Sacrifice

by Michael Arches

  But we really needed to work together on many cases, so I tried to be pleasant.

  “Who do you think you’ve found?” he asked.

  “Not a clue. Any ideas?”

  He shook his head. “Male or female, young or old?”

  I lifted my hands, palms up. “The only body part I’ve seen is a right hand, attached to the lower part of a forearm. It’s on the small side, so the coroner’s guessing a woman, or worse, a kid. His logic makes sense to me. Can’t say anything about the age. Randy confirmed for me that we don’t have any missing females or kids at the moment, none that have been reported to us. How about you?”

  “None come to mind. I’ll check when I get back to the office and let you know if I’m wrong.”

  “Great. Once I get a better idea from Dr. Dan about the victim’s characteristics, we’ll send a bulletin around to all law enforcement.”

  He nodded. Hundreds of thousands of people lived on Colorado’s Western Slope, so there were always missing persons here and there.

  Tim hung around until I winched up the basket with the body parts Jason and Linda had found so far. Each piece was separately sealed in a large zippered plastic bag. We attached one of my sleds to his snowmobile and filled the sled. Then, he took the evidence to a waiting assistant coroner.

  Linda and Jason spent hours longer searching to be sure they’d found all the human remains still nearby. So far, we’d recovered about half of a body. To my eye, the victim seemed to be an adult woman, but on the smaller side.

  Lastly, Linda discovered what was probably the most important missing piece, a human head. She told me carnivores had devoured most of the distinguishing features. We wouldn’t be able to recognize her face, but I’d heard about experts who could reconstruct the face from the skull. That would be a last option because of the cost and time required.

  All of the individual pieces we’d recovered had been severed by saw cuts through muscle and bone. A chill ran through me as I realized how methodical and practiced the butchering had been. Growing up on a ranch, I’d spent countless hours slaughtering animals that we’d raised or hunted. Got pretty good at it. These cuts showed that same kind of practiced skill. It led me to wonder how many other bodies this killer might’ve carved up and why.

  The last time I winched up the basket, the two deputies stood in it, holding the cable and grinning. I blew a sigh of relief out when they reached the top of the turnout and thanked them profusely for their hard work. In addition, I promised burgers and beers to show my appreciation in a more tangible way.

  They laughed like they had just gotten off a roller coaster at a theme park.

  I took a close look at the head they’d brought with them. The eye sockets were empty, and the tongue had been chewed out. Most of the skin on the face was gone. Patches of long, dark brown hair covered the top and back of the skull. “Coyotes do this damage?” I asked.

  “Likely,” Linda said, “or foxes or crows.”

  I rubbed my tired eyes. “First, I’m thinking this victim is female, both because of the size of the parts you found and the long hair on this skull.”

  I glanced at Linda and Jason to get their reactions.

  “Agree,” he said. “Most of all, I hope it’s not someone’s kid. Losing a child is bad enough without knowing that they’d been mutilated and dumped.”

  I couldn’t agree more.

  -o-o-o-

  Late in the afternoon, my two deputies, Boomer, and I made it back to the gate blocking the highway. The sun was about to set, but our work for the day wasn’t done. I took the additional human remains to the coroner’s office, and we each had reports to write documenting our work.

  Then, tomorrow, the four of us would begin the search again, bright and early. Tim had promised his people would search the Roaring Fork through town, so we’d start on the western town limit.

  When I got back to the office, I’d barely settled into my cubicle when Randy dropped by.

  “Glad that I caught you. Hal is coming by in a few minutes to complain about our latest murder investigation. Much as I love listening to him bitch alone, I feel obligated to share the fun with you.”

  This was the part of the job I dreaded the most—schmoozing and politicking with the town’s movers and shakers. Unfortunately, Harold Salieri was the chairman of the Pitkin County commissioners. That made him the most powerful politician in our neck of the woods, and his position gave him complete control of our budget. This wasn’t a meeting I could skip.

  “Looking forward to it…not, but I’ll be there.”

  -o-o-o-

  When Salieri arrived, he first met with Randy alone in the chief deputy’s office. The sheriff’s office remained vacant and would stay that way until mid-January when I moved in.

  Salieri’s family owned a fancy Italian hotel in Snowmass Village, which meant they were multimillionaires. Not surprisingly, they were wildly enthusiastic about developing the whole county even more. I felt just the opposite. The Roaring Fork Valley had been changed too much already. So, he and I’d butted heads in public forums over the years.

  Salieri was in his sixties, chubby, short, and balding. But very personable, a natural politician. He was usually charming to everyone, except during private moments when he yelled at me for being a tree hugger. We hadn’t spoken since the election, but I knew he was bitterly disappointed in the outcome. He’d been a close friend of our former sheriff and Randy’s biggest fundraiser.

  As they spoke alone, they raised my hopes that they might dispense with my presence altogether. But our chief deputy eventually texted me and asked me to join them. I did, putting on my best fake smile.

  Salieri should’ve been a happy hotelier. This fall, for the first time in a decade, it’d snowed early and often on the Western slope. Not coincidentally, during Thanksgiving week, every guest room in the Roaring Fork Valley had been filled. Laissez les bons temps rouler.

  When I entered Randy’s office, the commissioner scowled at me. I pretended not to notice and kept my fake smile going. Shook his clammy hand. “Pleasure to see you, Sir.”

  He didn’t reply. That hurt my feelings.

  I hoped for a moment that he couldn’t bear to talk with me. That would shorten the meeting and allow me to get back to my vital report writing.

  After an awkward silence, Randy said, “Hal has a few questions about the latest investigation that I can’t answer. I’m sure you’ll be able to fill in the blanks.”

  My face was hurting from maintaining the fake smile, but I kept it going. “Happy to oblige any way I can.”

  Salieri’s frown remained. “First off, I’m not sure you appreciate how all these recent killings have devastated our tourism business. It’s almost as though someone is trying to make us look bad. We’re becoming the murder capital of the West.”

  There wasn’t much I could do about that except to solve the crimes after they’d happened. “We’ve been pretty successful lately at catching criminals and locking them up.”

  His face turned red. Apparently not what he’d wanted to hear. I couldn’t do much about that either. Waited for his next shot.

  “It’s almost like you people are trying to justify your jobs to the community. If that’s what’s going on, knock it off.”

  I wasn’t about to touch that one, so I glanced at Randy.

  He threw up his hands. “Hal, be serious. We don’t sneak around paying dirtbags to commit more crime. And as always, we’ll do our best to minimize the bad publicity.”

  That was actually a damned good answer, much better than what I was thinking about saying. I nodded at him in appreciation.

  Salieri glowered. “A number of businessmen have called me today. Thanks to the great snow, we’re all on the verge of a wonderful ski season. But nothing will kill our momentum faster than shitty publicity. Maybe the Vail people are behind it. They’re ruthless. Nothing’s beneath them.”

  Is he paranoid or t
rying to goad me into saying something stupid? I wasn’t sure.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of this as soon as possible,” Randy promised.

  “In fact,” I added, “me and two of our deputies have been working this case hard since I first heard about it early this morning. I promise, this is our highest priority.”

  “How about you make it lower instead? Shit happens. You don’t have to investigate every time some stranger runs into a bit of bad luck, do you? If you keep quiet, then the press has nothing to jabber about.”

  I almost fell out of my chair. “You want us to ignore murders in the county because they generate bad publicity?”

  “Not all murders. Just the whackadoodle stuff. If one of our citizens gets killed, that’s a lot different. Hell, you don’t even know that the latest one was murder, do you? All you know is that somebody chopped up a body to get rid of it.”

  I held the sides of my head to keep it from exploding. “We take an oath, you know, to uphold the laws and the state and federal constitutions. It’s part of the whole cop thing.”

  He leaned across the table like he wanted to punch me. “Look, Morgan, we all know you weren’t my first choice for the sheriff’s job, or even my fifth. But you somehow conned our citizens and beat out a fine man. It’s time for you to get on the same page with everybody else or resign.”

  What? I burst out laughing for a second before I caught myself. Then, in as even a voice as I could manage, I said, “Sir, maybe it’s escaped your notice, but I won’t even take the position for another six weeks. You want me to resign as sheriff before I become sheriff?”

  He nodded as though it was the only logical answer to our collective problem.

  Tamping down my anger, I said, “Let me put this as delicately as I can.”

  I paused to choose my next words carefully. Glanced at Randy.

  His eyes opened wide with alarm. I realized he was worried more about me and the office than himself.

  Instead of telling Salieri to go get fucked, I let out a deep breath. It hit me in a flash. He wasn’t saying all this stupid shit because he was pissed. The guy was too cunning. He was manipulating me into hanging myself.

  From his perspective, the best thing that could happen would be that I said something outrageous. Then, he’d repeat that to all his mover and shaker pals. The bastard expected me to provide the ammunition he would use to force me out.

  And his trick had almost worked. I plastered my fake smile on again. “How about we all just do our best to get along? I’ll certainly bend over backwards to make up for any past disagreements.”

  I felt positively saintly.

  He stood and shook a finger at me like I was a ten-year-old truant. “All I know is that hundreds of businesses in this county are desperate for a decent year. We have to make up for all the losses we endured over the last decade. And to help, you’d better stop the bad publicity pouring out of your office.”

  Without waiting for a response, he stormed out.

  Randy leaned back in his chair and chuckled. “For a minute there, I thought you were going to whip out your pistol and pop him right between the eyes.” Then he said with a deadpan voice, “That would’ve been a mistake.”

  He cracked me up. “Much as I wanted to, I figured it might put you in a delicate position. And blood is so hard to get out of carpeting.”

  I took a deep breath and relaxed in my chair. “Look, I’m well aware that we do not need any fights with this asshole. He has a majority of the board on his side, ready to retaliate against our already pitiful budget. I’m not going to give them the satisfaction.”

  “We’re on the same page, Hank.” Our chief deputy stared at me. “You might work out better than I thought.”

  Yeah, it was a damned good thing that I’d kept Randy on as chief deputy. The commissioners who disliked me did trust him. That could save our asses.

  “Okay,” I said, “mischief managed. By the way, Jason, Linda, and I are heading down to Slugger’s Heaven in Basalt for brews and burgers. You’re welcome to join us.”

  “Thanks, but our oldest daughter is dropping buy to show videos of their trip to Disney World. The grandkids are cute as hell in those Mickey Mouse hats. But say ‘hi’ to Pauline for me.”

  As I got up to leave, a thought occurred to me. “Last thing, didn’t Salieri buy a new Ferrari about a year ago? His hotel couldn’t have been suffering too badly.”

  Randy grinned. “I’m sure things could’ve been better for plenty of business over the last decade. The drought seriously cut back on our skier visits. But I don’t remember an unusual number of companies going bust either. For some folks, enough is never enough.”

  Chapter 3

  Long after dark, Boomer and I made it home from Pauline’s bar. These days, we lived at Willow’s house, a three-million-dollar fixer-upper a couple of miles southwest of Old Snowmass. Our plan was to use it as our winter home and live in my cabin for the rest of the year.

  My girlfriend’s ten-acre ranch was only a few miles north of the spectacular Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. Capitol Creek flowed from the top of the nearest Fourteener and gurgled through her property.

  Not that we could see the high peaks. We were at the bottom of a broad, dry valley, and the view south was blocked by a bluff next to us. The ranch contained trees, but they were concentrated along the creek and within a thick windbreak on the property’s north side. That screen gave us privacy. No one could see us from the county road just north of the windbreak.

  For security, Willow had originally surrounded her ranch with an eight-foot-tall wrought iron fence. I’d thought that would be enough to keep out the riffraff, but less than a month ago, a stone killer climbed the fence with the agility of a circus monkey. The bastard had almost murdered both of us.

  Lesson learned. Now, a second, taller barrier surrounded the house, the barn, and the closest pasture. This ten-foot-high, black chain-link fence was topped with electrified concertina wire. We felt like prisoners in Supermax, but at least we could sleep at night.

  When I reached the first fence, I punched in my access code and said hello to the camera facing me. It was monitored by a guard inside the perimeter.

  Willow employed guards 24/7, at a monthly cost of thirty grand, because her work was even more dangerous than mine.

  When I reached the second gate, it was already opening. There was no access pad for that one. The guard had to open it from inside the security center. If he or she was away from that office on their irregular rounds, the person at the gate had to wait until they returned.

  I parked my Jeep in the garage and was greeted by our two outdoor dogs. The small one named Caruso—he never shut up. We’d gotten him from a shelter precisely because he was the most excitable mutt there. And like all hounds, he had a great nose for sniffing out strangers.

  Our other guard dog, Hercules, was a hundred-and-fifty-pound English Mastiff. He had a tan coat and mostly black face. His bark sounded like cannon fire, and his jaws could snap a person’s leg in two.

  I petted our furry guards for a few minutes, and Boomer played with them. Then our little pack strolled through the barn to where our two horses whinnied. I’d been gone all day, so I spent extra time giving treats to Rambo, my big black gelding, and Giselle, Willow’s smaller white Arabian mare.

  The ground here was mostly free of snow. This ranch was seven thousand feet high, which was a thousand feet lower than Aspen.

  The night air was nippy, but we heated half of the barn so these critters wouldn’t freeze to death. And they all wore coats or blankets when they ventured outside.

  After we all had a good chat, Boomer and I headed into the house. Three months ago, it had been old and rundown, but Willow had paid several crews of contractors to gut it to the studs and rebuild.

  They’d transformed the inside into something marvelous, but by now, she was into this ranch for over four million bucks. I could hardly believe it.
And some of the interior finish work remained undone.

  I was too tired to check out the day’s progress in the kitchen. Instead, I talked with our guard for a moment then stumbled upstairs to the new master bedroom suite. Without turning on the lights, I closed the door and hit the sack. Boomer laid down next to me on a plush doggy bed. I conked out within seconds.

  -o-o-o-

  I was looking forward to a full night’s sleep, but no such luck. In a dream, I was climbing Everest, but I heard a distant pop. That pulled me instantly awake. I grabbed the walkie-talkie on the nightstand that we used to communicate with the guard. But April Connolly was already speaking.

  “Hank, something’s going on. Single gunshot, probably rifle fire, well to the north of us. Do you want our rapid response team?”

  “Was the round fired this way?” I asked.

  “No, at least our outdoor mics didn’t pick up any bullet whizzing by.”

  I relaxed a little. To the north of us, dozens of houses sat on five-acre lots. Something had to be going on over there. “What time is it?”

  “My laptop says 4:17 a.m.”

  Sometimes, when I woke up early, I knew I couldn’t get back to sleep. This was one of those times. After a yawn, I sat up. “No on the RRT. I’ll call it in to my office. Keep your ears open.”

  I called 911 using the house line and was automatically routed to our sheriff’s dispatcher. “It’s Hank, just heard a shot somewhere north of us. Any news?”

  “You’re the first. Wait, another line just lit up. I’ll call you back.”

  If things went as usual, he’d get several calls in quick succession, some more informative than others. The dispatcher would’ve already sent out a patrol vehicle after my first report, but we were staffed very lightly this early in the morning. Pitkin County covered about a thousand square miles, most of it was snowbound mountains and forests. We still had quite a large area we needed to patrol.