We told her. Hansen than asked where Greer was. “She didn’t seem that bothered about the skeleton last night,” he added.
“She’s pretty cool like that,” said Charlie. “Did you discover anything?”
Hansen grinned. “I placed a call to one of the other reporters at the Chronicle and asked him to look through our archives for any information on the campground.”
The Chronicle had a whole basement full of file cabinets and stories.
“Did the drifter story pan out?” said Charlie.
“That didn’t work out,” said Hansen, “but I asked my colleague to check on missing persons in the area more generally as well. There have been several, but the fact that the skeleton from last night was a male narrows it down.”
“You thought it was a male too?” I asked him.
“Sure, or at least, I guessed it. I figure he was at least six two, and the boots were huge,” he said.
Hansen was right. The skeleton was clearly dressed as a guy ready for the outdoors.
“There were a few stories,” Hansen went on, “but then we came across one about a missing person from right here.”
“What?” I gasped.
“Exactly,” said Hansen.
Charlie and I crowded around him to check out his phone. He didn’t have any internet out here, but he’d clearly managed to get a cell signal. He was breaking the bride and groom’s no cellphone rule, but he had arrived late, so he might not have heard the request.
“Okay, so he was in his forties and he used to work here. He worked closely with Mr. Cushman, and one day he just up and left. He had no family, and he was never heard from again. After six months some friends who had gone to college with his brother got concerned when they couldn’t reach him, but no one has seen or heard from him since,” read Charlie. Her eyes were wide and gleaming.
We were on the scent of a murder victim.
“What about the brother?” I asked, trying to read as fast as my mind was racing. Hansen pointed to the end of the page. The brother had passed away in an accident many years before, so he couldn’t be reached for questioning and he also couldn’t be considered a suspect.
“No one thought anything of this guy Burke disappearing until the brother’s friends started to get curious. He just left the campground, giving no reason,” said Hansen.
“As it turns out, it doesn’t sound as if he ever actually left,” said Charlie grimly.
She hadn’t heard what Paws had said about murder, and with the return of Deacon and Jasper at that very moment I wouldn’t have a chance to tell her for a while.
“We have to eat quickly,” said Jasper. “There’s a lot to do this morning.”
“The police want to speak with everyone in the Lodge in ten minutes,” added Deacon as he stuffed his face with a beacon and cheese sandwich. He’d brought four just for himself.
“Did you hear anything about the skeleton at breakfast?” Hansen asked. Then he flinched at how morbid that sounded.
Deacon shook his head as he continued to eat.
“I heard they had an idea of who it might be, but they didn’t want to say until the family had been informed,” said Jasper.
“I think I might know who it is,” said Hansen.
We spent the next ten minutes looking over the article his friend had found. I drank my cup of coffee, which had cooled so much on the guys’ walk back to the cabin that I could nearly chug it. Luckily Jasper knew I liked egg and cheese sandwiches on everything bagels, so he had brought one of those. I scarfed that down between grateful gulps of lukewarm coffee.
“Should we go wake up Greer?” Charlie asked.
“I’ll do it,” said Deacon. “The police want everyone at the meeting, so I guess that means her as well. She isn’t going to be happy about it.” He hurried out. There wasn’t much time until we had to leave.
“She was going to have to get up early for the ceremony anyway,” said Charlie. “Early for her, anyhow.”
“She wasn’t happy about that either,” I said.
The Lodge was filled with concerned wedding guests by the time we got there. The bride and groom were nowhere in sight; I imagined that the police had had the courtesy to talk to them separately from the guests.
The bride especially would be upset. Today was her wedding day, after all, and having a skeleton discovered at the venue wasn’t an ideal start to a marriage.
Liam hadn’t arrived yet, though he was probably on his way. I knew he’d be just as happy to have missed this part of the weekend.
There had been no sign of Paws since he told me that the victim had been murdered. He had probably gone to sleep somewhere by now, but if I were really lucky—or he were a different cat—he might go and find Burke’s ghost for me. I knew we didn’t have proof yet that the skeleton was Burke’s, but the circumstantial evidence was compelling, so I knew that Burke as the victim was going to be our working hypothesis until we found some strong evidence to contradict it.
“Thank you all for coming,” said Detective Smith, raising his voice to get the attention of the crowd. He had changed into a fresh shirt, but I wasn’t sure he’d gotten any sleep. He was working on a five o’clock shadow . . . five in the morning, that is.
“I’m sure by now you’re wondering what the police are doing here,” he began. “I asked everyone to keep it quiet, but the word may have gotten around. First, I want to announce that I don’t think anyone is in danger. Our presence here is due to something that happened a long time ago. Still, we can’t rule anything out.”
Guests started to look around at each other. The unease they’d felt at seeing the police in the first place was solidifying now that he had confirmed that something was wrong.
“You know it’s a couple’s wedding day, right?” yelled somebody in the crowd.
“I’m well aware of the circumstances,” he replied. “Unfortunately, this cannot be helped. I’ve spoken to the bride and groom myself and they understand this as well. My investigation cannot be delayed. They had the option of moving the wedding, and they chose not to, I’m sure in part due to the presence of all their friends and family who are here today.”
I looked around to see several people nodding. Some expressions cleared a bit as they began to realize that this police officer understood the seriousness of the situation. This was a wedding first and foremost, and he seemed prepared to honor that.
It would have been hard to move a wedding of this size in any case, and on such short notice—no notice, really—it would have been virtually impossible. Not that anyone wanted it to come to that.
“I was called by my brother,” the detective went on when the murmuring died down again. “He and his wife are the caretakers here. A couple of the guests at the wedding had been inside the empty cottage down at the end of the row. Those of you who are staying in the Lodge may not even have noticed it.”
He paused before he said the last bit. “Inside the cottage we found a skeleton.”
Someone near me wondered if it was an animal skeleton and why we needed this announcement.
The detective saw the confusion and clarified exactly what type of skeleton had been found.
Gasps went up all around the room. Several people exchanged frightened glances. One woman looked as if she was on the verge of tears and several guys were shaking their heads.
“And you’re still telling us we’re safe? Even though a dead body was found on the property?” someone demanded.
“I said I did not think that anyone was in danger, because the fact that the body is a skeleton means that the victim died long ago. My coroner dates the death to about twelve months ago. That means that whatever happened occurred long since, and as far as we know nothing suspicious has happened here in the meantime. Still, I urge caution. We will be working toward allowing those who want to leave the campground to do so. Once you are cleared you can go, but not before,” he said. “But as far as I am aware, the host families mean to go forward with the we
dding.”
“Well, who is the skeleton? And were they murdered?” someone else called out.
“I really am trying to get to all of that,” said Detective Smith. The first crack was showing in his calm and resolve, all the tension of an ordinary investigation having been heightened by this gathering and this wedding.
It was almost like the Country Club murder, quite out of the normal range of contexts for an investigation. Except that in that case we had known that it was murder from the beginning, and Detective Smith had considered everyone in attendance to be a suspect. In that situation it had been easier for him to just treat all of the guests as potentially hostile. In this environment, it hardly seemed likely that any of these people could be the murderer.
Detective Smith looked sharp. He was clearly taking in everything at this gathering, and despite the fact that the death in question wasn’t recent, I knew he was probably alert for possible suspects as well.
The detective had watched with bemusement people walked into the Lodge. Some of them, especially some of the women, were utterly appalled by the mud that seemed to be everywhere outside. We were in the woods, after all, and many of the guests had never seen anything like this campground before. But they should have been happy about that at the moment, because if they’d never been here before, they couldn’t have committed the murder that was now being investigated.
For that reason, the suspect pool was remarkably small, but all the more interesting because the investigator’s own brother was still part of it.
On the other hand, the detective hadn’t even announced publicly that a murder had been committed, so the other guests were unlikely to be thinking in those terms just yet.
“After talking to Mr. Cushman, we do have an idea of who the victim might be,” Detective Smith went on. “He worked here last summer and went missing. This is the first we’re hearing that he might have died. Given that most of you haven’t been here before, you probably wouldn’t know him anyway,” he said.
Several people rose up as if to speak, but he held up his hand. “Yes, it was a male. The important point I want to stress is that we are working as hard as we can. We will work diligently and do everything we can not to disrupt this wedding.
“That said, our investigation is paramount. It is of the utmost importance that there be no disruptions. The last piece of information you all asked for I will give you. This is a murder investigation. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m not going to tell you what led us to that conclusion. But we are reasonably certain that this man was murdered.”
People were very upset again, and it took a long time for Detective Smith to calm everybody down. What eventually happened was that most people accepted that there was a wedding ceremony to get to. If the bride and groom were going to go along with this situation, then the guests would have to as well.
By the time the formalities were finished, it was almost time for the ceremony. Greer, Charlie, and I were just about to go get dressed when Detective Smith finally spotted Charlie.
Time to face the music.
Chapter Thirteen
Deacon went on his way to get ready for his role as a groomsman. Jasper had offered to help out given that everything was in chaos. I had also offered help, but my last name wasn’t Wolf, so my offer wasn’t appreciated. As usual, Hansen was making himself useful and well-liked. He kept getting appreciative looks from women, something that happened to him on a regular basis . . . almost as often as it happened to Jasper.
Detective Smith’s eyes narrowed when he finally noticed and recognized Charlie. Several people tried to talk to him as the crowd dispersed, and he answered a few bold questions briefly, then disentangled himself from curious and concerned guests alike and hurried over to our group just as we reached the door.
“Miss Silver, isn’t it? Surprised to see you here! May I walk with you?” he said. His eyes were narrowed slits.
Charlie parried with her brightest smile. “Of course. We were just on our way to get ready for the wedding. Good to see you again, Detective Smith,” said Charlie.
“Remind me of your friends’ names again,” he said, nodding to us.
Charlie made introductions, keeping her expression carefully neutral since she was unsure where Detective Smith was going to take this accidental encounter.
“It’s a pity we always meet under such unpleasant circumstances. I must say I’m surprised to see you again,” he said. He was blinking and repeating himself, clearly trying to assess what, if anything, the presence of Charlie meant.
“I grew up around here. I know a lot of people,” she said.
“Yes, but this is another murder,” he said as he fell into step beside us.
“As you pointed out in the meeting, it’s under very different circumstances,” said Charlie.
“That’s true. My involvement is a little different this time because my brother is a suspect,” said Detective Smith matter-of-factly. He didn’t appear concerned about it. I supposed he already knew either that his brother was a sociopath, or that he was incapable of any kind of murder. I had a feeling I knew which option he had chosen.
“Very true. I’m simply taking note of people I’ve seen at multiple murder investigations,” he said.
“Really, I’m glad I was here,” said Charlie. “It’s always good to have a journalist on the ground. It’s best to get these things written up properly. Given that I know you, I can use that to my advantage in writing articles.”
“What do you mean by that?” Detective Smith said, not sounding happy about it at all.
“Past knowledge is important. I know of your fairness and dedication. I can let readers know about that. For example, maybe you need another detective because your brother is involved. Fine. But I know you’d follow the evidence wherever it led you. Not that your brother likely did anything wrong,” she added quickly
Detective Smith seemed like he needed a minute to take in everything Charlie had said. He wouldn’t be the first. She had listed a string of compliments. Now he just had to decide if she was saying this stuff for his benefit or hers. It wasn’t easy.
We didn’t get a clue as to his conclusions, because after a few more pleasantries, he excused himself and hurried back toward the Lodge. He had a lot of work to do, and we had a ceremony to get ready for.
We rushed back to the cottage and spent the next hour getting ready. I had no time to think about the murder or to search for the skeleton’s ghost. My friends and I did discuss the case in bits and pieces as we dressed, without coming up with any theories, which would have to wait until after the ceremony. We would have some time to investigate that afternoon while the bride and groom were taking pictures, and we also had the reception that evening and breakfast in the morning.
We were about to embark on a very busy twenty-four hours.
We were all ready and walking out the door when I saw a flash of shimmer.
“Paws!” I said.
“It’s taken you long enough to get back to the cottage,” he said, clearly his usual grumpy self. “I’ve been waiting for ages. I have something to tell you. I don’t suppose that detective of yours told you how this murder was committed.”
The three of us crowded around him. “We’re all ears,” said Charlie.
“You look it.” Paws’ eyes went to Greer.
“They think the guy who was murdered drowned, and the body was moved to the cabin after he was dead. They think somebody tried to burn him and it didn’t work. Then the killer just left him there because he was afraid to come back and try to finish the job.” The cat’s tail swished smugly as he explained.
“So whoever it was just hoped no one would use the cottage again?” I said.
“There’s a chance it was already closed,” said Greer.
“I guess that’s true,” I agreed. “Maybe it was already deserted so they figured they didn’t have much to worry about. If they burned the body and took away any remaining evidence, no one would think twice
about ashes in an old grate. When that didn’t work, they got scared and didn’t want to risk moving the body again,” I said.
“Maybe they intended to come back and burn down the cottage,” suggested Charlie. “Maybe they were only here for a short time. Maybe they were supposed to stay longer and then couldn’t. We really don’t know.”
“And you aren’t going to figure it out standing here being late for the ceremony. We’ll talk later. I need to sleep,” said the cat.
“Thanks for telling us. You’re a big help,” I told him.
The ceremony was beautiful, and relatively short. People were obviously trying hard to not let the fact that a murder had just been discovered on the grounds get them down.
Once the ceremony was finished, we all lined up outside the campground chapel and threw confetti at the bride and groom as they came out. Then they and the bridal party headed off for the photo shoot, while the rest of us had a couple of hours before it was time to go to the reception.
Deacon had to be a part of the pictures, but Jasper and Hansen were with Greer, Charlie, and me as we made our way back to the cottages.
“Did you see the detective slip into the back of the church?” I asked.
“Yeah. I wonder if he thinks there’s more to the story than meets the eye,” said Jasper.
“His brother’s a suspect. He has to be thorough,” said Charlie.
“His brother doesn’t strike me as the murdering kind,” said Greer.
“The murder happened last summer. There were probably a lot of campers here then. I’m sure that by now he has a list of who was here,” I said.
“Should we find a copy of that list?” Hansen asked.
“It sure would be nice if we could, but I think that’s going to be difficult,” I said.
“A lot of those people are probably long gone anyhow. In the summer this place surely gets vacationers from all over the country,” said Charlie.
“I’m sure the detective will be interviewing them by phone, if nothing else,” I said.
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