What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 4)

by Selena Kitt

“Good for me.” He smiled broadly.

  She flushed charmingly and laughed. “That’s nice of you.”

  Another of their SUVs drove up. “Looks like Bruce.”

  Dr. Mike came over to join them at the door. “Oh no, Tony is with him.” He glanced back at the body Jade had been working on. With his voice lowered almost to a whisper, he asked, “Are you finished with that one?”

  She shook her head. “Not really. Could use another half hour, maybe even an hour.” She waffled as she considered the work left. “Do you want me to pack it up unfinished or finish it while Bruce and Tony go to the gravesite?”

  He brightened.

  Meg suggested, “Let’s process it together quickly.”

  They didn’t waste any more time, but raced back to the end of the trailer and started work.

  Dane pursed his lips and watched with interest. He caught Dr. Mike’s look. Dr. Mike grinned and said, “He’s the boss. Thinks things should be going faster and not cost so much.”

  “Right. That sounds familiar.” And it did. Dane knew many clients that were constantly watching that bottom line – even to the detriment of a project. He turned to watch the men get out of the SUV.

  Bruce had a weary patience surrounding him, as if he’d heard everything more times than he wanted to and still didn’t like the end result.

  “Hi, Bruce.” Dane walked over to see the men. He figured the women needed some extra time to finish off whatever they were working on. He smiled at Bruce. “Don’t you look a little on the tired side… Heat getting to you?”

  “Just a little. How are things with you, Dane? Business good?”

  “Business will always be good here.” With a casual friendliness, he added, “Just lacking the funding to do what needs to be done right.”

  Bruce rolled his eyes. “I hear you on that one.”

  Tony walked around the SUV to stand beside Bruce. He held a thick folder, clipboard and pen in his hands. The moneyman. Talk about a cliché. Dane could have picked him out of a crowd. He smiled politely. “Hello, welcome to Haiti.”

  Bruce introduced them. “This is Tony. Tony, this is Dane Carver. He helped us in the beginning with the loader.”

  Tony’s face thinned. “Right. Pretty expensive day rates too.”

  So not. Dane was in business here. He’d pulled the equipment off another job to give them a start here. He wasn’t going to listen to this crap. Dane smiled grimly. “Feel free to find someone else. If you can. Equipment is scarce right now.”

  Bruce interrupted hurriedly. “Sorry, Dane. We certainly appreciated your help. Tony doesn’t understand some of the costs related to this business.”

  Tony’s glare was hot and lethal. “I’ve been doing this job for a long time, thank you,” he said stiffly. “Now maybe, we could start with a look at the gravesite itself. If I could put that into perspective, I’d understand the need for machinery in the first place.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Honestly, Bruce should have taken him there on the first day. If Tony had no idea what size of a grave they were talking about, then of course he didn’t understand the need for heavy equipment. “I’ll walk up with you. I want to check on the progress.”

  Bruce led the way. Dane looked back once to see Dr. Mike still standing in the open doorway. Dane lifted a hand. Dr. Mike grinned and waved happily. Someone else was happy to see them leaving.

  Around the corner, Dane stepped up to walk beside Bruce in time to hear Tony catch his breath.

  “A little different than you expected?” He studied Tony’s face intently. Shock, horror even – and maybe, an understanding of the enormity of the problem.

  “This is full of bodies?” He gulped. “It’s huge.” He lifted a shaking hand and rubbed a handkerchief across his forehead. “Good God, how many bodies are we talking here?”

  “We’re not sure exactly. We’ve brought out close to forty already but there could be a hundred more… or only ten more.”

  “Now you see why we need a storage solution. Either more refrigerator trucks or another location in town and a truck to haul things back and forth.”

  Tony stood and stared. He wiped his forehead. “I had no idea.” He brought out a camera from his pocket and quickly snapped off a couple of pictures. “This will be something to show my client at least. The first set of photos didn’t capture the scope of this site.”

  “Is he having second thoughts about the cost?” asked Bruce curiously.

  Dane turned his attention from the gravesite where the two young men were working, to the conversation at his side.

  Tony shook his head, vehemently. “No. He’s growing impatient. Everything is underway, yet he still doesn’t have his family home. We’ve found several possibilities, but have to wait for the DNA results.”

  With his hands on his hips, Bruce studied Tony’s face. “We did say it would take months for us to get the bodies tested and confirmed.”

  “He knows that.” Tony stuffed his camera away in his bag and brought out his clipboard. “Obviously heavy equipment was necessary to get started and I can see that might be required again – even if only to refill this space. Okay so that’s no problem. I guess I’d better see the labs as well.”

  A much brighter looking Bruce led Tony back down the path. He winked at Dane as he walked past.

  Stephen walked over. “Now that they are leaving, it’s safe to come over and say ‘hi.’”

  Dane motioned to the retreating men. “No one likes him, huh?”

  Stephen snickered. “Nah. Tony’s probably all right, just caught in the middle.”

  “True enough.” Dane watched the others navigate the rocky path down to the lab trailers. “Speaking of which, did Bruce get security in for overnight?”

  “Nah. Tony vetoed it.”

  Dane said good-bye hurriedly and raced back down the slopes. Security was mandatory.

  They were too open here, too alone. Someone had to keep an eye on the place – and on Jade when he couldn’t.

  Jade focused on getting these poor women finished and out of the way. The light in the trailer was poor at the best of times. Urgency made her fingers thick and her actions awkward. She swore several times under her breath.

  Meg wasn’t faring any better.

  Finally, Jade stopped and stared at her. “Is she done?”

  “Even if she weren’t, I’d say let’s get her back to the reefer, and now.”

  Of like mind they raced through the last steps and this time, Jade took off the paper sheet that she’d placed under the skeleton while Meg processed it, just in case any evidence had dropped off. She started to fold it carefully, then realized they’d missed a hair. Pointing it out to Meg, she used tweezers to retrieve it and bag it. For the moment, the little bag was tucked inside the body bag and it was zipped closed.

  Both of them breathed a sigh of relief when the woman was secure again – from prying eyes and from Tony whose voice they could hear coming their way.

  “Let’s get her moved over.” Meg shifted the bag slightly to sit better on their portable stretcher. “Out of sight and all that.” Throwing her chart and white marker on top, Jade grabbed the other end and headed for the door.

  Dr. Mike glanced from them to the bag and to the end of the room – relief bloomed across his face. “Thanks,” he whispered.

  Bruce’s voice boomed outside the trailer. “This is the lab trailer. In here we’re processing the remains.” There was a pause in the sounds of heavy boots climbing the stairs.

  “Damn it,” Jade whispered. They’d almost made it out. Still could actually. “Watch out. We’re coming out with a stretcher,” she called out loudly.

  “Thanks for the warning,” Bruce called back and everyone backed down from the small porch as Jade came around the corner. In a simple maneuver that they’d perfected with practice, Jade made it onto the porch with Meg bringing up the rear. Smiling politely at the three men standing and waiting, Jade said, “Thanks, gentlemen.”

&n
bsp; They walked over to the reefer truck. She rested her end of the stretcher on the steps and moved to open the door.

  Dane raced over. “Let me grab the door.”

  She grinned. “We’ve done this many times so it’s not like we can’t, but a helping hand is always welcome.” Jade picked up the end of the stretcher again and waited for Dane to open the door and move out of the way.

  “Thanks, Dane.” Meg smiled as she walked up the stairs behind Jade.

  Once inside, they moved the skeleton to the far end of the room and put her crosswise on the shelf. “Whew.” Jade looked back to the door where Dane peered in at them. “Glad we made it this far?”

  “As much as I’d love to hide away in here…” Meg handed her the white marker and chart. “I’d better go out and speak with the bosses. Do your magic, then join us.”

  “Yeah, I’m thrilled.” Jade watched Meg walk out and stop to speak with Dane. Then she disappeared around the corner of the trailer. Popping the top off the marker, Jade marked the bag as per her system and added a small series of interconnecting loops. Chains.

  She straightened. There was no need to take another skeleton over. Dr. Mike probably had enough to work on this afternoon.

  Jade walked to the open door and closed it, checking the temperature as she did so.

  “Everything all right in there?” asked Dane curiously. “You were a long time.”

  “I had to mark the bag with her chart ID.” She smiled at him. “Are you taking the afternoon off? We don’t get to see you often at this hour.”

  He snorted. “I wish. I’m on the way to the site right now. I actually hoped that maybe I could convince you to go out for dinner with me this weekend.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. It was all she could do to stop her jaw from dropping. She stopped halfway down the stairs and stared at him.

  His laughter rolled out easily. “Sorry, I’ve caught you off guard. So does that mean ‘no’?”

  She shook her head, laughing self-consciously. “My reaction is not a reflection on you. It’s a reflection on me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been asked out.”

  “Then it’s not a ‘no’?” He tilted his head and studied her.

  She flushed. “No, it’s not a ‘no.’ It’s a ‘yes.’” Crap. She was handling this badly. She tried again. “Thank you Dane, I’d love to go out for dinner with you.” She smirked. “Is that better? I’m a little rusty.”

  He grinned. “Much better, thanks. So Saturday or Friday? Don’t know what your schedule is like.”

  “Hmmm. My personal life is just so full now. Not. Either works but maybe Friday is better. There’s talk of a hike on Saturday and I have no idea when we’d make it back to the hotel.” She winced comically. “Or what shape I might be in afterwards.”

  “Any idea where you’re going?”

  “No. Dr. Mike mentioned a couple of ideas he wanted to check out further. I personally would love to spend some time out on the water.”

  “I know a couple of tour operators that work out of Port-au-Prince. However, I’d have to ask around for local ones.” As they walked toward the lab trailer Dane added, “We’ll figure it out. We’re going to be here for a few months so there’s time to work in a few trips.”

  “I might also stay a little longer after this job is done. Several other team members have mentioned doing the same.”

  Dane’s phone beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket, checked the text and sighed. “Back to work I go. Friday at seven if that works for you?”

  “Sounds good. Thanks.” She watched him stride to the truck, hop in and take off. Dane left a cloud of dust in his wake. Wafting her hand in front of her face, she walked over to the lab trailer.

  “We’re not sightseeing on the job are we?” Tony stood at the porch watching her. “I’d hate to have to remind anyone that you are all here to work and not just to set up your social life.”

  She rounded on him. “I highly doubt anyone here is under any misunderstanding as to why we’re here.” She wanted to say something cutting but Bruce’s worried face behind Tony, stopped her.

  Tony loved power and control. She had no axe to grind with him. He’d given her the chance to come back and face her demons. Although they weren’t exactly gone, she was triumphing over them.

  She owed him. She’d never cheated a boss before and she wasn’t about to start now. “Bruce, if you’re done in there, I’ll pack up the charts and head back to the office to start on the paperwork.”

  He nodded. “That’s fine. I know you stayed late here to finish up, thanks.”

  She shrugged it off. “Not a problem. Whatever works to get the job done, right?” She brushed past the two men, wishing the small deck were four times larger. There were too many people here now. She packed up her stuff and grabbed the charts before saying good-bye to Meg and Dr. Mike.

  Outside, she hopped into the SUV she’d driven to work, and left. Without saying another word.

  As she pulled away, she noticed Tony was writing notes on his chart. Brownie points or demerit points? She hadn’t been joking. Whatever worked for the team and the job, worked for her. Still, she wanted to see this job through to the end and if he wanted to, Tony had the ability to prevent that.

  She couldn’t wait for the week to be over at this rate. Friday. That put a smile on her face. Wait until she told Duncan. He’d be worried and delighted. A real date. Wow.

  The greasy cabin window wouldn’t let any light in again. Old Peppe had used his sleeve on the glass yesterday to try and wipe it so he could look out. He looked around for the binoculars he knew were around here somewhere.

  He could see movement through the trees – barely. There were so many people on the site today. Why? What had they found? Surely nothing too important. He’d watched as they’d thrown body after body into that grave originally. Nasty business that. He’d wanted to help, but not being strong any longer, and with his mind wandering the way it did, no one trusted him with anything. In fact, no one even came and talked to him anymore.

  He was a prisoner in his own home. Dependent on his son for food. His daughter…well he hadn’t even seen her hardly since the quake.

  He missed his old life. The brief glimpses of better days. His wife’s death had devastated him. He didn’t even remember how long ago that had been. Tasha had been a teenager then, Emile not much older. He couldn’t function on his own for a long time after she died. His kids had suffered and he was sorry for that. He loved them. He didn’t understand why they hated him so much now.

  He sighed and rubbed his beard. He hated the damn thing and when he could he took scissors to it. Speaking of cutting it, he grabbed up the dinner knife beside him and started sawing away. He threw the chunks of hair on the floor. His daughter should be coming to clean soon. At least he thought she would be. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her sweep the floor, but in the back of his mind he could see her with a broom. So she must have. She needed to come soon.

  Damn useless child.

  He’d taught her better than that. Hadn’t he? Surely he had. He’d give her ‘what for’ the next time he saw her. And that damn useless son of his. How about he come and swing a broom?

  Then again, he himself had never been lazy. He could manage a damn broom himself.

  He stood and walked to the doorway where the broom should be, and opened the door. He couldn’t find a broom; at least he didn’t see one. Damn kids. What had they done with it?

  He shuffled outside and sniffed the air. Something strong assailed his nose so he turned back to the house – and wrinkled his nose. That smell was coming from inside? Horrible. He’d really have to say something when someone showed up. Damn, he was hungry.

  He left the door open and wandered back into the small kitchen to check for what there was to eat. Stale and crusty pasta and peanut butter. At least that’s what he thought it was. Opening the jar he sniffed the contents and almost heaved. He tossed the jar in the garbage, watching as it hit
the closed garbage can lid and bounced to the floor. The garbage was too full. It needed to go out.

  He headed back to the front door, frustrated by his life. He needed them to come. And now. There was his cane, leaning against the front door. He’d been looking for it for a while now.

  Figured one of them had taken it.

  “Hey Dad.”

  Finally. Someone. He stared at the face so familiar and yet so strange. “Do I know you?”

  “Yes, I’m your son, Emile.” The overly exaggerated patience in the voice pissed Peppe off.

  “Says who? I wasn’t born yesterday. How do I know you’re my son?” He tottered forward. “Why does this place stink so bad? It’s worse than the dump.”

  “This place has turned into a dump. Dad, you need to go change your pants.”

  “What’s wrong with them? My wife got these for me. Who do you think you are?”

  The young man rubbed a weary hand over his face. “I can’t do this anymore. You don’t even know us. So you won’t miss us, will you?” He looked around at the mess on the floor and the tiny kitchen. “We’ll have to burn this place after you’re gone.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. If you can’t keep this place clean, then go get one of those women and have her do it.” He muttered to himself. “Your mother would die if she saw this mess.”

  “She’s dead, remember? From cancer. Made Tasha and I promise to look after you.”

  “Well, you haven’t, have you? Look at this place. Where’s Tasha? She should be here taking care of me. The least you could do is bring me a damn broom so I can sweep if you’re too lazy to do so.”

  “Right. Tasha is in a bad way. She can’t come. And as for your request for a broom, as you are leaning on it right now, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

  “I am not. Don’t you try to make out like I’m crazy?” he screamed. “I will not tolerate that kind of disrespect in my own home. Do you hear me?”

  “Absolutely. So you don’t want this rice and chicken then huh? Cause if you’re going to start your screaming fits again, I’m not going to leave them. In fact, I’ll just walk away and hope you’re not breathing by the time I check back in. Got it?”