20 The Meadow death dates. “I’ve never had a squeamish moment in my life, Detective Newman. You of all people should be aware of that.” He had the grace to blush and it was his turn to brush dust off the top of the Girard upright. The honed Portland limestone had never looked so tidy. “I’ll probably get put in protocol time-out, but would you mind taking a look at him? See if you recognize him. It will save you a trip to the medical examiner’s fridge department.” Two deputies in brown uniforms broke off conversation as Alannah and Gaelan approached. One deputy elbowed the other who responded with a supercilious smile. A third deputy, ginger haired and baby faced, tipped his hat at her and stared at the ground. Alannah recognized him from the burial of his nine year old daughter. He’d been okay until the line in the coffin brochure that said, “Please add 6 inches to the height of your child for the proper fit.” Alannah remembered thinking that you’re never really grown up until you’ve sobbed in front of a stranger in a cemetery office. A man in a light blue jumpsuit and paper booties, presumably a coroner’s investigator, was vigorously patting down the corpses rump in search of a wallet. The body had evacuated and when he was rolled on his side, several species of beetles, having imbibed on the runny feces in his underwear, ran drunkenly into the sunshine. “No ID,” he told Gaelan, “I’ll roll for prints when I get him back to the office.” “Cause of death?” Gaelan asked. “You can’t see it from your angle, but he’s got a nice hole in the back of his head, big caliber, at least a .38,” said the man in the jumpsuit. “And he’s a doper,” he added, tugging one stiff sleeve up to reveal a skinny, ruined arm. “Hope he never needed a transfusion, because he didn’t have a vein left standing.” Alannah studied a face that seemed to be made of frozen gray playdoh. He was young. Blue eyes open, lips curled back over crooked and decaying teeth. He’d probably had a goofy smile, Alannah thought sadly. A goofy smile that would soon slough off and land in a puddle under his chin. A thick keloid
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