Page 31 of Chasing Creed

When Norwich was ready, Creed asked Grace to lead them to the debris pile on the other side of the pasture.

Creed was surprised to see Sheriff Daniels and Deputy Perry already at the debris site. They waited about thirty feet away. Grace took Creed and Norwich directly to the pile. Then she turned around to face Creed and sat down.

“Good girl, Grace.”

The smell emanating from the pile seemed stronger.

“Probably some dead animal underneath,” Deputy Perry said.

“Mr. Creed’s dogs don’t alert to dead animals,” Norwich told the men.

“That’s what he said. But look for yourself,” Daniels said. “There’s no blood. No body. Whatever happened. It’s done. There’s nothing here. Just a bunch of trash from over the years.”

“Do you hear that?” Norwich asked, cocking her head to one side.

“Sounds like flies,” Creed said.

“Up top,” she nodded. “That cooler looks recently added to the pile.”

“Brodie thought so, too.”

“I’ll have the vehicle brought in,” Daniels offered, ignoring what he’d already discounted. “We’ll gather whatever evidence we can from inside.”

Creed could see the man’s patience wearing thin. He’d spent his entire day here. Thought he’d done it as a courtesy to another law officer. Maybe believed he could rake in a favor or two in the future.

“Not much more we can do without a body,” he told her.

Norwich wandered around, checking the ground and sifting through the shrubs. Creed thought she was looking for evidence of blood. Then she bent down and pulled a branch up out of the tall grass. She snapped off the twigs as the men stared at her.

Satisfied with her modified four-foot-long pole, she went back to the edge of the trash pile. She snagged the lip of the olive-colored cooler. Double-fisted on her end, she shoved the branch up.

Down came the cooler.

Daniels and Perry jerked backward and stumbled to get out of the cooler's way. The deputy almost tripped. Both watched their feet for what might have fallen out. They didn’t even notice the newly released and dive-bombing swarm of flies. Nor did they see what poked up at the top of the pile, now uncovered.

But the nasty burst of stink drew their attention.

A human hand reached out of the debris. It stretched up to the sky as if drowning and grabbing for one last breath.

“I’ll be damned,” Deputy Perry said just as Daniels gagged and hurried away to vomit in the bushes.

Norwich ignored both men. She ignored the grotesque revelation. Instead, she looked down at Grace sitting at Creed’s feet with her ears pitched and her eyes darting around, watching the sudden chaos. Grace didn’t seem at all surprised to see what was discovered at the top of the heap.

Norwich patted the dog’s head and said, “Nobody should ever doubt you.”

Grace just wagged.

20

“I know it hurts,” Jason said. He didn’t look up. His head bent down over her leg as he dug out another thorn.

Somehow, she had managed to keep enough of her balance to not fall completely backward into the thicket.

“I’m such a klutz.”

“You’re not a klutz.”

“I thought it was the same electric fence Scout touched.”