The Bone Harvest

by Stacy M Jones

  Katie rolled her eyes. “I’m not dumb. I already tried calling the number. Generic voicemail. I tried looking it up. It’s one of those burner phones. It doesn’t go to anybody.”

  Luke tried not to smile. She was smart. “Tell me about the first time he contacted you.”

  “I got the text while in class but didn’t see it until later. It just said something like I was going to help him. I deleted it. He asked three or four more times over the next couple of days. He wouldn’t give me a name or tell me anything about him. I should have just blocked his number.”

  “Why did he want your help?” Luke sat back and grabbed the pen and jotted a note. He didn’t want to have to dig through the audio and video later.

  Katie rubbed her eyes and sighed deeply. “He kept texting me that he wanted my help meeting a girl he liked. I thought it was some guy from one of my classes. I tried several times to ask him who he was. I even asked a few guys in our classes if it was them, but no one knew what I was talking about. He wouldn’t tell me. I tried arguing. I tried ignoring him. I also tried playing along. Nothing worked. After some texting back and forth, he mentioned Cristina by name. I have three classes with her so I started focusing on guys in our classes.”

  “Did you tell Cristina about the texts?”

  “Not right away, but after he mentioned her by name, I did.”

  “Did you tell anyone else about the texts?”

  “I told some other girls and the few guys I asked, but then I stopped talking about it.” Katie looked towards the door and then took another sip of her drink. She watched Luke carefully.

  Luke assumed she knew what questions were next. “When did you agree to help him?”

  “After he brought up my father,” Katie admitted softly. She toyed with the cup in front of her, avoiding eye contact with Luke.

  “What did he know about your father?”

  “Do I really have to get into that? I don’t want to get my father into trouble. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid.”

  Luke leaned back and watched her. He debated on how hard to push her. At some point, someone would have to uncover what Katie’s father was doing, but it wouldn’t be Luke’s jurisdiction, and so far, he hadn’t heard more than speculation about a crime. “You don’t have to get into it with me right now, but it’s important I understand what this person knew, how they could have known it and how serious the threat was. Does that make sense?”

  Katie nodded. “They knew about my father’s business dealings. Things I heard growing up but didn’t know for sure. He threatened to expose my father. I figured it could get him in serious trouble.”

  “Did you ask your parents if what the person in the text said was true?”

  “No. I didn’t want them to worry. I thought I could handle it.”

  “Obviously not,” Luke said, frustrated. “Tell me what led up to the night Cristina went missing. I’ve heard from all of the girls that you convinced them to follow your lead in getting Cristina to leave by herself so was that your idea or his?”

  “His. He picked the night and the bar,” Katie explained, rubbing her eyes again. Katie’s voice was steady, but to Luke’s dismay, she had not even a hint of remorse. “He told me all I had to do was go out with my friends and bring Cristina along. He told me to make sure we were all drunk and having a good time, and to leave Cristina behind or convince her to leave. All I was supposed to do was make sure she was separated from us.”

  “You didn’t think that was strange? You weren’t concerned about your friend’s safety, leaving her alone with this person who had already threatened to expose your father?”

  “I didn’t think he’d kill her! I just thought he wanted to meet her and ask her out.”

  “Katie, come on. You’re a smart girl. Guys ask girls out all the time. They don’t need to go through this elaborate hoax. They don’t text their friends anonymously and then threaten them with exposing their parents to law enforcement. You had to have some clue this wasn’t normal.”

  They stared at each other for several long minutes. Finally, it was Katie who broke the stalemate. She said coldly, “Sometimes things have to be sacrificed for the greater good.”

  CHAPTER 62

  I had lazed my way through the day, but it was time for real work. After meeting my mother and sister for an early lunch at the Whistling Kettle in downtown Troy, I headed to the Russell Sage College administration office to see if I could find more about Michael Bauer. It was a quick walk from the restaurant, just a few short blocks. I was pleased to see how much the downtown area had been built back up. There were more shops and restaurants that lined the narrow streets than at any time in my recent history. The stately brownstones still looked the same, but it was clear life had sprung back in the city. And with it, the arrival of hipsters.

  I wasn’t such a fan of them with their tight cuffed jeans and unruly beards. They all looked like clones of one another – like they had been dropped from the sky from Brooklyn. Maybe it was the price of progress.

  Lunch had been good. It was nice to catch up with my mother and sister. It was even nicer, that they were both so consumed with their own lives, that neither had pressured me much about my own. For a while, my mother had been focused on when I was going to marry Luke. She asked nearly every time I had called if we were any closer to a marriage proposal. I was closer to being ready. All I had to do was say the word and Luke would propose. He’d been ready for longer than I was even thinking marriage. His fearlessness was one of the things I admired most about him.

  I checked the campus map one more time and realized that I was standing right in front of the building I needed. I pulled open the large wooden door and came face to face with several students on their way out. I stepped out of the way. They all looked so young.

  I navigated through the first floor to the reception area. A woman, probably well into her fifties, sat behind the desk. She was on the phone and held up a finger asking me to wait. I smiled in response. I stood back, feeling a bit awkward. I hadn’t even thought up a reason why I’d be asking about Michael Bauer. I hoped they could direct me to his office if he still worked there.

  The woman finished her call. She stapled papers, slamming the stapler down. “Sorry, it doesn’t always work. You really have to hit it.” She put the papers in a neatly arranged pile of others on the side of her desk. “What can I help you with?”

  I approached. “I need to find information on a professor. Even his office number or phone extension will do. I’m looking for Michael Bauer. He teaches history.”

  “There’s no one here by that name.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She leveled a look at me. “I’ve worked here for nearly twenty years. I know everyone. There’s no Michael Bauer here.”

  “Was there a Michael Bauer? It would have been right around 2000. I’m fairly certain he taught here.”

  “That’s a long time ago, Miss. What do you want with him?”

  “I um,” I stuttered. I exhaled and went with the truth. “I’m an investigator working on a case. I just thought he might have some information to help me.”

  The woman frowned. She turned to her computer and tapped her fingers aggressively against the keys. “I shouldn’t give you this information. But it’s so long ago now I can’t see how it matters.”

  I felt a glimmer of hope. “I really appreciate that. I don’t even know if he has the information I’m looking for, but if he does it could be a huge break for me.” There was no way I was telling this woman the case he was connected to. She’d probably throw me out.

  The woman put on her glasses and looked at the screen. “No,” she said sternly, peering up at me over the rim of her glasses. “Michael Bauer has never been a professor here. It does look like he might have taught a few lectures for the history department. We have no information that can help you.”

  Dejected, I walked out of the building. As my feet hit the sidewalk, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I
turned to find a young woman about my age. She had blonde shoulder-length hair and a bright smile. “I’m Paige. I teach in the history department here. I think I know who you’re talking about.”

  She looked back behind her at the building and turned to me with a concerned look on her face. “Let’s talk someplace else. Can you meet me at the Whistling Kettle in twenty minutes? I want to grab something from my office first.”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  I walked back to the Whistling Kettle. The hostess joked with me that I liked the place so much I was back again. I asked for a table a little farther removed from the rest so Paige and I could have some privacy. At that point, most of the lunch rush was over, so the hostess obliged my request.

  I ordered some tea and waited. When Paige walked in, I stood and waved to her from our table.

  Paige put her bag down next to her and got comfortable. She ordered some tea as well. After the server left, she dug through her bag. “I brought some information that I thought might be of help to you.” Paige handed me a file folder.

  I laid the file in front of me on the table and thumbed through the pages. It contained information about Michael Bauer’s lecture series and some biographical information. There was no photo of him in the file. The information seemed solid. He had his Ph.D. in history with some expertise in the Civil War. He had gone to the University of Virginia. Nothing seemed unusual or out of place to me.

  I looked back at Paige. “Do you happen to have a photo of him or know what he looks like?”

  “No, I wasn’t here then. This is all we had.”

  I closed the folder. “It looks like he was only here at the university in the summer of 2000 into the fall. He had two lecture series running. Is that true?”

  Paige took a sip of her tea. “From what I know he gave a lecture over the summer for faculty and then another to students in late September going into October. There was an older professor here when I started. He was the head of the department. He used to talk about Michael Bauer all the time. He didn’t like Michael; he said he flirted with the female students. Some of the female staff went further and said that Michael made them feel uncomfortable, but no one pinpointed why. Many have wondered if he could have been involved in that girl’s disappearance and murder.”

  I tried to hide the shock on my face. I had thought Michael Bauer was a potential lead, but I hadn’t realized anyone might have suspected him. Jack believed the man at face value. He wasn’t one to make mistakes.

  “Was that gossip or was there proof to anything?”

  “Mostly just gossip, but I remember one of the other professors saying something like Michael had asked him to say he was with him the night the girl went missing. The other professor said that he wouldn’t lie.”

  “Are any of these people still here at the college?”

  “No, the head of the department passed away a few years ago and most people have moved on. The college forbade Michael Bauer from ever coming back to teach. They don’t mess around with the safety of our students.”

  “Do you have any idea where I can find Michael Bauer now?”

  Paige finished the last of her tea. She tucked the folder back in her bag. “Oh yeah, he lives in Troy. He’s from here, I guess. Do you know that old Colonial-looking house on South Lake with the wrought iron fence and horseshoe driveway? That’s his. I assume he still lives in Troy.”

  CHAPTER 63

  I should have waited for Jack, but he was golfing with Frank. It was too cold for golf, but they must have found a place still open this late in the season. The two really hit it off. They promised me they were strategizing while playing the back nine, but I knew they were just enjoying retirement – not that I blamed them. Jack said he’d go with me later and to just wait for him. He cautioned me not to go alone, but I was anxious to talk to Michael.

  I’d driven by this house a million times in my youth. The house was on a well-traveled route and sat far back from the road, high up on a hill. The property was dotted by mature trees and was neatly landscaped. It was marked in front by a horseshoe driveway that remained gravel. It had never been paved over. It was one of those grand houses that you drive by enough that you start to wonder its story and about those living in the place.

  I slowly made my way up the drive, gravel crunching under my tires. There were no cars visible, but maybe there was a garage or something farther back or on the side of the house. I pulled up just shy of the front door, put the car in park and got out, taking in my surroundings. Stones crunched under my shoes, which sounded twice as loud against the eerie quiet. I knocked once and then twice. There was no answer.

  I hesitated only for a moment, deciding if I should have a look around. I shouldn’t but the temptation was too great. I took a quick glance toward the road and then made my way to the side of the house. There were no doors and the few windows were all covered. I walked around to the back. The trees, with their barren branches, were dense. I could hear my heart beating, my anxiety ratcheting up. By the time I reached the back of the house, I was sweating on a chilly fall day. I cursed myself for not waiting for Jack, but I didn’t turn back.

  There was nothing but woods in the back of the house. The yard was smaller than I would have thought, but if the owner cut down some trees, they’d have a bigger space. There was a small patio with tables and chairs and a built-in pool surrounded by wrought iron black fencing. It was closed for the season. Other than that, it was just a dense forest of trees. I looked at the back of the house. All the windows were covered by blinds or drapes. There was nothing that looked abnormal.

  It was when I turned to leave that I caught sight of two windows almost flush with the ground. They were basement windows. Curiosity got the better of me. I crouched low near the windows and took a look. I had to lie on my belly to get up close enough to see through them.

  The windows were dusty and obscured most of the interior from sight. It was also dark. There were no lights on in the basement. From what I could see though, it was a typical basement. The ceiling was low, there were shelves visible and the floor looked like it was dirt. There didn’t seem to be much down there.

  I scanned the shelves and caught sight of what I thought might be a pink mask. The color stood out in the otherwise drab space. The mask had lace and reminded me of the one Luke had said his sister had on the night of Halloween. It sat on the third shelf from the top with other items, an ornate hand mirror and what looked like women’s clothing. It held my attention for a few seconds longer.

  A rustling sound made me jump and drove me to my feet. I stood quickly and turned around to look out between the trees. I didn’t see anything. Dread washed over me. I hightailed it out of there quickly. My phone rang loudly as I was getting into the car. I lowered the volume without even looking to see who it was. Once securely in my car, I locked the door. I took one last look at the house before turning down the driveway.

  As I exited, a car turned up the other side of the driveway. I locked eyes with the driver. Was it Michael? I didn’t stop to ask. I slammed my foot down on the gas as soon as the road was clear. They watched me as I departed.

  I lived close. I could have walked to the house so it only took me a few minutes to make it back home. My hands were shaking as they gripped the steering wheel. Sweat beaded at my hairline.

  It was only once I was in my driveway that I checked to see who had called. It was Jack. I let myself in, and Dusty rushed me as soon as I entered. I scratched him behind the ears as I called Jack. “Sorry I missed you. I’m just getting home.”

  “When I got back from golfing, I went through some of the witness statements again. Shawn Westin’s statement is bothering me. I never could clear him completely. There was that hour window. People saw him at the party late that night, but there is another gap we never accounted for after about two in the morning. Maybe he took Amanda and killed her and then kept her body in his truck. He could go back to the party and then go out in the middle of the night an
d stage the body in the cemetery. It’s possible.”

  “It certainly is, I guess. Where is he now?” The more I knew about the case, the less Shawn Westin felt like the right guy. A date rape gone wrong doesn’t end with a stab through the heart and fingers cut off.

  “He’s here. I thought he would have moved away. He stuck around after university and got a job in some tech company in Albany. Frank did a couple of searches and found him for me. We should pay him a visit.” Jack yelled something to Frank, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  I thought they were just golfing, but it seemed they got some work done after all. “We can do that. He doesn’t feel like the right guy to me anymore but maybe he knows something he didn’t say before.”

  “What time should we pick you up?”

  “Give me about an hour. I need to take care of a few things.”

  Jack ended the call. I went to my bedroom and changed my clothes. My back was still damp with sweat, which made me shiver against the cold fall air. I took a long hot shower and then put on a cozy sweater and jeans. I dried my hair and ran a brush through it. I sat in the chair and opened my laptop and did a search on Michael Bauer. I stumbled across a wealth of information.

  CHAPTER 64

  Cooper and Adele were back at his hotel comparing notes. He had offered to bring his laptop down to the hotel lobby, but Adele asked if he had a table or desk in his room. Cooper did so she suggested they meet there instead. Cooper agreed it was certainly more private.

  Cooper was seated at the desk while Adele took a chair near the window. “What did you think of Professor Marlow?”

  Cooper tried to weigh his words carefully, but then just opted for the truth. “I think he’s covering up something. I have a feeling there were more people than just Hope who suspected the man. At the very least, Michael Hayes was known to be inappropriate with female students.”