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“Drove up from Hilton Head. Read about the festival online and wanted to visit the area, take in some small-town charm.”
“Shit,” I hiss under my breath. “That’s all we need. News of this spreading into the tourist areas.”
“They actually seem pretty cool about it. They’re from Brooklyn.”
Nodding, I stop where the man is bouncing his little girl. “Hi, there, ah…”
“Rocky.” He’s a slim-built man with dark hair wearing horn-rimmed glasses, skinny brown pants, and a navy sweater.
I shake his hand, giving him a tight smile. “Sorry you had to deal with this on your vacation.”
“I’m just glad I found him before Sofia… or anyone else did.”
His partner holds out a hand. “Steve Lambert. Any idea who it is or what happened?”
“Not yet. Is there anything you noticed when you found him? Anyone around?”
Rocky shakes his head, frowning. “I was trying to find Sofia’s squiggle ball, and then he was just… there. I called to him—I thought maybe he was asleep or had fallen. When I touched his arm, I realized he’d been dead a while.”
“At this point he’s a John Doe.” Doug steps through the bent corn stalks, coming back from where I assume the body is located. “He’s been there at least twenty-four hours, and you need to take a look at this, Sheriff.”
Holly comes running up, her curly hair frizzing around her face. “I just heard what happened. What can I do?”
I motion to Rocky and Steve. “If you would, please take their statements. Rocky here found the body.”
Holly nods, leading the family away, and I hesitate, putting my hand on Britt’s arm. “You ready for this?”
“Of course.” Her gaze is leveled on the passage through the corn stalks. “There’s a lot of people on the scene. I wish I had my camera, but I can use my phone for now.”
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department is setting up spotlights on poles to illuminate the area, and two state troopers are standing to the side with their hands on their gun belts.
“They got here pretty fast.” Doug’s hair is damp, and a towel is around his neck.
“That’s why I had them on call.” I greet the additional officers.
We step carefully through the corn stalks, doing our best to avoid contaminating the scene. Britt uses her phone’s light to get close then snaps pictures of the ground, the broken stalks. Edward is with us sniffing everything. We get closer, and my stomach tightens.
I glance over at Britt in her pretty blue dress with the white cardigan over it. She tied her hair back in a ponytail, and her long bangs are tucked behind her ears. I can’t help wanting to shield her from whatever we’re about to find, but I have to push those feelings aside. Britt came here to do this job, and she can handle it, even if I don’t like it.
“Victim is a male appearing to be in his early to mid-sixties…” Doug tells us what he knows as we get closer. “Apparent gunshot wound to the chest.”
The first thing I see is gray hair sticking out from under a beige fishing cap. Thick gray scruff is on his cheeks. He’s lying on his back, so we can see he’s wearing blue jeans, a chambray button-down, and a brown corduroy blazer. Britt’s snapping pictures of everything, getting on one knee, closer than even I’d want to be. She lifts the lapel of his coat and photographs the small red dot where the bullet entered his body.
Blue and red lights cascade around us, and an EMS truck slowly backs to where we’re standing. Stopping at his feet, I notice he’s wearing one dark brown work boot. My eyes immediately go to his other foot, and…
“Is this what I think it is?” My voice is quiet, and Britt’s a step ahead of me.
“Our John Doe is missing half of his leg, but he didn’t have a prosthetic. Or he wasn’t wearing it.” She rises from her squat beside the body as EMS workers approach the scene.
Nodding, I motion to Doug. “Tell the coroner we need ballistics, and I want a toxicology screening. I want the works, DNA, everything. We need to find out who this guy is and why he was terrorizing our town.”
“Yes, sir!” Doug hops around, wrapping police tape all over the area.
I return to Britt, who’s carefully walking the perimeter.
“A pair of crutches is over here in the corn.” She walks back to where the body was found. “But he was dumped here.”
“How can you tell?”
