Chapter 1 #2
“Nope, not since she was arrested. She doesn’t want anything to do with me anyway, but she never really has.”
“I’m sure she’s angry at the moment.”
“Yeah, she’s angry all right.” Chelsea let out a long exhale. “It’s funny how she sets off a chain of events that affects God-only-knows how many people, but she’s the one who’s pissed off?”
Joel noted, “She will finally suffer for some of her actions. Maybe she’ll find out that her deeds do have consequences. Sadly these people without consciences don’t seem to learn those lessons.”
“Is it wrong for me to hope she does?” she asked. “It still chaps me to even think of what Sterling went through because of her.”
“That speaks well of you, and that definitely shows us who Penny was and still is.”
“And she has zero regrets over any of it, … except for the fact that Sterling didn’t die.”
“I think she figured he would disappear into the foster system and would never show up again.”
“I don’t know if she even thought about it that much,” she retorted. “I think she was just trying to sort out her life and was searching for a man to look after her,” she muttered. “God knows I don’t want to see that boyfriend of hers again.”
Hearing a vehicle, Joel turned to watch a truck arriving. “I’ve got Timber pulling in now. I’ll give you an update later.” With that, he ended the call.
Timber parked, exited his vehicle, and now stood, studying the area, his hands on his hips. “What the bloody hell? Do I really need to bring cameras this far?”
“You might have to,” Joel stated, “not for us as much as to keep people honest.”
Timber frowned, glaring at the world around them. “So, show me what you’ve got.”
“Come take a look.”
They both walked into the bushes. Timber shook his head. “I told Richard, and he didn’t believe me. So I’m supposed to give him an update when I’m actually sure,” he shared, with a note of humor. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“No problem.” Joel shrugged. “As if I don’t know what a dead body looks like?”
“Apparently he doesn’t think that anybody out here should be having this kind of trouble. So, either I brought it with me or …”
“Right, of course,” Joel muttered, followed by a sigh. “They’ll just blame us, won’t they?”
“Pretty much.”
Timber lowered the tailgate and swore when he saw the carpet. “And a carpet no less.”
Joel nodded. “Yeah, not just any carpet but one of those Turkish floor rugs. I would say old too, as it doesn’t fit the patterns or styles that we have on the market these days.”
“I see that.”
Joel handed Timber the gloves that he had retrieved from his truck. Putting on one, Timber lifted a corner of the carpet and saw exactly what Joel had seen. He shook his head.
Joel nodded. “Told you.”
“Yeah, you did. Definitely not what we want to see nor want to interact with our local law enforcement.”
“And yet it’s not our fault,” Joel stated, with a grim look at their surroundings. “License plates are missing, not a bit of paperwork is in the truck, and he tried to distort the VIN.”
Timber groaned. “So, was it dumped here specifically at my place, or was it just a dumping spot they had in mind or stumbled onto?”
“If the guy was familiar with this area, why would he dump the body with the truck near the Haven, where it’ll be found right away?” Joel wondered out loud. “Unless he wanted the body found fast. Otherwise that part confuses me.”
“Hell, all of it confuses me,” Timber replied, looking at him sideways. “If you’ve got any answers, speak up.”
“Nope, no answers here,” he noted, shaking his head, “but the questions will just get deeper and longer and more complicated.”
“We don’t even know if it’s male or female. There was a lot of hair though.”
“There was a lot of hair, but that’s also a common thing for a lot of men these days too.”
“Oh, I’m not saying it isn’t,” Timber clarified. “I was just kind of thinking out loud.” He stared off in the distance, shook his head. “Still pretty shitty.”
Joel didn’t say anything to that, but Timber was correct. It was shitty, and it was also something that they really didn’t need. “Do you need to contact Richard again?”
“No, I told him last time to get his ass out here. He might not have believed the report, but I did.”
“Thank you for that,” Joel said.
He shrugged. “We’ve all been out there and seen the world. If you tell me a body’s here, then I know a body is here.”
“I wish I was wrong, but—”
They walked back to the fenceline and stopped in front of the eagle. Joel looked down at the blanket now in his arms. “Is there a game plan?”
Timber frowned at him, then at the eagle. “Collect this guy without any of us getting hurt.”
In fact it was easier than expected. The eagle hopped back trying to spread his wings and came up against a fence post. Timber took the blanket from Joel, hopped the dilapidated fence, came up behind the eagle, and dropped the blanket atop it.
Joel stepped in and gently tucked the wings in close and picked up the bird.
Timber hopped back over, a big smile on his face. “Now that was a textbook capture.”
Joel stared down at his armload, his heart going out to the frozen bird who had no idea what had happened to it. “Now what?”
Timber already had his phone out and was talking to someone as he walked back to his truck and brought out a large animal carrier.
He put away his phone and brought the carrier to Joel, who gently placed the eagle inside, still wrapped in the blanket.
With the bird secured, they both relaxed, exchanging big grins.
“That was the raptor center. Are you okay to deliver it?” Timber asked Joel.
Joel nodded immediately. “Absolutely. I just need directions.” He wanted to see this through. The poor thing. “Will they be able to fix the wing?”
“Depending what X-rays show, but hopefully yes. If fixable, they will splint it and keep him fed and healthy, until he can be released again.” While giving Joel directions, they heard a vehicle approaching.
It was Richard, bringing them back from their concern over an injured eagle to the body in the abandoned truck.
As a reality check, it was hard to miss.
When Richard hopped out, his face was grim, and he glared at them. “You know this used to be a nice, quiet little town.”
Joel grimaced. “I suspect that whatever is going on is what has always gone on. We just happen to be here to bring it to light now,” Joel pointed out.
Richard approached the back of the truck, with its tailgate down.
Since Timber had pulled back a corner flap of the carpet and had left it that way, it was easy to see the hair and scalp.
“Shit,” Richard muttered. He unstrapped the rest of the tarp and stepped into the bed.
With his own gloved hands, he shifted the carpet a little bit farther to expose more of the head.
And then he turned to them and asked, “Do you even know this person?”
“We couldn’t see the face,” Joel confirmed, “at first inspection. I suspect the answer will be no. A lot of people are coming to Timber’s place though, so who knows.”
Richard didn’t say anything, just staring down at it. “I’ve got to call it in, and I guess we’ll get more information as it comes to light.” He sighed. “I suggest we unwrap it a bit more to get a better idea of what we’re looking at here.”
With that and his help, they unrolled the carpet ever-so-slightly and found the body of an older man.
Joel hated to say it, but the body looked roughened and toughened enough to almost be homeless.
Richard stared over at both of them, awaiting their responses.
Timber immediately shook his head. “Nope, not one of mine, and not any face I recognize.”
Joel shifted so he had a better look and then sighed. “No, I don’t know him either.”
“Well, crap,” Richard muttered. “I was really hoping that maybe he was out here for a reason.”
Joel added, “It could just be a convenient place for a dump.”
“But why leave the truck?” Richard asked.
“Because it’s hot would be my guess,” Joel replied. Richard narrowed his gaze at him. Joel stared right back at him. “Why else would you leave a vehicle with no papers, no license plate, a messed-with VIN, unless you’re afraid of getting caught?”
“Maybe.” Richard nodded, then looked around and turned to Timber. “Is this your land now too?” he asked, frowning back over at Joel.
Timber nodded. “Yes, it’s the second piece I bought off Andy.”
Richard called to get his forensic team out here. “You need to post some signs up here,” he suggested to Timber, almost absentmindedly. “You realize we’re not even equipped to handle this kind of stuff, right?”
“I know,” Timber acknowledged, “and we can help as much as we can.”
“Yeah, but I can’t really let you get into my cases too much,” he pointed out, a look of worry in his face. “Otherwise we’ll have trouble with the courts.”
“And yet you have to use whatever help you can,” he pointed out.
“I won’t say no on that, but there will already be doubts because it was found on your property. I don’t know what they’ll do about it,” he admitted. “I’ve contacted the sheriff, and he’s on his way out.”
Timber didn’t say anything to that, just stared at him.
“I know you don’t get along with the sheriff,” Richard admitted, “but this is a different case.”
“It absolutely is a different case,” Timber declared, his tone bitter, “but it also depends on whether the sheriff will be cooperative.”
“Well, if he isn’t—”
“We’re all fully aware his job is on the line,” Timber interrupted.
Not sure what the backstory was here but aware of the undertones, Joel didn’t say a whole lot.
He knew Timber had had some issues when he’d first moved in, but Joel thought they had been resolved.
Then again, some people had long memories and didn’t like to let go of the ghosts of the past. Still, maybe this was not connected.