Traces of Guilt

by Dee Henderson

  “Second deer blind, then east. You’ll see red flags I haven’t cleared yet.”

  Gabriel slung the evidence-collection bag across his shoulder, picked up the camera bag, moved to the back of the truck and got his shovel. He walked at a good clip across the pastureland, then into the woods.

  Will was sitting on a fallen tree trunk, shovel beside him, legs outstretched, boots crossed, seeming relaxed until you saw his grim expression. Will simply nodded to an oval patch of ground on the other side of the faint animal trail.

  A wild blackberry bush had tried to grow, and a red flag was planted at the east side of it. A small tree had come down, its branches spread in a tangled mess across the ground. Will had scraped away fallen leaves with his boot and shovel, so the ground was moist dirt with traces of crushed mushrooms. He’d dug a hole alongside the fallen tree.

  “The bone is about eight inches down, pretty much right at the flag,” Will said. “Either the femur bone of a child or the radius arm bone of a woman—they’d be similar dimensions just looking at the center few inches. It’s old skeletal remains. I’m guessing it’s a child, feet about here”—Will pointed—“lying that direction.”

  Gabriel handed his brother one of the water bottles, pulled out the camera from the bag, pulled on a pair of gloves, and went to kneel by the flag and the hole. He used his gloved hand to gently move aside the dirt. It was human bone. Hard to tell if it was a child or a woman, but it definitely was human.

  He studied the area. “State crime-scene people are going to be an hour getting here. But they were already packed for this possibility, as I’d given them a heads-up a search was in progress. Have you seen anything on the surface that suggests this is anything other than an old gravesite?”

  “I’ve walked it in a spiral outward and I’m finding only vegetation,” Will replied.

  “I’ll take some photos. Then we’ll get that tree moved and the area cleared.” Gabriel took his shovel and skimmed away a wider circle of leaves. “It’s still somewhat wet ground—that will make it easier getting to the rest of the bones.”

  “It would be worth getting the other flags cleared while we wait for people, confirm this is the only site we need them to work for now,” Will suggested.

  Gabriel nodded his agreement. “I’m sorry it was you who turned this shovel of dirt, Will.”

  “Someone was going to do it. I’m glad it wasn’t Dad. Are they bringing in generators and lights or should I make arrangements?”

  “They’ll have what they need, I’m sure of it.” Gabriel began snapping photographs of the scene. “You need to tell Karen what you’ve been doing out here. Go spend some time with her tonight.”

  “Yeah. What do you figure? A few hours we’ll know child or adult?”

  “I think I can convince them to clear dirt back from the visible bone before they start the rest of the excavation, get us that basic answer. How this bone is positioned will tell them how the body is resting.” Gabriel could feel himself building an emotional distance from the reality of the scene. “Dad’s going to be out here soon. We need something for him to do.”

  “He’s good at coordinating people,” Will said. “Word is going to get out soon. You and I need to be elsewhere, let Dad manage this scene. He can be the gatekeeper, controlling who has access. We don’t want freelancers deciding to walk around these woods looking for more . . .” He didn’t finish.

  Gabriel grimaced. “Yeah, you’re right about that.” He set aside the camera and nodded at the fallen tree. “Let’s move it to the north. Once it’s out of the way, we can break through the roots of the blackberry bush with a shovel, get it out of the way too.”

  Will slid on his work gloves as he walked over to the tree. “When are you planning to tell Grace?”

  “Ask me that in a few hours.” Gabriel heaved with his brother, and they got the tree to shift a few inches, pulling its branches out of the tangled brush. Should’ve been working out more, Gabriel told himself as they struggled to yank it free. They might need to wait for help.

  Will said, “Lift with your legs, not your back.”

  Gabriel barked out a laugh. “Shut up, Will,” he replied good-naturedly. At least the tree was an inanimate thing, and he could direct his frustration without mercy. On the third attempt, with Will generating most of the lift, they managed to haul the tree out of the way. They picked up shovels and set to work on the underbrush, clearing it back.

  Gabriel rested against his shovel, breathing hard. An eight-by-ten-foot piece of land, a simple red flag marking the spot where the bone was. In about five hours this would be a pit, with more than just a fragment of bone to see. He wiped the back of his wrist across his eyes.

  Will knelt to say a silent prayer, and his brother wasn’t a religious man by any stretch of the definition. It was a powerful gesture. Gabriel doubted the remains had gone in the ground with any kind of recognition or ceremony. Most likely it had been Kevin Arnett hiding what he’d done. He said a quiet prayer of his own. They’d get the truth unearthed. Grant a proper burial.

  Will stood and reached for his shovel. “Let’s clear the rest of the flags while we wait for the crime-scene people.”

  Gabriel nodded. Will took the right while he himself moved to the left, heading toward the other flags. If this was Ashley Dayton, he’d call her parents, tell his father, his officers, then tell Grace. If this was her parents, he’d end up with a shorter but similar list. It was going to be a long, miserable day, no matter how he looked at it.

  He felt a raindrop strike his face and glanced up at the sky. God, we don’t need rain right now, but I share your sadness. He put his shovel into the ground at the base of a flag. It would take a steady rain to become a real problem this deep in the woods. Likely it was just a passing drizzle, he thought, recalling the forecast. He had a rain slicker in the truck. The work wasn’t going to suspend tonight no matter how much rain came in.

  Evie Blackwell

  Three crime-scene vehicles could be seen in the headlights of the rental Paul had parked beside the Thane family’s vehicles. Evie stepped out. The light rain earlier had brought a deeper chill to the air. Lights set up to deal with the coming night illuminated the general area in the woods, but from this distance details were indistinct. Evie sent a text to Gabriel to let him know they’d arrived.

  “What do you think, Ann, can it stay quiet another day before the rumors begin?” Evie asked as her friend stopped beside her.

  “They’ll be circulating by morning. The folks working the scene have to get coffee, sleep somewhere. State crime-lab folks don’t come to town unless something’s up.”

  Evie saw a figure start across the pasture toward them. “That’s Gabriel, I think, or maybe Will.”

  “Looks like Gabriel,” Paul replied.

  They waited in silence. Evie easily read the strain on Gabriel’s face as he drew nearer, knew the answer before he spoke.

  “It’s a child. And from what’s in the grave, it looks to be Ashley Dayton. The shoes are a match—she had beads tied into her shoelaces. And there’s a bracelet that was made for her with her name on it.”

  “I’m so sorry, Gabriel,” Evie said softly.

  He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “I’ll be calling her family once the medical examiner concludes his initial exam. He’s offered to make the dental assessment right here with the portable X-ray so we can give the family the confirmation ASAP.”

  “You will not be surprising them,” Ann said quietly. “The place will be a shock, but her death is not a surprise.”

  “I know,” Gabriel said heavily. “It’s a relatively shallow grave, three feet down, off to the side of one of the animal trails and within sight of the second hunting blind. I don’t think the location is an accident. I think the man wanted to look down on where she was buried.” His voice cracked on the last words, but he drew a ragged breath and went on, “Will’s still back there, and I’ve got Dad coordinating the scene. I need to get m
y guys informed, get security posted out here.”

  “When the family arrives, the media will follow. We need to tell Grace,” Ann said.

  “We’ll tell her,” Gabriel said. “Whether tonight or tomorrow morning is the only question.”

  “I’m not one for delaying hard news. Let’s get it done. Rachel is with her now—that’s going to help.”

  Gabriel nodded. “I need to give Josh a call, fill him in. I didn’t want to do that until we were sure.”

  Evie bit her lip. “Gabriel, I don’t mean to be tactless with this question, but the fact the grave was shallow and within sight of a place the uncle would often go, do you think the same might also be the case with Grace’s parents if they are buried out here? Would he want to pass the site regularly?”

  He shook his head. “I doubt it gives us that much direction. The child mattered to him. Grace’s parents were simply an obstacle. I’m inclined toward his burying them somewhere convenient, getting rid of the car.”

  “It might be easier on Grace if we could also tell her we found her parents.”

  “We’ll push on clearing the rest of the farm once the remains are removed, and that’s going to happen within a day at the pace they’re working. Let’s see what Josh wants to do. I’m going to have the crime-scene personnel focus on the house, outbuildings on the property. Once they finish with the remains, we’ll get that locked down. Then it’ll be up to Josh and the dogs.”

  “Gabriel, why don’t you and Evie head into town, brief your officers on what’s been found,” Ann suggested. “Paul and I can go talk with Grace. Rachel is there, and Josh. She’ll be okay with us.”

  He hesitated.

  Evie reached out a hand and nudged his arm. “You look pretty grim, Sheriff,” she said with a little smile. “Your dad and Will can handle what’s going on here. Go clean up, talk to your guys, prepare what you will tell the Daytons. I’ll help put together a press statement for when you need to go public, get ahead of what’s coming. It’s going to be a long twenty-four hours.”

  Gabriel shook his head. “Some things you don’t delegate, and this is one of them. Grace deserves to hear it first from me. I’m the authority here.”

  Paul nodded. “She’ll appreciate that, Gabriel.”

  “Will you do it now or talk with your guys first?” Ann asked. “It’s not going to shift things that much for Grace. Do whatever works best for you, Gabriel.”

  “I’m going to call Josh, alert him I’m coming, and talk with her now. Evie, how about you ride with me?” Gabriel said. “I’ll have dispatch start alerting officers that we’ll meet at the post office in an hour. They know what you’ve come to town to do. We’ll update on the Dayton girl and hopefully slide past any ties to Grace. I’m thinking something like ‘Grace was preparing to sell the land, Josh was walking the property with her, they were checking out the condition of the hunting blinds before the wooded section of the property is listed for sale when his dogs pointed on a location.’”

  Evie considered it, nodded. “I can finesse that since the core of it is fact.”

  Ann offered an additional refinement. “You need to allow for the fact Grace’s parents might still be found, so maybe add ‘There are no other missing children from this area. The rest of the land is going to be swept as a precaution, but we don’t expect to find other child remains. We’re not sure who buried the Dayton girl on this land, but the location now suggests the crime has a local connection, and it will be investigated as such.’”

  “Better,” Gabriel said. “I don’t mind destroying Arnett’s reputation after the fact, but I don’t want to put Grace out there in the center of everything. Knowing who did it and proving it are two different things. For now, Grace was preparing to sell the land, Josh was walking the farm with her, this looks like a convenient burial site for someone who knows the area, and we’ll be investigating it as a local crime.”

  “Once the recovery of remains becomes public,” Paul suggested, “you should mention there’s a viable person of interest in the case, and the State Police in coordination with the FBI are reviewing those findings. This is a case you are pleased to have resolved for the sake of the Dayton family, but it is an old case, and given the current information, there’s no present concern for the community’s safety.”

  “Good,” Gabriel agreed as Evie took notes.

  “Once you have the sheriff’s statement,” Evie said, “I can have a variation of it issued from the State Police. The fact I’m in town looking at two cold cases, and the Dayton case happens to be one of them, is going to get noticed. I can pull a fair amount of attention away from Grace simply by talking about the new governor’s proposed task force and what I’m doing here. If it becomes necessary, throw me to the media wolves. I can handle it. They’ll latch on to the Florist case if I point them in the right direction. The recovered remains of a child is news, but new theories in the case of a missing deputy and his family would be bigger news if it’s handled properly.”

  Gabriel smiled. “Let’s hope I don’t need to resort to ‘tossing you to the media wolves,’ Evie, but thank you. I’m going to take you up on that if I need a distraction away from Grace.”

  “Evie does well in front of a camera,” Ann told them. “It’s part of her charm.” Ann laughed at the look Evie gave her. “Gabriel, the media will come to town because of this. We need to get Tom Lander’s photo distributed, get Karen somewhere out of sight so she isn’t on the B-roll of a reporter’s broadcast. If you shut down access to the farm and frontage road, some reporters are going to default to the most convenient place in town to interview people for comments, and that’s the Fast Café.”

  “Good point. I’ve already suggested when Will gets free from here tonight that he should find Karen and tell her what’s going on. He’s feeling the weight of being the one to turn over that shovel of dirt, and he could use an hour with Karen to decompress. I’ll alert him about the media concerns.”

  “I’ll coordinate with Will,” Paul offered, “make sure Tom Lander’s photo gets distributed widely, and get word out that Will wants to hear it if the guy shows up.”

  “Thanks,” Gabriel said. “Paul, if you and Ann could also pick up where Caleb was working today on the Florist case, that would be useful. He has a lead on where Scott might have secured new IDs. If we can lock down the new names they had arranged to use, it could move Evie’s board a long way forward. Maybe movement on the Florist case can shift some of the media interest off the farm.”

  “I’ll talk with your father,” Paul said. “I’m all for splitting the media’s attention with other news whenever you can do so.”

  Evie looked around the group. Gabriel looked less grim just having a chance to talk out the plan for the next few hours. Once Grace heard the news, the worst of this evening would be over for him.

  He glanced in her direction. “Anything else before we go?”

  “You might ask your parents to invite Grace to stay with them should the media discover she’s at the campground,” Evie suggested. “I’d offer my place, but I’m going to get tracked down too easily. My sense is Grace isn’t going to wish to return to Chicago so long as Josh is making progress on locating her parents’ bodies.”

  Gabriel nodded. “A good precaution. I’ll talk to my folks.” He looked a final time around the group. “I’ll tell Grace and leave it to you to help her through it. Evie and I will then go tell my deputies what’s happening.”

  Ann said, “Let’s plan to meet for breakfast early tomorrow at the house, or Josh’s place, depending on how this evening goes. We’ll sort out how to handle the next few days then.”

  Evie nodded, grateful that Ann and Paul would be here for the weekend. They all needed to get through these few days in as careful a sequence as possible, and Paul and Ann were both good at strategy. Evie followed Gabriel to his truck, glad she wasn’t the one in charge. She liked her job, but no one ever got used to having to break this kind of news.

  Grac
e Arnett

  Grace turned as she heard the front door of Josh’s home open and close, heard voices. Paul and Ann, Gabriel and Evie . . . She watched as the four of them came in together, saw the serious expressions, and pushed aside the comforter across her lap. She recognized the look on the sheriff’s face. “This isn’t going to be good,” she whispered to herself.

  Rachel pushed pause on the movie. Grace had been watching a DVD chosen at random while Josh fussed in the kitchen over a dinner she wasn’t sure she could eat. They had stopped their search early today because Josh said the dogs needed a break, but she’d known it was more than that. The arrival of these four confirmed it.

  “Grace, we’ve got difficult news.”

  She simply nodded at Gabriel’s statement. Something related to her parents would have been that, but still positive. This wasn’t going to be.

  Gabriel moved to sit on the coffee table facing her, and Grace idly wondered if the furniture was going to hold him. His hand came over and covered hers, and he felt cold to her, even though she still felt chilled from the day spent outside.

  “Grace . . .” He waited until her eyes lifted from his hand covering hers. “Human remains were found at your uncle’s farm. Those of a child named Ashley Dayton. She went missing when she was six.”

  She heard him, heard the words, and she felt . . . numb. Not surprised. Why should she be with news that the monster she already believed killed her parents had also killed a child? A child. Panic suddenly overcame the numbness. She felt her heart begin to race. How many children?

  “Grace, are you okay?” She felt someone ease her head down. Josh, she realized, as the smell of his shirt got through her muddled senses. Wow. She had absorbed some shocks before and thought she knew every way her body could react, but this was a first. The world spun dizzily sideways as if she’d gotten slammed on her head. “How many children?” she whispered.