Harry tightened his lips, rocked back on his heels. “The man you took down was a killer, no doubt about that. But he was not born with the name Jason Berkenshaw.”
“What? Are you absolutely certain of this, Harry?”
“The man you took down yesterday was not the real Jason Berkenshaw but someone who had used his name for years. The guy born with that name had a brother who has been looking for him for twenty-five years or more. The real Jason Berkenshaw was three inches shorter than the guy in the morgue, had brown eyes instead of green, and attained a degree from Portland State in 1967. That means he was born in 1945, a long damn time before the imposter came along and stole his identity to join the army.
“After that he used Jason’s diploma from an accredited school, changed the dates on the paper and applied to ICE. When the media broke the story last night, I got a call from the brother, Sam Berkenshaw down in Eugene, Oregon. Sam told me his brother took a trip to Seattle back in 1989. He was never seen again. Checking out our perp’s background, there were red flags all over the place. But we may never know who the guy actually was, where he was born or where he came from.”
“Well, that sucks,” Josh stated. “I wondered how he pulled off getting into ICE. What about fingerprints?”
“Nothing came back to tell us his true identity. The real Berkenshaw had to be dead by the time our guy entered the army.”
“Why’s that?” Skye wanted to know.
“Because the army fingerprints match our dead guy in the morgue.”
Dawson shook his head. “It isn’t all bad news, guys. There is hope. The imposter’s DNA will be entered into CODIS. If he had a relative who has ever been picked up and jailed, we might one day get lucky. I doubt the mystery will go unanswered forever.”
“I hope you’re right, Dawson,” Skye uttered. “What about Adela? What happens to her?”
“She’ll likely plead out to avoid the death penalty,” Harry stated. “That woman’s a real piece of work though. She’s already playing the Jason-made-me-do-it card. She was so dedicated to her hubby, so willing to do whatever he told her to do. I believe she used the words ‘cult member’ twenty-seven times during her first interview. She claims she doesn’t have a mind of her own. For years, Jason told her how to dress, how to act, how to think.”
“That’s bullshit,” Josh shot back. “I’m not buying it.”
“Me either,” Skye agreed. “You didn’t see how defiant she was before you showed up. Although I do think Berkenshaw told her how he wanted her to look.”
“Her complacency is an act. That woman has a temper on her. We saw it firsthand yesterday,” Josh explained.
“If it’s an act it’ll eventually come out,” Harry assured them. The cop turned to Dawson. “Tell them what you found.”
“I’m able to confirm that the Berkenshaws, or whoever they were, over the course of their active years here, layered the bones we’ve found at various depths.” He surveyed the burial ground and went on, “Eventually they ran out of room, started to put bodies on top of bodies. I’ve no doubt this mass grave has the potential to yield forty plus victims. All I know at the moment is it’s bigger than anything I’ve ever experienced. What I don’t understand is where Berkenshaw kept the mummified body where the hand came from that he sent you, Skye.”
“That’s easy. It’s in the crypt. Well, that’s what Josh and I labeled it. That hollowed out piece of ground located under the bunker. It’s creepy down there.”
Josh turned to look at Skye. “I wasn’t sure you’d seen that.”
“Hard to miss a mummified body stuck in the corner. That victim must’ve been special to him.”
“I see I’ll have to send the lab down there. The good news is thanks to the hard work your Foundation did ahead of this, we have a long list of the missing already categorized in a database. It’ll make things go a lot smoother over the next several months as we try to put names to the remains.”
Josh glanced at Harry. “You still haven’t found any sign of Selma Tolliver though. Any luck with leaning on Adela to give up where they put Selma and any others that aren’t here in this same spot.”
“Not so far. But we will put pressure on her.”
Skye blew out a ragged breath. “This has been such a long process. I’ve never been so tired of a case before until right this minute.”
Josh picked up her hand, tugged her toward the car. “Then come on, Mrs. Ander, let’s leave Dawson and Harry to their work. Let’s get out of here and go home.”
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Skye Cree 03: The Bones Will Tell Page 24