The Missing

Chapter 54

Darby was hoping to find a cigarette butt, a candy wrapper or soda can – something with DNA that would place Traveler at this burial site. After sifting through the leaves for an hour, the only thing they found was an old penny. She bagged it into evidence, but she wasn't holding out any hope of finding a fingerprint.

'I say we start digging at the base of the boulder and work our way out,' Darby said.

Evan agreed and handed her a shovel.

As Darby worked, the morning sun warm on her neck, her thoughts kept running back to what Evan had said about having searched through these woods for the remains of Grady's victims. Was Melanie still buried somewhere out here?

I'm sorry, Mel. I'm sorry you and Stacey never got the chance to live out your lives. I've tried hard to forget what happened. If you had lived, Mel, I know you would have done a much better job at remembering me. If there is such a place as heaven, I can only pray that if we ever meet you'll find it in your heart to forgive me.

The hole was rectangular in shape, about four feet deep. Darby tossed her shovel aside.

'I don't want to risk damaging anything with the shovel.' She lay down on her stomach and reached inside the hole. 'Do me a favor and grab the brush and hand trowel from my kit.'

Darby used her gloved hands to scoop away the dirt. The wet dirt had seeped through her jeans. In the far distance she heard the sound of branches snapping back.

Evan stood over her, watching. He had retreated back into his stony silence. He had barely spoken while they dug.

Darby felt something hard beneath her fingers. She scooped away the dirt. At first, she thought it was a rock. But as she moved away the dirt, she had an idea what it was.

Staring up at her were the parietal and occipital bones that made up the human skull. Jane or John Doe was lying facedown in the grave. The skull was a dark, rusty color, and there wasn't any hair.

Evan handed her a brush from her kit. Darby scooped away more dirt, alternating between her fingers and the brush.

'I don't see any insect activity. No soft tissue… No muscle tissue, cartilage or ligaments. Fully skeletonized would be my guess.'

Darby pointed to a dark web of lines on the ocular section of the skull. 'These are dendritic impressions. You see these root etchings when a skull's been buried for a good amount of time. I should call Carter. He's the state's forensic anthropologist.'

'How many people does he have working for him?'

'I'm not sure. Two, I think. Carter has experience in exhuming mass gravesites. He also works for a group that travels to third world countries – places where there are mass graves from genocide and wars.'

The sound of branches snapping back grew louder. Someone was heading this way. Probably Banville, she thought.

'I wonder if there's a full set of remains buried in there,' Darby said.

'This spot could be a dumping ground.'

'The ground's too wet to use ground-penetrating radar,' Darby said. The machines Carter sometimes used looked like futuristic lawn mowers. They required traction on hard, dry surfaces. 'I'm going to call Carter. I don't want to dig any more and risk damaging whatever bones might be buried in here.'

Evan glanced off at the trail. Darby looked over her shoulder.

Standing on the level ground above her were four men dressed in suits. The tallest of the bunch, a man with a crew cut, said, 'Special Agent Manning, may I speak to you privately for a moment?'

'Who's that?' Darby asked.

Evan walked away without answering. Darby stood up and brushed the mud off her jeans.

Coop's cell phone vibrated in her back pocket.

Darby stripped off her gloves. The cell phone's signal was low, the reception scratchy. She barely heard Coop's voice. Darby told him to hold on a moment and paced the area until the static eased. She pressed a hand over her other ear.

'What did you say, Coop?'

'I said they kicked me out of the mobile lab.'

'Who did?'

'Our good friends from Club Fed,' Coop said. 'The FBI has taken over the investigation.'