The wind had a way of pushing sounds in different directions. Katie turned every which way, but she didn’t see him. “Gav?”
“Over here.”
Katie followed his voice, but she still didn’t see him.
“Here!”
She ran now with urgency. It was as if everything were invisible to her, standing just out of reach. The ground started feeling squishy beneath her feet, so she slowed her pace… looked down. The soil had changed slightly; it was darker with more gravel mixed in. Katie stopped.
“Gav?” She took another couple of steps. The dirt had given way, revealing a large oval-shaped hole. Dropping to the ground, Katie carefully crawled forward. “Gav?”
Her instincts and anxieties fought each other. Her heart beat faster, but she was almost frozen in fear. Memories flooded in of their last case, where John had been thrown into a well and left to die.
“Gav, are you all right?” She pushed away her fears and peered down about ten feet. “You okay?”
McGaven was standing and leaning against the side of the hole. “The unexpected drop knocked the wind out of me for a moment.” He was breathing hard.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “But”—he pointed.—“they’re not.”
Katie didn’t quite understand at first. She looked to where her partner had indicated. There was a body in what appeared to be a fetal position, mostly bones remaining. The arms and side of the skull were the only things immediately visible. The shock of the body and its position made her gasp. Her mind reeled. Here was another body most likely connected to the Collinses’ house. She stared at the bones a bit longer, running through her mind who it might be. Could it be someone related to Meredith and Misty?
She shook her head. She could worry about that later. “Let’s get you out,” she said to McGaven.
“That would be nice.”
Katie ran back to the car and rummaged around in the trunk. She found some rope and figured it would suffice. Without wasting time, she ran back to her partner. It didn’t take long for her to help pull him up. He climbed out and lay on the ground, winded, his arms out to his side.
“Gav,” she said softly. She saw that his arm was bleeding. “You’re not okay.”
He sat up, covered in dirt. “This? It’s just a little scratch.”
Katie examined it, tearing away his shirt. The cut was long though most of the bleeding had stopped, but it required looking at by a doctor. He was probably going to need stitches.
“We need forensics out here ASAP. John is really busy already,” she said, taking some preliminary photos of the area, the grave, and what she could see of the body. “The ground probably gave way due to erosion around the hole.”
“It seems this might be the reason why the family disappeared and didn’t follow up on the missing persons report.”
Katie sighed. “This case is getting more complicated by the minute.” She looked around the area to see if the soil looked different in any places. “I’m worried aboutanotherbody turning up…” She was also really worried about their safety.
McGaven interrupted her thoughts. “You know, ever since I’ve been partnered with you, I have accumulated a lot of cool scars.”
She tried not to laugh at his joke. “Let’s get you checked out.”
“I hope I don’t need a tetanus shot.”
FOURTEEN
Tuesday 1605 hours
While McGaven was at the hospital being checked over. Katie coordinated forensics, heavy equipment to make a wider entrance and to remove dirt from the grave, and two patrol officers to canvass and protect the scene. The detectives were then back at their office to gather all the information they could and update their investigative board.
“I hate this bandage. It itches for some reason,” McGaven said, fidgeting and scratching at his arm. He had needed ten stitches and was instructed to change the bandage every four to five hours.
“What do you expect for another cool scar?” Katie chuckled.
She had printed the photos she took at the Collinses’ property as reference until the official ones came in from John. She rearranged the board in sequential order of the discovery of each body, and updated the victim information about what they knew so far of Meredith and Misty Collins. She had found a photo of retired Detective Ventura and added that under acolumn of witnesses. To the far right of their boards, basically two walls in the room, she wrote up a brief timeline of when the mother and daughter went missing and any other dates from the missing persons report.
