Tracking Bear

by Thurlo, David

  “We’ll know in a bit.”

  “Do we have to stay around while you…dig it up?”

  “Not for that long. I’ll need to take statements from everyone and make sure I know where to find each of you in case we need to talk again. Once that’s done, you’ll all be free to leave.”

  “Good. I don’t want to stick around.”

  Ella couldn’t help but notice that the entire crew seemed anxious to leave, even those who appeared to be Modernists—based upon their curiosity, their more relaxed expressions, and the absence of medicine pouches at their belt or in hand.

  Going about her business, she spoke to the other men, but nothing new came to light. Nobody seemed to know anything about the extra set of vehicle tracks. The foreman also made it clear that he didn’t think any other tribal employees had visited the site before them. Their job here today had been part of regular maintenance and scheduled months ago.

  Shortly after the crew left, her team arrived. Ella watched Ralph Tache climb out of the van. Though he still moved slowly despite having lost at least thirty pounds in the last year, determination was etched in his deep set eyes.

  She knew that look. The need to restore order so all could walk in beauty was more than just a concept. It was the way of life on the Diné Bikéyah, Navajo country.

  The crime scene team quickly cordoned off the area, using the boundary fence as the eastern perimeter. They each had specialized jobs, but no one would touch the ground around the hand until every square inch had been photographed from all possible angles.

  While Ralph helped Justine take photos, Sergeant Joe Neskahi brought out two shovels and stood them against the van for future use.

  Soon afterwards, Benny Pete and Joe surveyed the ground outside the yellow tape, looking for tracks, trash, or anything out of the ordinary. If the scene needed to be expanded, they would be the first to make that determination.

  Joe was a long time member of the team, but Benny, their newest member, had fit in almost instantly. He’d come to them as a temporary transfer, then had opted to remain with their team. They’d all welcomed him after seeing his skills, particularly when it came to spotting even minute details.

  “What’s the M.E.’s ETA?” Ella called out to Justine.

  “Ten minutes,” Justine called back, not looking up from her work.

  Looking over at Ralph, Ella saw him taking a photo of something off in the direction of the highway. “What’d you see, Ralph?” she asked, walking over.

  He shrugged. “Someone was over there, standing by a white sedan, watching us through binoculars. I saw his reflection off the glass and it caught my eye. It was probably just a curious motorist, but you know what they say in Crime Scene 101.”

  “Yeah, sometimes perps hang around to watch the police work the scene—might even volunteer to help,” Ella said.

  “I’ll also be taking shots of every car that stops to check us out. You never know,” he said.

  “Sure would be nice to get lucky,” Ella said, “investigation wise,” she added quickly, seeing Ralph’s eyebrows rise.

  Hearing someone clear their throat directly behind her, Ella spun around. “You don’t make a lot of noise when you walk, do you?” she said, glaring at Benny.

  “Sorry about that, boss,” he said. “We looked around for footprints connected to that extra set of tire tracks, but there isn’t anything fresh. The driver must not have exited the vehicle. We did find something interesting—another set of fresh prints that clearly belong to a child. They’re along the fence line and elsewhere, but not close enough to the tire impressions for the child to have been the driver or a passenger.”

  “So the only adult prints belong to the work crew?”

  “That’s right,” Benny said.

  “The next thing we’ll need to do is check on kids who live in this area. Anything else?” Ella asked him.

  “So far we’ve found the usual windblown debris of candy and food wrappers, paper cups, and the kind of stuff we’d find alongside the highway. But something struck me as particularly odd.”

  “What is it?” she pressed.

  “I’d rather show you,” he said.

  “Lead the way.” This was going to be one of those cases where nothing fit the norm. She could feel it in her gut.

  Chapter Two

  Benny Pete came to a stop at the western edge of the crime scene tape line and looked back to where the hand had been uncovered. “Notice anything?”

  Ella studied the area but nothing struck her as particularly noteworthy. Then, as she widened her focus, she saw what Benny was talking about. “The surface of the ground doesn’t look quite right.”

  “Exactly,” Benny said. “I’d say someone did a lot of digging, then spent time reshaping and smoothing everything over. It’s such a large section, too. Makes you wonder just how big the body beneath there is…or have we stumbled onto some kind of graveyard.”

  “It’s also been replanted with vegetation, and at different times, too,” Ella said after a beat. “The section closest to the hand is covered with tumbleweeds and goatheads. Those are the first type of plants to appear in soil that has been disturbed. That should give us a rough idea of when the grave was dug.”

  “All the plants in that location seem younger and smaller than the ones farther out, too,” Benny said. “We’ll need a plant expert to help us with the time line.”

  “I know just the person,” Ella said, thinking of her mother, Rose Destea, a prominent member of the Plant Watchers.

  She reached for her phone, then saw Dr. Carolyn Roanhorse’s van coming up the dirt trail. Ella put the phone away and went to meet her. Carolyn stepped down out of the van easily and without all the mobility problems she’d had in the past. It was clear that her long term diet was working. Her old friend looked like a new woman.

  “We’re still working the scene,” Ella told her. “We haven’t even begun digging up the body yet. You’re going to have to wait a bit.”

  Carolyn smirked. “Terrific. I postponed my lunch just so I can sit here?” She exhaled softly. “What’s kept me on this diet all these months is making sure I don’t go hungry.”

  “It’s sure working for you though. You look great. How much more do you want to lose?”

  “Another ten pounds, then I’ll switch to a maintenance diet. It was never my goal to look like a model. As far as I’m concerned, real women jiggle and come with curves.”

  “I agree with you,” Ella said.

  As Ella and Carolyn watched, Neskahi and Benny began uncovering the body using the hand and the emerging arm of the victim to guide their progress. They placed the dirt removed on a ground cloth. Later, they’d sift through that soil, searching for evidence. Any uncovered foreign objects would be carefully recorded.

  The first several inches of surface material was more dirt than soil and had clearly been mixed and disturbed by previous digging, which made the exhumation easier. Within fifteen minutes the men had removed enough earth to reveal the remains of a face down, naked, adult human body.

  Ella and Justine came forward to help. From what Ella could see, most of the closely cropped hair was still attached to the dried out, dark brown, leathery skin on the face down skull. In the back of the head and slightly higher than ear level were two nickle-sized holes. The size and shape immediately suggested bullet wounds, and from their location, she immediately thought of an execution-style murder. This person didn’t die an accidental death.

  Ella stood. “People, work very carefully,” she announcing, looking into every face to make her point clear. “We’re dealing with a murder here, and I don’t want to lose a single piece of possible evidence.”

  After the body was completely uncovered, still intact, Justine took another series of photographs. They carefully widened the excavation so they could place a thirty inch wide piece of plywood next to the body. Then, working together, the four team members slid the body onto the board and lifted it to the ground besid
e a stretcher.

  The M.E., came up, bag in hand, and while everyone watched, she examined the body for several minutes, concentrating on the skull. Then she looked up. “Help me turn the body over, people, then give me some more room to work,” she added.

  Benny and Joe assisted, working carefully to ensure the body remained intact, then moved out of the way to let Justine take more photographs of what was clearly a male.

  Ella stared at what had once been a living, breathing human being. There was no way anyone would be able to make an ID without forensics now. Even if the body hadn’t been decomposed, the destruction caused by two exiting bullets would have made facial recognition nearly impossible.

  Ella moved away and watched her friend work. As she did, she caught the appreciative looks Benny and Joseph gave Carolyn as she knelt down beside the body. Ella bit back a smile. Her friend had always been a beautiful woman, but it was even more so now. There was a new grace to her movements.

  “The victim was shot twice,” Carolyn said, speaking into her digital recorder and confirming Ella’s earlier and obvious assessment.

  Justine came up and stood beside Ella. “The body was buried deep enough to keep scavengers from uncovering the body and to prevent it from being washed out in anything less than a flood,” she said.

  “That means the grave took some time to dig,” Ella said. “I noticed that some of the harder packed sediment was broken apart in big chunks. To get through that layer the digger must have used a pick. He came prepared.”

  Ella told Justine about the plants around the crime scene. “I’m going to call Mom and see what she can tell us about this.”

  The phone rang several times before her mother finally picked up. Rose sounded winded.

  “You okay, Mom?” Ella asked quickly.

  “Yes, I was just trying out a new, whole wheat bread recipe. I wanted to give your daughter something more nutritious than store bought.”

  “She doesn’t really mind the regular stuff, Mom.”

  “Well, I do,” Rose snapped, then with a sigh, continued. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to get this right. Was there something you needed?”

  Ella wasn’t sure what had been bothering Rose lately, but her mom simply hadn’t been able to relax. Although Rose no longer worked for the tribe surveying native plants, she hadn’t followed through with her initial plan to just take it easy and enjoy her retirement. Ella suspected part of it was due to the fact she’d been laid off so abruptly. Tribal funds were so tight that even the police department was operating on an austerity budget.

  “I’d like to run something past you, Mom,” Ella said. “It concerns the Plant People.” Ella described the plants she could see closest to the grave site. “So how long ago would you say the ground here was disturbed?”

  “It sounds like you’ve got a crop of second generation tumbleweeds sprouting up, so I’d say last summer,” she said. “Snakeweed comes afterwards, and grasses are usually the last to appear.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “If you need more specific information, bring me some photos and I’ll see what I can do for you.”

  “I will, Mom.” Ella hung up, then stared at the phone for a moment, lost in thought.

  “Something wrong?” Justine asked, coming over.

  “Mom hasn’t been acting right lately,” Ella said then shook her head, brushing aside the distraction. “That’s for another time. Right now I need to focus.”

  Justine nodded, then called Ella’s attention to the general layout of the site. “This spot is hidden from the highway and that old secondary road which curves around close to the Hogback,” Justine said. “That means the suspect had time to work, even in the daytime.”

  “All the brush between here and the roads also gave him a sound buffer. No one driving by would have been able to see that the ground had been disturbed either, not unless they happened to be walking through this area. All things considered, the suspect chose a good place to do their dirty work.”

  “The victim was shot twice in the head, and maybe elsewhere. We may be talking about more than one suspect.”

  “That’s certainly a possibility.” Ella saw Carolyn rise to her feet and pick up her gear. The next step, getting the body into a bag and placed inside the van, usually sent everyone running for cover, but not today.

  “Look at that,” Ella said in a hushed whisper. “Both Benny and Joe want to help her.”

  “I heard Joe say that Carolyn’s looking hot. And he wasn’t referring to the temperature.”

  “He’s lucky she didn’t hear him. Otherwise, he would have been leaving here in a second body bag,” Ella said.

  While Benny and Joe carried the body to the wagon, Carolyn walked over and gave Ella a wan smile. “They used to turn tail when I asked for help. Now I get volunteers.”

  “Men are taking notice of our slimmed down M.E.,” Ella said.

  Carolyn sighed. “Suddenly less is more…appealing. But I’m still me. Nothing’s changed on the inside.”

  “Packaging matters. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.”

  Carolyn nodded. “Did I tell you that the new Anglo doctor has asked me out—twice.”

  Ella smiled. “The tall blond with the big shoulders and killer smile?”

  “Yeah,” Carolyn said with a tiny grin. “Imagine that, huh?”

  “You going to take him up on the offer?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been down that road before,” she said, making a veiled reference to her former husband. “Some of these Anglo doctors come to the area filled with ideals, but seldom stick around.”

  “So what’s one date? You don’t have to marry the guy. Just go have fun.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  “How are things with you and Ford going?” Carolyn asked.

  “We’re still dating, and I care about him a lot, but…” Ella responded.

  “Let me guess. You’re not sure if you want to become a conservative preacher’s wife,” Carolyn answered, lowering her voice. “And that’s what he requires? Reverend Tome’s got a domineering personality.”

  “And I know what I want.”

  “Is it the religion, him, or just uncertainty in general?”

  Seeing Joe and Benny closing up the van, Ella decided to use the opportunity to duck the question. She didn’t really know how to answer it anyway. Quickly she focused back on the case. “Anything preliminary you can tell me?”

  “He was shot twice that I know about in the back of the skull. I recovered two jacketed hollow point bullets just beneath the body, so the vic was killed where he lay.”

  “That’s cold. Being forced to lie down in your own grave,” Ella replied.

  “Exactly. The exit wounds confirm the paths of the bullets. This was an execution, not a crime committed in the heat of passion,” Carolyn said.

  “That should help us get into the mind of the killer. Any idea how long the body has been there? Months, years?”

  “Judging from the soil and climate, and what I’ve learned from studies done at some body farms, I’d say it has been there around a year, give or take. I’ll have to do more tests and confirm the research, but I think my estimate will be close. Of course if we knew the name of the victim and when they went missing….”

  “No chance of fingerprints?”

  Carolyn shook her head. “Nope, the usual gang of decomposition critters pretty much consumed the friction ridges and smoothed everything out. But I’ll get DNA samples once I start my autopsy.”

  While Ella walked with her friend to the van, Ralph and Justine finished taking photographs and set up wood framed wire screens to sort through the loose earth that had surrounded the body.

  Ella held the van door open for Carolyn while she stowed her medical bag. “Go out and have some fun with the new doc. Then you can tell me all about it.”

  As Carolyn drove off, Benny came up to Ella. “Maybe she should have stuck around. I’ve taken another look at the groun
d and I have a sinking feeling that there are more bodies here—maybe three or four.”

  “Because so much ground has been disturbed?” Ella said.

  “Yeah. I also did a little probing with a screwdriver and noticed that some spots seem to be undisturbed, hard packed. Those lie between the three or four softer, worked-over places. Like squares on a checkerboard,” Benny said. “Some hard, some soft, but in a pattern.”

  “Any additional digging is going to be a hit or miss proposition—that is, unless there are bodies in each soft spot,” she said.

  “I spoke to Joe about it and he brought a metal detector from the van that’ll pick up dense metal three feet down,” he said, gesturing to the sergeant. “That might help us locate the presence of bullets—if other vics were killed here in the same way.”

  Ella watched as Neskahi searched the ground, sweeping the loop of the long handled device back and forth like a weed cutter.

  “He’s going to find bottle caps and all kinds of trash, so we’ll still have to do a lot of careful exploratory digging,” Benny said.

  “We need more technology,” Ella said. “I have an idea that may speed things up.”

  Ella made a call to the station and put in a request for a ground penetrating radar device. Although their department didn’t have one, county did, and an official request would soon go out.

  “Do you think we’ll get to use the new unit county recently purchased?” Benny asked, looking over to Neskahi, who had just unearthed a beer can.

  “I’m hoping. I’ve heard it’s state-of-the-art. Their tech could save us a week’s worth of digging, and in this heat I’m all for quick answers,” Ella answered.

  “I’d like to get a better overview of the scene,” Benny said, “I’m going to climb up the Hogback a ways, then look back this direction. Maybe I can spot some features we just can’t see from ground level. Unless you can call up a helicopter?”