Page 13 of Scarred By Sin

“Brooklyn Sloane, S&E Investigations. My colleagues, Theo Neville and Sylvie Deering.”

Kessler gave each of them a brief nod, then turned her attention back to Brook.

“How much have you been briefed?”

“Enough to know I need more.”

Kessler nodded before gesturing for them to follow her. She moved through the greenhouse methodically, pausing at each marked excavation site. Her voice was steady, clinical, and devoid of speculation. She drew clean lines between fact and speculation.

“Ground-penetrating radar identified eight distinct burial sites,” Kessler began, stopping at a raised bed near the center of the greenhouse where the soil had been carefully excavated in layers. “Granted, one of the sites was disturbed by the cleanup crew. Most are distributed throughout the raised beds and planting areas, as you can see. Two are beneath the root systems of mature plants that have been growing over the remains for decades, so we’ll save those for last.”

She indicated different areas of the greenhouse as she spoke, and Brook followed each movement, mapping the locations in her mind.

“The distribution is not random,” Kessler continued, as if reading her thoughts. “The burials are spaced deliberately, integrated into the greenhouse layout as though whoever placed them understood the growing environment.”

Someone who understood soil. Someone who had knowledge of which beds were active and which could be used without interfering with the growing plants. Not a visitor, per se, and not someone who had stumbled in and panicked.

“How far along are you?” Theo asked.

“Three sets of remains have been fully excavated and documented. The others are partially exposed.” Kessler gestured toward the far end of the greenhouse, where tarps covered two active dig sites. “Each burial requires layer-by-layer excavation. Separating bone from root without damaging either takes time.”

“How much time?” Sylvie asked.

“Another five to seven days before all eight sites are fully processed.”

Kessler led them to one of the flower beds. The bones were stained a deep amber from prolonged contact with the mineral-rich earth, and no soft tissue remained. No visible clothing, either, though Kessler mentioned that fabric fragments had been recovered from the surrounding soil samples and sent to the lab.

“Of the three fully excavated sets,” Kessler said, “two are female. The third is male, and the skeletal profile is consistent with a man in his mid-fifties at the time of death. Given that Nestor Ellingham disappeared from this property approximately thirty years ago at that age, we've requested his dental records to confirm identification.”

Brook crouched at the edge of the bed. The remains had been left in situ for documentation, the bones still nested in the impression they’d occupied for three decades.

“The male remains were the ones initially discovered, but they are also the most informative," Kessler said, guiding Brook to a laptop open on a nearby workbench. She pulled up a series of photographs taken in what she assumed to be a field examination tent. The bones had been cleaned and arranged in anatomical position on a stainless-steel table, each one labeled and numbered against the matte surface. Kessler pointed to the skull in the first image. "Depressed fracture on the left parietal bone, consistent with a heavy, focused blow. The right forearm shows defensive fractures, as well. His death was violent, and based on the skeletal evidence, I’m comfortable saying at the scene level that blunt force trauma was the cause.”

“He fought back,” Brook murmured in thought.

“Significantly.”

“And the women?”

“Different story entirely.” Kessler swiped to the next set of photographs on the laptop. Two separate layouts, each showing a female skeleton arranged on different stainless-steel tables, cleaned and cataloged. “No visible skeletal trauma on either. No fractures. No cut marks. No damage to the hyoid bone. Whatever killed them didn't leave evidence on bone.”

“Which rules out blunt force, sharp force, and most forms of manual strangulation,” Brook said, more to herself than to Kessler.

“Correct. But as you know, the absence of trauma doesn’t tell us the cause of death. Suffocation, chemical sedation, or even being buried alive. None of those would leave reliable skeletal markers after this length of time. I’ve collected soil samples from around both sets of remains for toxicology screening. If there’s chemical residue from sedatives or poisons that leached into the surrounding soil, we’ll find it. But those results will take weeks.”

“What about positioning?”

Kessler nodded, as though she’d been waiting for the question.

“That’s the one detail I can speak to with some confidence.” She guided Brook and the others back to one of the flower beds. “Both fully excavated women were positioned supine, similar to this one. Arms at their sides or folded across their chests. Both were oriented in the same direction within their burial sites.”

Kessler paused, but Brook didn’t get the sense that she did so for effect. It was more in preparation.

“We do know the answer to one question. This is deliberate placement, Ms. Sloane. A person who was conscious when buried would show evidence of a struggle. Contorted posture. Hands raised. Knees drawn up. These women were placed either unconscious or dead before burial. Carefully.”

The bodies had been arranged.

As though someone had taken the time to ensure they were comfortable.