by Dale Mayer
"Meaning?"
"I don't know. Everyone that we've found in that mass grave had something in common. Especially their estimated time of death. All died within a short window and of course we're using the earthquake to help to determine that time. Then come these other remains." He shrugged. "All we can do is record the differences. Maybe there was an earlier grave under the mass grave. The countryside is full of small cemeteries. It could be a coincidence – not out of the realm of possibility.
"So one possibility is that these victims were from an earlier calamity and it was easier to just bury more on top. We'd been told a cave had collapsed, creating a natural depression. That cave-in could have been an old grave splitting open instead."
He groaned slightly as he shifted his position. "Another possibility is the earthquake could have opened another grave somewhere else and the responders used the mass grave as a place to dispose of bodies that needed a new home. Again, not something that is necessarily a crime."
"And if it's all guesswork, then we still don't have any evidence to bring to the authorities, do we?"
"I can only compile the information and present it to them. Will they care?" He raised his shoulders in a tired shrug. "I highly doubt it."
"Have you been able to examine all of the women? Did they all have the same cause of death?"
Dr. Mike stretched his arms. "These two died of blunt force trauma to the head." He stood and walked around, shaking out his arms. "But the first one we found was strangled."
"The first one we found died more recently than the others, right?" Jade frowned, beyond confused. "So the chain is similar yet the cause of death is different? Over a ten years period? I wonder why? Different killers?"
Jade paced the small trailer, trying to find a reasonable explanation, but the pieces weren't adding up to anything other than criminal activity. "Of all the things that I keep coming back to, it was the absolute chaos and panic I saw when I was here right after the big earthquake. People were left to die, slowly and painfully. The dead were sometimes cut up in order to move them out of the way. In other cases, it was easier to kill trapped victims quickly than watch them die slowly. Chaos ruled. People were also being killed to gain food and blankets. Brother killed brother – out of compassion and for sheer survival."
Dr. Mike pulled at his beard in a movement she'd come to equate with slow, thoughtful thinking. "Except in this case, there were no missing limbs."
Jade agreed. "I've found enough crushed limbs to confirm there are plenty in the mix."
"So for a moment, we have a mystery. Not a crime, but a mystery." He took off his gloves and put them into the garbage can. "I need a drink of water and some fresh air. There is a little too much death in here for the moment."
"Are you done? Do you want to move the body back over to the reefer?"
"No, I'm not quite finished." He motioned toward her stretcher. "If yours is, can you process this one while I take a break?"
"I'll need another half an hour at least to finish this one." Jade stopped, looked at her watch, and frowned. "I think Meg will be arriving soon with our lunch. Normally we switch at this time, however if you'd like, I can stay and process yours this afternoon."
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it. Although, if Tony finds out..."
Uh oh. "I thought he left this morning?"
"He and Bruce were going over personnel files."
Jade grimaced. Great. She wasn't sure Tony was happy with his decision to have her here. She understood his reluctance... Initially, she might have agreed with his decision; not now. Now she had a vested interest in finishing this job. They'd been here almost three weeks. They could see the end of the job within three months. She wanted to see it through.
Oddly enough, the more involved in these deaths she became, the more accepting she was of the loss of her own child.
At least she felt she was. Time did wonders for healing the pain. And closure here could bring her more closure once she returned home.
***
Dane had tapped every idea he could come up with and still did not have a decent excuse for going home at noon. And then he drove right past John and Tasha's driveway instead of going home. He left a trail of dust floating toward John's small house. Dust. Another thing that was sure to be pissing Tasha off. Not that he could blame her. For years there'd been minimal traffic on this road. Now there were several vehicles a day.
Coming here was stupid because Jade had probably left already. She'd said something about switching off with Meg in the afternoons now. He parked, surprised to see two SUVs there. He checked his watch, after 2:00 pm.
She'd be gone.
He strode over to poke his head into the lab.
"Hey Dane," Meg called out cheerfully. "Haven't seen you in a few days. How have you been?"
"I'm doing all right. Just stopping in to see how things are doing here. To see if you need the heavy equipment back again." He hoped not; it was off doing a job on the other side of town and couldn't get back here any time soon. Peering into the back, he was surprised to see as many people as there were. Tight quarters.
Meg turned to the back. "Hey Dr. Mike. Dane's here. Any idea if you need the loader back today or tomorrow?"
Dane walked up the stairs and went in, surprised to see Jade working down at the far end. "Hi Jade, didn't expect to see you here."
She lifted her head from whatever she'd been working on so intently and smiled. "Don't suppose you brought coffee, did you?"
He laughed. With her hair back in a clip, she looked like a teenager. "Sorry. If I'd known you'd be here, then I'd have stopped and picked up some. I thought you'd be at the hotel sipping your own brew by now."
"Should be," she said cheerfully. "Dr. Mike asked me to stay and help out."
"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 D
ane 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. No security wasn't an option.
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 maneuvre that they'd perfected with practice, Jade made it around the corner of the door and onto the porch with Meg bringing up the rear. Smiling politely at the three men standing and waiting, Jade said, "Thanks, gentlemen."
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?"
"Absolutely." Meg handed her the white maker and chart. "As much as I'd love to hide away in here, 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."