Chapter 3
THREE
Katie drove into the Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department employee parking lot.
She had left a few minutes earlier than John so they didn’t appear to be coming to work together.
It kept questions at a minimum—and that’s the way she wanted it.
As she drove, Katie thought about her cases and which one she and McGaven were going to tackle next.
It intrigued her that some of their cold cases were more than twenty years old, but those that were only months old needed to be addressed too.
She also referenced missing persons cases.
Stepping from her Jeep, Katie ran her morning through her mind, making her smile.
Her nerves were calm; in fact, she was the calmest she had been in a long time and feeling present and as if she belonged.
Even her post-traumatic stress symptoms from her time in the Army had seemed to subside.
Having John in her life had been helping her.
Katie swiped her card and entered the police administrative building.
She walked down the hallway until she reached the unmarked door and swiped her identification card once again.
The metal door popped open an inch, allowing her to push it wider; the familiar, almost comforting hum of the air-conditioning greeting her as it always did.
She moved through the forensic division and passed by the various offices and examination rooms until she reached the cold-case office.
It had ended up in this location due to the department’s space limitations, especially in the detective division, but it had been a perfect fit.
There was a filing room and a large office to house both Katie and McGaven, where they could spread out information and have two full wall boards to track their investigations.
That morning, the door was slightly ajar and she could hear her partner’s voice on the phone.
Katie walked in and smiled at McGaven as she set down her briefcase and jacket.
The room was clean—no boxes, files, notes—and the walls were unadorned.
Everything was ready to go and the only thing they had to do was pick the next case to work on.
She had even organized a top-ten list for them to choose from.
McGaven ended his call. He looked solemn for a moment, which was out of character for him. His height of six foot six made his expression seem more intense.
“What’s up?” said Katie.
His expression didn’t change. “Skeletal remains have been found. There are no other details yet.”
“Where?”
“The location for the police and fire training centers.”
Katie immediately began considering the location, how far it was from a main road, its previous uses and owners. It was her understanding they had barely broken ground on the new building project.
“If the remains are skeletons…” Katie said, “that would mean they could be anything from a couple of years old to maybe ten or twenty years.” She looked at McGaven. “We better go check it out.”
McGaven drove as Katie rode shotgun, observing her partner closely. She knew something was wrong, but respected his privacy until he wanted to confide in her. But already she missed his usual humor, and his positive attitude where he could find the best in things—in almost anything.
“I know what you’re doing,” he said, glancing at her.
“What’s that?”
“You’re trying to profile me.”
“Maybe.”
“There’s no ‘maybe.’”
Katie couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m just having an off day,” he said.
“Okay.”
“What do you mean ‘okay’?”
“Gav, you know I’m always here for you—and I’ve got your back. Enough said.”
McGaven finally smiled and the serious frown lines smoothed. “Ditto.”
“Ditto? This isn’t some action film,” she said.
They knew each other well and humor was a way for them to cope, a way for them to bring down the level of intensity and dread at a crime scene to a more relaxed level.
McGaven increased their speed with determination.
The facility was located on the outer area of Pine Valley but would take care of all the needs for emergency services.
Unfortunately, it had already divided the community, and with the discovery of bodies it would continue to be scrutinized by everyone.
Katie reflected on what the discovery of the skeletal remains would mean for her and McGaven. They were officially cold-case detectives, but sometimes new cases fell into their laps. She wondered if there had been missing persons reports filed.
“Now what are you thinking?” said McGaven with a grin on his face.
“Just the usual.”
“Right. You’re trying to figure out the who and why of the remains.”
“Yes.”
“John will probably already be there,” he said.
“Probably not.”
McGaven looked at Katie. “Oh?” His smile was even bigger.
“I don’t know what you’re insinuating.” She hid her smile.
“Yeah, right. You know where John might be right now?” He casually raised an eyebrow.
“I think we need to concentrate on the crime scene and what it means.”
“Copy that,” he said.
Up ahead were signs indicating that the new police and fire department training areas were going to have a new home.
“You know there’s going to be a K9 training area too,” he said.
“I know, it’s great. But… I think finding these bodies is going to add a lot of delays to the work schedule.”
McGaven drove past construction supplies and several backhoes, excavators, and dump trucks.
There were piles of PVC pipes waiting to be installed, and numerous large metal boxes that would house electrical panels and various controls.
An oversized metal building to house supplies and tools had large padlocks fastened to its sliding doors.
“What do you think?” said McGaven, studying the area.
“It’s going to be difficult.”
There were two police cars, fire trucks, and several unmarked official cars parked near several large mounds of dirt. The makeshift road with gravel layered to keep it somewhat level was now filled with deep grooves making it difficult for vehicles to come and go.
McGaven maneuvered their car to the side where it would be easy to stay out of the way of the others.
Katie sighed and exited the truck. She stood a moment and surveyed the area.
Tons of dirt had been removed and pushed into large hills.
She realized the remains were going to take some time to excavate and worried any potential evidence might be contaminated or possibly lost.
“Coming?” said McGaven as he walked toward patrol officers running yellow crime scene tape in a large rectangle.
Katie saw the forensic van drive in. So John had also received the message of the skeletons found. She kept her subtle smile to herself, nodding to John as he eased the van into a parking place.
Detective Hamilton met the detectives. His usual grim expression was apparent and his demeanor unfriendly.
“What do we have?” said McGaven.
Katie was still observing the area and tried to imagine how and why bodies were buried there. Was there some significance to the site? She wondered how long they had been there.
“Two skeletal remains, one adult and one child,” said Hamilton.
“Did the equipment damage the bodies?” said Katie. She could see in her peripheral vision that John was walking toward the group.
“Some. But they had the sense to stop everything immediately.”
“You lead on this?” said McGaven.
“The sheriff suggested you two take it because of your experience in bone remains,” he said. It was clear by his face he was glad of this decision.
“We’ll need to search the scene to know what will be required for the investigation,” said Katie.
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” said Hamilton. “I’ll start searching missing persons for an adult and child that went missing.”
“We’ll forward you anything useful we discover.”
“What do you need right now?” Hamilton asked.
McGaven looked at his partner. Already Katie realized there were too many people at the scene and most likely more would be coming when word got out that bodies had been found.
“We need to extend the crime scene tape; it should be twice as big. Remove everyone who doesn’t have business here, except for whoever found the bodies.
We’ll need to speak with them. Make a barricade where we drove in to keep everyone out except necessary personnel.
Have someone stationed to make a list of everyone coming and going. ”
Hamilton nodded. “Got it.”
Katie turned to McGaven. “You could have chimed in anytime.”
“But you handled that perfectly.” He smiled at his partner.
She returned his smile. “That’s my job.”
John joined them. “What’s up?”
“We’re going to take a look at the scene and make notes before having you document and gather evidence,” said McGaven.
“I’ll be ready,” said John.
“While you’re waiting, can you take some shots or even video around the area of who is here and who is leaving?” she said.
“What are you thinking?” said McGaven.
“I’m not sure, but there won’t be a second time to capture who is here right now. Just being thorough.”
John smiled. “On it.” He headed back to the CSI van.
McGaven smiled broadly.
“What?” Katie asked.
“What do you mean ‘what’?” he said, rolling his eyes.
Katie scoffed. “Let’s get to work.”
The detectives made their way to the scene. Several patrol officers were clearing people who didn’t need to be there. Two men remained at the side of the grave. They fidgeted and looked about them.
Katie reached the piles of dirt. She stood to the side of them and scanned the soil.
It was typical of the area: a mixture of sand, silt, clay, and even weathered bedrock.
She wondered how long it took for the bodies to go through the decomposition process in this type of environment.
She knew that a buried body could take six months to a year to decompose, depending upon weather and environmental factors, but by studying the remains in front of her it appeared that they had been buried for much longer.
She glanced back, seeing her partner taking notes and making a few sketches, as she slipped on examination gloves.
Katie typically didn’t charge right in to look at the victims, but she wanted to get an impression of the entire crime scene.
It seemed the excavator had broken the bodies somewhere along the vertebrae of each spine when moving the dirt.
The back of the adult skull also had a large hole, which she suspected was most likely due to an impact injury instead of being placed in the unmarked grave, and the arm bones were amazingly intact with one hand intertwined with the smaller hand of the child’s skeleton.
Katie paused a moment, imagining the adult knowing what was going to happen and holding the hand of the child to comfort them, where they stayed together—even in death.
The silver bracelets were still shiny, glistening in the daylight once the dirt was moved.
Each had a charm of one half of a heart.
It struck a heartfelt chord with Katie that there was more than a bond between these victims—they were likely mother and daughter.
Katie finally said, “Looks like their spines were severed either from the body dump or from the excavator.”
McGaven took notes; didn’t interrupt his partner. This was their procedure when they first arrived at a crime scene. Katie took point and then they worked it together—each contributing their observations and questions.
“If I had to guess right now,” Katie continued, “I believe it’s a mother and daughter. But we won’t know for sure until the medical examiner and maybe a forensic osteologist identifies them.”
She noticed something. There were bluish fibers woven throughout the ground mixture. It was curious, catching her attention. Katie followed the colored strands as she carefully stepped alongside the uncovered area. She bent down and carefully moved some of the soil with her right hand.
“Gav, can you get John?” she said.
She heard her partner call out to John. She kept her hand steady and pushed the soil on either side of the questionable zone of blue threads. Katie wasn’t sure what she’d find. It appeared to be some type of fabric and then a shirt sleeve.
“Gav,” she called.
Her partner immediately moved next to her side. He didn’t say a word, but watched as Katie carefully dug through the soil, moving chunks of clay and sand.
And then, the detectives saw it. It was an arm… it appeared to be male and wearing a blue flannel type of shirt.
Another body slowly revealed itself. There was still a fair amount of flesh and hair on this one and they could see the side of the man’s face, though part of the skull showed through facial hair.
It hadn’t been skeletonized like the other two victims, so it had to have been buried more recently, maybe a month or more.
She wondered why the body was buried near the others.
John arrived and kneeled next to the detectives, taking more photos. He gestured to the back of the male’s skull. “There’s a bullet hole.”