Page 29 of Confessions of the Dead

Matt didn’t answer that. He pressed the button on his microphone. “Sally, it’s Matt. I need an ambulance on Sumptner near the Peterson place. Over.”

A couple of seconds ticked by, and Matt tried again. “Sally?”

Nothing.

He tried his cell. Sally’s direct line rang twice, then disconnected and failed. The same thing happened when he called the coroner.

When he looked back over toward Norman’s body, Cliff Stubbs was busy covering him with a blue plastic tarp from his garage.

“Hey,” Matt shouted. “You can’t do that!”

Cliff tugged the corner down over Norman’s foot. “You can’t leave a dead body in the middle of the street. I don’t want my kids seeing this. You got plenty of witnesses who saw what happened. Hell, you got a camera right there on your dash, probably recorded the whole thing. Get him out of here.”

Matt rolled his eyes and tried the coroner again but couldn’t get through. Ellie wasn’t picking up, either.

“You gotta get him to the coroner’s office, right? We could use my truck,” Stu Peterson suggested.

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“Well, Cliff’s an ass, but he’s right. You gotta get him out of the street.” He nodded at Josh and Eisa in the back of Matt’s cruiser. “You’ve got your hands full as it is.”

What Matt needed to do was tape off the street, get Ellie down here, get CSI down here, get someone down here to help him properly investigate and document everything.

A voice in the back of his mind mocked him.Sure. Right after the Tatum house, the mess on Main Street, and whatever Ellie is currently dealing with at the library. Three gunshots, too—don’t forget that. There might just be another body or three behind one of these doors. What you really need to do is get back to the sheriff’s office, regroup with Ellie, and figure out what the fuck is happening, then get some help out here.

Matt’s head was spinning. He asked Peterson, “Can you help me get him in the trunk of my cruiser?”

Peterson nodded.

22

LOG 10/16/2023 21:02 GMT-4

TRANSCRIPT: AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING

Sordello:

Did you notice anything odd about Stuart Peterson at that point?

Maro:

[Shakes head] Stu? No. Nothing.

Sordello:

Josh Tatum? Eisa Heaton? Norman Heaton?

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