Page 4 of Shadow Sabotage
“Got a problem up here. Cheyenne’s dog, Ash, just uncovered human remains near our campsite.”
The line was silent for a beat. “Did you sayhumanremains?”
“’Fraid so. Gonna need the sheriff and whoever’s on duty. I’d go ahead and call Wendy, too.”
“On it,” she said, her voice brisk. “What else do they need to know?”
I closed my eyes, picturing the scene. “It’s just bones left. That’s not my field, but I’d say we aren’t dealing with anything real recent. Body was at the bottom of a steep incline. Could have been a camper or a hiker who fell.” I mentally scanned the files of our unsuccessful SAR missions but couldn’t come up with one that matched the location.
“Got it. Where are you?”
I gave her the GPS coordinates for our site, then ended the call. When I turned around, Rhett was standing with his arms crossed. Despite the gravity of the situation, I cracked a smile. He looked like some sort of superhero with his long hair blowing in the breeze, his biceps bulging, and a stance that said he was ready for anything.
Sometimes I looked at him and still saw the kid he’d been. Moments like this reminded me that ten years had passed since he’d first left Wildwood. He’d grown into a man. A good, responsible, fierce man who loved my best friend with every ounce of his being.
I wondered what he saw when he looked at me. Did he see the years that had passed, the skills I’d learned, and who I was becoming? Or did he still see me as the teenager he’d left behind ten years ago?
Sometimes I felt like I hadn’t grown up at all.
“What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“Stay here,” I said, walking past him to my truck. “I’m going to take a closer look. I’ll send Chey back up here to you. When the cavalry arrives, she’ll be able to lead them to the site.”
“Got it. Hey.” He grabbed my arm, made me look him in the eye. “You okay?”
“Not my first dead body, Rhett.”
The worry on his face didn’t budge. “I know. Cheyenne’s told me about some of the recovery missions you’ve both done. Still can’t imagine it’s easy.”
“I’m fine. I promise.”
I was. But I didn’t know how to explain that this felt a thousand times easier than any of those recoveries. This was bones, something that looked more like the plastic models in a science lab than an actual person. I knew technically it was a human, but with the defining features gone, it was easy not to think of it that way.
The coroner would figure out a way to identify the person, and then it would feel real. Then there would be a face and a name and a story that might haunt me. But for now?
This was nothing like being face-to-face with the decomposing body of someone you’d failed to save.
I grabbed my SAR backpack, service weapon, and badge from my truck. Then I hiked back down to the site and sent Cheyenne up to Rhett.
As she disappeared into the woods, I felt a wave of nerves. This was my first police investigation that involved a deceased individual. I’d only been a deputy for a little over a year, and I’d never dealt with anything like this. Odds were, it would be a simple case of accidental death. But I still didn’t want to screw up.
At least not any more than I probably already had when I’d poked the mess of pine needles and inadvertently moved that skull.
I used my flashlight and my cell phone to take the best photographs I could and marked off the area with the orange flagging tape we used to flag clues on a search. I second-guessed that decision—this probably wasn’t the scene of an actual crime, and the guys would likely make fun of me for treating it like one. But I didn’t want to take any chances.
After that, I sat and waited.
Two hours passedbefore I finally heard a scuffle of rocks and muted voices as Cheyenne led the response team down the hill. Sheriff McGrath approached first, eyeing my tape with a dubious expression. Sergeant Trey Collins—my least favorite coworker—was with him. I stifled a groan as he snickered over my makeshift crime scene.
Sheriff McGrath came over and put a hand on my shoulder. “What do we have going on here? Andrea said you found some remains?”
“That’s right,” I said, trying to ignore Trey’s smirk. “We were walking the dog and she uncovered them. I figured they were animal bones, but upon taking a closer look, we found a human skull.”
“So just bones?”
“Just bones,” I confirmed.
“Hmmm.” McGrath eyed the steep bank and whistled. “One wrong move and that would be a hell of a fall. People have died from less. We’ll have to see if Wendy can tell us how old the bones are, cross-reference that with any missing campers thought to have been in this area.”
