Page 121 of Bone’s Choice

“Then how the fuck did it get there?” I demanded.

“I don’t know.” Eli’s voice dropped.

“You’re giving me a lot of fucking nothing, Eli.”

“I know!” His voice rose.

“I know. That’s why I didn’t call sooner. I don’t know who killed Owen. I don’t know how his body got into that coffin. I don’t know who put it in the return area. I don’t know why it got sent to you.”

“Then what do you know?”

“I know Owen was alive at that facility. I know I watched somebody shoot him.”

My eyes shifted to Myth.

“And I know a few days later your VP showed up asking questions about a coffin nobody had a record of.” Eli breathed out. “Then I put it together.”

Nobody said anything.

Owen Mercer had been at the transfer facility. Somebody killed him there, then his body ended up in one of our coffins and got sent straight back to Grave Casket.

“Eli.”

“Yeah?”

“You tell anybody else about this?”

“No.”

“Your wife?”

“No.”

“Cops?”

“No.”

“Anybody at work?”

“No.”

“Keep it that way.”

He went silent. Then, “Are you threatening me?”

Dealer grinned.

I closed my eyes for half a second. “No. I’m telling you that if whoever killed Owen doesn’t know you saw him, you probably want to keep it that fucking way.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“Okay.”

“I need to talk to you in person.”

“No.” The answer was immediate.