Predator (3 page)

“It means a lot to your dad that you found the body—professionally and personally.”

Bree didn’t want an interpreter, but Kelsi’s words made her happy. “Since my brother Troy died…he’s been…it’s just been impossible to talk to him.”

Kelsi leaned closer. “Don’t let his distance make you think he doesn’t care about you, because he does. You’re his whole world. You know that, right?”

Bree nodded and deliberately changed the topic. “Did they ever find out who tortured and decapitated the other bodies they found in the bog?”

“It wasn’t just one person. Different bodies exhibited different methods of dismemberment.” Kelsi lowered her voice. “And as far as I know, this was the first found in the Galamonga Bog.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Bree said. “Why would someone cut off his hand?”

“Who knows what goes through the mind of someone like that. Why does it matter so much to you anyway?”

“It just does. No one should die like he did or be buried like that. It’s not right. And then we dig him up and put him a bag and…”

“I know.” After a long moment Kelsi added, “It was hard for me the first time I zipped a body bag over a corpse, really hard. I felt like I was inside the bag and that I was still alive and suffocating. I started to panic and could barely grab my breath.”

That was exactly how Bree felt. But she wasn’t going to share that with Kelsi. Instead Bree said, “That’s awful. What’d you do?”

“Luckily the feeling passed before anyone seemed to notice, but it was still pretty scary. I’ll never forget what it felt like.”

“I guess not,” Bree said.

“Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that it’s okay to get freaked out once in a while, especially over something like that.”

“I wasn’t freaked out.” The harsh tone in Bree’s voice gave away her lie.

Kelsi raised her eyebrows, briefly stared at Bree, and then said, “Okay, but if you change your mind and you want to talk about the body, or anything else, I’m willing to listen.”

“Sure. Whatever.”

Kelsi’s hand was warm on Bree’s knee. She wore an odd ring. The thick silver band came together at the sides to support an octagonal shape with a raised elongated eye in the middle. Emanating from the sides of the eye were four distinct sets of carved parallel lines that reached to the edges of the octagon.

“Cool ring,” Bree said. “Is it new?”

Kelsi pulled back her hand. “No, I usually wear it on a chain while I’m at work.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Kelsi smiled. “It’s ancient. From well before my granny’s time. No one really knows how old it is.”

Bree’s thoughts turned to her mom and her jewelry: bracelets and pins and earrings that now belonged to Bree, but that Bree couldn’t bear to wear. She’d give them up in an instant if only it would bring her mom back.

Bree’s cell buzzed again. She smiled—it was Liam. “I gotta go.”

Village Cafe, Largheal, Ireland

“How’d you get away so soon?” Bree said. “I thought you were eating dinner with your family then watching a movie.” She sat next to Liam at a small table in the corner of the coffee shop. Cinnamon and chocolate mixed with the thick aroma of coffee.

“The film was shite. My da always gets PG so Finn can watch. I’d rather be here with you.” Liam raked back his blond bangs and smiled. Dimples marked the corner of his mouth and, despite the dim lighting, she caught the sparkle of his eyes.

“So what? You just took off?”

He chuckled. “No, my da would ground my arse big time if I did that. I told him you needed to talk to me. How was dinner?”

“Pretty boring,” Bree said, and then she filled him in on her conversation with Kelsi.

“I still can’t believe you found a bog body.”

“It is pretty incredible. If that peat farmer hadn’t been digging illegally during the night and left a hole, or if I hadn’t decided to check out the bog, or if I didn’t notice something weird in the peat, the body would have stayed buried forever.”

“It’s a good thing you did,” Liam said.

She nodded. “Yeah, but I can’t stop thinking about those strange marks.”

“Me neither.” He took a sip of water.

“We have to find the missing hand,” she said, “or we’ll never know what happened to the man. Not really, anyway.”

“It’s not like you could look for it now. It’s too dark. Besides, you promised your dad you’d stay away from the bog.”

“Let’s go tomorrow at lunch,” Bree said with a huge smile.

Liam chuckled briefly. “I have a meeting for the cricket tournament I’m reffing. But we could go another day.”

“I’m not waiting,” Bree said. “I’ll go without you.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Bree nodded. “I know my way around the bog. I’ll be fine.”

Liam looked to his left, and Bree followed his gaze. She made brief eye contact with the man at the next table before he abruptly looked down and examined his coffee.

Liam said, “Let’s ditch this place. There’s a great spot a couple of blocks from here. The view’s great and…” He leaned toward her and whispered, “That guy won’t be listening to everything we say.”

The man shifted sideways in his seat. Although he had his back to her, Bree suspected he still was hanging on to their every word. She nodded and said, “Let’s go.”

Outside the coffee shop, they had to zigzag in order to navigate the crowded sidewalk. Parents pushing strollers with sleeping babies, couples holding hands, a guy carrying a box and pulling a large suitcase behind him. No one seemed to mind the slight chill in the air.

At the next corner they turned onto a narrow residential street. Its terraced houses were each painted a different color: red, blue, burnt orange, yellow, purple, green. The area was quiet but hardly deserted. There were parked cars in the driveways, a bicycle lying on a front lawn, and lights on inside the homes. The air seemed cleaner here somehow.

They stepped off the curb, and a pimped-out blue Nissan Micra barreled down the street, radio blaring through the open windows. In one quick move, Liam jumped back and out of the street, pulling Bree with him; her right hip just missed slamming into a green post box. The car flew past with a giant
whoosh
of air.

The danger passed but Bree trembled in its wake.

“What a git,” Liam said. “That guy could have killed us.” He held Bree’s hand so tightly it felt like her fingers would break. “You okay?” He pulled her hard against him.

Bree could still feel her heart thumping against her chest. But it was no longer from fear. With Liam by her side, she felt safe, and alive. “I’m good,” she said.

They crossed the street, walked three blocks, and stopped at the intersection.

“We’re here,” Liam said.

Across the street, an eight-foot-high wrought iron fence ran the length of the block and continued around the corners. Two open gates, flanked by tall stone columns, stood like sentries in the middle of the fence. From the distance, the park looked nothing like Bree had expected. A fortress in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Cold and uninviting.

Liam picked up the pace, and they made their way into the park.

Beyond the gates, everything changed. The buildings and the cement and the cars and the noise ceased to exist. It was like they had stepped into another world. Clusters of trees and bushes created intimate spaces. Wild flower patches were everywhere, splashes of rich color in the glow of the landscaping lights. And for as far as she could see there was not another soul around.

Liam smiled. “There’s a great spot up ahead. You’ll love it.”

They passed under a pergola covered with thick creeping vines and followed the path around the bend to where an older couple sat on a dimly lit bench. Hard wrinkles lined the hunched woman’s face. The man was bald and had a gut that sat atop chicken legs. Their gnarled hands were wrapped tightly together. The woman smiled at Bree and Liam and in a gravelly voice she said, “’Tis a grand evening, isn’t it?” The woman’s happiness showed on her face despite the toll the years had taken on her body.

“It is,” Bree said with a smile.

A little farther on, Bree and Liam reached a cluster of oak trees. Something rustled from above, and Bree looked up. Two flying squirrels glided right over her head and alighted on another oak. Then the squirrels scurried down the trunk head first and ran off.

Liam slipped his arm around Bree and led her down a dirt path that wound through a cluster of bushes and came out on the shore of a lake. Moonlight reflected off the surface and the water rippled in the breeze.

Bree stopped and beheld the beauty. So much water in the middle of nowhere. It was so quiet she could hear herself breathe.

“Not many people come down here,” Liam said. “The bank’s kind of steep and most everyone hangs out on the other side where it’s leveled out. During the day, there are a lot of boats and fishing and stuff, but it gets pretty quiet around here this time of night.” He kicked a few broken sticks out of the way and then tossed some rocks to the side so they could sit.

“So tell me more about the bog body,” Liam said.

“That’s the last thing I want to talk about here.”

Liam nodded. “I used to come here to fish with my da when I was a little kid. But that was a long time ago.”

“Why’d you stop?”

Liam sighed and turned his head away from Bree. “Things changed.”

“How?”

“They just did.”

Bree heard a sadness in his voice and was about to ask Liam about it when he said, “You ever wonder what your life would be like if things were different? If you were born somewhere else or some other time, or had different parents?”

“Sure. Doesn’t everyone?”

“Yeah, I guess.” His voice trailed off.

“Why are you asking?”

“No reason. Just wondering.” Liam reached over and squeezed Bree’s hand while looking out across the lake.

Bree sensed there was something more, and she really wanted to know what he was thinking. But it was hard to talk about things sometimes, even when you wanted to, so she let it go. He’d tell her when he was ready.

She stared straight ahead, afraid to look at Liam.

Afraid of how she’d react if he kissed her.

And afraid of how she’d feel if he didn’t.

A short while later Liam turned to her and, with a gentle touch, pushed a few tendrils of Bree’s hair behind her ear. “Can I kiss you?” he asked.

Bree nodded, unable to find her voice, as everything around her seemed to disappear. All she could see was Liam. His hair, his eyes, his ears, his mouth. He was perfect.

Then he leaned in slowly and pressed his mouth to hers. And she got lost in the heat of his lips.

Ireland Archeology Institute, Largheal, Ireland

“Don’t we have to freeze the body or put it in some chemicals or something?” Bree and her dad stood next to the bog body, which lay on the lab table in front of them. Across the room, Conor peered through a microscope. Liam was at the computer workstation entering data.

Her dad gave her a faint smile. “The peat cures the skin, and since the body wasn’t frozen when we found it, there’s no need to do anything special. But if it were already frozen, then we’d have to keep it frozen or the tissue would turn to mush.”

“Oh, right.” Bree grabbed the edge of the lab table and focused on the feel of the cool metal, trying to keep images of a mushy body out of her head.

Her dad’s hand clamped down over hers. “Be careful you don’t touch the body.”

“I’m not even near it.”

“You call three inches away not near something?”

Bree looked down and saw how close her hand was to the peat-crusted hair. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.”

A gentle squeeze from her dad reassured her and then he released his grip. Bree dropped her hand to her side. “So now what?” she said.

“Glove up and help me and Kelsi perform a surface exam. Then we’ll take hair and tissue samples and perform a DNA analysis.”

“When are the forensic specialists arriving?” Kelsi asked as she joined them.

“Tomorrow morning,” Bree’s dad said.

Bree pulled on a pair of disposable lab gloves. “I didn’t realize there was so much to do.”

“It’s not often someone finds a body so old and so well preserved,” Conor said. “And when we get one we want to know everything about it.”

Bree watched him turn a knob on the microscope a fraction of an inch, and then he swiveled around his chair.

“With DNA, radiocarbon dating, and all the other technology we have now,” Conor said with enthusiasm, “we can learn so much more than we could have fifty or twenty or even ten years ago.” His eyes never left the bog body, as if the deceased had asked for an explanation.

Not many people would get excited about looking at a dead body
, Bree thought.
Not even a little bit
. But to Bree it was far from disgusting. She couldn’t wait to see the insides of a man who died so long ago.

“Let’s make a start.” Kelsi flipped a folder closed and pushed off her stool.

“I finished entering everything,” Liam said as he approached. “Can I help?”

Bree’s dad moved to the head. “Bree and I will work our way down. You and Kelsi start at the feet. That way we won’t be in each other’s way.” He nudged Bree and said, “Sometimes the tiniest mark or bend yields the best clues. So if you see anything I don’t mention, let me know.”

Bree nodded and they went to work. When they reached the slashes and the gaping hole in the side of the body, Bree leaned closer, looked through the hole, and spotted a piece of preserved intestine. It wasn’t so bad, not when you really looked at it.

“It’s kind of amazing if you think about it,” her dad said. “Organs surviving after all these years.”

“But you still don’t know what did this to him, do you?” Bree took a closer look at the hole. “The edges are really jagged.”

“My instinct is that it’s from some kind of animal, but—”

“It could be a weapon,” Liam said. He moved next to Bree and examined the wounds. Then he stepped back and looked at her dad. “What do you think, Dr. Sunderland?”