In the case of the mining camp, while Rogers would probably say it was for safety, I suspect it’s also like removing clothing from a dead man—protecting company property. However, those tracking chips might mean their guards and miners can’t sneak over to Haven’s Rock.
I would love to discuss that with Rogers. Find out how he’s using them, and see whether—after an incident last year—he’s making sure no one comes our way. But to do that, I’d need to admit we know about the chips. We’ve decided that is not in our best interests. For now.
We’ve had access to the body of one miner, where we found the scar from the chip insertion on his shoulder. It’d been marred by an injury, so it’d taken us a while to see it. The guard who’d tried to barter with us had cut his out—also on his shoulder. So that’s where we look, but the skin there on this body is smooth and unmarred.
I continue my search and find nothing.
I sit back on my heels. “There’s no proof thisisa miner—and no proof that he’s not. Also no evidence he was or wasn’t a hiker.”I pause. “If he were a hiker, he’d have been with Gretchen and Blake. The alternative is too much of a coincidence.”
Anders points at the man’s feet. “That hot spot suggests he was doing more walking than he’s used to.”
“So,” April says. “It appears this man was with Gretchen and Blake, who were not actually hikers or a married couple, but were likely spying on either Haven’s Rock or the miners. That sounds familiar. In fact, I believe it is exactly what I first theorized.”
I ignore her and look up at Dalton. “Do you think there’s any significance to the fact we nearly bumped into two of their guards?”
“What?” Anders says.
“Two guards from the camp were out here, allegedly just strolling around. They were heading in this direction when they were stopped by someone who seems to be management. A British guy we’ve never met. He said they’d gone past the boundary.”
“Which he’d know if he’s tracking them.”
“Good point. Yes.”
“So he turned them around right before they stumbled over a shallow grave?”
I consider. “I can’t imagine they’d have noticed it. We only stopped in here because this is where Gretchen’s trail led, and Storm indicated Gretchen had stayed here awhile. I was searching for signs of what she’d been doing when I noticed the disturbed sod.”
“Gretchen was here?” Anders says. “You forgot a critical bit of evidence, Case.”
“I kinda did. When we found the grave and saw the light hair, we thought itwasGretchen. Once we realized otherwise,I got caught up in that. But yes, it’s significant that Gretchen was here.”
I rise and work out a kink in my neck as I think. “Storm was definitely following her trail. Well, no, I shouldn’t say that. She was following the scent from a T-shirt we found in the discarded backpack. A women’s medium, which would seem to be Gretchen’s.”
“Unless there’s a fourth party,” April says. “Gretchen, Blake, the dead man, and another woman.”
“I can’t rule that out, but the shirt is most likely Gretchen’s. The trail went to all the places we know she’s been—the campsite, the creek, and over to where she met up with us. So if that trail also says she was here, I’m going to guess there’s not much chance she just happened to hang out in the same spot where a body was buried.”
“What are we saying?” Anders asks. “Three people came into the forest to spy on one of the settlements. Two are dead… and the third is the killer?”
“We have no actual evidence they were spying on either Haven’s Rock or the mining camp. The new wedding band suggests some kind of fraud, and the two bodies suggest a falling-out and double murder. Unless…”
I look around the clearing. “I hate to say it, guys, but I think we need to do some more digging. In case Gretchenishere.”
We don’t find Gretchen’s body. I’m glad we searched, though, or I’d have leapt up in the middle of the night thinking I’d overlooked the obvious alternate solution. Why was Gretchen’s scent in the clearing with a buried man? Possibility number one is that she buried him. Possibility two is that she’s alsoburied here. She’s not. Which takes us back to Gretchen as the killer.
Except, at this point, we have no evidence that the dead man was murdered. We don’t know how he died, and there are zero defensive wounds. Getting more is going to require, yep, performing yet another autopsy on yet another person who isn’t part of our settlement. But we can hardly leave him in the forest when we could be dealing with double homicide and a killer on the loose.
If Gretchen killed Blake, then our hope was that it was personal, and she’s long gone. If she killed both men, then that’s not the situation.
We return to Haven’s Rock for the stretcher. Then Dalton goes back with Anders and Storm. While I wait, I get to happily do all the baby-mama stuff. Change Rory. Feed her. Play with her when she’s not ready for a nap, and then rock her to sleep when she is. We’re in the clinic when the body arrives, and I set to work helping April while Rory sleeps in her bassinet. Dalton offers to take her, but he needs a break himself, so I send him home. Best to not disturb a sleeping baby. He can get some rest with Storm, and if Rory wakes, I’ll take her home.
Anders leaves, too. He has other duties, and he’s not needed here.
We did the preliminary external exam on the scene. Now we repeat it with proper lighting and equipment, but we find nothing else. No sign of trauma. No sign of a tracking-device implant.
We are thorough. Damnably thorough, because we cannot believe this man died of natural causes.
Is it possible though? Yes, but I’d struggle to fit that into the narrative we’re developing. We know Blake was murdered. We suspect Gretchen killed—or at least buried—this man. So thisthird confederate dies of natural causes, they bury him, argue over it, and Gretchen later kills Blake?
