Damaged

CHAPTER 24

Maggie's knees felt weak. Her ears still hummed and if she looked, she knew she'd see a slight tremor in her fingers. But she was relieved to be back on the ground, away from the thumping rotors and the nerve-rattling vibration.

Escambia County sheriff Joshua Clayton was waiting for her, and everything about his tall, lanky body--from his tapping toe to his erratic gesturing--told Maggie that he wasn't happy. But he'd promised Charlie Wurth that the DHS and FBI would have full disclosure of the evidence. Clayton didn't seem to have a problem with allowing access. It was his time he had a problem sparing, and at one point he mumbled, "I don't have time for this. There's a hurricane on its way, for Christ's sake."

Maggie had barely peeled out of her flight suit. She thanked the aircrew and they agreed to meet later for drinks on her. Clayton stood at her elbow the entire time, twisting his wrist in an exaggerated show of checking the time. Now, in his cruiser, the man was tapping out his impatience on the steering wheel.

Back at the office he handed her a form to sign then led her to a small room at the end of a hallway. There was nothing on the walls. Only a table and two folding chairs sat on the worn but clean linoleum. On the table was the battered white fishing cooler.

"Contents were photographed and bagged," Clayton told her. "They're all at the ME's office. We haven't processed the cooler yet," he said as he handed her a pair of latex gloves. "We'll dust it for prints, but with it being in the water I suspect we won't find much."

His cell phone rang. Clayton frowned at it.

"I've got to take this. You mind?"

"Go ahead."

He was out the door in three strides. Maggie couldn't help but notice that despite his initial frown, he looked relieved to have a reason to escape. His voice disappeared down the hallway. It was just as well. She preferred taking a close look without him standing over her shoulder.

She began opening the lid but snapped it shut after just a whiff of the rancid smell. She prepared herself, took a deep breath, and tried again. No wonder they hadn't processed the cooler yet. About two inches of pink liquid covered the bottom, residue from melted ice and at least one leaky package.

Maggie let the lid flap open. The initial smell would be the worst. Adding some air would dilute it. She stepped away and pulled her smartphone from its holder at her waistband. She pushed a couple buttons and activated the camera.

The cooler was huge, white paint over stainless steel. A popular name brand that even Maggie recognized was stamped on the side. The inside of the lid was unusual, with an indentation of a large fish and slots of measurement alongside it. What drew her immediate attention was the tie-down, looped around the cooler's handle.

She took several pictures, close-ups to focus on the blue-and-yellow twisted strands. The rope was made of synthetic fiber, smooth, possibly coated. One end appeared to be frayed. She took more pictures. On closer inspection it looked like the frayed end had been cut, not ripped. All the fibers, though frayed, were the exact same length.

Maggie glanced back at the door. No sight or sound of Sheriff Clayton. But just in case, she chose to text-message her partner, R. J. Tully, rather than make a phone call.

HEY TULLY. SENDING PHOTOS. CAN U CHECK DATABASE?

It took her less than a minute to e-mail close-ups of the rope. Tully would be able to scan or download the photos and run the information through the FBI's database. Maybe they'd get lucky and be able to identify the manufacturer.

She remembered another case in the 1980s. An airman named John Joubert was arrested for murdering two little boys. Authorities found an unusual rope at one of the crime scenes. It had been used to bind the hands of one of the boys. This was before DNA analysis, so the unusual rope became a key piece of evidence. During a search of Joubert's quarters, they found a length of it.

Before she sent the last photo she had a text message from Tully.

NO PROB.

Finished with the rope, she moved on and shot photos of the cooler and the measuring tool inside the lid. Not much to see. She agreed with Sheriff Clayton's speculations about fingerprints. Maybe they'd get lucky with a print inside the lid, but the salt water had probably eliminated anything on the outside.

Maggie took a final shot of the open cooler, the smell less potent now. That's when she noticed something in the liquid. She held her breath again and leaned over for a closer look. A small piece of white paper, no larger than two inches by three inches, was stuck to the side, several inches from the bottom. Part of the paper fell below the liquid's surface and the moisture had loosened a corner. Had it not been for it flapping into the liquid, Maggie would have never noticed. And that was probably why Sheriff Clayton's staff had missed it.

She glanced over her shoulder. As she holstered her smartphone she searched the room. In a lone cupboard behind the door she found a box of ziplock bags. She grabbed one and pulled on the latex gloves Clayton had given her. Then carefully and slowly she peeled the piece of paper from the cooler wall, trying to limit her touch to the flapping corner as she eased it off little by little.

Maggie held the paper between her fingertips. She needed to be patient and let it air-dry before placing it into the plastic bag. As she waited she examined the other side of the paper. Its corners were rounded, resembling a stick-on label. The side that had been facing out was blank but the one that had been stuck to the wall of the cooler was not. The ink had bled away. Only a ghost of the hand printing remained. But Maggie could still read the three lines of letters and numbers, what looked like a code:

AMET

DESTIN: 082409

#8509000029

She glanced back inside the cooler. There was nothing else. Maybe this piece of paper didn't have a thing to do with the body parts. It could have been left over from the cooler's previous usage. Perhaps dropped in accidentally.

Or, and Maggie hoped this was the case, it had once been a label attached to one of the packages.