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Sierra and Deb stopped a few feet away, but Blake followed. Reed waved a hand to make sure he kept well back. The last thing they needed was more boots trampling all over the place.
He nodded at Sam and stepped gingerly over the log a few feet down from where he was pointing. His eyes raked the ground on the other side of the dead tree. Long grass curled up around the base, and vines and other undergrowth tangled along the side. But there was an area where the growth wasn’t as thick. As if the ground had been broken up a while ago, and the plants were only now coming back. Then Reed saw the spot Sam described. Damp earth, dark and loamy, had been dug up. Clods of soil and grass were scattered around and a dark space opened up beneath the log. What kind of animal had done the digging? Reed couldn’t be sure. A fox, perhaps, looking for a tasty meal? Or one of the many large, feral cats who prowled the island.
And there, in an open patch that’d been uncovered by the digging, Reed could indeed see something sticking up. He took out the little Maglite torch he always carried in his vest pocket and shone the flashlight on the area, hunkering down on his haunches to get a closer look. It was gloomy and hard to see in the dank undergrowth.
Damn, damn, damn. The bones were definitely of a human hand poking up out of the dark soil. Reed moved the beam of light over the area. It came to rest on a smooth, rounded lump a little farther under the log.
Reed swallowed hard as his gut roiled at the sight. Part of a human skull was looking back at him.
This was his worst nightmare.
Not only were the bones definitely human, but if he wasn’t completely mistaken, they were also of a child. They were too small to be an adult. But there was no way this could be little Jessica. These bones had been here for a year, at least, to get to this level of decomposition. Jessica had only been missing for twenty-four hours.
It was another child.
This case had just taken another, much more sinister, turn.
“Oh, Jesus,” Blake said from behind him. “I think I’m going to be sick.” He stumbled away into the bush, and Reed heard retching sounds from behind a large tree. Poor kid, it must be the first dead body he’d seen. Reed felt a sliver of callous amusement go through his gut. Served him right for wanting to poke his nose in. Perhaps he wouldn’t be so quick to be overzealous with his authority next time.
