The Hidden Grave
A Harriet Harper Thriller - Book 2
Dominika Best
Contents
Prologue
1. Day 1 – Thursday, September 27, 2018
2. Day 1
3. Day 1 - Evening
4. Day 2 – Friday, September 28, 2018
5. Day 2
6. Day 2 – Night
7. Day 2 – Night
8. Day 3 – Saturday, September 29, 2018
9. Day 3
10. Day 3
11. Day 3 - Night
12. Day 3 - Night
13. Day 4 – Sunday, September 30, 2018 - Morning
14. Day 4 - Afternoon
15. Day 4 - Afternoon
16. Day 4 - Night
17. Day 5 – October 1, 2018 - Morning
18. Day 5 - Afternoon
19. Day 6 – October 2, 2018 - Morning
20. Day 6 - Afternoon
21. Day 6 - Afternoon
22. Day 6 - Afternoon
23. Day 6 - Afternoon
24. Day 6 - Afternoon
25. Day 6 – Afternoon
26. Day 6 - Afternoon
27. Day 6 - Afternoon
28. Day 6 - Afternoon
29. Day 6 - Night
30. Day 6 - Night
31. Day 6 - Night
32. Day 6 - Night
33. Day 6 - Night
34. Day 6 - Night
35. Day 6 - Night
36. Day 6 - Night
37. Day 6 - Night
38. Day 6 - Night
39. Day 6 - Night
40. Day 6 - Night
41. Day 10 – October 6, 2018
42. Newsletter List
Also by Dominika Best
Prologue
September 23, 1994
Lauren Harper sighed in happiness when the sign for the Tamolitch Trailhead appeared. The week before had been a busy one with classes, and she was thrilled to be getting out of town.
Tim Ledeyen pulled the Subaru into the graveled parking lot.
“Whoop! We got here in record time,” she said.
Tim had invited her and Stephanie Rogers to come on a weekend camping trip, and Lauren had agreed to it before he even finished asking. Stephanie jumped in on it as well.
They decided to start hiking to the Tamolitch Pool in the Willamette National Forest first, then going onto Koosah and Sahalie Falls before finding a campsite for the night.
Lauren had been to another part of the Willamette National Forest the weekend before and swore she’d be back when she could. And here she was. Thanks to Tim.
She rolled down the window and breathed in deep. The scent of pine and wet, loamy earth hit her nostrils. This air was so different from the Los Angeles air she’d grown up in. The extra oxygen made her both dizzy and hyper.
“Thank you so much for inviting us, Tim,” she said.
“I’m so glad that you said yes,” he said.
Stephanie turned to Lauren from the front passenger seat and grinned. “The stress is almost gone,” she sighed.
“Wait until we start walking,” Tim said. He turned the car off.
Lauren had only been in Oregon for three weeks, and already she’d fallen in love with it. She’d been worried about feeling like she belonged in a place so different from where she’d grown up, but so far it had been surprisingly easy to make friends.
Lauren and Stephanie met in their Psychology 101 class two weeks ago and clicked immediately. Stephanie was from San Diego and loved surfing as much as Lauren did. They became fast friends over the fact that two beach bum girls from Southern California had become landlocked Oregonians when they chose Oregon State.
Tim was also in their Psychology 101 class and was in one of Stephanie's discussion groups. He was a native Oregonian. Having grown up about an hour outside of Eugene in a small town, Tim reminded Lauren of the consummate mountain man. His curly blonde hair reached his shoulders, and he sported a bushy beard. His uniform was a plaid button-down shirt, jeans, and hiking boots. She’d never seen him wear anything else.
They’d had lunch together several times over the last two weeks, and they all got along as if they’d known each other forever. He’d suggested the trip days ago and with all the drama Lauren had going with her dormmate, Jackie, she’d jumped at the chance.
Lauren focused back on the glory of the woods in front of her. Jackie’s crazy would not impede her joy at being back here.
Lauren rolled her window closed and bounded out of her seat. She stretched her calves and made some small jumps. Feeling the burn of activity in her body, she stretched her arms high into the air and breathed in deep.
This day would be glorious.
They’d driven for close to two hours and apparently, everyone else was stiff, too. Tim and Stephanie did their own version of stretches as Lauren surveyed the small parking lot. It was more of a dirt patch really, with five other cars parked haphazardly around them.
Not as busy as she’d expected from reading about how popular the Tamolitch Pool was. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet though, and Lauren preferred fewer people anyway.
“Are you going to tell me what happened with Jackie?” Stephanie asked as Lauren leaned into the back seat and grabbed her backpack.
“I don't know if I want to get into that right now,” Lauren said.
“Jackie is your roommate, right?” Tim asked.
“Yes,” Lauren said and slung her backpack on her shoulders. Her friends were waiting expectantly for her reply. Lauren shrugged, answering. “She's really upset with me that I walked in on her and her boyfriend having sex a couple of nights ago. She wasn’t even supposed to be home. It was an honest mistake.”
“Doesn't seem like something anyone should be so upset about,” Tim remarked.
“I might've been a little tipsy and left the door open longer than I should have. I was shocked to see them, honestly. I guess her boyfriend really bit into her about it. Per usual girl crap, she’s taking it out on me,” Lauren said.
Anger flashed at the memory of Jackie yelling at her the day before. Lauren had struggled not to roll her eyes at her shrieking dormmate. She had found the whole episode ridiculous and overdramatic. When she told Jackie that and mentioned her boyfriend was uptight, Jackie hadn’t taken it well.
“That’s lame. And it’s even worse that you have to live in a tiny eight by eight room with her,” Stephanie said.
“I’m so glad I'm gone this weekend. I'm hoping she’ll have some space to cool down,” Lauren said as Tim locked the car.
He led them towards the entrance to the trailhead.
They’d walked for close to five minutes when Lauren and Stephanie found Tim’s pace much faster than their own. He kept walking ahead a decent distance and then having to stop.
“You can go on ahead. We’ll catch up,” Lauren called after him.
He waved as his body lost much of its tension. He sped up and the distance grew between him and the girls.
“I hope he’s not planning to race the entire time,” Stephanie said.
Lauren shrugged. “It’s his hike too, I guess.”
“I don’t want to pick up the pace,” Stephanie said.
“Neither do I,” Lauren said.
“Perfect. I hoped you’d say that.”
Lauren smiled and tilted her face to the sun dappling through the tall Douglas Firs. The pine needles crunched under their feet. The birds chirped in the distance. Small animals scuttled about in the undergrowth searching for their breakfasts.
Lauren put her hand on her stomach as it rumbled at the thought of breakfast. She should
have eaten more than a handful of almonds this morning.
She pulled her backpack around to her front and stuck her hand in to find her water bottle. She rummaged around and frowned.
“Oh crap. I left my water bottle in the backseat,” she said.
“That’s not going to work,” Stephanie said.
“No, it’s not.” Lauren stopped walking. “Hey, Tim!” she called out.
Tim stopped his forward march and turned back around. The look on his face told Lauren he hadn’t realized how far ahead he’d gotten.
“I forgot my water bottle in the car.”
Tim briskly walked back to them and his face showed annoyance. But Lauren wasn’t walking miles without water.
“We've only been walking about ten minutes. I can run back and get it in half the time, I swear.”
“You’re going to run?” Tim asked, somewhat dubiously.
“I’ll sprint.” Lauren flashed him her best smile.
He finally smiled back. “I’m going to hold you to that,” Tim said.
Lauren took off her backpack and threw it at his feet. “I’ll run faster without it. Be back in a flash,” she said.
Tim pulled the keys out of his pocket and handed them to her.
“You aren’t going to leave us stranded here, right?” Stephanie asked.
“I would never,” Lauren said and winked.
She whipped around and sprinted away from her friends. Her legs pumped beneath her as she flew down the path, enjoying the stretching of her muscles and the wind in her face. She kept up that pace the entire way back and found herself in the parking lot way faster than she’d expected.
Only two vehicles remained in the lot. Tim’s Subaru and a white-paneled van parked several spaces away.
Who in the world would drive a paneled van to a hiking trail?
Unease slithered around her stomach. Unfortunately, the van was on the side of Tim’s car she needed to get to.
You’re being ridiculous, she thought. There’s no one here.
The van standing empty bolstered her own argument.
She wished there were other cars in the lot. They’d only been gone fifteen minutes and Lauren found it odd the cars she’d seen in the parking lot when they arrived had already driven off. There had to be another trail nearby that used the parking lot as well.
She stepped forward and decided to use the driver’s side to look for her water. She wouldn’t go near the van.
She raised her hand to click the door open when she heard footsteps behind her coming from the trail she’d just left.
Goosebumps spread up her arms as she froze.
“I need your help,” a child’s voice said from behind her.
Lauren frowned. Her unease grew and a lump formed in her throat.
A child lost in the woods. Was that even possible?
She glanced over at the van. It stood silent.
Everything in her suddenly burned with the desire to run. Get the hell out of here. It’s a trap. Something’s wrong.
Instead, she turned around.
“Are you lost?”
1
Day 1 – Thursday, September 27, 2018
Detective Harriet Harper leaned back in the passenger seat of the rental car and closed her eyes. The strong sense of deja vu made her head spin. She was back again and hoped this time, the results would be different. Her sister, Lauren Harper, was still missing. Harri had come to Oregon every year to find Lauren’s remains and she’d failed every time.
Harri and Jake Tepesky had picked up the rental car from the Portland Airport and were headed to their first destination. She’d programmed an address into her phone.
At least on this trip, Jake Tepesky, her sister’s best friend in high school, was with Harri. He had been an FBI profiler for the last fifteen years, and she hoped his expertise might finally shake the truth loose. A tall order, she knew, because Lauren had been missing since 1994.
Harri was no slouch with cold cases. Her work with the Cold Case Unit in the Los Angeles Police Department regularly had her searching for killers who’d gotten away with murder years before.
This time would be different, she thought hopefully.
“You ready?” Jake asked.
Harri checked the back seat to make sure she’d grabbed all her luggage. “I’m all set. Thanks again for driving.”
“I’m glad I can help. I know it’s been quite the few weeks for you.”
“Sorry we didn’t get to meet over Lauren’s case notes,” she said.
Harri hadn't seen Jake Tepesky much in the last two weeks. The Creek Killer case she’d been on had overwhelmed her with its endless intra-agency meetings between the FBI, LAPD, and the Imperial Valley Sheriff's Department. She and Jake had become reacquainted through another FBI profiler on the Creek Killer case and had reconnected over Lauren’s disappearance.
She’d done her best to keep pace of all the new developments on one of the biggest serial killer cases in Los Angeles in recent years, but the various agencies would be out there for months cataloging the evidence left behind and exhuming the numerous victims.
The count stood at ten last she’d heard. At least a number of missing person cases would be closed. The killer had left behind driver’s licenses of some of his victims, which prompted the renewed search on the property.
Harri wished she could get that kind of closure for her sister, Lauren. She had disappeared without a trace on a hike to the Tamolitch Falls over twenty-five years ago. This weekend was the anniversary of her disappearance.
She pressed her hand as sudden pain flared in her chest. She never felt well coming up here. Harri stared out the window at the beautiful scenery of the changing colors of the fall season, a cacophony of oranges, yellows, and reds.
“I went through the case files three times.” Jake interrupted her thoughts.
“And?” she asked.
“You’re a very thorough investigator,” Jake said.
Harri gave him a small smile. For all her investigating skills, she had exhausted every single lead and had come up with nada. Nothing.
“Did you find anything that I missed?” she asked.
“There wasn't much. Lauren had been at school for only three weeks and no one knew her very well. She hadn't had time to make any close friends. You thoroughly researched her roommate, Jacqueline Strauss, and the boyfriend, Charlie Burke. You tracked down the alibis. They were solid.”
“I exhausted those leads. Charlie Burke played soccer the afternoon Lauren went missing. About twenty-five players swore he was on the field. Jackie pledged her sorority and thirty girls accounted for her movement.”
“I don’t think it was anyone she knew.”
“You’re thinking stranger abduction?”
“More like crime of opportunity.”
“I came to a similar realization. That’s why it’s been so hard to track down,” Harri said.
“They tend to be. The kidnappers always slip up somewhere, though. We have to find where.”
“Do you think I’m wrong about the burial site?” Harri asked. She’d asked a non-profit group of scientists trained to search for hidden graves to join them this time. It had taken Harri years to set up since she didn’t have specific proof that her sister was buried in the same place as she disappeared.
“Where do we go first?” Jake asked.
“I always start with Tim Ledeyen. We’ve become friends over the years. He lets me know about similar cases that crop up in the city. And there’s always the hope he’ll remember something else from that day.”
“How does he feel about being your first stop?” Jake asked.
Harri flushed.
The last few years she'd come up, Tim had been less than happy to see her. He’d barely known Lauren, but he’d joined Harri’s search for her sister the first five years she’d come up. Recently, Harri had felt a certain coldness from Tim when they’d met. She believed Tim wanted to get on with his life. He’d moved on.
She could never do that. She needed to bring her sister's body home. Harri had no doubt that Lauren died all those years ago. It was a matter of finding her remains now and trying to piece together what happened back then.
“We’re driving to Tim Ledeyen’s now or to the bed and breakfast?” Jake asked.
“Tim’s, unless you wanted to stop somewhere for a pee or coffee, or something.”
“No, I’m good,” Jake said and grinned. His handsome face lit up with a smile.
The morning sun created a halo around his face, and Harri’s stomach suddenly did a couple of unwanted flip flops. Jake had been her sister’s best friend in high school. They were here to find Lauren. There was no time for this nonsense, she thought. They’d enjoyed an intimate dinner together some weeks back, and Harri thought some spark was ignited for a second. Looking back at it now she was convinced it was in her imagination.
Harri hadn’t slept in weeks and this trip always did strange things to her moods and her levelheadedness. Oregon was a fever dream every time she came up here.
“I booked us rooms at the Daniels Inn off the McKenzie Highway, Route 126. Tim Ledeyen’s house is a few miles outside of Eugene. He’s on our way to the Inn.”
“Great, and the scientists? Where are we meeting them?”
“The pig team is also staying at the Daniels Inn.”
“I thought they were called NecroFind?” Jake asked. “Although the pig team is more descriptive. Why are they called that?”
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