Chapter 2
TWO
I wanted to go dig a hole somewhere and hide.
The Valley of Thorns, The Fringe
Dragon Heights, Wyoming
At least a hundred ghosts loitered around the ruins of what might have been a nice house if someone had finished building it. Upon seeing it, I could understand why the appraisal had come in so low.
Only someone completely lacking in sense would want to deal with such a disaster.
Before we could deal with the rubble, we’d have to find out why there were so many spirits lingering, locate their bodies, and lay them to proper rest after notifying their loved ones of their fate.
If the police allocated every available resource, I foresaw months of effort and a staggering investment in hours to make any progress.
I wanted to go dig a hole somewhere and hide.
Instead, I fetched my camera and began taking photos of everything, careful to keep from coming into contact with any of the ghosts. Unlike the woman, the spirits ignored us, drifting around without any apparent purpose. The sight unnerved me.
What bound them to the place, and how could we help them move on to their final rest?
A rather worried Garnet whined, perching on my shoulder and pressing as close as she could. Tourmaline visited the nearby flowers, although I noticed the hummingbird avoided the departed and took care to give them a wide berth.
Erik approached the ruins armed with a stick, and he poked at one of the standing walls. After his third prod, the entire structure groaned before crashing down, and he jumped back with a yelp.
Fortunately for my nerves, the walls had collapsed away from him, resulting in a cloud of dust and little else.
“I’m going to have to give this whole place a low score for safety and reliability.
” I located a stick and joined him in poking at the few pieces still standing.
While it took a few extra nudges, I managed to knock over one of the smaller bits that had clung to stubborn life.
With no pieces taller than knee height left, I abandoned the stick and made good use of my shoe, shoving stuff over for a better view of what lay beneath.
A few cursory thumps revealed a hollow space beneath. “Erik? I’m woman enough to admit I’m scared.”
“I’m man enough to admit I’m scared,” he replied, joining me. Making use of his stick, he smacked at the floor. The wood creaked and gave way, revealing a dark space below.
The stench of old decay wafted up, and I groaned over the reality of the situation. “What are we going to tell the cops?”
Erik raised a brow. “I’m going to tell them I decided we’re going to have big clutches and need a future weekend home, and as there were hundreds of acres here for a pittance, this is the home we selected.
So, we’re telling the truth. It just happens our explorations revealed an unpleasant secret or two. ”
If I counted listless ghosts, we’d uncovered at least a hundred unpleasant secrets. “Even after working in law enforcement for so long, I still wonder how someone could do something like leave hundreds of bodies in a cellar to rot.”
“And these bodies have been rotting for a long time.”
I agreed; fresher corpses had a different stench, and the decay beneath us was musty from age. “It must have been from before the appraisal.”
“The appraisal was done a long time ago, and the note said they didn’t go close to the building due to its deteriorated state.
So yes, they could have been here even before the appraisal.
The smell might have been sealed beneath the floor.
” Erik waved his stick at the rubble. “The mercury dragons must not have been serious about turning this into an actual home. They used soft lumber prone to rotting. It hasn’t been weather treated.
” He regarded me with his saddest expression. “They were cheap, Kinsley.”
I read between the lines: Erik had been pricing out good materials to rebuild our home before our parents had gotten involved and taken care of the mess for us.
As yellow dragons lived to build things, especially their nests, he likely struggled with the idea of taking any shortcuts.
Money would be his last priority on such a project.
There would be more than a few battles regarding costs in our future, especially with six hundred acres to work with.
I retrieved my abandoned stick and joined Erik in expanding the hole in the floor.
Once it was large enough to climb through, I turned on my phone’s light and pointed into the basement below.
Hundreds upon hundreds of old bones formed a pile, so old not even a scrap of flesh remained. “We aren’t going to find anyone living here, are we?”
Erik shook his head, and he continued expanding the hole, wincing when part of the floor gave way and tumbled onto the skeletons below. “I don’t think so. But this is a good lead. We can start with helping all these ghosts rest in peace. They’ve been waiting a long time to be set free.”
“Well, I can say I’ve never dealt with a mass grave situation before. At least the next step is easy. We call the cops and report the bodies so they can start identifying everybody.” I regarded some of the skulls with dismay. “If they can.”
Garnet mewed, and she bumped her head against my cheek.
I took a few moments to consider what the carbunclo might want to ask before saying, “Before I moved to Dragon Heights, this is what I did best, finding answers to those who had lost their voice. That’s what we’re going to do here.
We’re going to find out who killed them and why.
And, if we can, we’ll bring their killers to justice.
” The idea that one person might behind so many deaths horrified me.
“Or killer. Erik, could it be only one person?”
“It’s possible but unlikely. That the property was owned by a mercury dragon leads me to believe that this problem started long before we were born. There are likely many more people missing than we thought possible. It does make me question the lead we were going to pursue first, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our original lead stinks of trafficking, where this has a different vibe.”
When Erik started talking about vibes, the wise listened, as his gut instinct put us on the right track more often than not. “But that makes sense; if the living victims were trafficked, they’re alive because of their monetary value.”
“Except the only connections I’ve been able to find have been associated with copper and gold dragons.”
I winced. “While my knowledge of dragon colors is minimal, mercury dragons tend to clash with coppers, right?”
“They’re worse than navy dragons clashing with orange or red ones.”
A crime ring with conflicting colors wouldn’t last long, especially not for the decades required to link the skeletons with the present. “Perhaps I should go down there and handle some bones.”
Erik sighed. “On one hand, I want you to. On the other, I’m worried about what horrors you’ll witness.”
I couldn’t blame him for his concerns; I shared them. “Some prices are worth paying. You know that rope I put in the back?”
“There goes any hope of using it in the bedroom,” he complained, but he dropped his stick and headed to the vehicle. “I’ll see if Citrine is ready to get up yet while I’m at it.”
With luck, his kitten would remain asleep the entire time. Some things I wished we could shield the carbunclo from, same with my familiar.
Tourmaline zipped over, clicked at Garnet, and waited. My kitten mewed, jumped off my shoulder, and dipped into the hole, illuminating the space below. The hummingbird followed, and the pair investigated what lay beneath.
I crouched and began the process of counting skulls. After twenty, I spotted the first one belonging to a child, and the weight of what we investigated bore down on my shoulders.
However much I disliked the task, the little one’s skull would be the first I handled.
In good news, such as it was, there were a few spots along the foundation wall without bones, which would allow me to enter the basement without disturbing the dead.
Well, any more than they had already been disturbed.
I eyed the distance, decided I could drop down with little fuss, and tested the top of the foundation, which had been the only part of the building made of durable materials.
While the concrete crumbled a little, it would hold my weight long enough for me to descend.
Before I changed my mind or chickened out, I used my shoe to break away the rest of the rotting wood to expose the sturdier material beneath, turned, and eased down. I dropped the three or four feet to the ground with a grunt, straightened, and stared in disbelief at the mass grave.
From above, I’d understood I beheld hundreds of bodies.
However, rather than a level floor, a pit extended underneath the skeletons with more bones layered beneath, something I had had no hope of spotting from above.
The child’s skull proved to be within reach, and bracing for the worst, I cradled it in gentle hands.
* * *
Thursday, January 25, 2052
The Tower Ward
Dragon Heights, Wyoming
Fire flushed the family of three from their home, where six mercury dragons waited, mercury dragons I recognized.
Over a hundred years ago, the mistress of the clan had clearer eyes with no evidence of wearing the horns that had sped her to insanity and death.
She wore a suit with slacks, and in her smile, I beheld evil in its truest form.
She delighted in the suffering of her victims, and she savored the moment the small family realized they were prey.
Then, with calculated cruelty, she raised her hand.
Six gunshots rang out. The little girl died last, only enduring through a brief flash of pain.