Chapters (110)
- Cover
- ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- PROLOGUE
- I
- II
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- PART TWO
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- PART FOUR
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Excerpt from LOST RIVER
- LITTLE PARIS
- DILLON
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
SHE’D HELPED DALE HOLT bring four telescoping light stands down to the river’s edge, where, once night started to fall, they could run them off the department’s portable generators. There were also two more farther back up in the yard. Sheriff Cherry had called in a full Department of Public Safety forensic team, but until they arrived, she and Dale Holt and Marco Lucero were responsible for the crime scene that ran from the front of Eddy Rabbit’s trailer all the way down to the water’s edge. Two months ago, the sheriff had sent her to a weeklong DPS course about homicide investigations and homicide crime scenes. She’d stayed in Austin for the classes, and Danny had come with her the first weekend to show her around, since he’d spent time in the city before. They’d had a good time, but the main draw had been the course itself. She wanted to attend more, to learn as much as she could, although it was far different being in the middle of her own real crime scene rather than reading about one in a classroom. She couldn’t help wishing Ben Harper was here with her, helping her know what to do or not do. The last time she’d stood over a dead body this way he’d been at her side, but that had been just one, not five.
Not a young boy.
—
THE SHERIFF WAS WALKING TOWARD HER, finishing up a phone call. Danny and another deputy, Till Greer, had transported Eddy Rabbit back to Murfee, where they were processing him. The sheriff had stationed his last deputy, Tommy Milford, in his department truck out on Farm Road 170, near the Fort Leaton historic site and at the outer edge of the canyon, ready to help lead the DPS team down to the trailer, which was difficult to find if you didn’t know the area. But Dale and Marco were still standing by the water’s edge, drawn to the bodies, returning there again and again as if they couldn’t stay away. Dale had been a deputy as long as she had (which wasn’t saying much), so those weren’t the first dead men either of them had seen, but this was all new for Marco. Nothing prepared you for it, not really. Not five raggedy things that were once people floating in shallow, dirty water.
Fat-bodied moscas turning in circles above them.
To take Marco’s mind off it, she’d had him help her draw maps of the scene, record measurements, and shoot video and still pictures inside the trailer—it’s what Ben would have done—although they’d stopped short at searching the trailer itself. The sheriff had decided to wait for the DPS techs to do that. There was no hurry. The bodies weren’t going anywhere soon, so neither was America.