Liam sat down. “Maybe you should start at the beginning.”
“Yes, please,” Jo said, and ignored the look of death Liam sent her.
“You sure I can’t get you something to drink?” Gabe said.
It transpired that the boys had taken advantage of Erik’s absence to explore Erik’s dig and the cave behind it. During said exploration, they had discovered a crack at the back of said cave. Kyle found that his arm fit in the crack, which inspired him to see if his head could fit in it, too. At which point he became stuck. After futile efforts to extract him that resulted in the marks of mauling on display on Kyle’s face, Logan went for help.
“Why you?” Liam said.
“Mine’s the closest house.”
McGuire had sent Logan to alert the parents—the Kinnisons and the Reeses lived off the same driveway nearer to East Bay Road—and had gone down to the cave to see what he could do. “I’ll give you this, dude, when you get stuck into something you really commit.”
Kyle looked hugely delighted to be called “dude” by Gabe McGuire. Logan scowled at his shoes.
Gabe looked at Liam. “So then I thought maybe if I got some grease or something, that might work him loose, so I brought down a bottle of olive oil.”
No wonder Kyle’s hair looked so weird.
Kyle grinned and Gabe laughed. “I poured the whole thing over as much of his head as the neck of the bottle would reach and I told him to rub it in. It worked.”
“Cool, huh?” Kyle said proudly. Logan rolled his eyes.
“About which time,” Gabe said, “Logan showed back up with Cynthia and Greg in tow. And then we called you.”
“Okay,” Liam said, “am I to understand that these bones came from the other side of the crack?”
“Yep.” Kyle nodded vigorously. “And that’s not all. When Gabe went back for the oil I felt around for the flashlight I’d dropped when I got stuck and shined it around. And—” building for a big finish “—that’s when I saw it!”
“Saw—”
Kyle pointed at the bones. “The rest of the body! The whole skeleton! It’s kind of crumpled up but you can tell right away what it is! There’s a spine, and legs and a skull and everything!” He paused, and then, clearly unhappy at the response to this earthshaking announcement, added, “The whole thing is still there!”
“You want to go take a look?” Gabe said.
Liam glanced up at the windows, behind which the sun had without question set. He was not attempting that death-defying trail in the dark. “Tomorrow, maybe. Have you talked to Erik?”
“I called him but he didn’t pick up. Let me try again.” Gabe picked up his phone, called up a number, and held the phone to his ear. After a minute or so he shook his head. “Still not picking up. Probably keeping company somewhere. Guy gets more action than any other ten men on the Bay, including me.”
Cynthia cleared her throat meaningfully, and Gabe didn’t quite blush.
Wy, speaking and possibly moving for the first time since coming into the house, smiled impartially at Cynthia and Greg. “Isn’t there school tomorrow?”
Greg said, “Yeah, Logan, time to head for the barn.”
“Yes, Kyle, way past your bedtime,” Cynthia said.
“C’mon, Mom—”
“And we’re going to have a conversation about your choice of friends first thing tomorrow.”
“What?” Greg said.
“It wasn’t my fault!” Logan said. “It wasn’t even my idea!”
“Let’s go, Kyle.” Cynthia bustled toward the door, outrage in the line of her spine.
Kyle looked at Greg. “She gets like this, Mr. Kinnison. Don’t worry about it, Dad’ll calm her down.” He looked at Liam. “Can I keep the bones?”
“Nope,” Liam said.
“Didn’t think so,” Kyle said regretfully, “but it was worth the ask.” He grinned at Logan and extended a fist. Logan bumped it with his own. “Later, dude.”
“Later.”
The Kinnisons père et fils followed Kyle out the door.
“Erik never said anything about a cave behind a cave when he was showing me around,” Liam said.
“Never did to me, either.”
“Could he have not known it was there?”
Gabe gave him a look. “Wait till you see the opening. It’s barely worthy of being called a crack.”
“Yeah, but he’s an archeologist. Don’t they, like, survey everything and measure it twice?”
“Everything he found he found on that shelf in the outer cave, so far as I know,” Gabe said. “And he only found it a couple of weeks ago. Maybe he hasn’t gotten around to it yet.” He look at Liam, curious.
“What?”
“You don’t seem too excited at the prospect of finding a human skeleton on your watch.”
Liam shrugged and stood up. “For one thing, it might not be human.” He walked over to the pitiful little pile of bones and folded them back up into the towel. “Before I try to fit through a crack Kyle couldn’t get his head through, I’d like to find out if that really is what we have here.”
McGuire’s eyebrows went up. “You think it isn’t?”
“Absolutely no doubt Kyle believes it is,” Liam said. He raised the package. “The bones definitely look like disconnected phalanges to me, and I’ve seen a few in my time.”
“But?”
“But animal bones have been mistaken for human bones many a time, especially bear bones and especially in Alaska.”
“Who can say for sure?”
“I’m guessing Erik Berglund can. I’ll give him a call in the morning. If he still doesn’t answer, I’ll ask Ms. Petroff to find someone.”
“Who?”
“Trust me, she’ll know.”
Eleven
Wednesday, September 4
LIAM WOKE UP IN HIS OWN BED WITH HIS arms wrapped around his own wife for the second glorious morning in a row. Her back was warm against his chest, her breast rose and fell against his arm, her curls tickled his nose, the skin of her neck was soft against his lips. He was in that moment utterly, completely content.
And then his phone rang. Still the boy band but they both jumped anyway. “If it’s Barton tell him I’m coming for him,” Wy mumbled into her pillow. “With extreme prejudice.”
He groped for his cell and squinted at the screen. It was Barton. It was also six a.m. He turned the phone off and tossed it down somewhere. He might have heard it hit the floor and since it was the property of the state of Alaska he should have been more concerned, but there was nothing more important in his life than curling his body around Wy’s and luxuriating in this moment.
Wy yawned. “What time is it?”
“Six a.m.”
“Must have been important.”
“Not necessarily. And I don’t care.”
He heard the smile in her voice. “If you’re about to get fired I’d better step up the effort to find a new job.”
“Take your time. No one else wanted this post, and I’m starting to figure out why.”
She rolled onto her back and stretched. “Stand by one.” She visited the bathroom and he enjoyed the view afforded by both trips. She snuggled in beneath the covers, tucking her head beneath his chin. He could feel her breath on his collarbone when she spoke. “Tell me.”
“Well, for starters, there’s Ms. Petroff, my administrative aide. Hired by Barton and in the office long before I got here. She’s from across the Bay and seems to know the Bay chapter and verse. I hope I am speaking metaphorically there but I’m not quite sure. She is almost terrifyingly efficient.”
“And local, so she’ll know everyone.”
“Yes, including one Mrs. Karlsen, a self-described torch singer, who showed up at the post looking for a lift to the bar she sings at.”
Wy yawned and snuggled closer. “A torch singer.”
“Indeed. I should probably add that she is retired and that the bar she sang at closed thirty years ago. Also, th
ere seems to be some indication that Sybilla sang in the nude, because she was certainly prepared to go to work that way.”
There was a momentary silence, and Liam felt her go very still. “I beg your pardon?”
He grinned into her hair. “Sybilla is in her eighties and lives at Sunset Heights, which Ms. Petroff gives me to understand is assisted living. She says it isn’t Sybilla’s first escape attempt.”
“You might have to pay them a call to discuss their security measures.”
“And I would, except Sunset Heights is within the Blewestown city limits, and Chief Armstrong, with whom I had lunch, has given me to understand that my writ does not carry within those limits. I am to confine myself to infractions committed within the jurisdiction of the state.”
She did raise her head at that, and he smoothed back the tangle of curls. “You’re kidding.”
“Not in so many words, but that was the distinct impression I was given, and most deliberately so.”
“Huh.”
“Eloquently put. Further investigation is required, but for now I’m on my own. He volunteered no information, either, so I’ll have to rely entirely on state records and whatever I can dredge out of the Soldotna post. I’m hoping they’ll be a little friendlier.”
“You’d think.”
“And then I dropped in on the local judge, who offered me a shot of Glenlivet, so naturally I’m already inclined to think kindly of her, or I was until she told me I couldn’t beat up anybody.”
She wriggled up to put her head on the pillow next to his so she could see him. “You don’t beat up people.”
“What I told her.”
“And her reply?”
“She asked me if I’d been through the course at the academy, and then wanted to know when I’d taken my last refresher.”
“Insulting.”
“A little,” he said. “But only a little. Excessive force is not a joke and it’s not the worst thing for a judge to be concerned about.” He hesitated.
“What?”
“I don’t know, I guess I—I’m wondering where that came from. If the judge was moved enough by the issue to warn me off before I even pulled someone over for a broken taillight…”
“You think the local LEOs trend that way?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I hope not.” He shifted restlessly and changed the subject. “What’s on your agenda for today?”
“Check on the aircraft. Maybe wander around the lake, poke my head into the air taxis and flightseeing companies.”
“I saw what looked like an FBO north of the terminal.”
“With a G-2 parked in front of it, yeah. I’m not looking for a job on the ground. Especially not one where I have to cater to people who have more money than sense who you just know are going to want to fly and shoot same day.”
“You want something on the reg, or for hire.”
“All I know for sure is I don’t want to work with assholes.”
He laughed. “Right there with you, babe.” He kissed her. Things were just getting interesting when muffled sounds came from beyond the door. He groaned. “Jo’s up. How long is she here for again?”
Her turn to grin. “You worried she might move in permanent?”
He rolled his eyes, but indeed it was not the least of his worries. Wy’s parents were disengaged, almost asocial, and so not much present in their daughter’s life, other than insisting that she get a college degree. So Wy had built her own family, beginning with Jo, her college roommate, and Jo’s family, including a brother of whom Liam would rather not think.
“Dibs on the shower,” Wy said. She got up and stretched while he admired the view again. “Agatha Christie said your house had to be big enough not to bump your bum on the furniture while you were cleaning. Even the bathrooms are roomy in this house.” She grinned at him over her shoulder. “The beer business must be good.”
“I think it is if you know what you’re doing.”
They presented themselves in the kitchen, cleaned and scrubbed and possibly a little too self-satisfied, because Jo rolled her eyes at first look. “Coffee’s on.” A ding. “And the monkey knuckles are ready to come out of the oven.”
“Oh, boy.” As one they rushed for the oven. The monkey knuckles, miniature tear-apart cinnamon rolls, were a rich, crusty, brown glistening with sugar and butter and smelled like heaven. “Yum.”
They sat down at the dining room table and tried not to make pigs of themselves.
“You’re not rushing down to the post.” Jo’s tone was more mild inquiry than outraged taxpayer so Liam didn’t rise.
“I’m not officially on duty until next Monday.”
“Are you going back out to take a look in that cave?”
“I thought I might.” He waited.
“I think I’ll follow you out there.”
“I thought you might.”
She flipped him off. Wy laughed.
“Jesus,” Jo said, standing next to him at the top of the cliff.
“Yeah,” Liam said, for once in complete agreement with her.
Her vehicle and Liam’s truck were squeezed in next to Erik’s old Ford. The sky was cloudy but at least it wasn’t raining yet. He hesitated, and then shrugged. He turned sideways to the slope and began side-stepping down, digging the edges of his boots into the ground. Even then he slid almost halfway there, but at least it was a more controlled slide than Monday’s. Above him, Jo inched her way, sometimes by the seat of her pants, sometimes voluntarily.
He was dusting himself off when a bird called and he looked up to see a seagull cruising by, followed a second later by two more. No ravens, though.
The tent looked the same. The tables stood on either side of the tent, the coffee table in one corner, the fold-up Styrofoam bed in another, the aged Blazo boxes converted to shelves containing the cleaned, neatly laid out tools of Erik’s profession and the carefully labeled artifacts. The Shawshank rock hammer was still there.
“Erik?” Liam said. No answer. He raised his voice. “Erik?”
Behind him he heard a scatter of sand and rock. “It’s easier going up than coming down,” he said without turning.
“Good to know,” Jo said breathlessly. “Berglund still not around?”
“Doesn’t appear so.”
“Have you checked the cave?”
“I was just about to.” He pulled the tactical flashlight from the holster on his belt and led the way through the tent into the mouth of the cave.
The darkness of the cave gulped down the light of the flash and if possible made the interior look even darker and somehow larger than he had noticed on Monday. It was colder than he remembered, he thought fifty degrees at most. It smelled off, too, more than just of decaying seaweed. A chill ran down his spine and his heart sank.
He took a step forward toward what he guessed what the back of the cave and immediately tripped over something and fell to his knees. He dropped the flash and it went out. “Damn it.” He groped for the flash, hoping it hadn’t broken against the rock, hampered by being totally disoriented, only dimly aware of Jo’s figure outlined against the light of the cave entrance. The dimensions of the cave seemed to expand exponentially in the dark.
“Liam?”
“Don’t come in. The floor is a bunch of rock.” He understood now why Erik hadn’t walked him inside it during his visit. “Just stay there until I find the flashlight.” His hand closed over it finally. He felt for the switch and pushed it.
It lit immediately, illuminating the face of Erik Berglund peering out from behind an outcropping of rock separated from the wall of the cave.
“Erik?”
But Erik’s eyes were wide and staring. His blond hair was matted with what could only be dried blood.
Behind him Liam heard Jo take a sharp, inward breath.
“Stay there, Jo.” He got to his feet and picked his way carefully to the little rock wall Erik’s body had fallen—or been placed—behind.
He
put out a hand. Erik’s skin was cold and clammy to the touch.
Erik’s right arm was outstretched over his shoulder. Liam traced it with the beam of the flash and saw a phone under his lifeless hand.
He bent to pull it free and straightened to thumb it on.
It was dead.
Like Erik.
Twelve
Wednesday, September 4
“RIGOR IS STARTING TO PASS OFF,” LIAM said, “but the cave where the body was is pretty cool and I’d guess colder at night.”
Brillo grunted. “Anybody around who can take a read?”
“No.”
“You sure it wasn’t an accident?”
“I can’t tell, Brillo. I can say that his skull shifts when you touch it.”
“He couldn’t have fallen?”
“Not where the body is. I mean, yes, he could have tripped and fallen, there is plenty to fall over in the cave, but at least at first glance he looks like he’s taken a lot of damage, more than could be reasonably expected from a trip-and-fall. His clothes, too.”
“Well, shit.” An aggravated sigh. “Put him on a plane.”
“Don’t hang up, Brillo, there’s something else.”
“Color me surprised.” Dr. Hans Brilleaux, the state medical inspector, went heavy on the sarcasm.
“There is another body in the cave, a skeleton. Been there a while, just the bones. I can see it but I can’t get at it yet. I do have one of the hands.”
A huff of exasperation. “Send it up with the body.”
“I want to know if it’s human and how long it’s been there, Brillo.”
“Miracle workers R us.” Click.
Liam lowered his phone.
“It takes thirty-six hours for rigor to go off,” Jo said.
“This is now a crime scene, Jo. I need to ask you to leave.”
“If he’s been lying there for thirty-six hours, how did the boys miss him?”
“Jo.”
“You and what army?” she said impatiently. “How are you going to get the body up that trail?”
He called the post. Ms. Petroff answered. He explained the situation. “I will notify the Blewestown volunteer fire department, sir.”
Spoils of the dead Page 9
