Except…
Rory gasps.
The file box, and whatever it contains, is gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
DONNY
“I do remember,” I say. “It’s nasty. But what the hell is it?”
“It’s remains,” Dale says. “Human remains.”
Brock clamps his hand over his mouth.
I’m tempted to, but as much as I want to puke right now, I hold it back.
I can’t let my emotions get to me here. If I allow that, I’ll lose it. I can’t think about that time. About being caged.
“How? How do you know?” I demand.
“Because we’ve smelled it before, Donny. You remember as well as I do.”
“But how do you know it’s…human?”
“I asked Dad a long time ago, after we’d been here for a few weeks. He was straight with me. I couldn’t tell you. You were so young. Besides, we grew up on a ranch, Don. You and I both know what animal remains smell like. It’s not pretty, but it’s not this.”
He’s right. I know the smell of rotting flesh, and this is definitely it, but it has an odd sickeningly sweet smell as well.
“This is our land,” I say.
“I know, Don.”
“You’re telling me that we have rotting corpses on our land.”
Brock gives in then. He turns and retches.
I’m about to follow suit, but I’m determined to hold it together. Not just for Brock but for myself.
Dale pulls a red bandana out of his back pocket and hands it to our cousin.
Brock wipes his mouth. “Sorry.”
“No need to apologize,” Dale says. “I nearly upchucked myself.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t,” Brock says.
“Don’t go by Donny and me. We’ve seen more than we should.”
Brock nods. “I’m still not over that. I can’t fucking believe what you two have been through.”
“That’s way in the past,” I say. “Right now, we need to figure out who the fuck put dead bodies on our land.”
“Not only dead bodies, but recent dead bodies. Anything that had been here for long wouldn’t smell anymore, would it?”
“It’s hard to say,” Dale says. “I don’t think any of us are scholars on how long it takes a body to decompose. How long the smell lasts.”
Here comes the puke again. I swallow fiendishly to hold back hurling.