Page 123 of Bone’s Choice

“No,” I said. “But people on the other end know what they’re receiving.”

Dealer leaned forward. “So somebody involved in the gun runs realizes Mercer knows what we’re doing.”

“And handles him,” Myth finished.

It fit.

Too fucking easily, though.

If he’d stumbled onto one of our shipments or figured out what we were moving, somebody could’ve decided he was a liability.

One bullet.

Problem solved.

Except... I looked at my phone again.

“No.”

Myth turned toward me. “What?”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t?”

“The casket.”

Nobody spoke.

I looked around the table. “If Owen found out about the guns and somebody killed him to keep him quiet, why the fuck send him back to us in a fake casket?”

Myth frowned. “They could’ve been making sure we knew the problem was handled.”

“Then call us,” I sighed.

“Maybe they didn’t want the connection.”

“They put the dead fucking connection inside a Grave Casket coffin and shipped him to our door,” Taco ranted.

I stood and started pacing. “If Mercer knew about the guns, killing him makes sense.”

“Yeah,” Humpty said.

“Getting rid of the body makes sense.”

Another nod.

“Dump him somewhere. Burn him. Bury him. Throw him in the fucking lake. Whatever.”

Dealer watched me.

“But they didn’t.”

“No.”

I stopped. “They put him in a coffin connected directly to us and made damn sure Jackson brought him here.”

Taco frowned. “So the body was a message.”