An Iron Fist, Two Harbors

by Dennis Herschbach

  Any other day she would have been in her glory. The air was crisp and the sky perfectly clear. It was late enough in the afternoon that the sun was beginning to touch the tops of the trees in the west and the aspen leaves glowed yellow. The scent of drying bracken ferns filled the air, but it was the silence that was almost overwhelming. Neither person spoke.

  Suddenly, something exploded from the underbrush beside the trail with the whir of beating wings, and a gray shadow dodged through the trees. Judy’s heart leaped to her throat. It startled Jeff a little, but he laughed.

  “Only a grouse,” he casually said. “They can sure scare the heck out of you, though, especially when you don’t expect them to get up like that.” That would be the last pleasant experience they would have that day.

  The deputy met them on the trail. “Heard you coming. We haven’t met,” he said, extending his hand to Judy. “I’m Deputy Berger, Al.”

  “Judy Coster. I’m with forensics. Good to meet you, Al.” The introductions over, Judy was ready to get to work. “Can you show me the grave?”

  Al led the way, Judy followed, and Jeff brought up the rear. She was relieved to see the ground was still pristine. It was obvious that the deputy and Jeff had been careful to follow the same steps going to and from. The grave was thirty yards off the trail in what should have been a beautiful spot under a huge red pine. The ground was covered with lycopodia, princess pine, and fallen pine needles. It was a spot Judy would have selected to sit and allow the world to pass by. Instead, it had been transformed into a place of death.

  “Let’s divide the area into quadrants,” she instructed. “I’ll take that one over there.” She pointed at the northeast section. Al, you take that. Jeff, you search there. Hopefully, we can finish with them, and then look at the fourth before the squad arrives. We’ll begin ten yards out from the center and move toward a focal point directly over the grave.”

  Each person got on hands and knees and began sweeping the assigned area, searching from left to right and back again. They inched their way toward the center, looking for anything that wasn’t natural. It took almost fifteen minutes to reach the apex of each triangular-shaped area. Then they converged on the fourth. By the time they heard the Search and Rescue squad advancing up the trail, they had scoured an area twenty yards in diameter, the size of the floor plan of most houses.

  “Let’s hope we find more than that when we dig into the grave,” Judy remarked, dejection evident in her tone.

  Jeff hollered at the people coming up the trail. “Be careful when you come in. Stay single file and follow our tracks. We don’t want to disturb things any more than we have to.”

  Scotty, the captain of the search team, was first to come into view. In one hand, he carried a wooden frame across which a coarse screen had been stretched, in the other a shovel. Another man followed him, carrying a stretcher. A woman was last, a body bag and a plastic tarp clutched under her arm. They stood in reverential silence before Judy started giving directions.

  “We’re going to go at this slowly. Spread out that tarp over there,” she said, motioning toward an area away from where they had searched. “Shovelful by shovelful, we’ll screen the dirt over there. I don’t want the tiniest piece of evidence lost.” The crew carefully removed layer after layer of soil until they could see the body quite clearly.

  Through the clear plastic in which she had been wrapped, it was easy to see Maren had been placed on her side, slightly turned onto her belly. Her knees were drawn up as though she had been placed in a fetal position, and Jeff realized it hadn’t been an act of thoughtfulness. Whoever had dumped her in the grave had positioned her so the burial hole didn’t have to be any bigger than necessary. As it was, the killer had dug almost three feet deep. He had taken his time, not worrying too much about being interrupted.

  The diggers tossed their shovels away from the hole and began to excavate around the body with their hands, sifting each scoop through the screen. By the time they exposed nearly all of the body, all they had garnered for their efforts was a pile of pebbles, none of which seemed unusual, and a rusted bottle cap. Jeff looked at it and remarked that a person couldn’t go anywhere without finding evidence of civilization. Judy bagged the cap, not expecting that it would have anything to do with the crime. But, she thought, you never know.

  “Okay, gang,” she said, slipping into her casual way of addressing people. “Dump the sand off the tarp. Keep it in a pile in case we want to go through it again, and spread the tarp out next to the body. I want you to lift her onto it before we unwrap her.” As the crew gently lifted the corpse, Judy instructed, “Careful not to turn her over. The hole where Jeff cut into the plastic to take a look is open. I don’t want to lose anything.” They gently laid Maren on the tarp, and Judy rolled the young woman over.

  “Let’s try to straighten her out. Careful now. Don’t put too much pressure on her legs. That’s right,” she instructed.

  Judy proceeded to cut the rest of the tape and pull back the plastic sheeting. When she was done, the body lay exposed. Jeff thought no life should end up like this. Maren’s clothes were intact, but had deteriorated from the time spent under the soil. The ground where she was buried was a sandy gravel with plenty of drainage. The corpse was drier than he expected, and it looked desiccated. He thanked God Deidre and Ben hadn’t insisted on coming along.

  After a preliminary examination, which Judy recorded on both video and audio, she gently rewrapped Maren and stood up.

  “I’d like you to take the body into town now. Strap it to the stretcher and be careful carrying it on the way out. I don’t want you dropping it and causing postmortem damage. I’ll meet you at the morgue.”

  Judy collected what few things she had bagged up and followed the squad out of the woods. It was dark by the time they reached the road, and the trail was illuminated only by the headlamps the team used.

  She could hear Jeff following behind. Al had gone the opposite direction to where his county SUV was parked. She faced a long night.

  Chapter

  Fifty-Two

  THE TENSION AT HOME that afternoon and evening was excruciating. Ben paced the floor, stopping every few laps to peer out the window, hoping to see Jeff’s vehicle pull into the yard. He called his supervisor and made arrangements to be absent from work for the next several days. Deidre wasn’t accountable to anyone, but she had called the school immediately after Jeff and Judy left, telling the office secretary that the boys would be out of school for at least the next week. When asked the reason she had simply stated, “Family emergency.” The boys withdrew into their own worlds, something that deeply concerned Deidre, but she didn’t know how to remedy it at the time. They retreated to their bedroom, where Deidre found them sleeping on top of the bedcovers. Megan found a magazine and buried her face in its pages. Each of them would deal with their grief in their own way and time.

  It was late when Jeff called. His voice sounded haggard, and Deidre could picture the look on his face by his tone.

  “Deidre, we’ve recovered Maren’s body. Judy has begun the autopsy, and said she’ll have the preliminary work done by tomorrow afternoon. How are you holding up?”

  “We’re fine,” Deidre answered tersely, knowing full well she wasn’t telling the truth. “Jeff?”

  “Yeah, Deidre.”

  “How is it? I mean, can you tell if Maren suffered?”

  Jeff was quick to answer. “If you’re asking if she was beaten or somehow tortured, I would say no. I’m sure you understand that after this long . . .” Jeff paused, groping for words. “You know, it’s been over four months.” Again he paused. “There’s quite a bit of decomposition, but as we moved her, it appeared all of her limbs were intact, as were her teeth, and I could see no damage to her facial bones or cranium.” Deidre heard him inhale deeply as if he was stifling a sob.

  “So what’s next?” she wanted to know.

  “Ever since we took Maren’s body out of the woods, I’ve been
thinking about that. If you and Ben are up to it, I’d like to stop out and discuss my plan. I hate to ask it, but I’m going to need you and Ben to play Dave for me. I think that’s the only way we’re going to get to him.”

  Although she was totally spent, and knew Ben must be too, she told Jeff to come right out. The boys were in bed, so they wouldn’t have to hear the news. It was almost midnight when Deidre spotted the headlights from Jeff ’s vehicle swing up their drive.

  She was shocked when she saw Jeff ’s face. Purple circles ringed his eyes, and worry lines crossed his brow. He looked beaten.

  “Hi, folks,” he said as he flopped into a chair without being invited. “Well, it’s over. Like I think I told you over the phone, we have Maren’s body in town, and Judy was beginning the autopsy when I left. She’s going to do a preliminary examination tonight, and then will continue in the morning. She said she’d be done by early afternoon.”

  He stood up. “Deidre, would it be okay if I got myself a glass of water? And you don’t happen to have a couple of aspirins, do you?”

  Deidre walked ahead of Jeff, put some ice in a large glass and filled it with water. She heard Ben taking two steps at a time up the stairs, and then heard the medicine cabinet door close. He was coming down the stairs as she and Jeff entered the living room. Jeff dumped a couple of the tablets in his mouth and threw back his head to swallow them. He washed them down with a gulp of water.

  “It must to have been a hellish day for you, but I’m glad you didn’t come with us. Judy did a fantastic job of extricating Maren’s body from the sand. She’s a good person,” he added. Jeff leaned back and closed his eyes and for a second Ben thought he had drifted off to sleep. Just as quickly his eyes popped open, and Jeff began to talk animatedly.

  “Here’s what we’re going to do. I want you to call Dave early in the morning. If he doesn’t answer, leave a message. Tell him that Maren’s body has been found. Don’t say where. In fact, tell him as little as possible, only that she’s been found. Tell him that I’m coming here to see you at four o’clock tomorrow afternoon.” Jeff looked at his watch. “I guess that would be this afternoon. You know what I mean. Don’t tell him that Judy is working on the case or even that there is going to be an autopsy. Just tell him that you figured he would want to hear the details about what we know. Whatever you do, don’t let him know he has become our one and only suspect. If we surprise him with what we know when he’s with us, he may blurt out something to give himself away.” Jeff drained his glass.

  “I doubt if any of us will get much sleep tonight, but we better try. At least we can shut our eyes and try to rest. Is there anything I can do for you before we meet at four?”

  Both Ben and Deidre said no, and escorted Jeff to the deck. He gave Deidre a hug and put his arm around Ben’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” was all he said. Megan was already on her way upstairs to the room she and her sister had shared for so many years.

  *****

  THROUGH THE BEDROOM BLINDS, Deidre could see the black of night turning gray, and knew it was about seven o’clock. She hadn’t slept a wink since she went to bed. Ben had fallen asleep a few minutes after lying down, and she wished she could turn off the world the way he could. She wondered how much rest he had gotten, though, because he had thrashed around all night, muttering unintelligibly the whole time. She reached over and touched his arm, and saw his eyes were open.

  “You’re awake,” he said.

  “Yeah, still. I couldn’t drift off at all. Too much spinning through my mind. You?”

  “Every time I’d fall asleep, I’d dream. Sometimes I’d see Maren as a little girl, sometimes as a young woman. Then I saw her in the grave, looking like I imagine she would have looked, hideous.”

  Deidre stroked his arm. She decided words were meaningless. With a start, she remembered she had a phone call to make, and pulled the covers back so rapidly she jolted Ben.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked, rolling out his side of the bed.

  “I’ve got to call Dave. Maybe we can catch him before he goes to work.”

  Ben snorted. “More like, he can ignore our call before he leaves the house. But sooner or later his curiosity will get the best of him, and he’ll listen to your message.” They put on the same clothes they wore the day before and headed downstairs. “I think you’d better be the one to call. I’m so angry, I know it would show in my voice. You’re a lot better at controlling your emotions than I am. That okay with you?”

  Deidre was already unplugging her phone from its charger. Ben watched her type in her password and begin the search for Dave’s number, then she placed the phone to her ear. He could hear it ring once, twice, three times, four.

  “Uh, hello, Dave,” Ben heard Deidre say. She was caught off guard by his picking up. “Uh, this is Deidre.”

  “Oh, hi, Deidre,” Dave answered, plainly irritated by her imposition into his life. “What’s up?”

  Deidre stumbled over her words. “I . . . we . . . Ben and I . . . you should know Maren’s body has been found.” She couldn’t go on.

  The silence on Dave’s end of the call was stifling. Finally, with a hint of panic, he answered. “Oh, my God. Somebody found her. When?”

  Deidre remembered what Jeff had said about giving away any information. She answered noncommittally, “A short time ago.”

  “Tell me what you know,” Dave almost demanded.

  “We don’t know anything right now, other than her body has been found.”

  “Who? How?” Dave stammered.

  “We don’t know.”

  “How can they be sure it’s Maren?” Dave wanted to know. Deidre could sense that he was experiencing some confusion.

  “They’re not one hundred percent sure. I mean, there hasn’t been time to perform DNA tests or even compare dental records, but we’re positive it’s her.

  “When will you know?” Dave was getting more belligerent as the conversation progressed.

  “Calm down, Dave. Jeff is coming to our place at four o’clock today to fill us in on the information he has gathered. He asked that we call you, because he was sure you’d want to know what he’s discovered.”

  Dave answered immediately. “Why? What’s he found?”

  “I told you, I don’t know,” Deidre answered as calmly as she could. “I just know that as much as you loved her, you’ll want to hear first-hand what Jeff has to say. I know this is a shock to you, and you must be terribly upset, having an old wound opened like this. But I think we have to stick together, now more than ever. Don’t you?” she asked as gently as she could.

  “Uh, yeah. We’ve got to stick together. What time did you say Jeff would be at your place? Four?”

  “That’s right,” Deidre confirmed. “See you then.”

  “Yeah, see you then.” As an afterthought, Dave added. “I can’t get away from work until this afternoon, so I’ll be there at the last minute, but I’ll be there.”

  Deidre hung up and said to the phone, “I bet you will.”

  You were terrific,” Ben assured her. “I’ll bet he’s shitting tacks right now. Suffer, you bastard,” he said through clenched teeth. Deidre hugged him, and felt his muscles tense and bulging beneath his shirt. Then she felt them relax.

  Chapter

  Fifty-Three

  DEIDRE NERVOUSLY LOOKED at the kitchen clock. It was three forty-five, and no one had arrived. She and Ben talked with the boys and told them that they would not be a part of the meeting. At first they resolutely voiced their objection, but eventually they came to understand that this was not just an informational meeting. It was part of a designed plan to get Dave to incriminate himself, and the fewer the participants, the better chance the plan had of succeeding. In the end, the boys were placated with promises that every detail would be revealed to them. In the meantime, they would stay at Grandma and Grandpa VanGotten’s.

  Megan opted out of being there when Dave arrived. She wasn’t sure she could control herself, and d
idn’t want to jeopardize his being trapped by his own actions and words. She walked along the river, found a familiar spot where she and Maren had once watched two fawns cavort in the new grass of spring, and sat with her back to a rock, listening to the rippling water with her eyes closed.

  Deidre looked at the clock for the third time in five minutes, and had just walked out onto the deck when Jeff and Judy drove into the yard. Ben came out when he heard the crunch of the tires and the four exchanged hugs, recognizing the rising tension each was experiencing. They gathered in the living room, waiting for Dave, and a deathly quiet enveloped the group.

  Deidre got up one more time to look at the clock. “He’s ten minutes late. Do you think he’ll show?” She barely got the words out of her mouth when Dave pulled up in a cloud of dust. Deidre noticed how harried he looked as he strode across the lawn and climbed the steps to the deck. She opened the door before Dave could knock.

  “Come in,” she invited. “You look like you could stand something to drink. Soda, coffee, even have wine if you’d like.”

  Dave didn’t bother to hug or touch her. “No. No,” he said to Deidre’s offer. “Well, maybe a glass of ice water, if you have it.” He went into the living room, while Deidre retrieved it for him. She steadied her hand as she filled the glass, and was able to accomplish the task without spilling.

  This is Doctor Judith Coster,” Deidre introduced Judy using her title. “She’s a forensic pathologist from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. You know Jeff.” Dave mumbled his recognition as he took a chair across the room from Jeff.

  Jeff looked at every person before he started, and let his gaze linger on Dave. He wanted to cause as much anxiety as he could before giving any information. Finally, he spoke.