by C. M. Sutter
I waited my turn then spoke up. “Boss, we need forensic archaeologists at the site now. We have no idea how many bodies are out there, and something the size of that bulldozer just makes a huge mess. Luckily, there were five intact female pelvic bones the guys found so far. At least we know there are that many bodies out in the field.”
Clark shook his head. “And that’s a good thing?”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that we don’t want bits and pieces of bone scattered here and there. We’d never know how many people were buried out there if that were the case.”
Clark rubbed his temples. “I’ll call in the experts. They’re in a holding pattern right now waiting for the okay to get out there. Remains of five bodies are a significant find.”
“Can I make a suggestion?” I asked as I picked up the container and shook out three antacids for myself.
Clark nodded.
“Let’s get some cadaver dogs out there, like right now. It’s going to take at least a few hours before the forensic archaeologists show up.”
“Good idea, Jade. I’ll call Tom Sanders. He and Lieutenant Colbert can get the dogs and their handler out to the site. We need the city’s help on this one if they can spare the officers. I’ll make the calls, then I better get out there myself. I want you to help Clayton and Billings here for a while. Let’s start locally. Pull up all the missing women cases in Washburn County starting from the mid-eighties. I actually remember working on a few of them with your old man, Jade. The ladies were never found.”
Clark made his calls and left. I started a fresh pot of coffee and took my seat. I pulled up the missing persons database and leaned in.
“What have you guys found so far?” Jack asked as he pulled out his office chair and sat down.
“We have all the missing women between 1987 and 1993. That was a statewide search, though, and totaled 387 women, mostly from Milwaukee County. After you guys called, we narrowed it down to southeast Wisconsin. Now the boss only wants us to check Washburn County?”
“Print out what you have and then go back and change your parameters for those same years but only locally. Jack and I will do 1994, 1995, and 1996.”
“Got it, Jade. Who wants coffee? I need to get up and stretch.”
Each of us needed coffee—badly. Chad filled our cups, passed them out, and then took his seat again. We missed lunch, but there wasn’t time for it, anyway. I got up and grabbed the tea basket from the beverage station and shook out the contents. I slipped out of the bull pen and followed the hallway to the lunchroom where I filled the basket with snacks from the vending machine. Back in the bull pen, I passed the basket and let everyone take something to sustain them until dinner. What we had to do was much more important than going out for lunch.
When we finished the local search, those nine years from the time Darryl bought the property until he went to prison had produced fourteen women.
I leaned back and rotated my shoulders—they were cramped and achy.
“Okay, we can handle fourteen. I wonder, then, if the rest of those women in the photos, assuming they are the buried women, were from other counties.”
“Probably,” Jack said. “Now, we have to find out, after all these years, if there’s still next of kin living locally. We’re going to need family DNA, or we’ll never identify the remains.”
Billings piped up. “Yeah, because there won’t be hairbrushes or toothbrushes to go off of all these years later.”
“Give me a minute. I have to call my dad.” I walked down the hall and entered the conference room. I needed to quiet my brain for a second before I made the call. I took a deep breath then dialed his number.
Dad answered on the second ring. “Hey, honey. Calling me during your workday? That can’t be good.”
“Hi, Dad. Actually I need your expert opinion on a case.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
I told my dad everything we knew so far.
“Sounds like you guys are on the right track. It takes a long time to identify unknown victims by skeletal remains, Jade.”
“I know, and we don’t have the luxury of years to work this case. I remember you talking about an event you guys held a few years back. What was that called?”
“Yep, good memory, honey. That was the ‘ID the Missing’ event. We had over forty-seven people with missing family members come in to give us DNA samples right at the sheriff’s department. The DNA didn’t help us solve the cases, but we did identify some unknown victims and give several families closure. It’s a good program. I think you guys should do it.”
“I do too. Thanks, Dad. I’ll call you tonight when I get a minute to breathe. I want to hear what the doctor said about your knee problem.”
“Okay, honey. Talk to you tonight.”
I clicked off and returned to the bull pen.
“All right, listen up. My dad said they’ve held an event at the sheriff’s department in San Bernardino called ‘ID the Missing.’ He said they had good success with it. We’ll have family members of missing people come in and provide DNA samples, then we’ll try to match the samples with the deceased women’s DNA. Let’s contact anyone in the county who may be related to the women on the missing persons list.”
Clayton shook his head. “But there were more than fourteen ladies in those photos. Should we include Milwaukee County?”
“That’s going to bog us down. Let’s start small and see if we get any hits first.”
Jack piped in. “We need to narrow it down even more to fit this case. We’ll say we’re doing the first event with women that went missing between 1987 and 1996. We don’t want people to think their missing loved ones, male or female, aren’t important, but we have to keep this first event limited to fit our parameters of Darryl Sims’s time at the farm.”
“I agree. Let’s get something out to the press and on TV. Maybe if we move on it, the segment will hit the six o’clock news. I’ll call Clark and tell him what we’re doing.” I picked up my desk phone and dialed.
Chapter 19
He wiped the dirt from his hands onto his pant legs then speared the ground with the shovel head—he’d need it again soon. Mosquito bite welts reddened his neck and arms. He scratched where they itched, then rubbed that annoying tic above his left eye. He pushed young tree limbs aside as he exited the woods. A twig snapped back and hit him in the face. Max punched the nearest branch and bloodied his knuckles. That anger fueled his desire as he licked the blood from the back of his hand. He returned to the van and opened the toolbox he’d brought from the house. He rummaged through his choices.
This will do nicely.
He closed the toolbox and the van and crossed the unkempt driveway to the cabin, being mindful of those porch boards. The door creaked when he opened it—he ducked his head slightly and entered. The sight of him made her hyperventilate.
“Stop that! I don’t want you to pass out. We’re in this together, and I want you to enjoy it as much as I will. I need to know your name, so I’m going to remove the ball gag. If you do anything other than answer my questions, I’ll kill you. Got it?”
She nodded her response.
“All right, stand up and lean your head forward so I can unbuckle the gag.”
She did as she was told, and he removed it. She sucked in a deep breath through her mouth. Tears pooled in her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
“Is there something you want?” Max asked when he noticed she looked as though she was about to speak. “Caught yourself, didn’t you?” He grinned at her obedience.
She nodded.
“Go ahead, what do you want?”
“Water, please.”
“Sure thing.” He pulled a bottle of water out of the plastic sleeve and turned the top counterclockwise. The cap broke free. “That’s right, your hands are tied. Here we go.” Max tipped the bottle into her slightly open mouth and poured. She gulped half of the bottle down before taking a breath.
“Pretty th
irsty, weren’t you? What’s your name?”
“Haley Atwater.”
“Where were you going, Haley? Why were you hitchhiking?”
“Because I don’t have a car. I wasn’t going far, just to my friend’s house near the casino. I do it all the time.”
“But today wasn’t your lucky day, was it?”
“No.”
“I want you to close your eyes, Haley, and think good thoughts.”
She started crying harder.
“I’m only saying it once.”
She reluctantly squeezed her eyes.
“Don’t peek, either. I have a surprise for you.” He swung the hammer fast and hard and imbedded the claw into her forehead. She slumped, and blood dripped to the floor. Max swiped her skin with his fingertip, coating it with blood, then brought it to his face. With a stroke on each side, he marked his cheeks with her blood then licked his finger. He pushed her head—it flopped. “Are you really dead?” He chuckled as he leaned down to look at her face. The gash across her forehead opened her skin and exposed her skull. “Damn, I guess you are dead. Okay, time to fill up that hole outside.”
Max released the ropes that held her to the stove, and she dropped face-first to the floor. He crossed the main room, peered out the windows, and scanned the tree line and driveway, just to be cautious. With an arm in each hand, he dragged her outside and followed the deer trail into the woods.
Chapter 20
“Hey, boss, do you have a minute?”
“Yeah, hang on. I’m going into the farmhouse. Those damn dogs are so loud I can barely hear you.”
I heard a door open and close. Muffled voices through the phone lines told me officers were still going through the house.
“There, it’s a little quieter in here. The city boys are pitching in. Right now, their forensic team, along with Dan and Kyle, is in the field with shovels and rakes.”
“That will take forever.”
“Nah—the anthropologists should be here in an hour or so. They have the best equipment, but we might have the heavy machinery drivers come back if we need them. Right now, we had the workers leave the premises so the dogs can do their job.”
“Have they hit on anything yet?”
“Oh yeah. That’s why the guys are digging.”
“Boss, the reason I called is because we’d like to try something that went really well for my dad and his team in California. They had anyone with missing family members come in and give a DNA sample. Whenever they found an unidentified body, primarily just bones, they matched it against the samples they had gathered. They were able to identify a handful of victims that were John and Jane Does for years.”
“Uh-huh. That sounds like a good program, Jade. Make it happen.”
“Thanks, boss. Wow, what’s with the racket?”
“Hang on a second, Monroe.”
I heard Clark set his cell phone down, then a number of loud, anxious voices began yelling in the background.
“Boss, boss?”
Doors slammed, and commotion echoed through the phone line.
“Boss?”
Clark finally picked up the phone again. “Son of a bitch, Jade, I have to go.”
“What happen, Lieutenant?”
“I was just told the dogs alerted on something in the woods. The handler and several officers followed. There are two dead women buried in shallow graves. The officers said it looks like they’ve only been there a few days. I have to check this out. Get that event started and send Billings and Clayton out here with the photo of Deborah French her folks gave us. Send Lena and Jason too. This is turning into a serious shit storm.”
I hung up and yelled to Clayton and Billings. “The boss needs you guys now! Take that photo of Deborah French with you. The dogs just found two women in the woods that were buried within the last few days. Go, and get Lena and Jason out there too.”
“Son of a bitch.” Jack paced the bull pen. “Max Sims is following in his old man’s footsteps.”
“We’ve got to get word out about the DNA event. We have to identify those bodies as soon as we can. Unfortunately, the newest ones will be a lot easier.”
Jack rubbed his eyebrows, as if in thought. “We need to focus on our task here. Let’s get that ad for the ‘ID the Missing’ event in place and take it over to City News before they close.”
“I’ll put that together if you’ll call the news stations. I think I’m better at getting my point across in writing rather than with spoken words.”
Jack chuckled. “You finally realized that?”
I threw my pen at him and grabbed another one and got busy.
Jack sat at his desk and called all the local stations in the southeast Wisconsin viewing area.
I whispered to him, “Make sure they say Washburn County residents only for now with female family members that went missing between 1987 and 1996. Tell them to run that seg—”
Jack interrupted. “Yeah, yeah, Mom, I know—run the segment on Max again.”
“You’re lucky this is my last pen and I need it.” I got up, poured a coffee for each of us, and got back to writing the ad.
“Okay, that’s done,” Jack said a few minutes later as he hung up the phone.
“My ad is done too. Want to ride with me to drop it off? After that, we should head over to the farm and see if anyone needs our help.”
As we walked out, I told Jan where we were going. I called Jamison and Horbeck and asked them to come in early and cover the bull pen. I looked up at the sky as we walked to the cruiser. The wind was picking up, and a cold breeze swept across the parking lot. Ominous clouds were gathering and turning a threatening shade of gray.
“I hope to hell it isn’t going to rain. That field finally dried out, and another night of rain and mud will just prolong the investigation. What we need to know first is who the recent victims are. The others probably don’t have a loved one sitting on pins and needles, wondering where they went.”
We dropped off the ad and asked them to put a rush on it. Mr. Emerson, the office manager, said he’d have it out in tomorrow morning’s paper. We thanked him and left.
At the farm, the driveway had filled up with more vehicles. The coroner’s van sat on the grass closest to the woods near the barn. Several city patrol officers were inside the house, with two of our deputies cataloging anything that seemed worthy of taking back to the station.
I jerked my head toward the woods. “Let’s see what Jason and Lena can tell us. We may be going to the French home yet tonight.” I looked off at the distant field. There had to be at least fifteen people out there with the dogs, digging and searching. I turned back to the sound of vehicles approaching. I sighed a breath of relief. “Finally, the forensic archaeologists are here. Maybe they can do something to keep this impending rain from slowing down the progress.” I looked at the sky again. We didn’t have a lot of time.
Jack and I entered the woods and found Lena and Jason within a taped-off area. The two victims had been uncovered and removed from their shallow graves. They lay on top of the soil with dirt coating their naked bodies.
Jack shook his head at the sight of them, opened up from sternum to pelvis.
“What can you tell us other than the obvious?” I asked as I knelt next to Lena.
“We don’t know who that woman is yet”—she pointed ten feet from the victim we were next to—“but this one is most likely Deborah French. Her decomp isn’t as extensive as the other woman’s, meaning she’s the most recent victim buried here. It looks like both of them were tied to something. They have ligature marks on their wrists and ankles.”
Jason walked over and joined us. He nodded. “Jade, Jack.”
“Jason. What a nightmare, right?”
“Most definitely. Since we had Deborah French’s fingerprints on file, I compared them to hers.” He pointed to the young woman lying in the dirt nearest us. “They’re a match. We confirmed her features with the photograph Clayton brought along too. At lea
st one victim has been identified.”
“Has anyone searched the woods for anything else?” Jack asked.
“The two graves were the only things the dogs hit on, but you have to see this.” Jason waved us along. “Follow me. Dan and Kyle have already done an initial search and photographed everything over here. The guys are spreading themselves thin. We’re okay wandering around within the taped area, though.” Jason led us through the woods to a tree not far away. “What do you make of this?”
Jack and I stared at the tree trunk in front of us. Dozens of hash marks were etched in the bark, as if made with a knife. Not far from that tree stood another with what looked to be dried blood covering a large portion of the trunk.
“Yeah, we tested it—it’s human blood.”
“So this is where he did the killing?” I asked.
“It appears so, Jade. Then he marked each person off on his scoreboard. I just wonder if that tree with all the marks went back to Darryl’s reign. If not, Max has killed a serious amount of women.”
I gave Jack a worried look. “We need to change our parameters again. We have to go from 1987 until now. We never took Max into consideration. All these years he’s stayed under the radar. Chances are, he’s worse than his own father. Thanks, Jason.”
We headed out to the field to talk to Clark and the forensic archaeologists. As we made our way, we saw a group of new faces talking to the lieutenant. These people, ten of them, were the lead forensic archaeologists as well as helpers and apprentices in the field. I was happy to see that many experts show up. Jack and I reached them and exchanged handshakes with everyone as they were introduced. The person in charge, a tall, middle-aged gentleman with wire-rimmed glasses and thinning black hair, introduced himself as Dr. Phillip White.
“Let me explain how this process works,” Dr. White said. “We can either excavate the entire field, find all the bones beneath the surface, and go on to identify and match the bones to complete an entire skeleton, or if we’re trying to process the area as a crime scene, we’d be searching for other evidence that would lead us to the perpetrator as well.”
