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She wasn’t being entirely sarcastic, either. Donnie Ray was canny. No one had ever denied it. He was already distancing the family from his daughter’s earlier claim while making it clear to Hicks that he was retaining an interest in whatever had occurred or might yet unfold as a consequence. In other words, he wouldn’t make life difficult for the investigators so long as he was kept in the loop.

“You have a name for whoever’s in there?” Donnie Ray asked.

“Not so far, but we will soon enough. It’s hard for a body to remain anonymous in this day and age.”

“You think I could take a look without stepping inside? Might be I’ll recognize the face.”

Hicks didn’t immediately reply. Given that at least two kids had already seen the corpse and perhaps snapped a few images with their phones—she’d have to set Schuler on it to ensure they weren’t circulated on social media—it wasn’t as though the fact of its existence was a state secret. She couldn’t have Donnie Ray traipsing around the barn, but she didn’t see the harm in letting him view the body from a distance. It might even prove advantageous.

“How about you and Clemmie both ease up to the door?” said Hicks, finally. “We have some lights on the decedent, which should help. A note of warning: Whoever killed him took their time, and his features are distorted. If either of you are going to be sick, be sure to do it in the bushes. I don’t want my people stepping in it.”

Clemmie looked as though she might have preferred had the offernot been made, but she wouldn’t show weakness in front of her father or Hicks. Donnie Ray’s features, by contrast, were impassive.

Hicks led them to the barn and asked Wen to use his frame to block the gap when the door was opened wider, so only Donnie Ray and Clemmie would be able to see inside. The deputy medical examiner was shining a flashlight on the wound to the chest, and the area was further lit by a couple of additional flashlights set on their bases with the bulbs exposed, rendering the corpse visible and potentially identifiable, even from a distance. But Hicks wasn’t looking at the corpse. She was watching Donnie Ray and Clemmie.

“My God,” said Donnie Ray. Clemmie just put her hand to her mouth.

“Well?” asked Hicks.

Donnie Ray shook his head. A few seconds later, Clemmie followed suit. She then headed directly for a pile of stones dug from the earth years before and assembled into a cairn, but she didn’t puke, or not that Hicks noticed.

“It was worth a try,” said Hicks, “but we’ll be knocking on doors over the next twenty-four hours. I know we can rely on the cooperation of you and your family. Right, Donnie Ray?”

“We’ll answer any questions we can,” he said. “Until then, we’d best let you get on with your job.”

He gestured to the three Dolfe men, indicating that they should follow him off the land. Like Clemmie, all were now unarmed, Hicks, on arrival, having advised them to store their weapons. Clemmie, Hicks noted, was already walking ahead of the rest. She gave the impression of wanting to vacate the property as quickly as possible.

Elkins joined Hicks.

“We going to start selling tickets next?” he asked.

“Donnie Ray offered,” said Hicks, “in case he could help with the identification.”

“That kind of public spiritedness is out of character for him.”

“We’re all God’s children.”

“Even Donnie Ray?”

“Him, maybe not so much. He said he didn’t recognize the victim.”

“And Clemmie?”

“She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to.”

Elkins squinted at Hicks.

“You saying she knew who he was?”

“Oh yeah,” said Hicks, as the Dolfes disappeared from view. “And if Clemmie knows, you can be sure Donnie Ray does too.”

CHAPTERLIV

Blue Tweed had gone to the restroom, spending so long in there that Little Lyman began to worry he might have collapsed—that, or Little Lyman would have let in a lot of fresh air later, and possibly go to work on the bowl with a brush and some bleach.

“You okay?” Little Lyman asked when his sole customer eventually returned.

“Things don’t move as easy as they once did,” came the reply. “I could write a thesis on the texture of stall doors.”