AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 17
KIMBERLY
AS KIMBERLY QUICKLY LEARNED, EXCAVATING a mass grave was like emptying a bathtub one scoop of water at a time, keeping the water level even as you slowly brought it down.
Dr. Jackson liked to talk while she worked. “Now, if this were an archeological site, we’d start at the edge and dig ourselves in. But when you work a burial, you need to protect the grave itself, including the walls of the original pit which may yield tool marks we’ll want for evidence later. So what we’re going to do is start right in the middle. We’ll scoop off shallow amounts of dirt into buckets. Buckets will then be poured through a coarse sieve, then a fine sieve. Hopefully that will yield some interesting tidbits—buttons, jewelry, bits of fabric. A shell casing would be nice. But we also want flora, fauna, seed pods. We don’t know what we don’t know, so at this stage, anything left in the sieve is considered evidence.”
Kimberly nodded obediently, organizing their small crew into the human chain. Dr. Jackson took the lead, patiently removing shallow slices of dirt. Kimberly came next, holding up the bucket to receive each scoopful. Full buckets were passed down for sifting. Empty buckets passed back for refill.
Maggie roamed around them. Setting up the Total Station in select spots. Shooting data before bringing the toy to the next site, different angle.
The work was tedious and hot. Before long Kimberly could feel the sweat beading along her brow. She had to take a break and tie a handkerchief around her hairline. Dripping bodily fluids into a crime scene would definitely be in poor form. She noticed the others having to stop to do the same.
This grave, like the first, was not especially deep. Nor did it turn out to be particularly wide. Within a matter of hours, Dr. Jackson had fully exposed a tangled riddle of bones. Without the skulls for reference, Kimberly wasn’t sure she would’ve known she was looking at three bodies. It might have been six, maybe a dozen.
It was... heartrending. Three people reduced to a single cluster of bones.
Dr. Jackson called for a water break. The woman had a kerchief around her head and her neck, both heavily stained with sweat. When the forensic anthropologist straightened, Kimberly could hear the woman’s back crack, could see her wince.
“Definitely not in the lab anymore,” the doc said grimly, extracting herself carefully from the grave.
“Have you worked a mass grave before?” Kimberly asked as they headed to the edge of the woods, where the rest of their team had already gathered in the shade and were greedily sucking down liquid.
“Too many times. Rwanda. Central America. Many forensic anthropologists donate time working international cases. The countries where some of the worst genocides have taken place don’t have the resources to process their own sites. They rely on the international community to lend a hand.”
“I thought... I thought it would be easier to make out each body,” Kimberly said. She noticed the others were eavesdropping shamelessly on their conversation.
Dr. Jackson shook her head. “Mass killers don’t like to work any harder than they have to. Some even make their victims dig their own graves. In this case, looks to me like one small ditch was carved into the earth. Which, given the amount of bushes and tree roots, couldn’t have been an easy task. Then, the bodies were dumped in. Over time, the skeletons collapsed into the jumbled pattern we’re seeing here.
“Now, there are a couple of factors we can already consider. We’ve removed most of the dirt from the grave, and there’s still no trace of clothing.”
“Like the first grave,” Kimberly said.
“Exactly. I’ve also noted the first pelvis. Definitely female. Based on a quick glance, I would guess they all are.” The forensic anthropologist sighed heavily.
Kimberly nodded, taking another swig of water and feeling those words like a weight in her chest. Four murdered girls. All dumped on one mountainside, and dead so long not even a memory of flesh remained. Good God, what had been going on around here?
“Can’t tell you time since death. That’ll take some quality time with my mass spec back in the lab. Clearly, we’re looking at older remains, but are these two sites five years apart, a few years apart, a few months apart... that’s going to take some analysis.”
“Three bodies in one burial site is unusual for a serial predator.”
“Can’t say I’ve run across that before myself. We already got an interesting find in the first sieve, as well.”
Kimberly hadn’t worked the sifting process so she looked at the doctor.
“Appears to be a slender piece of plastic tubing,” Dr. Jackson explained. “The size and diameter reminds me of medical equipment, say a cannula used for an IV.”
“Seriously?”
“Again, this is premature. But we also found a dirt-covered strip of adhesive. Like the kind used to tape an IV to the back of a patient’s hand.”
“There are possible medical supplies in this grave? No clothes or signs of restraints but medical supplies?”
“Like I said, gotta get back to the lab.”
Kimberly stared at the doctor. She honestly didn’t know what to make of such findings. A mass grave had been strange enough. But a mass grave where one of the victims may have received medical treatment?
Kimberly heard a sound in the distance. A low splutter, turning into a throaty growl as it grew closer. Instantly, she and the rest of the team were on their feet.
Closer. Louder. Roaring. Clearly some kind of vehicle approaching where no vehicle should be.
Kimberly drew her sidearm.
An ATV came crashing through the bushes. Two riders, both wearing helmets, pitched forward as the vehicle careened sideways then lurched to a sudden stop. Kimberly lined up her Sig Sauer on the driver just as the person opened her visor and Kimberly found her gun pointed straight at Flora Dane’s forehead.
