Josh was behind her also with lights and sirens. The slash pile area wasn’t too far past the turnoff for the road that led to Dead Man’s Pass. The pass was named after some settlers who were caught in a bad snowstorm and didn’t make it. According to local legend, their bodies were discovered the next spring, but the money and gold they’d had with them were gone. A mystery of the past.
Maya knew that every summer when the snow cleared, both tourists and residents would search for the gold, but no one had ever found it. She suspected it was just a tall tale. Arriving at the crime scene, she found a place to park, made sure Juniper’s compartment was set for a comfortable temperature and then waited for Josh as he exited his vehicle.
The breeze picked up and the smell of human flesh wafted toward them. Maya’s stomach churned. She hadn’t experienced the scent of a burned body since Afghanistan.
Closing her eyes, she fought the flashback that threatened to come on. She controlled her breathing and worked to stay in the moment.I am home. I am safe. I have a job to do.Working with her therapist, Dr. Meyers, another veteran, she’d started using these grounding phrases when a flashback threatened to happen. She walked back over to her vehicle and opened the door to Juniper’s compartment. Petting her four-legged partner helped her calm down. It worked and she felt her heart rate slow.
“Are you okay?” Josh asked. He’d walked over and joined her by her patrol vehicle. She shut the door and turned around as Josh reached out, touched her gently on the cheek, and then pulled her into a hug.
“I am. I just haven’t smelled that horrible odor since Afghanistan.”
“It’s bad. You don’t have to go see this if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s okay,” Maya said, pulling back from the hug. “I have to face these things from my past, and it’s getting easier. I’m learning to manage PTSD. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. The smell is bad, but it’s part of my job.”
“No, I mean with the friends your mother decided to bring along.”
“Yeah, next time they come, no friends are allowed.”
“Is itthatsenator?” Maya asked. “As in the case Amber called you about?”
“Yes, that’s Sydney Bradford’s family.”
“Don’t you think it’s odd that Amber called you about that particular case and then the family shows up?”
Josh shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, all our families knew each other. Maybe Amber heard that they were coming, and it was her sick and twisted way of trying to insert herself into the middle of everything again. But it’s weird to see them.”
“I bet,” Maya said.
“The last time I saw them was at Sydney’s funeral. I was messed up, don’t remember much, and I feel like I’m such a different person now.”
“Well, we have an investigation to work, so that’s a good excuse to not be around them while they’re here,” Maya said.
Josh nodded. “I agree. Let’s grab the crime-scene tape and get to work.”
She waited while Josh grabbed the yellow tape out of his vehicle. They strung tape between some trees to shut down the area. The hard part about crime scenes in a forest was figuring out how big of an area to tape off so they could keep the scene secure and collect evidence. Maya figured they’d run more tape after they saw the scene. They headed up the hill, where the firefighters were waiting for them.
Josh and Maya greeted the men. The tall firefighter introduced himself as Alex.
“Are you the one who discovered the fire this morning?” Maya asked.
“I am,” Alex said. “I figured someone was just being stupid and decided to try lighting one of these. I called in the guys and they came and helped me put it out. Then I saw the remains. We smelled it first but didn’t want to believe there really was a dead body. Who would do such a thing?”
Maya peered in the direction Alex pointed. The body was burned beyond recognition, with fingers curled. “Did you say you thought there was a gunshot wound?”
“Yeah, come this way with me. You’ll have a better view of it.”
Maya didn’t necessarily want a better view, but she also needed to see what Alex was talking about. Josh followed behind her. They moved to a side of the slash pile where enough branches had burned to create a better opening. Maya could see what Alex was observing—a hole in the victim’s chest and another possible gunshot wound in the head.
“It does appear to be a GSW,” Josh said. “Maybe more than one.”
“I agree,” Maya said. “We’ll have to wait for Doc to get here. Once he gets the remains back to his lab, he’ll be able to tell us more. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a bullet in the body or a tree trunk.”
“We’ll have to look for casings too,” Josh said.
Maya nodded in agreement. “Let’s get this area taped off and start setting up our perimeter. Glad it’s still midmorning. This is going to be a long day.”
