Page 57 of The Scenic Route
This time, she was the one giving him a questioning look.
“Hate small spaces,” he admitted in a low, growly voice.
Bennett, claustrophobic?For some strange reason, this confession made her like him even more, that tiny pocket of vulnerability hidden in his giant ice-block man-body. Reaching back, she took his hand and gave it a squeeze.
Toward the back of the shallow cave, she saw the dirty white she’d been following. Her stomach started churning the closer she got to the object, as what had been a vague suspicion turned more and more likely to be a grim reality.
“Um…random question?” Her voice was pitched a little higher than normal. “Do deer vertebrae look shocking similar to human vertebrae?”
“No.”
She sighed, peering closer at the scattered bones. “These are too big to be from a deer, aren’t they?”
“Yes. And too flat.”
Deeper in the cave, right where the back wall met the rocky ground, was something a similar brownish white as the vertebrae, but this was larger and part of it had a suspiciously familiar curve. Forcing herself to move toward it, she crouched lower so she didn’t bang her head on the rock overhang. The cave was shallow enough that sunlight flooded most of it, but the veryback was shadowed, so she used her phone flashlight app to get a better look at the object. Her breath caught in her chest. There was no mistaking this for an animal’s.
“Is that a human skull?” she whispered to Bennett, not wanting it to be true.
His jaw was tight, although whether that was because of the small space they were crammed in or because the skull was almost definitely human, she wasn’t sure. A few more crouched, shuffling steps got them close enough for Felicity to confirm it.
“Yes,” Bennett said quietly.
There were definitely human remains in this tiny cave with them.
Fourteen
The skull was crushed on the side with several teeth missing, but Felicity wasn’t sure if that was from being dragged around by predators after he was dead or if that was why he died. A piece of dirty cloth was half-buried in the rocks and dirt covering the shallow cave’s floor, and Felicity set her phone down and reached toward it.
A tap on her shoulder made her look at Bennett, and he thrust a pair of latex gloves at her.
“Sure, now you have latex,” she teased quietly, holding back a snort at the way his cheeks darkened with a blush.
“It worked out,” he said close to her ear, and then it was her turn for her cheeks to get hot.
“It really did,” she said almost inaudibly, but when his hand gave her hip a brief squeeze, she had a feeling he’d heard her. It felt surreal to be joking right now, but it was either that or run screaming, and all the second option would accomplish would be to get them killed by a militia guard.
Pulling on the gloves, she reached out again, tugging the scrap of fabric out of the dirt and holding it close to her face. “Red-and-white-plaid flannel?” she guessed.
Bending over her shoulder, Bennett peered at it for a moment before giving an affirmative grunt.
Returning the scrap to the spot she’d gotten it, Felicity did a quick scan of the rest of the area around the skull and scattered vertebrae. Although she knew she could probably find more clues if she dug around, she didn’t want to disturb the crime scene any more than she already had. Besides, CSU techs tended to get cranky if you messed with their evidence, she’d found.
Shuffling backward, she gave Bennett a gentle shove so he moved out of the cave. Even though she usually didn’t have any issues like he did with small spaces, small spaces with human bones in them were a little more claustrophobia-inducing, she was discovering.
Their walk back up the trail to their car was silent, and she was wary to the point of being paranoid. Every pebble shift, every bird cheep, every rustle of the wind in drying leaves made her suspect a militia member was following them. From his tense expression, Bennett felt the same way.
It wasn’t until they were locked in her car that she felt like she could take a real breath.
“Okay.” Despite the car’s limited sound-muffling powers, she still spoke in a whisper. “No reception here, so we’ll have to drive to Moose Peak Road. What’s the plan down there? Should we call our new friend Deputy Daisy’s Husband or use one of the burner phones I know you have to call it in as a cluelessrandom hiker? Not to brag, but my stoner tourist impression isstellar.”
“Chris,” he said after barely a pause. “Cops’ll waste our time, but nothing like if they find out we discovered the remains and lied about it.”
“Good point,” she admitted, although her nose wrinkled in distaste at the cops-wasting-their-time portion. “We might even be able to get some info from him about the case if we’re ultra super cooperative.”
This time, it was Bennett who made a face. “I’m not great at being cooperative, much less…”
“Ultra super cooperative?” She wanted to laugh but worried that she might not be able to stop once she started, so she swallowed her hysteria down. “Just do your usual silent thing, and I’ll be good witness to your bad witness.”
