The Lost Boys(80)
Author: Faye Kellerman

“Rigor’s come and gone, bloat’s come and gone.”

“Then the corpse is at least a few days old.”

“Looks older than that—weeks. There’s some decomposition.”

“Any insect activity?”

“The nostrils, eyes, and mouth are crawling with maggots.”

“Then part of the face was exposed to the air, so the flies could lay their eggs. What about animal activity?”

“No animal activity. Clothes are still intact.”

“Is the corpse male or female?”

“Probably female. We’re waiting for the coroner for confirmation. The face is messed up.”

“Bugs can do that. What about the clothes?”

“Jeans, plaid shirt, sneakers. Looks like a big woman’s foot or a small man’s foot. We’ll know once the coroner arrives. That should be soon.”

A flight attendant named Nurit came over to him. “Everything okay, sir?”

Decker looked at her. “Yes, thank you.”

She swallowed. “The woman across the aisle overheard you talk about corpses. I think it’s upsetting her.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Tyler asked.

“No, not you.” Decker smiled at the attendant. “I’m a police detective. I’ll finish up the conversation.” To Tyler: “I have to go. I’ll call you when we land.”

“Don’t worry about it, boss. I have it covered.”

Decker hung up. He muttered a sorry to the nervous woman across the aisle.

Rina stared at him. “You’re not going back.”

“No, I am not going back.”

“Thank you.” Rina sighed. “I hope this won’t ruin our vacation.”

“It won’t.” Decker smiled. “I promise. When we land, I’ll give you my laptop and my phone. How’s that for commitment?”

“I don’t need to confiscate your belongings, Peter. Just unplug and promise me you won’t let whatever is going on at Greenbury interfere with our downtime.” The flight attendant announced that everyone should take a seat. “You have your Ambien for sleep?”

“I do.”

“Take it as soon as we take off.”

“Will do,” he said. “I’m excited, Rina. A new adventure.”

“You’re very cute.” Rina kissed him. “See you in the Holy Land.”

Three hours later Rina was sound asleep and he was lying on his back, stretched out in relative comfort with his eyes wide open and thoughts whirling around in his brain. He would probably be sleeping if he had taken the pill, but he chose not to because other things were on his mind.

You can take the man out of the investigation but you can’t take the investigation out of the man.

He had promised Rina to unplug from work when they landed. She deserved that. But why toss and turn for hours when the solution to his insomnia was right at hand? Quietly, he stood up and took down his laptop from the overhead compartment. After he booted it up, he looked at his options for buying the plane’s internet. At first, he thought about doing a thirty-minute plan. Just a few quick questions and then turn off the noise. But an unknown force led his fingers to choose the two-hour plan. He typed in Tyler’s email address.

He wrote: I’m up. I can’t sleep. Tell me everything that’s going on.

About the Author

FAYE KELLERMAN lives with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Also by Faye Kellerman

Walking Shadows

Bone Box

The Theory of Death

Murder 101

The Beast

Gun Games

Hangman

Blindman’s Bluff

The Mercedes Coffin

The Burnt House

The Ritual Bath

Sacred and Profane

The Quality of Mercy

Milk and Honey

Day of Atonement

False Prophet

Grievous Sin

Sanctuary

Justice

Prayers for the Dead

Serpent’s Tooth

Moon Music

Jupiter’s Bones

Stalker

The Forgotten

Stone Kiss

Street Dreams

Straight into Darkness

The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights: A Book of Short Stories

With Jonathan Kellerman

Double Homicide

Capital Crimes

With Aliza Kellerman

Prism

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

the lost boys. Copyright © 2021 by Plot Line, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

first edition

Cover design by Jae Song

Cover photograph © Cristian Gusa/Shutterstock

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

Digital Edition JANUARY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-291047-9

Print ISBN: 978-0-06-291045-5

About the Publisher

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