“I thought I saw someone in the trees.”
“Someone?” he said.
“Who?” said John, his face also concerned.
All three of them had been on hazardous investigations where things became unsettled and downright dangerous. They were a solid team—each one brought something to the table.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I identified myself, but they had a good start and then disappeared. But there were boot prints.”
“Like work boots? Maybe from one of the workers here,” John said.
“No, it was definitely more like a cowboy boot with a narrow toe.”
“A cowboy?” said McGaven.
“I’m not saying that, but these boot prints were right where this person had moved past.”
“Okay, I’ll have Eva do an impression evidence mold,” said John.
“I marked the area with a couple of rocks on the trail.”
John nodded and left.
Katie remained quiet and glanced around, watching John and Eva recovering more human bones and carefully placing them on the tarp for transport. She couldn’t help but feel that someone was still watching them.
FIVE
Monday 1215 hours
“Okay, we have Detective Ken Rogers to deploy a drone over the property at 2 p.m. today,” said McGaven.
“Uh-huh.” Katie was standing at the large wall in their office and had begun writing up and sticking on what they had so far with the case. There were photos of the two construction workers; a map of the area; the contracts for the work including paperwork from the county; the names of the businesses involved in the project. It wasn’t much, but Katie studied what they had. She wanted to know who the three victims were. Were they related? Random? She wondered if their deaths had resulted from something personal or something much darker.
McGaven looked at his partner. “I thought you would be happy about the drone.”
“I am.” Her eyes traced the architectural drawings of the large parcel of land and she visualized the buildings, training areas, and parking lot that would be built. It seemed plausible and well thought out.
“When do you want to bring Cisco out?” McGaven said.
“Soon.”
Just then, the door opened to a cheerful short-haired brunette. It was Denise, the records supervisor and also McGaven’s girlfriend.
“Hi, all.” She carried a stack of paperwork and a memory stick. “Detective Hamilton gives his regards.” She smiled.
“Great, thank you,” said McGaven.
“Thank you, Denise,” said Katie.
“Always a pleasure,” she said and blew a kiss to McGaven.
As soon as the door shut, Katie began laying out the paperwork. The detectives sat down to sort through the information.
“While we wait for DNA or dental identification on all three bodies, this will have to do,” she said. “It looks like Hamilton narrowed down possible victims.”
“And the winner is…?” McGaven said.
Katie made piles of paperwork that included photographs of missing individuals. The flyers that had been used were grainy and it was difficult to see specific details. She made a pile of anyone over the age of eighteen and another of young juveniles, whittling it down to several children. Most of the copied photos weren’t good and had too many distracting things in and around the child. She reached for a magnifying glass to study the photos more closely. A detail in one of them caught her eye. Katie looked closely at the flyer of the little girl for a minute. She appeared to be sitting on a tree swing with her hands gripped around the rope sides. Her smile was pure joy.
