Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Franklin
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
“Ignore it,” Boone mumbled, his words slurred with sleep and the pressure of his pillow against his lips.
My ringing phone quieted only to immediately start up again. Groaning, I rolled on my back, blindly reaching for my damned phone. “O’Hare.” My name had never sounded so raspy.
“I’m texting you an address. I need you there ASAP.” Captain Cicely didn’t exactly sound happy about waking me at…2:52 a.m.
I scrubbed my free hand over my face, attempting to wake myself up from this horrid dream. “It can’t wait another two or three hours?” I must have still been half asleep if I was questioning my captain.
“What part of ASAP implies a two- or three-hour wait time?” Captain Cicely sounded crankier than usual. Chances were, she hadn’t liked being woken at this hour either.
Pulling the phone from my ear, I clicked on my text messages, staring at the address she’d sent and calculating just how much time I would need to drag myself out of bed, shove some caffeine down my throat, and drive to that location.
“I’ll be there in twenty,” I answered after some decidedly questionable mental calculations.
“For the record, I’m sorry. I know you’ve been working overtime, and this is going to add to an already full plate. I wouldn’t have called you if I didn’t think this might be related to the female bodies found earlier this week.” For what it was worth, Captain Cicely did sound apologetic.
“I’m on my way,” I answered while pushing down the sheets and swinging my legs out of bed. I pressed the end button and tossed my phone on the nightstand.
“Please tell me you’re not going in again.” Boone sat up, the sheets pooling around his waist as his hand found my shoulder. His fingers were chilly against my skin, but I wouldn’t have pushed them away for anything.
“I wish I could.” I sighed long and deep. “Go back to sleep. Agent Frost and Leon will be knocking on the door soon enough. You should rest while you can. I’m sorry I won’t be here to greet them.”
Ignoring me, Boone tossed the sheets aside and scrambled out of bed. “I’ll start coffee while you get dressed.”
Leaning across the bed, I snagged his wrist before he could get too far away. Boone stopped, turned, and looked at me. Even in the dark I could see the concern in his emerald-green eyes. “Thank you.” I kissed his knuckles before releasing Boone’s hand.
“It’s the least I can do,” Boone answered with a barely there grin.
Boone was filling my thermos by the time I was dressed and ready to head into the dark. I wasn’t a huge coffee fan, but the caffeine got the job done, and right now, I needed that chemical boost.
“Any idea what you’re walking into?” Boone asked as he handed me the thermos.
“No. The captain wasn’t very specific. She just said it may relate to the six murdered women we found.”
Boone slumped against the kitchen counter. “You think they’ve found more?”
I took a sip of coffee before nodding. “I think that’s a fair bet.”
“Gaia, what’s going on?”
“I wish I knew.”
Boone sucked on his bottom lip, arms crossed and fingers dancing along his forearms. “You’ll call if you need me?”
“You know I will.”
Boone blew out a breath. “If we weren’t expecting guests, I’d demand to go with you.”
“I know.” Leaning over, I savored the taste of Boone’s lips before dragging myself away and heading outside.
The cool temperatures helped wake me up, at least a little.
This time of year was like that. Cool during the night but warming nicely during the day.
I hit the key fob for my car, unlocked it, climbed in, and headed for our latest victim.
“Isee they pulled you from bed too, Johns.” I was beginning to think his luck was as shitty as mine.
Johns chuckled. “No rest for the wicked I suppose.”
I tried to grin, but most likely the action was more grimace than anything else.
“Captain Cicely didn’t tell me much. What do you know?
” Bright, overhead lights were already shining down on a large swath of depressed weeds near the edge of a woods.
The gravel road my vehicle had dipped and swayed down was barely wide enough to fit two vehicles side by side.
The road dead-ended at the wooded edge. The car at the lead of police vehicles was an old beat-up pickup truck that looked at least three decades old.
The teenage boy and girl sitting on the tailgate barely looked old enough to hold a driver’s license.
Pointing in the pickup’s direction, Johns filled me in.
“Call came in a little after midnight. The young man is Cody Babcock. The young lady beside him is his girlfriend, Shirly Gunther. According to the two of them, they came out here for a little privacy.” Johns suggestively waggled his eyebrows.
“Sounds like the girl’s parents don’t exactly approve of her dating Cody, and they have to do a little sneaking around to see each other. ”
I cringed. “I can’t imagine tonight’s activities are going to endear Mr. Babcock to Miss Gunther’s parents further.”
“Can’t say that I disagree. Anyway, seems the two of them have come out this way before and never seen anything unusual.”
“But this time was different.”
“You could say that. According to Mr. Babcock, everything seemed okay when they first arrived. His headlights caught something that looked a bit off, and Mr. Babcock decided to get out and explore—against his girlfriend’s protests.”
I grunted. “Sounds about right for persons their age.”
Johns nodded. “Tracked with me too. Ignoring the girlfriend, Mr. Babcock went to investigate, and that’s when he found the skull.”
Christ. “Human?”
“Very.”
“Just one?” I hopefully asked.
“Wishful thinking on your part. After what happened with the case of the six murdered women, the responding officer decided to do a little poking around and found at least two more graves. She called it in, and that’s when the rest of us began showing up for the party.”
Tilting my head, I stared at the night sky.
Despite the spotlights shining on this otherwise indiscriminate patch of ground, their brilliance was still something to behold.
I would have liked to remain there, staring up at their sparkling glory.
Unfortunately, stargazing wasn’t in the cards tonight.
“Has Dr. Stowe been contacted?” I should have asked if she’d been woken up.
“She should be here any minute.”
No sooner had those words left Johns’s mouth than a new pair of headlights headed toward us, parking behind my vehicle and adding to the growing parade.
Dr. Stowe’s door slammed closed before a second door was heard opening and closing.
Bag in hand, Dr. Stowe made her way toward us, the uneven ground causing her to curse on more than one occasion.
“I even wore my hiking boots,” Dr. Stowe said as she neared. “This ground is not meant for human feet, especially when they’re hauling a half-asleep body along with them.” Dr. Stowe huffed before plastering a smile on her face. “Mornin’, boys. What’s the latest clusterfuck?”
“You want to do the honors, Johns?”
Johns shrugged before diving into the details again. Had I known Dr. Stowe would be so quick on my heels, I would have waited and only put Johns through the telling once.
“So, three bodies?” Dr. Stowe asked.
“As far as we know,” Johns answered. “But there could be more.” He looked my direction. “Hate to say it, but I’d kind of hoped your better half would show up with you, O’Hare.”
“My better half hopefully fell back asleep after I left.” I rubbed my cheek before rolling my palm over my hair. Selfishly, I wished Boone were here too. “He would have come, but we’re expecting company in an hour or two.”
“Company?” Johns glanced down at his watch. “At this hour?”
I didn’t want to get into a lot of detail and simply said, “They took a late flight.”
Johns’s eyebrows were still raised, but he thankfully let it go.
“Boone offered to come out later. If needed.” I really hoped we wouldn’t need him, but realistically it would be a good idea to have him scan the area, if only to make certain we hadn’t missed anyone.
“Looks like it’s just us paltry humans,” Dr. Stowe said as she took a step toward what appeared to be the nearest gravesite. “I’d say we’re wasting daylight, but…” Dr. Stowe pointedly looked at the night sky. “I suppose the principle’s the same. Sort of.” She sounded unsure but shook it off.
“I’ll speak with our witnesses while you check on our victims.”
“Sounds good.” Dr. Stowe waved me off.
“I’ll go with the doc,” Johns said, leaving me alone.
Carefully picking my way through the already trampled weeds, I hid my grimace. We could be walking on evidence without even knowing it. Given that options were currently limited, it was what it was, and I would need to mentally move past it.
I hadn’t thought it possible, but Cody and Shirly looked even younger the closer I drew to them. Sharing a standard police-issued blanket, they sat huddled together on the rusted-out tailgate. I could hardly believe the hinges held the tailgate on, let alone the combined weight of the teenagers.
“Mr. Babcock. Miss Gunther. I’m Detective Franklin O’Hare. I know you’ve already spoken to the responding officer, but I’d like to ask some—”
“Please don’t tell my mom and dad,” Shirly blurted, her eyes red rimmed and round. “God, they’re going to be so pissed. They’ll never let me see Cody again. You can’t tell them. You—”
“Miss Gunther, that’s a conversation for a later time.” There was no way we couldn’t alert their parents. Had they been over eighteen, then maybe. But they were both minors and legally my hands were tied.
Shirly collapsed in on herself, shoulders rounding, sobbed, face cradled in her hands. “I told you not to go out there.” The censure was muffled, but still held an accusing sting.
Cody flinched, but to his credit, he didn’t back down.
“I had to see what it was, and I’m glad I did.
Those are human bones, Shirly. Somebody died.
They’ve probably got loved ones that are worried and wonderin’ where they are.
” I noticed that Cody spoke as if only one body had been found.
I hadn’t really thought our witnesses had anything to do with the found remains, but Cody’s supposition that there was only the one body certainly placed them even lower on the suspect list.
“Miss Gunther, your boyfriend’s right. He did the right thing.”
Shirly huffed, furiously scrubbing at her eyes. “Of course you’d say that.” Arms crossed, she pointedly turned her head away from Cody, physically leaning away from him and stretching the blanket’s capabilities.
Cody forlornly stared at the side of his girlfriend’s face while I desperately attempted to wrangle any ounce of patience I could muster.
Inhaling and counting backward from five, I started again.
The answers I got were stilted. It was obvious my two witnesses just wished I’d wander off somewhere else and leave them alone.
While their answers were brief, they meshed with the story I’d already gotten.
Content for now, I indulged their wishes and made myself scarce.
Retracing my original footsteps as best I could, I closed the distance between myself and Dr. Stowe.
Her blue, nitrile gloves practically glowed under the fluorescent overhead lights.
Crouching low, I was thankful for Warlock Holland’s pain charm.
It would probably wear off in an hour or two, but I’d already found its replacement stuffed in my pocket.
I wasn’t sure when Boone had managed that but wasn’t surprised.
Boone typically kept my pockets full of his pops’s charms.
“More female victims?” I asked
Dr. Stowe’s head shake surprised me. “This one is male. I’m not sure about the others.” She tossed a hand outward. “From my initial observations, I’d say the MO on this one is different than the ladies.”
“How so?” I leaned over Dr. Stowe’s shoulder as she pointed something out. “His neck is broken. The hyoid bone is crushed, and he’s got more than a few fractured ribs. This one didn’t go quietly into the night.”
I was starting to doubt whether or not this new site had anything to do with our first six victims. “Anything on him that gives an ID or speaks to how long he’s been here?” The one similarity this body did have to the others was that it appeared to be skeletal remains only.
“Not so far,” Dr. Stowe said. “I haven’t found any clothes with this one and so far, no wallet. I also haven’t gotten very deep, so there could be something here I haven’t found yet.”
“That’s fair. How long do you—”
“Found another one!” an officer approximately twenty-five feet away announced.
My head jerked up, a hushed “fuck” slipping through my lips.
“What the hell’s going on?” Johns said, his tone nearly as silent as mine had been.
My teeth clenched so hard I felt the pain even through Warlock Holland’s charm. “I don’t know, Johns, but I intend to find out.”
The area I’d settled in, the place I called home, would not turn into some psychopath’s dumping yard. We had enough graveyards littering the area. There was no need for more.