The Bone Harvest

by Stacy M Jones

  “No,” Katie said quickly.

  There was something in the girl’s voice that made Luke question her honesty. “Do you have anything else you think we should know?”

  “I’m done with this.” Katie smirked. She stood and walked out of the room before Luke could say another word.

  Luke waited for the door to shut behind Katie. He exhaled slowly. Turning to Tyler, he questioned, “What do you make of that?”

  “I have no idea,” Tyler said, looking as shocked as Luke felt. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a young witness be so defiant. She’s got to be hiding something.”

  “What?”

  “She might know where Cristina went after she left the bar.”

  “I thought so, too,” Luke commented. He got up and headed for the door. “I think we are just going to have to talk to those other witnesses.”

  As Luke pulled open the lounge door, Tyler asked, “Do we care about the ecstasy?”

  “Not really. We have bigger fish to fry. It’s going to show on the victim’s toxicology report anyway. At least now we know where she got it.”

  Tyler agreed, and the two made their way down the hall. As they approached the stairway, a dark-haired girl wearing leggings and a tee-shirt approached. She smiled shyly at Luke. As she passed by him, she clasped Luke’s hand that was at his side and kept moving. A small piece of paper pressed into the palm of his hand. He made no move to read the note now or any movement that would indicate she had given him anything. He didn’t know who was watching.

  Luke and Tyler walked quickly down the steps and through the first-floor hall. Once they were outside, Luke said, “That girl slipped me a note. Let’s get back inside the car before we read it.”

  CHAPTER 51

  Luke couldn’t wait until he settled into the driver’s seat. He got in the vehicle and immediately unfolded the note. Loopy handwriting on the blue-shaped star that had a sticky backing read, “I know. We all do. Meet me in 20 minutes at Mylo’s.”

  Luke showed the note to Tyler and started the car. He put it in drive and headed to the location. He didn’t speed, but he was hard-pressed to keep it at the limit. Luke turned his head briefly to look at his partner. “What do you think?”

  “I think she doesn’t want her friends to know she’s about to rat them out,” Tyler replied.

  Luke felt the same. They drove in silence back to Hillcrest. Luke parked easily enough. As they walked into the coffee shop, Luke got a call. He held up the phone for Tyler. It was Riley. Tyler walked in, while Luke took the call standing on the sidewalk.

  Riley explained what she had learned that day and about the professor, Michael Bauer. It wasn’t a name that rang any bells for Luke, but he encouraged Riley to pursue the lead. He offered to run some background on him if she needed it. She told Luke that while it wasn’t a lead, it was an unanswered question. Luke felt for the detective. He didn’t know if he would have asked for the guy’s alibi either.

  Luke hung up, promising Riley he’d call her later that evening. He entered the shop and made his way to the counter. He took in the long list of coffee and espresso drinks and settled on a plain coffee. Riley would tease him that he was boring, but he liked what he liked. He found Tyler in the middle of the shop near the large window with a perfect view of the sidewalk entrance. He had his own coffee in front of him and scribbled in a notepad.

  Luke took a sip and savored it. It was strong and perfect. He hitched his jaw at Tyler. “What are you writing?”

  Tyler laughed. “It’s not anything important. My wife wants me to stop at the grocery store on the way home, but if I don’t write down what she wants, I’m going to forget. My brain has too much in it, can’t fit in anything else.”

  “That’s a good excuse. I’m stealing that for later,” Luke joked. He leaned back and stretched. He hoped this girl showed up. He checked his watch again. They were still a few minutes early.

  Luke flipped through his phone. He got an update text from Cooper. Sounded promising. Both Riley and Cooper seemed to be making some headway. He hated to admit it, but he wanted to be the one to bring this guy down. Not that he hoped Cooper or Riley wouldn’t find evidence, Luke just wanted the satisfaction of solving it himself.

  Tyler interrupted Luke’s train of thought. “She’s late. You think she’s going to show?”

  “I do. Let’s give her a few more minutes. Maybe there was some traffic.”

  The two sat for a good fifteen more minutes. Just as they were about to give up, the girl walked in. She walked by Luke’s table and jerked her head in the direction of a far back corner away from the window and front door. Luke and Tyler followed.

  Once they sat down, the girl introduced herself. “I’m Megan,” she said quickly. “Sorry I’m late. As soon as you left, Katie rounded up all of the girls that were out with Cristina that night to tell us about what you had to say. Katie told us what she told you and then cautioned us to keep the same story. Katie’s really scaring some of the other girls that we could all get in trouble so we had to make sure we kept our stories straight.”

  “What’s her deal? We know about the drugs, but there’s something more than that,” Luke said, catching Megan’s gaze.

  The girl looked around the room. She leaned in closer to Luke. “I’m pretty sure Katie knows who killed Cristina.”

  Luke tried not to show a reaction on his face. “Why do you say that?” he asked calmly.

  “Katie gave us the ecstasy that night. Cristina wasn’t reacting well. At the bar, Cristina went to the bathroom right before she left. When she was in there, Katie told us all to encourage Cristina to leave. She pushed hard for us to get Cristina to go. Nobody really cared whether Cristina was there or not, but Katie was adamant. When Cristina came out of the bathroom, Katie pretty much told her to leave, that we didn’t want her there anymore if she was going to act like such a baby. She kept goading her, being really mean. The other girls followed along.”

  Tyler said with skepticism in his voice, “Katie said that Cristina wanted to leave. She told us that Cristina was paranoid, not reacting well, and wanted to leave.”

  Megan smirked. “Of course, Katie would say that. Cristina did feel uncomfortable. There was a guy at the bar that had his eye on Cristina as soon as we walked in. He was alone and did not take his eyes off of her. He tried to act sly of course, not to make it obvious, but it was obvious to me.”

  “Did anyone else notice?” Luke asked.

  “Maybe, I’m not sure. As I said, Katie gave us all ecstasy so everyone was pretty wasted at that point. I don’t do drugs. I just pretended to take it and played along. I was completely sober. I saw what was going on.”

  “Did this guy approach Cristina or try to talk to her?” Tyler asked.

  “No, he just sat at the end of the bar and watched her.”

  “Did Katie talk to him or seem to interact with him in any way?”

  “No, I don’t think any of them noticed him, to be honest.”

  “I assume then that Katie and the other girls succeeded in convincing Cristina to leave, correct?” Luke pressed.

  Megan nodded. She looked down at the table and wouldn’t make eye contact.

  “What happened after Cristina left?”

  “I was planning to go with her.” Tears welled up in Megan’s eyes. “I feel awful. When Cristina walked out, I was right behind her. I felt bad about how everyone was treating her. But I didn’t get far. Someone spilled water all down my back.”

  Megan’s eyes met Luke’s. “It was the whole cup. I was soaked. I turned around to see what had just happened and shake the ice out of the back of my shirt. It was Katie. She stood there laughing. I started to argue with her, but then remembered Cristina.”

  Luke had a million questions, but he wanted to ensure Megan kept talking so he didn’t press when she took a beat. He waited as she dried her tears. “What did you do next?”

  Megan blew her nose. She wiped her tear-stained cheeks and started again. “
By the time I turned around, Cristina was gone. I shot out of the bar but didn’t see her. I called her name. I ran out into the main road and that’s when I saw her getting into an SUV. I called after her again, but she never even looked in my direction. She was gone, and that was the last time I saw her. I called a rideshare right after that, thinking maybe I’d meet her back at the dorm, but she wasn’t there. I was worried. I called around to some of her other friends, but no one had seen her. I called her parents the next morning when she wasn’t back.”

  “Did you give a statement to any of the cops the other day? I know I didn’t read anything like what you just told us,” Luke said, perplexed.

  Luke had read a few of the girls’ statements, but all of them said Cristina didn’t feel well and she left. Luke didn’t think Megan was lying. He just didn’t understand why this was the first time hearing this.

  “Katie met with all of us Saturday morning and told us we had to get our stories straight. I think she might have threatened some of the other girls as she did again today. I don’t know if they don’t remember what happened or if they were lying, but no one mentioned Katie stopping me from following Cristina.”

  “Did she threaten you?” Det. Tyler asked.

  “She didn’t have to,” Megan admitted. “I pretended like I had been so wasted I didn’t remember anything. I didn’t even bring up Katie spilling water on me. I made sure she heard me talking to the cop. I didn’t want her to stop me from telling you what I know. I watch enough cop shows. I figured there would be detectives on the case, and I’d tell my story then.”

  “You’re going to have to come down to the station and give a formal statement. We have some photos we need you to look at, too,” Luke cautioned. “We can keep your name out of this, but you have to give us the statement. We have more questions as well.”

  “That’s okay, but let’s go now because they think I’m with my boyfriend.”

  CHAPTER 52

  By six that evening, I was tired from a long day of investigating. Jack and Frank had left late in the afternoon. Frank headed back to the hotel to compare notes on his case to Amanda’s. I poured through some more statements. I took Dusty for a long walk. We played catch in the backyard if you can call it that. I threw the ball, and every once in a while, he’d go get it. Mostly, I threw it and he looked at me wondering when I was going to run after it and bring it back. He’d give me a little side glance like I was stupid to keep throwing it.

  Finally, he had gotten bored with me and stood at the backdoor to be let in. I gave him some fresh water and a snack. I had some leftover pizza. My mother was out with some friends so I was on my own for dinner. The house had been quiet, and eventually, I made my way back upstairs and turned the television on in my room. I snuggled into bed.

  I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew my sister Liv was standing over me, shaking my leg. I blinked my eyes open. “What?”

  Liv sat on the edge of the bed. “I think I remember something about that night the girl went missing.”

  I sat straight up. “You do?”

  “Yeah. I got thinking about that night after we talked. Remember how I used to keep a journal all the time?”

  I nodded. Liv journaled all the time. She had notebooks full of drawings and poems and notes about her day. Not that I ever snooped, but she was always buried in one.

  “I got thinking about that night, and I probably journaled it. The guys who were calling me over as I was walking by were cute. It wasn’t every day I had college boys flirting with me. I probably wrote about it.”

  It sounded reasonable to me, but it’d been years. I looked at her skeptically. “Do you have any idea where those journals are now?”

  “They’re here but up in the attic. I don’t like going up there by myself.”

  “I’ll go with you.” Liv always had a fear of the attic even though it wasn’t scary at all as far as attics go. In the hall right next to the bathroom my sister and I had shared when we were young, there was a door. It led to the attic steps. My mother generally kept the door locked, but the key had always been on her dresser under her jewelry box. Liv stood at the door as I went to my mother’s bedroom to find the key.

  The same six-drawer wooden box that had sat on my mother’s dresser for all of my youth was still there. I picked it up and sure enough, the attic key was there as well. I entered back into the hall and waved the key at my sister. “Don’t look so glum. I promise there are no monsters in the attic.” I unlocked the door. Liv followed behind me, keeping a close eye out for spiders. Every few seconds, she’d jump a little.

  “It’s not the monsters I’m worried about,” Liv protested as we climbed the attic steps, “it’s the spiders.”

  “I’ll protect you.”

  “You always do. Remember when you beat up Timmy Jacobs for me?” Liv asked as we hit the landing.

  That was a name I hadn’t heard since probably fifth grade. “What made you think of that?”

  “I ran into him the other day. He asked about you. His nose is still crooked from where you bashed your big head into his face. I’m pretty sure he can’t have kids because of you.”

  “He deserved it. He made you cry and got me in a chokehold. What else was I supposed to do other than slamming my head into his face and punching him in the balls?”

  Liv laughed. Timmy never picked on my sister or any girl ever again. Timmy was apparently the second boy I had punched for my sister. I didn’t remember getting pie after that altercation like the other.

  The attic was fairly clear. My mother would never be accused of being a hoarder, actually, she was the opposite. She barely kept anything. I didn’t have anything at her house. Years ago, when I moved out, I took nearly everything I wanted with me. My sister, on the other hand, was the saver.

  Liv went to the far corner and dug through boxes that had been arranged in neat piles. At the third box, she victoriously pulled out a gray hardback journal. “Here it is!” she called out proudly.

  I sat next to her cross-legged on the floor. Liv frantically flipped through pages. Pointing to one page, she beamed. “This is it. I knew I wrote something that night.”

  I tried to contain myself. For all I knew, it was just a description of the boy that flirted with her. I waited as Liv read to herself.

  Finally, Liv plopped the journal in my lap and pointed to one of the paragraphs. “Read that.”

  I took in my sister’s adolescent scrawl. It was easy enough to read, but each word caught me more and more by surprise. My sister not only detailed the interaction with the fraternity boys, but she had also indicated that there was a girl walking up ahead of her on the sidewalk.

  Liv noticed her because the girl was wearing pants that my sister liked. Liv had also written that just as she was turning the corner onto our street, a car had pulled up next to the girl who was still on the main road. It made my sister nervous. She didn’t indicate why in her writing, but she described the car as a dark blue sedan. She had even described the driver. He sounded suspiciously like the composite sketch of the killer in Little Rock. Liv saw the girl get into the guy’s car.

  The rest of the journal entry was about earlier in the evening at the party she had gone to and some boy she liked. It was obvious that at the time my sister saw no significance in the interaction she had witnessed.

  “Well, what do you think?” Liv asked curiously.

  “You never told anyone about this?”

  “No, I didn’t even remember until we talked about it the other night.”

  “What about back then? When they said a girl was missing, you didn’t think seeing a girl get into a car was important?”

  “I didn’t,” Liv regretted. “I wasn’t watching the news back then. I was focused on stupid high school stuff. Mom told me a girl was missing, but I didn’t know what she looked like. That girl got in the car willingly. She seemed to know the guy so I never connected it might be important. I’m not even sure now that it is. Is it
?”

  I looked at my sister. I wasn’t sure if telling her how close she came to the killer was a good idea. She was easily spooked. I hesitated for a few seconds too long.

  “That was the killer, wasn’t it? I saw him.” Liv’s face contorted in fear.

  “I think so,” I explained, reaching out and rubbing her arm. “You wrote a pretty good description of him. I know it’s been years, but did this jog your memory? Is there anything else you remember?”

  Liv took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them, Liv looked right at me. “They knew each other. I had picked up my pace walking by the frat house because even though the guys were flirting, I was still scared because I was alone. You know how much Mom used to caution us about them. I picked up my pace and nearly caught up with the girl. She crossed our road as I turned down it. That’s when the car pulled over to the curb. I remember her saying hi and walking over to the passenger side window. He never got out. I was nervous at first as his car pulled over, but then she knew him so I didn’t think twice about it.”

  “Could you hear what they were talking about?”

  “Sort of. She told him she was walking back to her dorm. He asked her if she wanted a ride. She got in. He never once got out of the car.”

  “Anything else?”

  “The last thing I heard him say was that it was a nice night for a drive. It was.”

  CHAPTER 53

  Luke spent the late part of the afternoon into early evening taking Megan’s formal statement. She was an excellent witness. Luke wasn’t exactly sure of his next move, but it was looking like he was going to have to bring Katie in for formal questioning. Luke was sure Katie was involved somehow. He just didn’t know to what extent. He thought back to what the killer had said about helpers. Was Katie one of his helpers? Did she even realize it if she was?

  Tyler provided Megan several photos of men from surveillance footage and from lineups. She studied each carefully and surprised Luke when she readily picked the photo of the suspected killer. His face, although a bit grainy from the surveillance photos, was still clear enough to be seen.