She paused at the tape, eyes sweeping the scene—bone placement, soil disturbance, boot tracks—before stepping forward.
The same calm she’d carried through twelve years as regional M.E. out of Asheville settled over her like armor.
“Morning, Sheriff,” she said. “What’ve you got for me?”
Burke motioned her over.
Cade crouched, snapping on gloves. One look, then a measured exhale.
“These bones didn’t come to rest here,” she said. “They were placed. Clean. No soil staining. No animal damage. Stored somewhere cool and dry.”
“Adult. I won’t guess sex out here—we’ll know more once I get them back to the lab.”
Burke folded his arms. “How recent?”
“Hard to say. Teeth are intact. Once I have missing persons records, I’ll start cross-checking.”
Scout crouched, studying the top layer of dirt. A faint sweep mark curved through it.
Cade shifted the skull slightly?—
—and stopped.
Something gleamed beneath it.
She brushed away debris and lifted a badge—bright, untouched by weather.
It hadn’t been dropped.
It had been placed—deliberately. Like a signature.
She turned it over.
“Deputy Sara Anne Parker.”
Burke went still.
Scout’s voice came low. “Someone’s got Sara.”
The second he said it, the missed 2:47 a.m. call slammed back into him. If he’d heard it—if he’d picked up—maybe they wouldn’t be standing over a stranger’s bones with Sara’s badge laid out like a threat.
Cade met Burke’s eyes. “Whoever did this isn’t hiding, Sheriff. He’s sending a message.”
Burke nodded once. “Then message received.”
He keyed his radio. “Dispatch, patch me through to Special Agent Tessa Quinn with the North Carolina SBI. Tell her we need her back in Sylva. Now.”
Lights flickered on in distant farmhouses.
Static—then, “Copy that, Sheriff.”
Burke’s gaze swept the trees, the ridge, the bones laid out like a warning.
Somebody had taken Sara Parker.
And whoever it was had wanted them to know.
The Watcher
