Chapter 43
Riverbend Greenway — Late Afternoon
Riverbend looked nothing like it had eight years ago.
Where there had once been red clay and unfinished foundations, there were now quiet streets lined with custom homes. Trees separated the lots, and a walking trail curved through the development toward a small dog park at the far end of the greenway.
Deputy Luke Hale stood beside the tailgate of his patrol truck, watching a man walk two labs along the trail.
Hard to imagine someone burying a body here.
Deputy Jenkins clipped Ruger’s lead onto the harness. The big German Shepherd shifted beside him, alert but patient.
Luke glanced toward the tree line. “You really think this is worth chasing?”
Jenkins shrugged. “Ex-girlfriend says Mercer told her he buried Caroline out here.”
“People get mad,” Jenkins said. “They talk.”
Luke shook his head. “Or they decide it’s time to settle old scores.”
He looked across the neighborhood again. “Still… Burke’s right. Can’t ignore it.”
A cruiser rolled slowly down the street and pulled in behind them.
Sheriff Burke Scott stepped out, Scout Wilson climbing from the passenger side. Burke opened the rear door, and a second German Shepherd jumped down onto the pavement.
Rosie.
Older than Ruger but steady, watching everything.
Scout rubbed her ears briefly. “Ready to work?”
Rosie’s tail moved once.
Burke walked over to Luke and Jenkins. “Anyone ask what we’re doing out here?”
“Training exercise,” Luke said. “That’s what the HOA heard.”
Burke nodded. “Good.”
He turned and studied the greenway—houses on either side, the walking trail cutting through the trees, a stretch of woods left untouched between the lots.
Scout stepped beside him.
“If it were you,” he said, “where would you bury a body out here?”
Luke looked toward the houses. “Not near the lots. Too much construction since then.”
Jenkins pointed toward the woods. “Only place left untouched.”
Burke nodded once. “Start there.”
Jenkins gave Ruger the command, and the big shepherd dropped his nose to the ground immediately. Rosie moved ahead with Scout, working slower but just as methodically.
They spread out through the trees.
Leaves crunched under boots. Branches snapped. The dogs worked the ground back and forth.
Thirty minutes passed.
Nothing.
They pushed deeper into the green space, working along the edge of the walking trail.
Ruger stopped suddenly near the base of an old oak.
His nose worked the ground.
Then he circled.
Jenkins watched closely. “Luke…”
Ruger circled again and sat.
Alert.
Scout moved Rosie toward the same patch of ground.
Rosie lowered her head, sniffed once, then sat beside Ruger.
Scout looked at Burke. “That’s two.”
Burke stepped forward. “Mark it.”
Jenkins planted a small flag beside the spot.
Luke grabbed a shovel from the truck. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”
They worked the soil carefully.
Six inches.
Nothing.
A foot.
Still nothing but dirt and roots.
Luke leaned on the shovel. “Hell,” he muttered. “If something’s there, it’s deeper.”
Jenkins tugged lightly on Ruger’s lead. “Come on, boy.”
Ruger didn’t move.
He stayed planted exactly where he’d alerted.
Rosie stayed beside him.
Scout frowned. “They’re not leaving.”
Jenkins tried again.
Ruger stepped away a few feet, then circled back and sat again.
Right on the same spot.
Burke watched the dogs for a long moment. “Those dogs aren’t confused.”
He glanced toward the houses lining the street. “I’m not bringing county equipment out here with half the neighborhood watching.”
Scout nodded. “Yeah.”
Jenkins wiped dirt from his gloves. “Grant’s got a Bobcat up at the horse farm.”
Burke nodded slightly. “He does.”
Luke looked up. “He could trailer it out here easy enough.”
Scout gave Rosie a scratch behind the ear. “Yeah, he could.”
Burke thought about it for a moment, then nodded once. “Call him.”
Luke pulled out his phone. “What do you want to tell him?”
Burke looked down at the spot where both dogs still sat. “Tell him to bring the bobcat.”
He glanced toward the quiet street. “Tomorrow morning. Early.”
Luke understood immediately. “Before everyone’s out walking dogs.”
“Exactly.”
Burke gave the ground one last look. “We’ll do it before the town wakes up.”
Riverbend Greenway — Early Morning
Low fog hung over the greenway as Grant backed his trailer slowly into the entrance of the trail.
The bobcat sat strapped behind his truck.
Scout and Luke stood near the flagged spot from the day before.
Ruger and Rosie both sat nearby, watching the ground like they hadn’t forgotten where they’d been.
Grant climbed out of the truck. “You boys digging a pond out here or something?”
Luke nodded toward the flags. “Dogs hit here yesterday.”
Grant looked at the two shepherds. “Both of ’em?”
“Both,” Scout said.
Grant lowered the ramp and climbed into the bobcat.
The machine rolled slowly toward the marked spot.
Sheriff Burke Scott stepped out of his cruiser as the engine idled.
“You ready?” he asked.
Scout nodded.
Grant eased the bucket into the soil.
The machine groaned, hydraulic fluid hissing in the cool morning air. The first two scoops were nothing but rich, loamy earth and the occasional snap of a root.
On the third pass, the bucket didn’t bite.
It skidded.
The sound was a dull, wrong scrape of metal against something that wasn’t stone.
Grant killed the engine instantly. The sudden silence rushed in, broken only by the faint tick of cooling metal.
Luke didn’t wait.
He dropped to his knees in the fresh trench, the damp cold of the earth soaking into his jeans. He brushed a layer of silt away with a trembling hand.
There it was.
A flash of synthetic floral print—blue and pale pink—caught beneath a yellowed rib.
Luke’s stomach did a slow, nauseating roll. He didn’t look up. He couldn’t.
“Burke,” he whispered. The name felt like lead in his mouth. “We’re done digging.”
Burke stepped closer and looked down into the trench.
For a moment, no one said anything.
The bobcat sat silent and hulking at the edge of the trench.
Burke studied the exposed patch of ground.
Then he straightened. “Phones off.”
Scout’s thumb swept over his screen, and the little glow died, leaving only his reflection in the dark glass. Luke did the same, the soft light on his face disappearing. Jenkins slid his phone into his pocket without looking at it.
One by one, the tiny rectangles of light vanished, and they were left in the dim, foggy morning with nothing between them and the remains.
Scout looked down at the fabric again.
Eight years.
And now, finally, they might be looking at Caroline.
Burke turned to Jenkins. “Call Dr. Cade.”
“What do I tell her?”
Burke glanced back down at the trench. “Tell her to come out.”
He paused. “And tell her to keep it quiet.”
Riverbend Greenway — Later That Morning
A dark SUV eased up the slope and stopped beyond the cruisers. Dr. Evelyn Cade stepped out before the engine cut, already pulling on gloves as she crossed the gravel.
She paused at the edge of the tape, taking in the disturbed soil, the shallow trench, the strip of fabric pushing through the dirt. Then she stepped forward.
“Morning, Sheriff,” she said. “What’ve you got for me?”
Burke met her at the tape and lifted it so she could duck under.
“Dogs hit this spot yesterday,” he said. “We brought the bobcat in this morning. Third pass, we saw fabric and bone.”
Cade crouched beside the trench.
The snap of latex over her wrists was the only sound for a moment. The human part of the morning slid to the side; the work began.
Up close, she studied the angle of exposed bone and the way the cloth disappeared into the soil.
One look, then a measured exhale.
“The articulation is intact,” Cade said quietly. “There’s no evidence of surface scatter, animal activity, or movement through the soil profile. This body was interred here.”
Burke folded his arms. “In English, Doc.”
“Somebody buried them here,” Cade said.
She leaned back slightly, careful not to disturb anything.
“Adult,” she added. “I won’t guess sex out here. We’ll know more once everything’s back at the office.”
“How recent?” Burke asked.
“Too early to say on scene,” Cade replied. “I’ll need lab work before I put anything in a report.”
Scout crouched nearby, studying the disturbed soil.“Whoever put them here wanted them to stay,” he said quietly.
Cade nodded once. “Looks that way.”
She glanced up at Burke. “Whoever this is, we keep it tight until I confirm,” she said. “You start that rumor mill and the true-crime crowd will be camped out here before I can finish.”
Burke’s mouth flattened. “Phones off, no photographs, no chatter,” he said. “Nothing leaves this site until you, and I say it does.”
“Good,” Cade said. “I’ll need scene control for a few hours. Once the remains are lifted and documented, I’ll compare them against your old case.”
He didn’t have to ask which one.
“Caroline,” he said.
Cade met his eyes. “Caroline,” she agreed. “And anyone else who never made it home.”
He gave a short nod. “Quietly.”
“Quietly,” Cade echoed. “You’ll hear from me before anyone else.”
She turned back to the trench. “All right,” she murmured. “Let’s bring her out properly.”
Scout looked down at the strip of fabric one more time.
Eight years.
And now, they’d finally found someone.
Riverbend had finally given up its dead.