“And if you let him distract you, you’ll lose twice by wasting valuable time.”
“Fine. Okay.” Sierra took a long breath and let it out. “I know you get it. I’ll move on to the kennel and come back here when they’re done.”
“Would you like me to take photos for you to speed things along?” Kelsey asked. “At least until I’m cleared to recover the body.”
“That would be great.”
“I’ll grab my camera and meet you at the kennel.” Kelsey spun and picked her way to the van, where Nick sat on the bumper. His attention was so focused on his phone he didn’t notice her arrival. Or if he did, he didn’t show it.
Colin didn’t know him well enough to know which it was, but when he got bogged down on his phone or computer, he lost track of what was going on around him. They were actually lucky that Nick had taken a break to answer the sheriff’s copious questions. But he didn’t waste even a second before returning to his dark web search for signs of Tarver. Too bad he hadn’t had any success yet.
The fire chief took off his helmet and ran a hand through sweaty gray hair as he stepped back to them. “We’ve wetted everything down, and you’re clear to enter. If you want help in retrieving the body, we’re glad to provide it.”
Abby faced the van. “Hey, Dr. Dunbar,” she called out. “You want help recovering the remains?”
“No!” She spun, camera in hand. “If we’re clear to enter, then everyone stands down and no one goes near the remains.Including your men.” Despite her feminine appearance in this heavily male-driven field of law enforcement, her tone carried authority, and Colin would never intentionally want to cross paths with her.
“We’re glad to let you take lead,” Abby said. “But I’ll need to take a look at the crime scene before it’s disturbed.”
“Fine. You can follow me. No one else.” Kelsey hung the camera strap around her neck and exchanged gazes with Abby. “But if you want me to help you solve this murder, please follow my directions to the letter.”
“Of course.” Abby tilted her head. “At least as long as other lives aren’t at risk. In that case, you listen to my directions.”
Kelsey nodded and changed her focus to Dev. “Could you go to the kennels and tell Sierra I won’t be coming to take pictures for her and that she now has free access to the house?”
“Of course,” Dev said.
She picked up a large bin and stepped toward the sheriff.
“Can I carry that for you?” Abby asked.
She arched an eyebrow, and Colin expected her to tell her she was capable of doing her own work, but she gave her the bin. “Thank you. Follow me.”
She marched toward the house, Abby in tow. Colin was glad Kelsey had sent Dev to the kennel on the errand. Took Abby’s attention off them and freed Colin up to fall in line behind the pair and travel at least to the edge of the house. He might not be on the official list to receive investigation information, but he could get close enough to listen in to their conversation.
“You can put the bin there.” Kelsey pointed at a spot a few feet from the body.
Abby set it down and turned toward the victim. “Oh, man. Man. I…” Her throat seemed to choke off the words. “I’ve never seen anyone this far gone.”
Colin had to give her props for being willing to admit her discomfort and not try to pretend she was okay with the gruesome sight.
“It can be hard to take in.” Kelsey opened the bin and took out battery-powered lights. She set them up and focused the beams on the body, leaving a much clearer picture of the burned state of the victim.
Colin had wanted to join them in the house, but his queasy stomach thanked him for being at a distance. He focused on Sierra stepping out of the darkness with Dev.
Abby ran a hand through her hair and cleared her throat. “You do these retrievals all the time, but I guess you never get used to the sight.”
Kelsey slid her fingers into a pair of disposable gloves. “You’re right. I recover remains all the time, but not a lot of burn victims.”
Abby looked around. “Nothing survived this fire. His ID, if he had any on him, couldn’t either. And forget fingerprints, right? So how will you even identify him?”
“We start every investigation by completing a biological profile,” Kelsey said. “Then we answer as many questions as we can to start. Our top-five list includes the victim’s age, sex, ancestry, stature, and—if he’s reported missing and we suspect it might be him—any individualizing traits that family and friends would know.”
“Things like what?”
“Braces on teeth, healed or healing fractures, skeletal deformities, amputations, and other medical and anomalous conditions of teeth and bones.”
“If you can’t complete that profile?”
