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Chapters (25)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. CHAPTER 1
  4. CHAPTER 2
  5. CHAPTER 3
  6. CHAPTER 4
  7. CHAPTER 5
  8. CHAPTER 6
  9. CHAPTER 7
  10. CHAPTER 8
  11. CHAPTER 9
  12. CHAPTER 10
  13. CHAPTER 11
  14. CHAPTER 12
  15. CHAPTER 13
  16. CHAPTER 14
  17. CHAPTER 15
  18. CHAPTER 16
  19. CHAPTER 17
  20. CHAPTER 18
  21. CHAPTER 19
  22. CHAPTER 20
  23. CHAPTER 21
  24. CHAPTER 22
  25. CHAPTER 23

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eISBN : 978-1-101-44570-9

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CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

THE DEAD HAVE A MYSTERIOUS WAY of returning. Three weeks ago I was working on the deck of my boat, the Miss Rosalie, when my friend Danny Ray Pledger came roaring up in his skiff, trembling and stuttering, unable to talk, and clearly in distress. He needed help, and he needed it badly.

While fishing, Danny Ray had found the badly decomposed body of a girl cast up by the tide in the remote wilderness of the great salt marsh of coastal Georgia. Not knowing what to do, he had come to me. We jumped in my sea skiff, and I returned with Danny Ray to the site of his grisly find. After calling the Coast Guard and having them alert the Chatham County Police, I sent Danny Ray back to my dock to guide the authorities while I stayed with the body.

Why had Danny Ray come to me first instead of going directly to the police himself? Well, the answer is a pretty simple one. Danny is a constituent part of society that always gets the short end of the stick. Poor as a church mouse, badly educated, slight of build, and with a bad stutter, no real job, and no connections, Danny is the quintessential Coastal Cracker.

Had he gone to the police with his discovery, it’s a sure bet he would have been locked up as a suspect, and there’s a strong likelihood he would have been charged with the girl’s death. The law is applied in accordance with a man’s standing in society, and the police and the court system are always quick to pick the low-hanging fruit. It ain’t fair, but that’s the way it is.

So I took the responsibility of being the official discoverer of the body. I had to answer a few questions about myself concerning my own standing in the community. But when the officer handling the case, Detective Patricia Latham, ran a background check on me, I no longer fit the potential-suspect category.