Dead End

by Susan Sleeman

  He found Dr. Albertson standing by the gurney where, with the help of her assistant, she’d loaded Caulfield’s body. Caulfield’s daughter clung to the gurney as if she couldn’t bear to let it go.

  Dr. Albertson glanced at Sierra then Reed. “What’s wrong?”

  Reed released Sierra’s hand and stepped closer to the ME to keep the techs and Caulfield’s daughter from hearing him. “Looks like we have another body. This one in the hot tub. Or at least what’s left of a body.”

  Dr. Albertson grimaced and shook her head. “Let me get this guy into the van, and then I’ll take a look.”

  Reed nodded and took one look at Sierra who remained pale and wide-eyed. She seemed as if she might be sick or drop to the floor. He put his hand on the small of her back and urged her to sit on the sofa.

  He squatted by her and made eye contact. “Would you like some water?”

  She nodded. “I have a bottle in my tote.”

  “Be right back.” He located the bottle and returned to her. A bit of color had pinked her cheeks, but her pallor was still evident. “You okay?”

  She nodded woodenly as she opened the metal water bottle. “Based on what we saw, we’ll need to call Kelsey. She’ll be the one to recover the remains, not the ME.”

  Reed liked that Sierra was coming back to life and was able to think clearly now, but he still didn’t like that she had to deal with this. However, this was her job, and he had to let her do it. “Assuming we’re not dealing with some animal that crawled into the tub.”

  “It would have to be a large animal to make such a mess. Plus I saw a woman’s blouse.”

  “It could have been left there from before,” Reed said. “The neighbor said Caulfield and his girlfriend spent a lot of time in this tub.”

  “The neighbor.” She blinked a few times, her lashes fanning her face like a hummingbird in flight. “I forgot to ask. Is he the Ranger I talked to?”

  Reed shook his head and shared his conversation with the Driscolls. “I gave the list to Nick, and he’s looking for anyone with a military background.”

  She gave a firm nod. “Since the Driscolls said the noisy hot tubbing stopped a few weeks ago and they hadn’t seen the girlfriend since then, it could very well be her body in the tub.”

  Reed nodded. “And the only way I can see Caulfield leaving her in the tub all this time while he continued living here is that he killed her and didn’t know how to dispose of the body.”

  “We can speculate all we want, but we need to know for sure that we’re dealing with another body and that it is Tricia.” Sierra unzipped her coveralls and reached inside for her phone. Her hand was shaking as she made a call. “Kelsey, sorry to wake you. We’ve found what we think is a victim in a hot tub, but we’re not sure if it’s human or not. The body’s been in there for some time. The ME is still here, and I’m sure she’ll want you to recover the remains.”

  Sierra listened and stared at her feet. She gave a sharp nod. “Thanks. I’ll call you back.”

  She shoved her phone back into her pocket and looked up at Reed. “She’s getting dressed and told me to call her back if the ME asks for her.”

  “Doesn’t she think Dr. Albertson will want her to recover the remains?”

  “She said different MEs respond differently, and she didn’t want to make a wasted trip if not necessary.”

  Reed pointed at Sierra’s water bottle. “You look pale. Drink some water.”

  She didn’t argue, indicating she hadn’t come all the way back yet, and tipped the bottle to her lips with a shaky hand. “I’ve seen a lot of horrific things in my job, but this is the absolute worst.”

  He nodded.

  She stared at him. “You seem to be taking it in stride.”

  “Believe me, I’m not. I’m just better at hiding it than you.” He gave a tight smile and took her hand. “I can go out to the hot tub with Dr. Albertson if you want to wait here.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, but shook her head and jerked her hand free. “I need to look for blood near the tub and process the scene. I’m a professional. I can handle it.”

  He didn’t want her to have to handle it. He wanted to spare her from such a thing, but she really was a tough woman, and he knew she would be okay in time.

  Putting on a fresh pair of gloves, Dr. Albertson marched up to them. “Show me the way.”

  Sierra set down her water bottle and got up to lead them back outside. Reed noticed on the way that the horrific smell from the hot tub had drifted in through the door, and Dr. Albertson covered her mouth and nose.

  If she thought the stench was too strong, he knew it was really bad.

  She took one look at the steaming sludge and faced Sierra, but kept her hand over her face. “Human or not, your anthropologist will need to recover these remains.”

  Reed changed his focus to the ME. “Any idea on how long this body’s been here?”

  Dr. Albertson shook her head. “Bodies usually decompose slower in cold water, but this heat would have greatly sped up decomp. The condition of the water suggests everything but the bones have decomposed. So two weeks. But it could be as little as one. I’ll consult with the anthropologist, and hopefully, together we can come up with an estimate.”

  “The neighbor said they hadn’t seen Caulfield’s girlfriend in a few weeks,” Reed said. “This could be the reason.”

  Dr. Albertson gave a firm nod.

  “I’ll call Kelsey.” Sierra got out her phone.

  “Thank you.” Dr. Albertson took another look at the hot tub, then shaking her head, she strode away.

  Sierra phoned Kelsey, and when she finished her call, she looked at Reed. “She’s on her way.”

  Reed hadn’t fully appreciated what Kelsey did for a living until now. How she could deal with such a scene was beyond him.

  Sierra didn’t waste even a second but got out a spray bottle from her kit and looked at him. “The light switch is on the house by the bedroom door. Can you turn it off?”

  “Sure thing.” He strode to the house, and the moment he clicked off the switch she started spraying the edges of the hot tub, then shone her UV light over the area. Blue glowed around the lip of the tub.

  “Blood.” She sprayed a slatted wood wall behind the tub and the decking surrounding it, but nothing glowed.

  Reed walked out to her.

  “No blood on the deck, but that’s definitely blood in the tub.” She clicked off her light and looked up from where she remained squatting. “Lack of any spatter around the tub says the victim didn’t die from a gunshot or knife wound. At least not out here. She was most likely killed in the tub.”

  Reed didn’t point out that they didn’t yet know if there was another victim, and if so, if it was a woman. “That leaves strangling, drowning, or hitting her hard enough to end her life. But there are too many variables to know at this point. Let’s hope Kelsey can tell us something.”

  Sierra gave a resigned nod. “I need to look for additional evidence. Can you turn the lights back on?”

  “Of course, but if Dr. Albertson is right that this person’s been dead for a week or more, won’t any evidence out here be contaminated or even have blown away?”

  She lifted her shoulders. “Yes, but that won’t stop me from looking. And we need to pin down Caulfield’s daughter and son on the last time they were here, and if they noticed anything about the hot tub.”

  “I can call them.”

  “I honestly can’t imagine them knowing about this.” Sierra glanced at the tub then frowned and sat back on her haunches.

  “It’s gruesome all right. I never thought I would say this, but I hope this person was murdered and didn’t accidentally get trapped in the hot tub.”

  Sierra’s gaze flashed up to his. “You think that could happen?”

  “I remember reading about a suspect who ran from the police after a carjacking, hid from them in a person’s hot tub, and got trapped. It was a woman, but I have no idea why she could
n’t lift such a cover.”

  She shook her head. “I was just thinking that it was odd that the gases from decomposition didn’t blow this cover off.”

  “Perhaps Caulfield continued to lift it to release the gases.”

  “So you’re thinking he knew the body was in there.”

  “Yeah, unless he suddenly stopped using the hot tub. I’ll ask his daughter about that, too.”

  Sierra shook her head. “I never expected finding Eddie would take such a crazy turn.”

  “We don’t know these murders are connected to Barnes.”

  She got up and met Reed’s gaze head on. “But what are the odds that they aren’t? I mean what does your gut say?”

  “My gut says you might be right. That Barnes didn’t disappear on his own.”

  “And worse,” she said and chewed on her lip. “I’m starting to wonder if he’s even still alive.”

  Yeah, that bothered Reed, too. As did the thought that maybe Barnes wasn’t actually missing or hadn’t been abducted. That he’d gone into hiding of his own accord as he was the killer they now sought.

  Sierra wished she could give Kelsey a hug. Or that Kelsey would hug her. As she wished Reed would have done. How wonderful would it have been to rest her head against his chest while he helped her come to grips with the horrible crime. But honestly, it was bad enough that she let him take her hand—if he hugged her, she would appear weak at a crime scene.

  Sierra figured Kelsey could be thinking about appearing weak too, but she’d handled tough scenes before, and she was clearly handling this one. She grimaced when first arriving on scene, but didn’t show any other outward signs. She simply went back to her van to grab Klieg lights and set them up to illuminate the tub of sludge, making it even more horrific-looking, and then laid out clean tarps around the tub.

  “Would you like me to take the photos for you?” Sierra asked.

  Kelsey turned to look at Sierra. “I appreciate it, but no sense in both of us having to witness these details.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yeah, Tyler’s on his way to help.”

  “Kind of a gruesome thing for an intern to see, isn’t it?”

  “He has to learn to handle scenes like this, so it will be good for him.”

  Sierra knew Kelsey was right, but if she’d seen something like this right out of college, she might not have continued in her profession. “Tell you what. I’ll start the pics so you can get to work, and then he can take over when he arrives.”

  “Okay, have at it, and thanks.” Kelsey took her clipboard holding a sketch pad for diagraming the scene and stepped away. Sierra had already done a scene diagram, but Kelsey would complete her own along with an inventory of the bones she collected.

  Sierra lifted her camera, and first took long shots of the hot tub and surrounding area then moved steadily closer until she was over the tub that Kelsey had turned off. Steam still rose up, and Sierra had to get creative to get detailed pictures without fogging her lens, but she accomplished them. And she knew the photo quality would be better than Tyler would take, due to his lack of experience.

  She finished the shots and looked up to find Reed watching her. Not idly, but intensely studying her. She held his gaze, and he crossed over to her.

  He searched her eyes, digging deep. “You doing okay?”

  She nodded.

  He gritted his teeth, and she heard them grinding. “I’m impressed by how you’re handling this.”

  “Thanks,” she said, touched by his compliment, but she quickly changed her focus to Kelsey before she let go of her precarious hold on her emotions and threw herself into his arms. “I’m all done, Kels, so you can get started.”

  Kelsey nodded, put down her sketch pad, and lifted a long instrument to reach into the tub. It came out holding a bikini top. She laid it on a tarp. She plunged the tool in again and came out with a long bone.

  “Definitely human.” She squatted and gave the bone a thorough study before looking up. “We have adherent muscle still attached, but nothing more.” She paused and tapped her knee with her index finger as she continued to stare at the bone. “I’d estimate two weeks in this heat for that to happen.”

  Kelsey got up and gently set the bone on the tarp with all the consideration she gave every victim. Sierra always respected her partner, but as she continued to pull additional bones from the gross sludge, Sierra held her in the utmost respect.

  She removed a thick leather belt and stared at it. “This looks like a man’s belt.”

  “A woman wouldn’t be wearing that with a bikini,” Sierra stated the obvious.

  “We could be looking at two bodies,” Kelsey said. “I’ve recovered nothing so far to suggest that, but I can’t confirm a thing until I’ve removed every bone from the tub.”

  Reed looked at Kelsey. “If we only have a female victim, someone could’ve used the belt to strangle or restrain her.”

  Kelsey nodded and shifted her focus to her intern, Tyler. Eyes narrowed, he walked toward them from the house. He was slender—a runner’s body that was tan from his time outdoors, and he had messy blond hair.

  “Hey, Tyler.” Sierra smiled at the twenty-something intern.

  He looked at the tub. At the tarp. Got closer and turned green around the gills. He bolted away and threw up in the bushes. He dropped down to the deck, dangling his legs off the edge and hanging his head between his knees.

  “Guess maybe I’ll be taking pictures a while longer,” Sierra said and wished she could be anywhere but here right now.

  Reed watched Sierra as she continued to take pictures in a backyard that should be calming and peaceful with all the flowers and lush trees, but horror had wiped that all away. He hated to see her upset earlier, but he was also sad that a scene like this didn’t make her sick like Tyler or like a first-time detective might react. Because that likely meant she’d seen a lot of death over her career, and it had to eat away a bit of her soul each time. At least he knew it did for him.

  Still, he was impressed with her ability to do her job even in the face of horrible things. He’d pegged her as a strong woman right off the bat, and her actions continued to prove that. He might be attracted to her, but he also greatly admired her—and the rest of her team. They just didn’t make his heart beat faster like she did.

  His phone rang, and he was shocked to see Nathan Adair’s name show up on the screen. Reed had texted his supervisor to tell him about the murder, but didn’t expect a middle of the night callback from the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Portland field office.

  Reed stepped out of earshot and answered. “Sir.”

  “We have a murder?” Adair asked.

  “Looks like two actually.” Reed quickly brought his supervisor up to speed on Caulfield and the hot tub. “The Veritas anthropologist is here recovering the remains as we speak.”

  Adair huffed a breath. “Any idea on the second victim’s identity?”

  “None. Hopefully they can still get DNA from the remains. Or maybe dental records can be used for ID, but we’d need a lead on who we think is in that tub to request the records. At this point we aren’t even sure if it’s male or female.”

  “Does this mean you’re rethinking your take on Barnes’s disappearance?”

  “Yes and no. For all we know, Barnes could even be behind these murders so I’m keeping my options open.”

  “Keep me in the loop.”

  “Will do.” Reed disconnected and glanced at Sierra to find her watching him. He instantly felt disloyal for thinking Barnes could be a murderer, but Reed had to think like an investigator, not a guy infatuated with the man’s daughter.

  Tyler got up and took a long drink from a water bottle hanging from his belt and joined Kelsey.

  “Sorry,” he said, still looking pale.

  “No worries.” Kelsey smiled. “It’s happened to most of us at one time or other.”

  Sierra stepped back. “Make sure you send me all of the picture
s you take.”

  He nodded and hung his camera strap around his neck.

  “We’re going to have to run every bit of this liquid through a sieve to find teeth and smaller bones,” Kelsey told him.

  Tyler swallowed hard and looked like he might be sick again. “Let me guess. That’s grunt work and as your grunt…”

  Kelsey nodded. “But once I’ve recovered the major bones, I’ll pitch in.”

  He shook his head. “I’ve got it Dr. M.”

  Reed saw the guy pull back his shoulders, but Reed doubted Tyler had a clue what he just committed to. There had to be four, five hundred gallons of sludge in that tub.

  Kelsey looked at Sierra. “We clear to set up in the yard to begin that process?”

  “I’ll clear an area for you to work.” She turned to her kit.

  “Any way I can help?” Reed asked.

  “No,” she answered quickly then tilted her head. “I mean sure. You can look through a magnifying glass as well as I can. Together we can cover an area far faster so Kelsey can finish up sooner.” Sierra grabbed a magnifying glass from her kit and handed it to him. “This way.”

  Kit in hand, she jumped down from the deck and walked to the area near the retaining wall lit by the bright lights Kelsey had set up.

  Sierra ran her gaze over Reed and landed back on his face. “Let me get you coveralls.”

  He didn’t argue as he didn’t want to ruin his suit, but more importantly, he didn’t want to contaminate the scene.

  “Be right back,” she said and headed for the house.

  He took off his suit coat and laid it on the back of a lawn chair then rolled up his sleeves and loosened his tie. If he was going to be crawling around on the ground, he didn’t want it strangling him.

  She returned with an unpackaged suit and shook it out. “It’s the biggest one I have. Hope it fits okay.”

  He slipped his legs in and pulled it up. It was a bit small but he was able to zip it up and the fabric covered most of his body.

  Sierra dropped to the ground lit by Kelsey’s bright Klieg lights and pointed at a spot next to her. He got down on his knees about an arm’s length from her.