Epitaph, Part 4

4 – This Fire Dee sighed, and Roan knew he was buying himself some time. “We didn’t get back together. We just hooked up. It wasn’t a serious thing. We were both just lonely and horny.” “How long did this happen before he killed himself?” “Uh, I dunno, maybe a couple weeks ago?” “Try again. I’d say a week at most.” Dee paused briefly, before angrily replying, “And how the fuck do you know that?” “You left your shirt here.” “And what, I left a dated receipt in the pocket?” “No. I’m judging by smell. You should know me better than that, Dee.” He made an impatient noise, and Roan heard the bed springs creak in the background as he sat up. “Goddamn it. Why did I ask you to do this again?” “I dunno. I’ll assume you...

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Epitaph, Part 3

3 – Search Party Animal As soon as Roan got Liz to slow down and sit down, he got the whole story. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t have figured out for himself, but hey, you had to have a client tell you their story from their perspective. It gave you some idea about your client if nothing else. Liz’s husband, Patrick (Pat Pack? Holy shit, that guy’s parents had it in for him …) died when Mandy was twelve, and Liz said her relationship with her daughter hadn’t recovered since, mainly because puberty got Mandy shortly after that. Roan sympathized, because puberty seemed awful for both the person going through it and everyone next to them. Liz described Mandy as a “troubled child” but gave no examples. Then she said she started dating an older...

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