Lullaby for the Nameless (Nolan, Hart & Tain Thrillers)

by Ruttan, Sandra

  The length of time that elapsed before the reports were made also varied. The mother of one of the girls made the report a month after her daughter had disappeared. Kacey Young, who appeared to be the first girl to disappear, had been reported missing by her sister after two weeks. It only took the man from the soup kitchen ten days to pick up a phone, and the aunt had contacted police after one week.

  Another file had been initiated when the girl didn’t start school in the fall. A diligent teacher had attempted to contact the parents, and when their letter was returned, they contacted the tribal council. They’d conducted their own investigation and determined that the girl, whose parents had been killed in a car accident earlier in the summer, hadn’t been seen since near the end of August.

  They hadn’t contacted the RCMP until three weeks after news of the task force was made public, which meant Wendy George had been missing for nearly thirteen months, and the report had come in only a few days before Ashlyn had been reassigned.

  The George file was the thinnest one they had, with nothing more than the statement. Ashlyn read it over a second time, noting that Constable Campbell had taken the initiating report.

  She set that folder to her left and went through the other files one by one. The report in the Young case had been made to Constable Tain. Constable Aiken had spoken to the aunt, who’d filed her report almost eighteen months ago. Oliver had been the initial contact on three other cases that dated back almost a year. The girls had all gone missing over a two-week period from November 5 to November 19.

  Winters, the officer she hadn’t met and may have replaced, had taken the statements for two other girls, and while Tain had opened the file on the most recent girl to disappear, Winters had done the follow-up.

  The girl’s mother had waited six weeks to tell police. Winters had done some digging: Wanda Johnson worked from home. More specifically, from the bedroom. Jenny had a habit of running off and had been picked up as a juvenile on one solicitation charge already.

  Campbell, Aiken, Oliver and Tain had all been involved with at least one case prior to being reassigned to the task force. Was Ashlyn the only member of the team who hadn’t had some earlier involvement in the investigation?

  She riffled through the reports one more time.

  Nolan had taken one report, filed in Penticton, for a girl who’d gone missing eight months earlier.

  Sergeant Sullivan had opened the file on the first missing Caucasian girl himself. Millie Harper had gone missing just days before Wendy George had last been seen.

  Ashlyn pulled the desk drawers open one by one, but they were all empty. She thought back to her introduction to Tain, and wondered what his response would be if he found her going through the cupboards under the printer.

  She could snoop around and take the chance, or she could try to find someone she could ask. The risk was that she’d run into the sergeant. If asked where Nolan was, she wouldn’t have an answer, but the bigger question would be whether she was prepared to cover for him.

  If reprimanded, Nolan might accuse her of deliberately informing their commanding officer that he’d left her behind. He’d jump to conclusions first and, if she was lucky, listen to explanations later. Considering the tension between Nolan and Tain, it was hardly surprising that Nolan wouldn’t feel like slipping into tour-guide mode so he could give her an introduction to the case and the town.

  That would allow Tain to slip off his radar. Whatever Nolan was doing at the moment, the one thing she was convinced of was that it involved keeping an eye on the third member of their team.

  Even if she took Tain out of the equation, Nolan’s reluctance to work with her could have been caused by a number of things. The picture on his desk could be his girlfriend, and he might be nervous about her reaction to him working closely with a woman his own age. He may have worked with a woman before and had problems.

  He may also be a chauvinistic jerk, although at the moment she was more likely to award that title to Tain. There’d been enough of a warm smile lurking behind Nolan’s eyes for split seconds for her to think better of him.

  Or maybe she’d imagined it, even wished she’d seen it.

  A remnant of the strong smell of smoke that had clung to Nolan and Tain still lingered in the air, and she thought about the reference to a large fire in the town. It was possible the events of the morning had thrown them off, that Nolan had prior meetings set up, things he had to take care of personally, and he didn’t have time to show a new partner around, but she just couldn’t make herself believe it.

  In the distance, the back door slammed shut. She hoped it wasn’t Tain.

  As she stood, Nolan marched into the room. He appeared to do a double take when he saw her move and stopped.

  “I was just—”

  Nolan looked at the files on her desk. It took him less than two seconds to close the gap and grab the top folder.

  “What the hell are you doing?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. “I left you with a very specific job to do. Do you have a problem following orders?”

  She felt the color in her cheeks. “No, I—”

  “For once, can’t someone on this team just do what they’re told?” he muttered as he turned and started moving toward his desk.

  “I did.”

  He spun around. “Excuse me?”

  Cheeks still burning, Ashlyn reached over and pointed at the pile of papers she’d left for him. “Every message you gave me and all the calls that have come in since.” She watched as he picked up the first sheet, skimmed it, then leafed through the stack.

  He looked up and for a second, the tension he’d carried in his face was gone. “I’m…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have accused you like that. It’s just…” His voice trailed off.

  She knew he wasn’t going to explain.

  “I thought it would be helpful to familiarize myself with the case. I didn’t get a chance to read all the copies before Tain took them earlier.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What copies?”

  Something about the way his mouth settled into a hard line and the ruddy shade his face turned made her wonder if it was the mention of Tain’s name or something more that had struck a chord with Nolan.

  She opened her mouth, still trying to work out a response, when Nolan’s phone rang. He grabbed the handset, reached for a pen, then stopped. The color in his cheeks evaporated, and he looked up at her with a softness in his eyes that hinted at sadness.

  Nolan hung up the phone. “Grab your coat.”

  She was about to ask where they were going but thought better of it. As she pulled her jacket on, she noticed the solemn gaze, the way all the tension in Nolan shifted. Before, his shoulders had pinched and the lines in his face were hard.

  Now his face had softened and sagged, which made him look as though he’d aged a few years in the past few minutes. Even his shoulders had dropped, although his hands were balled into loose fists.

  He looked up. “They found a body.”

  There hadn’t been a chance to see much of the town on the drive over. A few blocks from the station they’d turned onto a road heading into the mountains. A quick glance in the mirror gave Ashlyn a glimpse of a row of buildings that led to where a fire truck was still parked several blocks down the street, presumably at the site of the fire Tain and Nolan had referred to earlier.

  In only a few minutes she felt like she was in the middle of nowhere. There were no houses or stores, not even power lines or hydro poles along the road. She was surprised by the patches of snow that clung to the earth in some places as they climbed up out of the town. The Isuzu Rodeo Nolan drove jolted as the front right tire dipped into one pothole, then another. The sport utility vehicle bumped along as they ascended the mountainside. When they reached a turn, Nolan went right, and Ashlyn soon found herself staring down a gorge with nothing but air between the vehicle and the edge of the cliff.

  “That’s why I didn’t bring a company car.”

  T
hey were the only words Nolan had said since they’d left the office, and she waited until they turned to the left and began driving on what seemed like a level path cut out from the middle of a large forest before she said, “I didn’t realize we were that far up.”

  “You aren’t from British Columbia?”

  “No. Ontario.”

  He glanced at her. “The mountains can be deceptive.”

  “This is your vehicle?”

  A quick nod was his only answer. Ahead, a few cars lined the side of the road, and Nolan pulled over and parked.

  The ground crunched beneath Ashlyn’s feet as she followed Nolan along the road. It was like thin ice, the pressure of each footfall cracking the early winter shell, except most of the road wasn’t slick. She hadn’t realized how much colder it could be after such a short drive up into the mountains, but she was glad it hadn’t warmed up enough during the day for the ground to thaw completely because they would have been walking through mudholes. As it was, it had warmed up enough in some places for water to pool, and she guessed there’d been a fair bit of rain recently because the puddles looked deep.

  A uniformed officer waited by the side of the road opposite from where they’d parked. “Nolan,” he said. The man offered Ashlyn nothing more than a quick glance before he turned and led the way into the bush.

  “I assume you told Rick there’s no hunting in national parks,” Nolan said.

  “Yes.”

  “Was Rick surprised?”

  “No, I was. He pulled out a map and argued over boundary lines with me. I didn’t realize this part of the mountain wasn’t part of the park.”

  “That makes two of us,” Nolan said.

  “He’s got a permit.”

  “Guess that means he’s got a legitimate reason to be wandering around in the woods in the middle of nowhere with a gun,” Nolan said.

  “Guess so.” The first officer ducked under a tree that had fallen but remained elevated because its tip was caught in the crook of a branch on another tree. Ashlyn wondered how secure it was as she ducked underneath and glanced up at the tree providing support, a distraction that caused a split-second delay in her reaction as she turned and saw too late that a branch was swinging back toward her.

  It caught her on the cheek and cut into the skin. Without reaching up she knew it was bleeding, because she could feel the trickle of blood racing toward her chin. Tears welled in her eyes from the sting, but she kept her focus on fishing through her pocket for a tissue so she could wipe her face.

  Underfoot, the terrain wasn’t what she’d describe as inviting. Although much of the ground appeared to be in the process of freezing, in some places where the earth dipped water had pooled. The ground on the sides of the small hills was soggy.

  It was fall, and in the mountains that meant winter weather wasn’t far away.

  There were more patches of snow between some of the trees, but they were sporadically scattered, with no rhyme or reason that she could determine.

  Nolan had said something to her, but she hadn’t heard him.

  “What?” she said, just as she put her right foot down and it began to sink into the earth.

  Nolan turned and grabbed her arm, giving her enough leverage with her left foot to pull the right one free.

  “I said to watch out for the hole.”

  “Sorry.”

  She looked down at her mud-caked shoe.

  “You’re going to need some boots,” Nolan said.

  She felt her face grow warm. “I have boots. I just haven’t had a chance to unpack anything.”

  When she looked back up, she realized they were there. Three men were gathered in the woods at no place in particular, joined now by the uniformed officer who still hadn’t introduced himself, herself and Nolan. She scanned the area. Nothing but trees and a gentle slope up the side of a hill before them, a slope down to the right. The area to the left looked as hilly as the ground they’d just covered.

  It wasn’t hard to tell who Rick was. He had a stocky Labrador by the collar with his left hand, and with his right he had a firm grip on his shotgun.

  The other two men were park rangers. One had deep lines in his weather-worn skin and a weight in his gaze. The younger man had a wide-eyed look. While his partner carried a solemn burden in his bearing that made Ashlyn think if he’d had a hat he would have taken it off out of respect, the younger man bristled with an energy that reminded her of her nieces and nephews on Christmas morning. He was curious.

  Neither spoke, but the older man nodded toward a hump of earth approximately half a dozen feet away,

  Nolan walked toward the disturbed dirt and then stopped, still as a statue. From where Ashlyn stood, she couldn’t see anything, and when she glanced at the rangers, the older man had turned his gaze toward the ground. The younger man glanced at her, then his partner, then looked away. The only one who didn’t avert his gaze was Rick. His expression betrayed nothing, but his eyes were black as a moonless night and had a magnetic pull that kept her staring back for a moment before she looked away.

  After a glance at the officer who’d escorted them to the scene, who was also focused on the ground, Ashlyn moved beside Nolan.

  God.

  She was glad she had her back to the men so that they couldn’t see the look on her face.

  Nolan turned back to the group. “Who else has seen this?”

  Silence.

  “Getz?”

  After a tiny hesitation the voice of the officer who’d escorted them cut through the quiet. As far as he knew only the six of them had been to the site.

  “Okay, first things first. Rick, you’ll have to give a proper statement. Constable Getz can take you back to the station and get that down on paper. I want you to tell him everything. If you saw a scrap of fabric on a branch two miles from here, you be sure to mention it and draw me a map. I know you’re capable.”

  Rick nodded.

  “Did your dog have any contact with the corpse?”

  “Yes.” The voice was unexpectedly soft and soothing.

  “Then we may need to take some samples. If we try to identify suspects based on animal fur found on the victims we want to be sure it’s from the killer’s dog and not yours.”

  “You saying this is a murder?” A different voice. Ashlyn could guess which of the men had spoken. The high-pitched tinge of excitement betrayed the younger one, but despite her desire to glare at him, she still didn’t trust herself to turn around. She’d found a place on the ground, to the right and up from the open grave, where she could stare while she forced herself to take deep breaths.

  “How good a look did you take, Gordy?”

  “I…I didn’t. I just saw the pit and was about to step forward, but he stopped—” Said with a tinge of defensiveness. As though he was trying to prove he was manly enough to handle it. That he hadn’t held back out of fear.

  “Good,” Nolan said. “Walk over to that tree and stay there. Henry?”

  The voice of the older ranger matched the deep lines in his skin that hinted at years of working in the sun. It had a weathered tone and was filled with the weight of experience. “I saw.”

  “Right. Go stand by that tree and wait for me.”

  What followed the sound of fading footsteps was an eerie silence, then a low growl from Rick’s dog and a man’s voice as he told it to behave.

  Ashlyn turned as Nolan slid something into his pocket and walked away from Rick. He went to the older ranger, Henry, first. She could only see Nolan’s back, and after a few minutes he slid something out of his pocket, but it was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand and she couldn’t make out what it was.

  Should she be doing something?

  She glanced at the officer—Getz—and he quickly looked away. Whatever Nolan was doing, Ashlyn felt certain he’d resent any attempt on her part to get involved.

  After a few minutes, Nolan turned and walked toward Gordy. He went through the same process of slipping something o
ut of his pocket. Ashlyn still couldn’t make out what it was, but she had a better view and this time saw Gordy step back for a moment and bend down before straightening up. Nolan seemed to stare at the ground before looking up at Gordy and nodding as he slipped the object back into his pocket.

  Gordy bent down again, then stood. They appeared to talk in low voices for a few more minutes before Nolan turned and led Gordy back to where Officer Getz stood.

  He turned to Henry. “You’ll both have to go with Getz as well, and wait at the station. We’ll need to take shoe impressions.” He looked at the uniformed officer. “Getz, get photos and make a list of everything they’re wearing. And if I find out that any of you said anything about what you’ve seen here, I’ll make sure you’re charged for interfering with a criminal investigation. Don’t even whisper it over your mother’s grave or tell a priest at confession. You tell no one. Clear?”

  There were murmurs, followed by the sound of a twig snapping and bush pulling against fabric as the men moved away.

  Ashlyn glanced at the grave and turned back as the last man—Rick—disappeared under the fallen tree, his dog following faithfully.

  She took a breath. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to send them back?”

  Nolan glared at her. “Take a look around. You think we’re just a few miles from the nearest CSI lab and Grissom’s going to show up with his little kit and get everything we need to find the killer? We aren’t equipped for this. The closest coroner’s office is a two-and-a-half-hour drive away.”

  “We haven’t even identified her as one of our missing girls.”

  “Which is hardly important at the moment,” Nolan snapped. “You think the press will care about that when they hear we’re starting to recover bodies only a few miles from where the task force is based? By this time tomorrow, we’ll need security just to get in and out of the station without being mobbed by reporters.”

  “But if none of them talk…”

  “Are you really that green? You think one of them has to talk for a reporter to break this story? Rick called the park rangers. They called the RCMP. The way the press has been all over this case lately, Sullivan isn’t taking any chances. He already called for a coroner to come to the scene. By this time tomorrow, the reporters may not know all the details, but they’ll know that there was a report of a body found in the woods.” Nolan glanced toward the unearthed grave. “I can live with that. I have to. But that’s what I want them to keep reporting. The longer we can keep the truth a secret, the better.”