Page 98 of Never Tear Us Apart

“Oh yeah?” Jake smiles. “Finally believe me about the four B’s?”

I grip his shoulder and laugh. “Never doubted it for a minute. I want to look into it now while it’s fresh. I can sleep when I’m dead, right?”

He laughs and nods to the stairs. “Go on. Get cleaned up and we can go when you’re done.”

***

An hour later we’re at the local burger joint, sipping shakes while waiting for our order. “So listen, what I wanted to get your thoughts on…”

“Yup,” he slurps his drink.

“The night of the ball, when I found Ellery, Royce said something to me.”

“Fuck off?” Jake grins.

“No, that was me to him.”

“Still not going to tell me what happened?” he laughs.

“Nothing to tell,” I grin.

“Yeah, yeah,” he motions for me to continue.

I don’t want to tell Jake the specifics about what happened the night of the ball because just thinking about it angers me.

“He said this Latin phrase,” I take a sip of my own shake. “Ex Multis Paucis.”

“What’s it mean?” he asks.

“Out of many, few. Some of the guys on the team back in high school used to say it, and I always chalked it up as some kind of rich kid, bullshit. But I don’t know, I think it might mean something else.”

“Sounds like a play on the US motto if you ask me.” I look at Jake, shaking my head. “Out of many, one. Maybe it’s some saying from the Civil War. They do seem to forget they lost the war down here.”

I laugh, knowing this to be true better than anyone. I’d watched a battle reenactment once and thought it was wack as hell. The way they still honor the fact they tried to secede from the union, and why.

“Possibly.” I reach into my back pocket and pull out the autopsy report for the Jane Doe Ellery found in the Medical Examiner’s office. “But check this out.”

She doesn’t know I took it, but there was something about the details of the Jane Doe that felt familiar.

He unfolds the paper and scans it. “Shit man, she was young.”

“She was.” I take another sip of my shake. “But check out the notes.”

His eyes scan the box and when he sees what I am referring to, he looks up.

“Why was a body found in Cherry Cove and transported hours away to be examined by the Medical Examiner in Elmhurst?”

“I had the same question. But then I remembered Cherry Cove and Elmhurst are in the same county, meaning they share aMedical Examiner. One that’s appointed mind you, not elected.”

“And that Medical Examiner is?” he asks curiously.

“Micah Vaughn. Skye’s dad.”

“Who?” He shakes his head.

“The husband of Ellery’s mother’s best friend. He is also the Chief of Staff at the hospital in Elmhurst. Their daughter Skye is one of Ellery’s friends and she is usually here this summer, but this year she’s not. Supposedly she’s preparing for college and spending time with a boyfriend, but I don’t know…something seems fishy to me.”

“It does,” Jake agrees. “Especially considering that Jane Doe is a minor. Unless she was a runaway, there isn’t a parent alive that wouldn’t be searching…for …their …”

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