by Hadena James
“How so?”
“You are about to go out in public wearing a bathing suit. And while it isn’t a big public, there are four people that you are not very comfortable with out there. If you want, you can hide behind me or use my shirt until you decide to get into the pool.”
I thought about that. Swimming. I hadn’t been swimming in years. Now, I had the opportunity. Gabriel’s house had a privacy fence on three sides. He had taken down the one that separated our yards to allow me use of his pool or patio furniture whenever I had the urge. I hadn’t had it until now.
As a child, I had loved to swim. The lapping of the water, the weightless feeling of my body all sent little shockwaves of memory through me. The desire to swim was almost unbearable. I turned and looked at Lucas. He didn’t blink, he didn’t make a comment on the scars, but he had seen them dozens of times before.
“How is it that a sociopath can have body image issues?” He asked.
“I just got tired of people asking about the scars. Eventually, they became an issue,” I shrugged at him.
“You are so not normal even for a sociopath. I haven’t a clue what you are Aislinn Cain, but it is something mind boggling,” Lucas was pulling his shirt over his head.
“You will go out there topless, for me?” I asked.
“Of course,” he handed me the shirt.
“You are a true gentleman, Lucas McMichaels and never let anyone tell you different,” I smiled at the larger man. “You are practically a knight in shining armor.”
“Don’t let the secret out, I have a reputation to protect,” he winked at me.
“As what? The world’s largest teddy bear?”
“People think I’m scary because I’m so tall and wide and I have this voice that sounds gruff.”
“I don’t think you’re scary,” I said.
“Did the two of you run away and elope?” Trevor’s voice came to us.
“In here,” Lucas said.
“Wow!” Trevor’s eyes lit up as he looked at me, holding Lucas’s shirt. “You look beautiful. I knew that color green would be gorgeous on your skin tone. It isn’t distastefully small either. Lucas and I had a row about that. He was worried that certain female parts would overflow, but they don’t. I told him you’d look good. Are you covering it up?” His face suddenly fell.
“Just until I get comfortable enough to get into the water. I haven’t been swimming since I was a kid and I wore a large t-shirt over a one-piece suit even then.”
“Girl, you got it, flaunt it,” Trevor said.
“Not everyone appreciates me the way you do,” I said.
“That’s because they are crazy,” Trevor said. “We think you are beautiful.”
“Yes, we do,” Lucas agreed.
“Stop stroking my ego, I’m going swimming, I’ve made up my mind,” I answered.
“It isn’t ego stroking, it’s just a reminder,” Trevor said. “If people can’t appreciate you, to hell with them.”
I smiled at Trevor and handed Lucas’s t-shirt back to him.
Nyleena gasped when I walked out the patio door and onto the concrete. It wasn’t the scars. It was the fact that I was wearing a bathing suit. She suddenly beamed at me, then at the two men with me. She slipped out her shorts, revealing sparkly purple bottoms that matched the bikini top. Her flip flops got kicked under the table and within a few steps, she was on the diving board, and then slipping gracefully into the water. She surfaced, laughed as she wiped water off her face and held a hand out to me.
To anyone else, it might have looked like lovers’ calling to each other. To me and Nyleena and most likely everyone that worked with me, it was a call for reclamation. If I could do this, let loose and go swimming, it would be another part of my life resurrected.
Hesitantly, I walked over to the side of the pool. Nyleena was still smiling at me. She splashed around a little, moving further away, deeper into the water.
“Come on Ace!” Michael suddenly shouted. This brought laughs from my team members and Trevor. The importance of the moment was not lost on them.
Eyes closed, I took a deep breath, and dove into the water. I surfaced to more cheers and suddenly, the pool was becoming crowded, as my friends dove into the water around me.
“You look good,” Gabriel whispered.
“You had better not be hitting on me,” I whispered back.
“I meant relaxed, it’s a good look on you. The bathing suit isn’t bad either though,” he gave me a big grin and swam over to Xavier. He stood behind him for a moment, then dunked him. They both laughed. Nyleena came over to me.
“How do you feel?” She asked.
“A little like a freak,” I admitted. “But it’s not bad.”
“You aren’t a freak,” she looked at me and before I knew it, she pushed me under the water.
Three
Despite my daily exercise routine, my body hurt in places that it hadn’t hurt for ages. The swimming adventures from the night before had been glorious and obviously required muscles to be used in ways they hadn’t been for some time. I had come home, changed out of my wet suit and thrown myself into bed. I’d slept like the dead.
Now, I puttered around my kitchen, pretending to look for something for breakfast. I didn’t know why I was pretending. I knew I was going to end up with a bowl of cereal, but the quest seemed to have meaning in itself.
I poured milk over Raisin Bran and sat down to enjoy it. My cell phone vibrated. Gabriel’s name popped up on the caller ID. I let it go to voicemail. I didn’t need a recap of the evening’s events.
As I sat at the table, I saw Gabriel come out into the backyard. He held his cell phone out to me. I sighed and answered my phone.
“I’m eating,” I answered without a hello.
“Well, eat faster, we’ve got a case,” he said.
“Where?”
“Death Valley.”
“I’ll pack extra zinc oxide,” I hung up, drained my bowl of cereal like it was a glass and headed upstairs. My bags were already packed. I started pulling things out of them. They were not packed for Death Valley. My doorbell rang. It rang a second time and I heard the front door open.
“Ace!” Trevor’s voice came to me.
“I’m packing,” I answered.
“Don’t bother,” Trevor reached the bedroom and handed me two small bags. “One has tank tops and jeans, the other has long sleeve shirts and I bought this.”
He handed me a wide brimmed floppy black hat. The material was tightly woven. I couldn’t see through it, meaning the sun couldn’t burn my scalp or anywhere else hidden by the brim.
“Thanks,” I took both bags.
“There’s also sunscreen, zinc oxide, and gloves in the bag with the long sleeves,” Trevor answered.
“Gloves?”
“Cotton gloves help keep from getting sunburned on your hands.”
“I had thought of everything else.” I probably wouldn’t get to use the cotton gloves. I would be in sticky, sweaty nitrile gloves for the duration of my time in the desert. “How long have you known?”
“About an hour,” Trevor answered.
“How’d you get all this bought in an hour?”
“Honey, I have a closet dedicated to you in my place. Stuff I only hope I’ll get you to wear at some point. The rest of it is from laundry that you needed to have done, but didn’t get around to it. And a girl should really own more than three pairs of jeans. So I bought extras a while ago, but with it being summer, I wasn’t going to give them to you yet. However, you’ll need them in the desert.”
“If you weren’t a shopaholic, you wouldn’t need a closet dedicated for my stuff. And, I’m extremely glad you do all the laundry that comes out of the closet or most of it would mold in the clothes hampers. Do you know much about Death Valley?” I asked.
“Only that sun poisoning can occur after only a few minutes on particularly bad days. I’ve taken some stuff over to Gabriel and Michael. Gabriel’s fair compl
exion will burn quick and easy. Michael’s skin has never seen the sun. I imagine he’ll burn easy too. Sunscreen everywhere, even places you don’t think will get sun. Then long sleeves, the hat, the gloves, wear your hiking boots and thick socks. You’ll be hot, so drink often and in huge quantities.”
“Where’d you get your desert survivalist training?” I asked, wondering about Trevor’s background. Like everyone else, Trevor had secrets and I had a feeling some were just as dark as my own.
“One picks up knowledge wherever they go, as long as they pay attention,” Trevor avoided answering my question and ended the inquiry with the same comment. I knew not to press, he’d tell me when he wanted to, if that day ever arrived, I’d get the answer. If it didn’t, I’d ponder on it for the rest of my life.
“Thanks Trevor,” I looked through one of the bags.
“And when you are in a place protected from the sun, remove the protective clothing and check spots to make sure you aren’t burning and that you are still sweating.”
“Got it!” I shouted as I headed downstairs.
“Can’t believe you took the bags,” Lucas said as I entered the street. He was standing next to Gabriel’s federal issue SUV.
“He packed well, it would have been rude to turn him down.” I stuck the floppy hat on.
“Someone’s prepared,” Xavier smiled, coming out of his house. Trevor had joined us in the street. He was wearing a bright blue fuzzy bathrobe, slippers that matched and peeking out of the top, I could see a crimson undershirt. Trevor was flamboyant at all times. It was part of his charm.
Trevor handed a bag to Xavier.
“What’s this?” Xavier asked.
“Necessities,” Trevor answered. “I didn’t pack you any zinc oxide, I knew you had some, but I wasn’t sure about other things, like sunscreen. For as long as I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you put on sunscreen. There’s also things like extra sunglasses, gloves to protect your hands, and darkener to put on your cheeks to help with glare.”
“Thanks,” Xavier took the small travel pouch.
“Everyone ready?” Gabriel asked.
“I’m guessing this is the case I mentioned yesterday?” I asked.
“Yep, so climb in, Aislinn Cain, we’ve won a trip to Death Valley and the Racetrack Playa,” Gabriel smiled and started the engine. “Thanks to Malachi’s mouth, I had Trevor prepare for the desert a little ahead of schedule.”
“How do you know it was Malachi?” I asked.
“It wasn’t?” Gabriel gave me a look.
“I always wanted to see the Racetrack,” I said wistfully, pointedly ignoring Gabriel’s question, and climbed into the back between Michael and Lucas.
“Why?” Michael asked.
“The Sailing Stones,” I answered. “The Racetrack got its name because rocks move along the surface. They think it is because of rain and wind, but no one has actually seen it happen.”
“Yeah, the scientists that were studying the Sailing Stones found the corpses,” Gabriel pulled away from the curb. We headed to the airport.
“What do you mean, ‘found the corpses?’” Xavier asked.
“I mean, you are going to have a field day,” Gabriel glanced at Xavier. “They have all been mummified. The coroner isn’t sure if it is a result of the desert or if they were that way when they were dumped.”
“Death Valley is a good place to mummify a body,” Xavier answered.
“Mummies?” I leaned forward.
“Yes, mummies,” Gabriel answered.
“Wouldn’t that require something else?” I asked.
“Not necessarily,” Xavier answered. “Death Valley is the hottest, driest place in North America. It’s theoretically very easy for the desert there to create natural mummies. Of course, there could be other causes, preservatives and things and then the dumping of the bodies in the desert. I won’t know until we get there.”
“Why did they call us?” I asked.
“Because of the number of mummies,” Gabriel answered. “How much do you know?”
“They found about thirty bodies in Death Valley with no real explanation of how they got there or how they died,” I answered.
“Malachi’s right, we don’t know why they’re there, but they found over thirty of them, that makes it suspicious. It might be that a cult committed mass suicide, but that seems unlikely. More probable, someone has been using the area around the playa as a victim dump and the last rain washed them into the playa,” Gabriel answered.
“At the moment, we don’t have an official case file. This is mostly an investigative trip. If we go in and say ‘serial killer’, we stay. If we don’t, we come home,” Michael said.
He handed me an iPad. I looked at the picture on the screen. The skin had leathered, hair clung to the skull in patches; it was white. The bodies looked contorted, twisted into unnatural positions. I passed it to Xavier.
As we arrived at the airport, he passed it to Lucas. Lucas began swiping his finger across the screen as soon as we were in our seats. I guessed there were more pictures.
“There’s a myriad of victims,” Lucas said handing it back to me. I did the same thing; moving my finger across the screen, the picture changed. I was now staring at what appeared to be a male. However, it was a guess based on the fact that he had no hair on his head.
“Hard to do a victimology from that,” I said as I handed the iPad back to Michael.
“That’s why we were called in,” Gabriel said. “The victims seem to range from young to old, male and female, different stages of mummification.”
“Some were either left in the desert longer than others or they were mummified somewhere else,” Xavier said.
“That’s what we are supposed to determine,” Gabriel answered.
“I want to warn everyone about the conditions we’re going to encounter. Death Valley is sweltering, even in June. However, there is almost no humidity. The average temperature in June is 110 degrees, with overnight lows in the 60’s. Dehydration and sun exposure are going to be factors, so will wind. Most of Death Valley is covered with a mixture of silt and sand. When the wind blows, it will abrade any exposed skin. Fortunately, there isn’t a ton of wind. Unfortunately, when it does blow, it blows good and hard. Keep masks with you at all times, keep all your skin covered and if you feel weak, dizzy or stop sweating, immediately get in the car and begin to drink. Do not gulp though, it will make you sick. We are having our SUV fitted with a special air conditioning unit that will run on a generator. It will be a ‘safe-zone’ for overheating humans,” Xavier said.
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Don’t get bit by fleas,” Xavier answered.
“Fleas?” Michael gave him a look.
“Desert conditions are ideal for breeding Bubonic Plague. As odd as it sounds, most plague outbreaks are in desert locations. Arizona and Nevada have special screenings for their pets to avoid plague. And you can’t export pets from most of the desert states without a quarantine period,” Xavier told him.
“Back to the bodies,” I said. “Why the Racetrack Playa? There are salt pits in Death Valley.”
“That is a very good question,” Xavier said.
“We don’t know,” Gabriel said. “The FBI is working with the theory that they originated somewhere else and about two weeks ago, there was rain and the bodies washed onto the playa.”
“Wouldn’t someone have noticed if there were bodies on the playa?” Lucas asked.
“Not necessarily,” Gabriel answered. “It isn’t like the playa is visited regularly and they pretty much look like rocks until you are on them. The rangers drive by it, but they don’t stop unless there is due cause. The scientists that research the Sailing Stones worry that the rangers will accidentally move things.”
“They were all naked,” I said, the thought suddenly forming in my brain.
“Yes, they were. Not a shred of clothing on them. Which points towards human doing, not natural processes,” Gabriel s
aid.
“Could abrasion be a factor in the clothing?” I asked.
“Yes and no,” Xavier frowned. “If they were all out in bikinis and tightey-whiteys, then yes. If they had on jeans and things, probably not. There would still be scraps of clothing clinging to the body in protected places. Judging by these photos, that is not the case.”
We all fell into silence. There wasn’t really a case; nothing to discuss past this point. We would have to wait until we were on the ground and up close and personal with the bodies and the desert before we could infer anything more.
The plane hummed. Michael was playing a game on his iPad. Lucas was reading something on his Kindle. Gabriel was doing paperwork and Xavier was asleep. This left me to the thoughts in my own head. It was currently digging up all it knew about mummification.
The first thing that came to mind was soda ash. The Egyptians used it for mummification. It had been used in medieval times as a preservative of fish and meats. It was also used in making leather. I couldn’t think of any modern uses, but it probably wasn’t much different than historical uses. Some cultures had buried their dead in pits of soda ash for preservation and I was pretty sure the salt pits in Death Valley were made of soda ash. After all, Death Valley had once been a sea with salt water.
With that thought firmly entrenched, I relaxed a little. It might not be a serial killer, but maybe I would get to learn more about modern mummies.
Four
The SUV we piled into at the small airport had a portable air conditioner in the back. Next to it sat a generator. I was guessing this was Xavier’s preventative overheating mechanism. We drove in silence, following another federally marked SUV.
Death Valley is surrounded by mountains and we were in the desert long before we were in the valley. The entire place was eerie. I had never been to this part of the country. The Mojave Desert stretched out around us, causing sun blindness even with a decent pair of sunglasses.
I had expected everything to be red, like Mars. I didn’t know why I thought Death Valley would look like Mars, but I did. Disappointingly, it looked like normal sand. Yellowish in color and drifted to make dunes, the sand was all you could see.