Page 30 of Little Girls Sleeping
“It’s like she’s just sleeping.”
“Tell me what’s going on.”
Katie looked back at the face in the open casket. “I found Chelsea Compton,” she said.
Eighteen
It took Sheriff Scott two hours to coordinate and dispatch CSI, morgue technicians, deputies, and the medical examiner at the remote crime scene.
Katie waited beside her Jeep, impatiently pacing back and forth. Her mind still spun in circles with how the killer was able to get the coffin into place.
Did he have a partner?
Were there more girls?
Was this just the beginning?
The longer she waited, the more anxious she became; difficulty catching her breath, blurred vision, and an incessant hammering in her chest were just a few of the symptoms that plagued her.
Everything around her was quiet. She was still alone. No birds sang. The wind suddenly dropped. Katie kept remembering the sight of Chelsea’s face. She knew she would see it in her nightmares, and that the eyes would open with a questioning expression, asking her, “Why?”
At last she heard several vehicles in the distance, creeping up the road at a snail’s pace. She walked down to the main roadway and watched them approach. Heavy dust swirled in the air as the four-wheel-drive vehicles made their way in a procession. From her quick assessment, there were three sheriff SUVs, two patrol cars, a forensics van, and a white van from the morgue.
Two forensic technicians were the first to arrive. Their stone faces were difficult to read as she led them to the area where she had found the girls. Once they had deduced what they would need, they returned to their vehicle.
She calmly watched as they secured various areas in the tunnel as well as the final resting spot. They were preparing to document the coffins, which would later be transported to the morgue. One of the technicians took photographs consisting of an overview of the crime scene, a middle-distance shot with a one-hundred-eighty-degree view, and of course close-up pictures to record all the details.
Katie felt nauseated, exhausted, and in desperate need of sleep to banish the horror. In the deep recesses of her mind, she really hadn’t thought she would actually find the body—much less two.
“Katie,” greeted her uncle. He approached her quickly and hugged her tight. “You alright?”
She glanced around. The scene unfolding in the forest looked like a rehearsal of a strange stage play. She sighed. “I will be.”
He turned and began organizing the area, barking orders. “Only the absolutely necessary personnel are to excavate those coffins. Keep everything as is and don’t move or touch anything inside yet.” He turned toward Katie, who was at his heels. “Tell me everything you saw when you got here. What made you pick this area?”
“I mapped some of the more remote locations that hadn’t been searched four years ago. I hiked over toward the northeastern area yesterday,” she explained.
“Okay,” said the sheriff. It was difficult to tell if he was slightly annoyed or full-blown angry.
“I wasn’t going to even come up here today, but then I just wanted to be thorough.”
“Howconvenient,” said Detective Templeton as he approached. “Are you sure you didn’t receive information from someothermeans?”
Katie’s anger rose up; she gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to scream at him. There had been several instances where she had been challenged by those in charge, and it felt to her like someone had just lit that familiar fuse. “Excuse me?” she said. “I actually took the time and read over your report, which was quite frankly unprofessionally incomplete. Unlike you, I didn’t dismiss the idea that Chelsea was possibly dumped or buried somewhere in the local area, and what do you know, I found her. Tell me again, what have you done for this case?”
The detective moved close to her as if accepting her challenge. “I don’t believe in coincidences, or even luck for that matter. You should be a person of interest in this case and—”
“Enough,” barked the sheriff. “They’re beginning to exhume the coffins, so why don’t you take notes and make sure they don’t inadvertently contaminate any evidence.”
Templeton hesitated, as though he wanted to say something more, but then turned and followed the police crew to the gravesite.
“Making friends, I see,” said Uncle Wayne with a faint smile. “Katie, I know exactly how tenacious and driven you are, but let’s just lighten up and get through this. Okay?”
Katie let out a breath, feeling her nerves and ruffled feathers calm down. “Fine. I’m sorry.”
“It’s going to take a while to get those coffins excavated, so why don’t you just take a break,” he said, showing his caring uncle side.
“Okay. But…” She hesitated. “I think I know the identity of the other body.”
