The Foreman He Buried

Darnell Pique died on a Friday. He signed in at 6 a.m. on Monday. Ray Ott runs the crew at Arkansas Aggregate on one promise: he never sends a man back inside. When his oldest friend is killed in a rock slide and the company calls it operator error, Ray buries him on his own land and tries to go back to work. Five weeks later, Darnell is still on the books. Still clocking in. Still in Ray's handwriting. Then the crusher jams, and the jaw plate comes out wrapped in a dead man's belt. A horror mystery for readers who know the scariest document in any building is the payroll.