DOA, Chapter 21

“Let’s start with that recipe, kid. I couldn’t figure out why everything checked out except for the beef. The recipe calls for ground, yet ours was chipped. So, I went to the original version on the web, which said you could opt for traditional beef. I knew at that moment we had our recipe!”

“Gosh, sir. I didn’t even think to look.”

“Always go back to the source, kid. Clearly, they’ve got coding issues since the printable version doesn’t say anything about substitutions.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”

“Do you remember I had asked you about the setting on the crock-pot? I was hoping that we could construct a timeline of events based on the recipe settings.”

“I remember, sir. I’d said that I thought it was set on High but that it didn’t seem hot to me at all.”

“Right, which meant we couldn’t rely on the recommended cooking times.”

“Just like Martha Stewart’s lemon curd recipe, sir!”

“Exactly! She grossly underestimates the time required for the curd to set. I know of at least three people who’ve had to serve runny curd at parties because of her. Anyway, when we’d heard that the forensic archaeologist hadn’t found any more bones, I knew right then and there that at least some of the bones had been placed in the pot after Step 3 and that the crock-pot of creamy chipped beef and cheese wasn’t a crime scene but, instead, a dumping ground for bones.”

“Golly, sir. I never even thought of that. So, where did they come from?”

“From two very different places, kid.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“You remember how the DNA results blew up our bad dancer theory, right?”

“Yes, which meant we had two John Does instead of one.”

“Well, Jay Dee One came from the corner of Read and Ploy.”

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