The Doppelgänger’s Funeral: How a Small-Town Land Appraiser Uncovered His Own Staged Death and Business Partner’s $4.2 Million Scheme
👉 Previous Decision: You chose to drive across county lines to seek help from a retired police dispatcher.
We drove for what felt like an eternity, crossing county lines under the cover of darkness. The retired police dispatcher, an old friend of my father’s, listened gravely to our story, his weathered face grim.
He took the USB drive and disappeared into his den, emerging an hour later, a printout clutched in his hand.
“Arthur,” he said, his voice quiet. “I found it. A message from Derrick. August 2019.”
I took the paper. The words jumped out, brutal and stark: “Julian refused the buyout. Handle him like we discussed and store his car in the quarry pit.”
My knees buckled. Julian. My high school friend. He hadn’t just vanished; he had been murdered, violently, for refusing to surrender his land. The horrifying truth of his death, and the lengths Derrick would go to, hit me with sickening force.
Derrick had not only staged my death, but had killed Julian and countless others to get what he wanted.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 16 to continue the story.
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