The Hunt Ball

C H A P T E R 2 5

The snow, still falling, drifted, creating waves that looked like Cool Whip. Ben Sidel, Ty Banks, and three other officers patiently worked in the cold. Although only three in the afternoon, the deep gray clouds hung low; visibility wasn’t too good.

On the one hand, the cold had preserved what remained of the body under the church. But the snow obscured any tracks or other bits of evidence that might have been there. Ben knew, when this snow melted, evidence would melt with it.

Ty rubbed his gloved hands together as he stood up. He shook his legs for circulation. “Sheriff, how long do you think she’s been under there?”

“Maybe a week. And we’re lucky. The animals that got to her didn’t take the head. We’ve got the teeth.”

“Looks like a big dog or something pawed away at the stones.”

“Yeah. Sticking her under the church was a hurry-up job but not such a stupid one. People rarely come back here. Whoever killed her shoved her under the church as far back as he could crawl, piled up leaves over her, then put some stones back in the foundation. Don’t know if he opened up the foundation or if the stones crumbled away. Not all of these,” he pointed to snow-covered stones, “match.”

“Guess there’s not enough for a visual I.D.”

Ben shook his head. “Been tore up pretty good. Nature’s recycling.” He grunted softly. “The teeth. We’ll get a positive I.D.”

Ty jammed his hands in his pockets as two men in orange hazard suits slid back out on their stomachs, body pieces in plastic bags.

Ty asked, “Do you think Mrs. Arnold knew who that was under there?”

“She probably has an idea despite the condition of the body. Sister’s uncanny. She said she should have trusted her hounds when they went to the chapel.”

“Do you want to call Mrs. Norton? I can if you—” Ty didn’t finish, for Ben interrupted.

“I’ll call. She knows it’s coming.”

“Because Brown University called her yesterday.”

Ben shrugged, “Well, she’s a bright woman. They asked her if she had seen Professor Kennedy, who has never missed a class. The conclusion has to be dismal. Now we have the evidence.” Ben rolled his eyes toward the slightly waving treetops. “Ty, we’re in the fog, but it’s about to lift.”

“Why?”

“Because our killer had to hurry. People who hurry make mistakes.”

“When are you going to give a statement to the press?” Ty considered what Ben had just said.

“Tomorrow. I need tonight to think.” He lifted his foot, shaking the cold out of his toes, snow spraying. “And I want to call on a few people.”

“Long night?” Ty’s expression was dolorous.

“Not for you. Tomorrow I want you to see if you can find Professor Kennedy’s backup system. Someone as meticulous as she had to be in her line of work wouldn’t have had only one copy of her data. It’s possible that whatever she found, whether it had to do with those artifacts or with something else at Custis Hall, might be encoded in that data.”

“Okay.”

“The other thing is this: My statement will simply be that the remains of an unidentified woman were found. I’ll give an estimate of age and race and say we won’t have any more information until the dental records are checked, which may take some time.”

“Okay. Anything else?”

“Find the killer.”

Ty’s eyebrows furrowed. “Sister said he knows the territory.”

“After this, there can’t be any doubt about that.”