Bruno scrambled to his feet, his entire body wiggling with excitement. He loved walks. She pulled on a pair of hiking boots, then grabbed the only item that could be used as a weapon, a large can of bear spray. She headed out into the backyard. As if knowing exactly what she wanted, Bruno bounded into the woods, taking the same path as earlier that morning.
Evie held the bear spray in one hand and moved low-hanging branches away from her face with the other. The ground beneath her feet was dry, as there hadn’t been any rain for two weeks. It seemed like every twig she stepped on snapped loudly, announcing her presence.
Maybe that was a good thing, because she still didn’t know what had caught Bruno’s attention in the first place. Scanning the ground, she didn’t see any footprints. There was evidence of broken branches, but she didn’t know if they were made by Bruno or something else.
Someone else, she silently amended.
Just as she was second-guessing her decision to go out there, Bruno quickened his pace. He ducked straight through two bushes, disappearing from sight.
“Bruno? Wait up, buddy.” She hurried to follow her dog. Pushing through the brush, she stopped abruptly when she saw an open area where the dirt had been churned up by animals foraging for food.
Cautiously stepping closer, her heart thudded painfully in her chest as she saw that there were more bones that had been brought to the surface. Most notable of all, a human skull.
Covering her mouth with her hand, she took a hasty step back and glanced around the gravesite. Because clearly that’s what Bruno had found. A grave.
And even from a distance, she could see a few remnants of a striped pink, purple, and blue fabric intermixed with the bones. The pattern was very similar to Skye’s favorite top.
She leaned weakly against the trunk of a nearby tree, unable to tear her gaze away from the scene.
Bruno had found Skye Gray’s grave.
Cam Walker was just finishinga five-mile late-afternoon run when his phone rang. Seeing Evie Tobin’s name on the screen stopped him cold, despite the blistering heat.
Talk about a blast from the past. Why was Evie calling him now, after all these years?
Hesitantly, he answered. “Hello?”
“Cam? It’s Evie. I, um, I know it’s been a long time.”
“Yeah, it has been.” Using the hem of his T-shirt, he mopped the sweat from his face. “What’s going on? Is there some sort of high school reunion coming up?” He kept his tone casual but knew that even if there was a reunion in the works, he wouldn’t attend.
“No, nothing like that, but I, well, I’m in Grand Haven. My dog, Bruno, found an arm bone in the nature preserve. When I went to investigate further, I found more bones. Including a human skull.”
He froze, his thoughts going back to his childhood home. And to the summer his girlfriend Skye Gray had disappeared. With trepidation, he forced himself to ask the obvious question. “A human skull belonging to whom?”
“I can’t say for sure. The police have been at the scene all day, trying to preserve what’s left of the evidence, but I saw some fabric. It looked to me like the striped top Skye loved to wear.”
Cam’s knees felt weak, but he refused to buckle under the news. “Maybe it’s not her. Maybe it’s someone else.”
“Maybe.” Evie didn’t sound convinced. “You remember that top she always wore, the one with the pink, purple, and blue stripes?”
He remembered it well. Mostly because it had barely covered Skye’s midriff. Forcing a response through his tight throat, he said, “Yeah. I remember.”
“Me too.” There was a moment of silence, then Evie spoke again. “Like you said, though, it could belong to someone else. I just thought you should know. Especially since you’ll be...” She didn’t finish, but he knew what she was about to say.
He’d be hearing from the police. Now that the Grand Haven cops knew Skye hadn’t left town as they’d assumed, he’d shoot right back up to the top of the suspect list. Despite having a solid alibi for the day Skye had supposedly gotten in her car and headed to Grand Rapids.
He still had trouble believing it. That Skye Gray had been lying dead and buried in the nature preserve all this time.
Fourteen years.
The only explanation was that someone had killed her. Which led the trail of breadcrumbs right back to him. The boyfriend. But he knew he hadn’t hurt Skye, and that meant someone else had.
But who? Unfortunately, he had no idea.
“I’ll be there as soon as possible.” Cam strode toward his apartment building, doing the math in his head. He lived fifteen minutes south of Chicago, which meant he should be able to drive to Grand Haven in roughly three and a half hours, depending on traffic. “I’ll call you when I arrive.”
“Okay. I’m staying at my mother’s house. I, uh, she passed away four months ago.” The conversation was awkward between them. Did Evie now think he had something to do with Skye’s disappearance?
