Chapter 4
FOUR
Katie and McGaven watched as John and his forensic tech, Eva, laid out the remains of the three bodies on two large yellow tarps and then meticulously sifted through dirt for any other evidence.
Two deputies had quickly put up a makeshift curtain to prevent bystanders or anyone who happened to come past from seeing the remains.
Katie noticed the first phase of construction had been removing dozens of trees and grading the land.
Soon it would be time to lay the building foundations and parking lots.
The large piece of property also stored all types of construction equipment and supplies in temporary structures.
Two dozen workers were beginning the process and soon there would be more.
Calvin Brand Construction Company had won the bid for the project.
It had been slated for completion in eighteen to twenty-four months if they didn’t hit any complications.
Katie moved toward the two skeletal remains.
John and Eva had managed to keep the hands intertwined for better examination at the lab.
The third victim was a man wearing a flannel shirt, jeans, and a belt with a large silver buckle that featured a man riding a bull. There was a watch on his left wrist.
“What do you think?” said McGaven, assessing his partner.
“There’s definitely a story here.”
“Meaning?”
“I think all the bodies are related. We just need to figure out what that story is and who the victims are.”
“We didn’t learn anything from the excavator operator or the supervisor,” he said. “Their stories match, and they didn’t see anything unusual until the load came up with the bones.” He turned to Katie. “You know those bones could be much older than we first anticipated.”
She nodded. “Theoretically, they could be a decade or two old.”
“Our work is definitely going to be challenging.” McGaven walked off toward John.
Katie took a three-hundred-sixty-degree scan of the location.
It would be helpful, she thought, to examine old maps of the site from before they started demolition.
The two lines of trees piqued her interest. She stared at them a moment, and that was when she saw him.
A male figure wearing dark clothing had popped out from behind a large pine tree and then disappeared again.
Katie blinked, almost wasn’t sure if it had been her imagination or a shadow among the trees.
She remained silent and began walking toward the area.
Her footsteps were quiet on the overturned earth, so she moved faster, hoping to see the dark figure again.
Her mind spun. It could have simply been a curious onlooker or it could…
it could have been someone with information they needed.
The morning was cool and the sun bright without any clouds in the sky, but as Katie walked into the forest area the sun seemed to disappear and she could see remnants of frost on the ground from the night before.
She reached the area where she thought she’d seen a person.
There were fresh prints of a boot—not a work boot, but rather a cowboy boot.
It made her think of the Western-style belt buckle of the deceased man.
She marked the area with a couple of rocks.
Stopped. Listened. The voices from the crime scene were low and there wasn’t any sound of cars nearby.
The area had calmed and most of the people were gone except for a few police.
She moved her attention to the forest where there were birds chirping and the fluttering of wings through the trees.
She moved toward where the birds were making their ruckus.
Again she saw a figure move swiftly from one tree to the next.
“Stop,” she said. “Police!” Katie picked up her speed and ran toward the man.
As if he had his escape route already mapped out and knew the area well, the man kept moving—no sound from his footfalls—his escape quieting the forest. And just as suddenly he was gone.
Katie continued to run the path the unknown man had taken.
She ran for several minutes but never saw any indication of who he was or where he went.
Her lungs burned, so she decided to head back to the crime scene.
Katie backtracked, thinking of how, with every few minutes, everything seemed to change or provoke more questions.
She walked through the forest opening where she had initially seen the figure, and McGaven and John met her.
“Where did you go?” said McGaven. His looked concerned, with furrowed brows and his mouth turned down.
“I thought I saw someone in the trees.”
“Someone?” he said.
“Who?” said John, his face also concerned.
All three of them had been on hazardous investigations where things became unsettled and downright dangerous. They were a solid team—each one brought something to the table.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I identified myself, but they had a good start and then disappeared. But there were boot prints.”
“Like work boots? Maybe from one of the workers here,” John said.
“No, it was definitely more like a cowboy boot with a narrow toe.”
“A cowboy?” said McGaven.
“I’m not saying that, but these boot prints were right where this person had moved past.”
“Okay, I’ll have Eva do an impression evidence mold,” said John.
“I marked the area with a couple of rocks on the trail.”
John nodded and left.
Katie remained quiet and glanced around, watching John and Eva recovering more human bones and carefully placing them on the tarp for transport. She couldn’t help but feel that someone was still watching them.