It was the weedmaster found it. If there hadn't been skeleton weed on Bransons' high field he never would have walked over there and seen that frozen body. No one knows how long it was there. Not long. The dogs and coyotes hadn't been at it much.
The weedmaster got on his cell phone and had the sheriff out there.
``You know him?'' asked the sheriff.
``Don't think so.'' said the weedmaster.
``Never seen him,'' said the deputy.
``Never seen him,'' said Branson.
``No I.D. on him,'' said the sheriff.
``Hand him off to the feds?'' asked the judge.
``No reason,'' said the sheriff.
There were 2100 people in the county. Forty of them looked at the body in the field.
``Don't know him,'' they all said.
``Any one missing? Any one lost touch?''
No one missing.
``How'd he get there?''
``No car.''
``No credit card, driver's license.''
``Hispanic?''
``Not to my mind.''
The county to the west had a high security prison.
The county to the east had a giant dump that served a city on the coast.
The county to the south had a chemical warfare storage facility.
The county to the north had a branch of the state university.
The county where the body was found had nothing.
Highest taxes in the state but they wanted to keep their high school.
Not much money for anything else.
``Exposure,'' said the medical examiner. He did not examine the body.
``No need,'' he said.
John Doe was disposed of with the correct paper work filed.
In a house in the breaks a woman waited. He called from a prison in Chicago to say he was coming home. He never showed up. In a few months the woman moved on down to Los Angeles.