Susan climbed on the back of Wesley’s four-wheeler and put her hands around his waist.
“Hold on, Sweetie,” he said. “This might get bumpy.”
Wesley barreled across the highway and into the woods. Reggie followed.
This beats walking, Susan thought. They covered a lot of ground in a little time, and she didn’t have to fight off the briars. Wesley took the brunt of them and any stray branches.
“You okay?” he said, turning his head sideways.
Susan leaned forward and put her mouth close to Wesley’s ear. “This is great. When are you going to let me drive?”
“Not this time. Any instructions from the beyond as to where we should go?”
“Start by taking me to the farthest place you and Charlie have gone.”
About twenty minutes later, Wesley slowed his ATV a short distance from a cabin. Reggie pulled alongside.
“This is as far as Charlie and I have gone,” Wesley said. “We checked out the cabin and the surrounding grounds, but the only thing we found were some rabbit bones.”
Susan climbed down and walked around, looking for anything that resembled the scene in her vision. “This isn’t what I saw. We need to keep going.” She climbed back on the ATV, and they traveled farther into the woods.
A little while later, Wesley stopped short of another cabin. “This one is new to me, and I don’t like what I’m seeing—no windows and the front door is open.”
Susan climbed off the ATV, walked to the front of the four-wheeler, and studied the site.
The wooden structure sat on raised piers about eighteen inches high. Its boards had weathered to a dull gray while the roof over the cabin and the small front porch had rusted into a deep burnt sienna. A sprinkling of leaves covered the ground around the cabin.
“Anything here look familiar?”
“Everything,” she said. “It’s what I saw in my vision.”
“Okay. I’ll stay here with you. Reg, circle the area and make sure we don’t have company. I don’t want any surprises.”
A short time later, Reggie returned. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“Let’s check out the area around the cabin on foot,” Wesley said. “You wait here, Susan.”
As the men moved toward the cabin, Susan dismounted and pulled the arrowhead from the fanny pack. Clutching it in her hand, she was dismayed when nothing happened. She shook her head and shrugged. Then as she stared at the spot near the cabin where she had seen the figure, the stone grew hot. She glanced to her right and discovered the Indian standing nearby.
Like in her dream, he held the base of a broken bottle. Fresh blood covered its sharp edges. She could smell its metallic scent. Wesley and Reggie had become blurry images in a surreal scene. It was as if she were trapped between her world and the world of the Indian.
“I don’t understand. What are you trying to show me? Give me some sign.”
He lowered his arm, aiming it directly at the mound of leaves beside the cabin.
He dropped to his knees and looked skyward. Opening his mouth, he unleashed from the depth of his bowels, a cry that she knew was only for her ears. So intense was his anguish that even the ground on which she stood trembled. The pain of a thousand heartaches enveloped her. As if from afar, she heard Wesley call her name. I’m here. She could only think the words.
It took Wesley’s strong hands clutching her shoulders and shaking her back to the present before she could respond.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She grabbed her throat and gasped for air. “I’m fine now. The Indian was here. Something terrible has happened.”
Reggie nudged Wesley. “You ready to check out the cabin?”
“No,” Susan said, pointing to the side of the cabin. “That’s the place the Indian showed me.”
“We’ll check out that area, too. I promise. First, we need to make sure no one’s in the cabin,” Wesley said. “Wait here.”
With the door open, Susan was close enough that she could hear their conversation. Wesley and Reggie stopped as soon as they entered the one-room cabin.
“I think we’d better leave now,” Reggie said. “Someone was tied to that bed. The frayed edges suggest they cut themselves loose, maybe by using the glass on the floor. And that long chain bolted to the wall suggests even more sinister constraints.”
“I hope to heaven this doesn’t involve my cold case. Let’s get out of here.”
“You want me to notify headquarters?” Reggie asked.
“Not just yet. We brought Susan out here for a reason. Let’s see if her vision leads to anything else.”
Wesley approached Susan. “The cabin’s empty, but it was occupied. Someone left in a hurry. Lots of things were left behind; things that suggest a crime might have been committed.”
“I’m sure something horrible took place. You need to inspect that mound of leaves beside the cabin.” She pointed to the spot the Indian had indicated. “That’s where I saw the figure crouched on all fours.”
Reggie and Susan stood to one side as Wesley knelt and raked away the leaves. “I don’t suppose anyone has a shovel, huh?” He looked up at them with a crooked grin. “Thought not. Good thing the ground isn’t too hard.” Bending over, he scooped up several layers of clay. Then he jerked upright and tossed back his head. “Whew! This one’s ripe.”
“Need help?” Reggie asked.
The smell of death blossomed, turning Susan’s stomach. She covered her nose with her hand, but that didn’t do any good.
Wesley gently removed a little more dirt and uncovered a part of a face. “I should stop. The coroner won’t like me disturbing his body. Call headquarters and get everyone out here, including the coroner,” he said to Reggie as he got to his feet. “Tell the team I’ll meet them at the Burger Shack.”
Reggie made the call. “I told them we were searching for clues on your cold case and just happened to discover a body.”
Wesley took a closer look at the ground near the cabin. “Better call them back and request a cadaver dog,” Wesley said, pointing at a disturbed area. “Those look like human bones. An animal could have dug them up. You two wait here while I meet the guys at the road.”
Susan and Reggie stood there staring at one another, an awkward situation with neither one saying anything.
Reggie broke the silence. “Have you had your psychic ability all your life?”
“Not really,” Susan said. “It started a little over a year ago, after I suffered a head injury.”
“My grandma told me she was born with the gift. Even as a child she knew certain things were going to happen.”
“That must have been terrifying for her.”
“As a child, Granny said she used to wake up crying from nightmares. We know now they were more than just bad dreams.”
Susan thought about all the horrific scenes she had visualized over the past year. “Sometimes, I still wake up crying.”
“What did you see that brought you to this place?”
Susan told him about seeing the Indian and the figure by the cabin. “Whoever it was ran in that direction.” She pointed to a specific spot in the woods behind the cabin.
“Let’s have a look.” He took her arm, and they crossed to the place she had indicated. “Right here?”
She nodded.
Reggie didn’t venture into the area. “If someone went through here, they would have scars to prove it. It’s a maze of briars. I don’t see where they left anything behind, not even foot prints. Maybe a search beyond this area might turn up something. I’m sure deputies will comb the surrounding grounds for any evidence.”
Susan had a feeling they wouldn’t find anything.
Before long, Wesley returned with the coroner and his assistants. Following them were several deputies, one of which had a dog on a leash.
“And who do we have here?” the coroner asked, looking at Susan.
“Doctor Leggio, this is my...uh...fiancée, Susan Griffin. Sh
e’s in my protective custody involving another case,” Wesley said. “My partner and I were looking for clues on a cold case and didn’t expect to find a body. I’ll make sure she doesn’t interfere with the investigation.”
The coroner gave Susan a nod. “Nice to meet you, and you can call me Vince.” Then he turned his attention back to Wesley. “I’m assuming you preserved my site.”
“Did the best I could. Stopped as soon as I realized I’d found a body.”
“Good. Now, I’d like everybody to step back and give me room to work.”
At five-foot ten, Susan towered over the coroner. She was glad to see that Vince’s assistants were big, muscular men. The coroner’s slight build didn’t appear capable of lifting a body, unless it happened to be that of a child. Before approaching the grave, the coroner had his assistants photograph the location of the body and the area surrounding it.
The Crime Scene Unit also photographed the cabin then took their equipment inside. When the coroner’s assistants gave the okay, the deputies began scouring the area around the cabin and the nearby woods. It wasn’t long before the cadaver dog hit on several suspicious places.
One of the deputies approached Wesley. “We located a four-wheeler hidden in the brush. It has a rifle mount on the front and a flat rack on the back. I’ll make arrangements to have it impounded.”
“Thanks.” Wesley looked at Reggie. “That would make it easy for him to haul his prey—animal or human.”
Reggie nodded.
Susan nudged Wesley. “So, I’m your fiancée, huh?”
“I thought that would eliminate a long explanation.”
The three watched from a distance as the Crime Scene Unit conducted their inspection of the cabin.
“No telling how many prints they’ll get out of that old place,” Wesley said. “This is the part of an investigation I hate—standing around, waiting for others to finish their job. Unlike Vince, who has the patience of Job, I’m impulsive.” He paused and drew Susan’s attention. “Maybe I should make that anxious. Impulsive fits you better.” He grinned.
After what seemed an eternity, the Crime Unit exited the cabin with several bags of potential evidence. One of the team tied crime-scene tape from tree to tree, encompassing the cabin and about fifty feet surrounding it. During this time, the coroner had succeeded in unearthing the body.
“Okay, let’s get him out,” Vince said to his assistants.
The assistants spread a vinyl sheet beside the shallow grave then carefully lifted the victim and laid him on top of the tarp.
That gave Susan her first look at the corpse. “It’s him,” she said, grabbing Wesley’s arm.
“Who?”
“The man in the woods.”
“Are you sure?”
“I could never forget that shadow of a beard, the shaggy hair, and his heavy body slamming me to the ground.” Susan hugged her arms to stop shaking.
“It’s okay,” Wesley said, pulling her close. “If you’re right, he can never hurt you again.”
Chapter 13
The coroner continued to work with his back to Susan, preventing Wesley, Reggie, or her from seeing much of what he was doing. Wesley kept shifting his weight, a sign that he was eager to see what was going on. Susan didn’t need further convincing. Dirt or no dirt, she was sure the body was that of the man who had assaulted her.
Finally, Vince waved them over. He remained kneeling and rocked back on his heels. “What we have here is a male Caucasian, six foot, 220 pounds. His name is Dale Burkett, and he lives at the Shiloh apartments.”
Wesley gave the doc a questioning look. “And how would you know all that?”
Vince smirked and held up a wallet. “His driver’s license was still on him. Looks like there won’t be a problem establishing his identity.” He dropped the wallet and license into an evidence bag. “This one couldn’t get any easier for you.”
“Wanna bet? Knowing who he is won’t help unless I can tie him to Nina Hasting’s murder or the attempt on Susan’s life. Even if I manage to do that, I’ll have another problem—who killed him? Anything else you can tell me?” Wesley asked.
“Based on decomposition, lividity, and because he’s no longer in rigor, I’d say he’s been dead over forty-eight hours. I’ll have a more precise time for you when I draw his vitreous fluid. C.O.D. is exsanguination. Someone severed his jugular. He would have bled out in a matter of seconds. If there was a struggle prior to his death, maybe some of the blood on him isn’t his. I also found a few hairs that don’t match the victim. I’ll know more when I get him back to the morgue.”
Vince picked up the bottom part of a broken bottle and put it into an evidence bag. “Found this next to him. Good thing you didn’t run your hand across it. I’m guessing it’s the murder weapon.”
Susan had no doubt it was used to kill him. It was identical to the bottle that the Indian held.
Leaning over, Vince took another look into the grave. “What have we here?” He reached down, brushed aside more dirt, and picked up a tiny bone. While turning it around in his fingers, his brow wrinkled into a frown. “This is definitely human and belonged to a child.” Probing deeper into the sandy soil, he unearthed a longer bone. “An adult tibia,” he mumbled.
“A serial killer?” Wesley asked.
“I don’t think so. These bones are old...very old.
Vince extended a hand to Wesley. “I could use a little help.”
Wesley pulled the coroner to his feet.
A deputy who was standing nearby approached. “I heard what you said about the bones. I think there might be more. The dog hit on several areas.” He pointed to thin wires with tiny flags. “I’ve marked the spots.”
“I’ll contact the State Archaeologist, find out who’s assigned to this region,” Vince said. “If anyone can identify these remains and piece together what might have happened, that office can.”
Susan counted at least seven markers around the cabin. Who are they? What happened here? As she stared at the tiny flags, fingers from an unseen hand seemed to tighten around her heart. She clutched her chest, but the pain didn’t ease.
“We’re finished here,” a deputy with the Crime Unit said to Wesley. “We have lots of stuff to process. We even found a Remington 30-06 bolt-action rifle mounted on the ATV located behind the cabin. I’m guessing it belonged to the victim. It doesn’t seem to have been fired recently. If you don’t need us for anything else, we’re heading back to headquarters.”
“Okay, I’ll see you there. Reg and I are going to take another look around.”
The coroner’s assistant folded the vinyl sheet over the body then placed the corpse in a white body bag. After closing the bag, the coroner wrote the deceased’s name on the bag using a felt-tip marker. He then gathered up his things and signaled to his team that it was time to go. The assistants carried the deceased toward the highway, and the coroner followed behind them.
“Hey, Vince, you gonna call me when you finish the autopsy?” Wesley shouted.
“Don’t I always?” Vince replied over his shoulder.
Susan waited outside the cabin while Wesley and Reggie walked the surrounding area, looking for anything that the deputies might have missed. Gazing at the woods, she recalled her vision and once again, crept closer to the spot where the shadowy figure had disappeared. She found it hard to imagine anyone forging through that maze of briars and thorny bushes without ripping their arms and legs. Then she remembered hearing what had sounded like a wounded animal.
When a sudden breeze rustled the fallen leaves, she turned her attention to the flagged markers. This was Professor Alexander’s world. She had asked to visit the site later in the year, but the discovery of numerous bones would probably change her mind. Susan felt sure Martha could help solve this new dilemma.
“What are you looking at?” Wesley asked, coming up behind her.
“Nothing in particular. I’m just trying to make sense of all this.”
“
You were right to insist on coming here. I’m glad I listened to you. However confusing it might seem, we’ll get to the bottom of it. I think we’re one step closer to tying Mr. Burkett to your accident. I had the deputy at headquarters run the DMV on him. A Dodge Ram truck is registered in his name. I can’t wait to see it. Until I find and verify traces of the Camaro’s paint on his truck, you’re not to let down your guard. Understand?”
His lips found hers, a gentle, passionate kiss, and she clung to him. Looking up, she gazed into his hazel eyes, so filled with love. “Whatever did I do to deserve you?”
“Hey, you two, how about we get out of here?” Reggie called, climbing on his ATV.
Wesley and Susan mounted the four-wheeler and led the way back to the highway.
When they reached her apartment, Wesley walked her to the door. “Remember what I said. Play it safe until you hear from me. I’m going to get a warrant for Burkett’s apartment and truck as soon as I get back to headquarters. The four-wheeler behind the cabin probably belongs to Burkett, too. I’m thinking he rode it there since his apartment is close. If that’s the case, his truck might still be parked at his apartment.”
“Call me the minute you find out anything.”
“I will.”
After Wesley left, Susan removed the stone from the fanny pack and put it in the bottom of her purse. Then she showered and changed clothes—blue wool slacks and a cowl-neck, white sweater. A dab of White Linen helped to remove all traces of her trek through the woods. What it couldn’t do was erase the images from her mind. As she gazed into the mirror, she recalled the bloody body of the man in the grave, but the image that bothered her most were those wires with the little flags swaying in the breeze.
Martha Alexander probably wouldn’t be in her office on a weekend, but Susan desperately wanted to talk with her. She reached into her purse and withdrew the professor’s business card. Turning it over, she punched in the professor’s cell number.
“Hello, Martha. This is Susan Griffin. I hate to disturb you, but you said to call if I found anything else or had other questions. Well, I have both. It’s really important that I talk with you. Is there some place we could meet?”
Mellow Yellow, Dead Red Page 14