“Tricky how?”
“There’s lots of money involved in this project—all the way around. So attorneys are now involved and it could take weeks or months to unravel it.”
“There are bodies buried—cold cases or missing victims. We can use cadaver dogs or GPR to make sure first.” Katie was completely astounded by what Hamilton had told her, not to mention angry.
“Doesn’t matter, it’s going to take as long as it takes,” said Hamilton.
Katie turned to McGaven. “So these boys we first thought were just the Young brothers, also included Junior and Grand. Why would the brothers not tell us that?”
“I don’t know.”
Katie looked back at Hamilton. “Weneedto find out if there are other bodies buried and who they are. Especially if they’re connected to the others.”
“That’s all I know for now,” said Hamilton as he stood up. “I will update you when more things come to light.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Thanks, Hamilton.”
There was a text message on Katie’s phone. She picked it up.
“What is it?” he said.
“Dr. Dean’s asked us to come to the medical examiner’s office as soon as we can.”
FIFTY
Wednesday 1520 hours
Katie and McGaven found themselves waiting once again at the medical examiner’s office. There were more people working and moving about than on their last visit. No one paid any attention to them.
“Thank you both for coming,” said Dr. Dean as he hurried down the hallway. This time he was dressed in scrubs with a white lab coat instead of his Hawaiian shirt and sandals. “I know you’re very busy, but I wanted to show you something in person that I felt you needed to see immediately.” He hustled to one of the smaller exam rooms. “I thought it was better than receiving a text or email.”
Katie had never seen Dean this frazzled; he seemed to be moving at warp speed. She wasn’t sure what to expect and that made her extremely nervous. She glanced at McGaven, who gave her a cautious look with a brow risen. There was nothing more they could do but wait to see what Dean had for them.
They had entered a room that didn’t have a body on a gurney.
“I thought we were going to see the results on Sydney Butler?” said Katie.
“Not all the results are in yet.” Dean went to the counter and picked up a large manila envelope. He pulled out something in a plastic bag. It was flat and about a couple of inches long. “This,” began Dr. Dean, “was found stuffed into the victim’s mouth. It was almost overlooked at first, but we managed to carefully pull it out without handling it.”
Katie was confused as to why something would be stuffed into a victim’s mouth. “You’re talking about Sydney Butler?” she said, verifying.
“Yes.” Dr. Dean put the bag down on the table with an overhead light.
“What…?” said Katie.
It was a standard business card from the Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department, and the person it belonged to was the sheriff.
“No,” said Katie and she rushed from the room and began calling her uncle’s numbers.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” said McGaven. He followed his partner and also began calling numbers to find out where the sheriff was located.
After a few minutes, Katie joined him. “Any luck?”
McGaven slowly shook his head.
Katie paced, not sure what to do at that moment.
