by Dale Mayer
Meg lifted her head and snorted. "Are you nuts? You just ate."
Jade shrugged. "I burned a lot of calories yesterday. Can't afford to lose any more weight."
Cindy, the one waitress who worked on weekends, refilled their coffee cups. Jade ordered another round of French toast while Meg snickered, perking up enough to butter her toast, then poured on the syrup. Coffee and food seemed to revive her.
By the time Jade's second breakfast arrived, Stephen and Wilson had joined them. Everyone looked tired and worn out but they smiled broadly and bright eyes abounded. Yesterday had turned out for the best. In the bright sunshine of the morning, it was easy to see the world in a more positive light.
When Dr. Mike hobbled in, bright but a little worn around the edges, with Bruce behind him, everyone cheered. Jade jumped up and held out a chair for the doctor. She snagged his crutches and leaned them against the palm tree behind her. "How are you?"
He smiled and hopped the last step to the table. "I'm fine. I'm so happy to be back here."
Bruce dropped onto a chair too. "After a great night, the doctors were happy to release him early this morning. We even snuck a quick stop to update the police. Wait until you all hear his story." He stared at Jade's plate. "I hope you left some for others."
With a cheeky grin in his direction, Jade forked up a large piece of French toast and popped it in her mouth. "I did. Cindy will be happy to bring you a plate, too."
"So what happened? Who tied you up and left you there?" Wilson picked up his coffee and took a sip. Even Jade put down her fork and turned to watch the mixed emotions pass across Dr. Mike's face.
"What?" she prompted.
Dr. Mike rubbed his temple. "I just feel a little foolish that's all. I locked up the lab, and on the spur of the moment, I decide to check out this hike. It was right around the corner, nice and close. What could go wrong? I wasn't planning on climbing it, I just wanted to make sure it was something we could all do." He sighed, took a sip of tea then put his cup down and continued. "I parked, got out, locked the SUV and went to the base of the path...and the next thing I know, I'm on the ground, my hands tied up and this old guy is trying to wake me up."
Gasps lit up the room.
He winced. "Now I know it was Peppe. He had a wild look in his eyes and he smelled something terrible. At the time, I tried to reason with him, then tried to offer him something, anything to let me go. He hardly talked. That guy, for all his lack of size was on a mission." He glanced around the room, a wry look on his face. "I know. How could a small crazy old man go up against me? I've got fifty pounds on him, am younger and stronger." He stared down at his teacup, remnants of memories chasing across his face. "Yeah, I'm feeling pretty stupid today."
Silence hit the table.
Bruce smacked him on the shoulder lightly. "Don't be. You might be younger and stronger, however, you aren't insane and…you were out for a hike – you weren't looking for an ambush."
Dr. Mike gave him a half smile. "I tried to fight him and he whacked me over the head again." He shrugged. "I decided to wait for a better chance. He forced me to walk up the mountain. When it got dark, he still knew where and how to walk. I didn't. It was just after we'd topped the rise that I made it a little further then fell on the rocks."
He motioned to his crutches.
"I couldn't walk anymore. He actually helped me get up and into the cave." Dr. Mike shifted uncomfortably. "I heard voices and hobbled forward enough to see Emile and Peppe having an all out argument. Emile saw me and my tied hands. I thought he'd help me, instead he took off down the mountain, screaming at his father something fierce." He shook his head. "Peppe took off after him. Not sure what that was all about."
"We found Emile on the rocks by the gravesite. He appeared to have fallen and hit his head. He died in hospital yesterday."
"Oh Lord," Dr. Mike whispered, shock rippling across his face. "I'd hoped he'd gone to get help."
"He might have been coming for help when he fell." Meg smiled gently at him.
Jade, speaking in a hushed voice, had another suggestion. "Or Peppe might have caught up to him and attacked him."
Silence filled the room.
Everyone sat back.
"Unbelievable. If we hadn't found you..." Stephen left the rest unsaid.
Dr. Mike grimaced. "Thanks for pointing that out."
Jade reached over and kissed the older man on the cheek. "Except we did find you, so all is good."
Stephen raised his eyebrows. "Except for Peppe. He's still out there, loose. What possible reason could he have had to kidnap Dr. Mike?"
Putting down his cup of fresh coffee, Dr. Mike said, "He kept mumbling about a doctor. As if he or someone he knew needed a doctor. I don't know for sure, but I wonder if he thought I could help Tasha?"
"Oh, wow." And Jade could almost believe that. Especially for someone in Peppe's mental state. "That almost makes sense."
"It would mean he knew that Tasha was in trouble." Everyone turned to stare at Dr. Mike, then at each other.
Stephen snorted. "Anyone would know that. You only needed to look at her to know something was wrong. Jesus, I almost admire him if that's why he did it. At least he was trying to do something for his daughter."
That brought murmurs of agreement from the others.
"Anyone know if there's going to be a funeral for Emile?" Meg asked.
Jade shook her head before answering. "No idea. I doubt Dane and John have it all figured out yet either."
"Yeah, you're not kidding. Is the chaos over? Obviously, we're going to have to be careful as long as Peppe is still wandering around. But now that the police are looking for him, we might soon have an end to that problem, too. I'll call Dane after I get a bite to eat. We should be the ones to tell him what happened. He can decide the best way to tell John."
Jade winced. That wasn't going to be much fun. Dane wouldn't be impressed at the idea of Peppe being responsible for Dr. Mike's disappearance. He'd feel guilty. He shouldn't because he'd wanted the authorities called in to help find the old man in the first place.
Bruce changed the subject. "We should be getting the next lot of DNA results back soon too. Seems like we've spent a lot of time and we're still just getting started. I don't feel like we're even close to half way. What's it been…a month now?"
The discussion turned to the job in progress.
Jade settled back, content to listen to everyone else work things out. There was a sense of calm in her heart. She knew John had to be going through a bad time right now and she felt sorry about his family, still she was beyond relieved to have things approaching normal in her world.
Now if they could just stay out of trouble for the rest of their Haitian work term….
***
Monday dawned bright and clear. Everyone showed up in good spirits, ready to make major inroads on their work – as if the long Friday night and draining Saturday had never happened. Of course, a relaxing Sunday had helped to revive everyone's energy levels.
Dr. Mike had chosen to work in the lab trailer. His ankle rested on a second stool and he worked on charts while Jade worked on the skeletons. Stephen and Wilson worked up at the gravesite. Both men sported decent tans after weeks of outdoor work.
Susan, in good health again, had gone into town with Bruce to attend the clinic. There'd been a lot of discussion about closing the clinic if no one showed.
The end result was to give it a couple of weeks and then reassess. So far they'd only had a half dozen people turn up. None of those wanted or could afford to have their relatives buried elsewhere. They just wanted to locate their family members. Find closure as to where and what had happened to them – nothing more. Tony had contacted the media outlets throughout Haiti, to broadcast the offer, yet the response from families was disappointing.
Jade bustled around her two
new cases. She had an adolescent male and a young adult female on her morning docket. With Dr. Mike doing the charts, they could proceed that much faster.
Before long, they were finished. "I'm going to go grab Stephen. We'll switch these two for two more."
Dr. Mike nodded, but his focus remained fixed on the screens in front of him.
Jade smiled at his intensity, then headed out. While walking up the path, she heard the men's shovels banging away on the rocks. She wished Dane would drive up even though it was Monday and she knew he had his own business to take care of.
He'd been at the back of her mind all morning. How was he holding up?
They'd talked several times on Sunday but hadn't managed to squeeze in more than a few minutes of togetherness. Again, she wished she had a cell phone. She'd send him a text to just say 'hi' and let him know she was thinking of him. She'd put purchase of the phone on her list of things to do.
"Hey." She smiled at the two dust-covered men. "Can I get one of you to come help move a bag for me? I'm done with the first two and could use two more."
"That was fast." Stephen put down his shovel. "I'll help."
"I might as well, too." Wilson joined them. "We'll do the switch for you. How's Dr. Mike holding up?"
"He appears to be fine. Having him help out in the lab is speeding things up."
The men quickly exchanged the bags leaving Jade and Dr. Mike alone again.
"Jade? Any updates on Peppe from Dane?"
"Haven't heard anything." Jade picked up her camera again. "Then, I haven't spoken to Dane today."
"I'm sure the authorities would let us know if they found him anyway."
"Good thing." She replaced the camera on her table and picked up her pen and clipboard, and wrote down a few notes. She removed a solid gold band from a finger barely holding together. She checked for an inscription, then laid it on a white board then picked up the camera again. "I wonder how John is holding up," she added as an afterthought.
Dr. Mike pointed out another consideration. "And I'm wondering if Peppe understood the significance of the ambulance taking both of his kids away, with only John and Dane there since. Who knows how much he saw or understood? If he realizes the truth – there's no way to know how he's going to react now. He could blame us. He could blame John or even Dane. They are on his property. And his family is gone. Or he might not even comprehend what's happened."
Heavy silence filled the small room as they worked.
"Any idea when his wife passed away?" Dr. Mike asked.
"I don't think I ever heard. He's probably done a slow decline since then." Jade looked at him.
"Hmmm."
"What are you thinking?"
"Someone mentioned about ten years ago. Just looking to confirm. That's within my time estimate of how long the two oldest skeletons have been in the grave. Eight to twelve years is my informed guess at this point."
Jade straightened, a dawning understanding filtering in. "The timeframe puts Peppe as a potential suspect, doesn't it? If his wife died anywhere around then, it could have set him on that path?"
He studied the chart in his hand. "I will admit my thinking is colored by Peppe trying to drag me over the mountain…but the proximity, the timing, the means…all fit. He could have caught any young woman and dragged her over that hill into his cabin and who'd have known? Of course motive is still an issue."
Jade put her camera down slowly. It was either that or drop it. "Does anyone, twisted enough to imprison women, need a motive? Seriously. That's a horrible thought. "
"Don't worry about it. Probably nothing to it and it was just the coincidence of being a prisoner myself for that short time period that brought it to mind." He pushed his glasses up. "Then again any one of these bodies could have been buried somewhere else then brought here as a better hiding place. Mixed in with all the others, no one would know. Even the dirt layer could have been added in between. Enough to hide the new arrivals before the loader came back with the next load. It's not like there was any security here at the time."
"And wrapped in sheets, the chains wouldn't have been visible anyway."
Dr. Mike sighed. "No one cared. This grave was the solution to their major problem. Imagine the chaos at the time. We've found bodies that had been wrapped in sheets, plastic, some taped shut and others just tossed."
The image he'd painted turned her stomach. "So what you're really saying is that there is little means to find the truth." She spun around in the direction of the reefer truck. "Do you think the kidnapper is in the grave himself?"
"Could be."
She winced as she glanced down at the adult male on her table. "Or even here?"
He grinned. "Absolutely. The thing is we may never know. We can turn over the evidence to the authorities but––"
"It will be up to them to follow up on it."
Dr. Mike nodded. "I don't think a few more dead bodies in a mass grave are going to bother them much."
"These women were murdered, weren't they?"
"Yes. The first one we found could have been a captive at the time and killed by the earthquake. Or the kidnapper might have decided it was time to get rid of her."
"And had a perfect grave readymade for him. Nice. Not."
"And Peppe could also have walked across his property and thrown her in, between tractor trips."
They stared at each other.
"Just sayin'," said Dr. Mike.
So that's how he'd worked his way around to thinking John's Haitian family could be involved? Jade pondered the information. "Which also makes Emile a suspect based on that thinking. Physically stronger, also in close proximity, also devastated by the loss of his mother? And with Emile dead and Peppe and Tasha off their rockers – chances are good we'll never know."
Straightening his back, Dr Mike grimaced. "Exactly. The only thing we can do is our job. And hope that even if the authorities here don't do anything, that a higher power will."
Jade hated that some creep could have been kidnapping and killing women, possibly for years without paying the price for their crimes.
She slammed down her clipboard and glared at Dr. Mike. A higher power nothing; she wanted justice. "I'm hoping the bastard's already dead. And that it wasn't an easy death. Pinned down and dying without water and food…for days in a deserted empty house… Now that sounds about right."
"Exactly." Dr. Mike smiled. "I'm not all about sugar and spice."
***
At the end of the day, Jade really wanted to stop in and see Dane on the way home. She did not want to see John though. She'd stayed later, hoping Dane might show up – only he hadn't. On top of that, the trailer was hot and she was tired. She sighed.
"Okay, what gives Miss Lovelorn?" Meg's perky voice showed she was back to normal after the difficult weekend.
Jade wiped her forehead, reaching again for her water bottle. "Huh? What? Oh nothing."
"Nothing? That's like the fifth heavy sigh in the last ten minutes. Call the man for heaven's sake."
"Call? Nah. He's busy." She took a long drink and recapped her bottle then stared out the open door. Dust swirled outside in the breeze. Too bad it wasn't swirling inside the trailer exchanging the old air that sat in there from the weekend, with fresh air.
"You're supposed to be working too, but apparently this isn't half as interesting as wondering what Dane's up to."
Jade turned back to her, and gave a small laugh. "That obvious?"
"Hell, yeah. Just be happy the men aren't around," Meg teased. "They'd be hassling you constantly."
She gave a mock shudder. "Nasty. Okay, I'll stop."
Meg straightened from the close-up examination of a leg. "Why don't you just call him? You're an adult not a teenager."
"So why do I feel like a schoolgirl again?"
With a delighted grin, Meg walked over an
d nudged her shoulder. "Be the one to make the first move. Call him."
Feeling like an idiot, but unable to stop herself, she dialed Dane's number. It rang once then twice.
"Dane, this is Jade?" With a half smile at Meg, Jade walked out into the afternoon sun to speak more freely. "I'm just calling to say 'hi,' and see how you're holding up. How's John doing?"
"I'm fine. And I'm glad you called." His heavy sigh came through the line. "John's adjusting. He's already concerned about Tasha and now with this Peppe business..." Dane groaned painfully. "I don't know what to do for him. His repair business closed after the last earthquake just before you arrived, but apparently it had been failing for a while. He rented a storefront a few months ago in an effort to get more customers, but never even got set up before the earthquake. I've been helping him along financially but he's proud and it's awkward. Now with Emile's funeral and Tasha's long-term care issues, I just don't know."
The sun's rays beat down. The big rocks around the trailers seemed to soak up the heat and radiate it outwards. Shadows of light and dark played over the ground. Jade wandered from one splotch of sunshine to another. It was a beautiful afternoon.
"So what now?" she asked.
"Bury Emile. Wait for word on Tasha. And I don't know what he wants to do about the baby."
"Oh dear. I never thought of that. A child born alive is buried if they die. I don't know what would happen in this case." That decision might rest with the parents, but she didn't know. Also in this case the mother wasn't capable of making any decision. "John has to sort through this. It was his child."
"A daughter." Dane's voice thinned slightly. "The nurse at the front desk told me, in private."
Jade winced. That made it real. She'd never known her own child's sex. "Does he know that?"
"I imagine so. We've never spoken of it."
Jade wanted to cheer him up. "Dr. Mike is doing much better. He's back at work. This last weekend has changed the atmosphere. We're liking the idea of working harder and going home earlier."
