a crime scene
Understaffed, Blaine wouldn’t have blaeant if she’d turned tail and headed home They already kne many victims were out here The anonymous caller had provided that much
“We need to go door to door and find out who reported this Sootta find theest victih school, had the reputation of being a little cocky, but who could blaht-A student, had scored a thirty-two on her ACT, and had a sports scholarship waiting on her when she finished her senior year While her peers had partied, Caren had made the necessary sacrifices to achieve the most in life “And now that life is over”
“What’s that?” Bart asked
Blaine shook off the anger and ro
se to his feet “I want this county on lockdown I called the Feds in on this one They should be here soon”
Pageant glanced over her shoulder several ti quite paranoid “We can handle this ourselves”
“We can?” Blaine couldn’t keep the note of sarcasm out of his voice “And how do you propose we do that Hhtered all these people” He shook his finger at the dead bodies behind him “They weren’t struck by a blunt object Their necks weren’t sliced There isn’t a point of entry or an exit wound By all accounts, these people just got tired of living and laid down here on the side of the road after reaching a collective decision they were ready to die!”
“That’s what you’re supposed to think” A bear of a man stepped beyond the shadows Dressed in jeans and an io on the front, the felloore his shoulder-length hair about like he wore his clothes, loose and hanging everywhere
“Who let this guy in?” Blaine turned ninety degrees, scouring the faces of officers,for clues “Well?” His voice raised an octave
Finally soht he ht have been the one who called in the incident”
Fury sped through Blaine’s veins He wasn’t sure which one unnoticed while an investigation was in progress or the fellow’s statement when he appeared where everyone could see him The way he’d supplied a replyfor, as an example—had deliberately set out to make all of them look incompetent
Acting extremely suspicious, the fellow took cautious steps as he approached Blaine He was either guilty of this crie to draw his weapon He glanced at Pageant and then Bart At least his backup had their hands on the butts of their weapons
“Who are you?” Blaine asked, realizing he’d never seen this man before Pleasant, North Carolina’s population of 530 people—498 now—included h for Blaine to know them by name “I haven’t seen you around these parts”
Thehis arm forward and officers drew on him Several rookies yelled, “Freeze!”
Blaine grimaced He shot one of theer’s hand “Sheriff Blaine McKinney”
“Randon Shane” He shook Blaine’s offered hand “I was just passing through”
Blaine tilted his head at the bodies “You have so to do with this?”