Touched by Death (14 page)

"Good. Glad to hear that. But I won't be. Not
unless you call."

"You're an idiot." She smiled, then chuckled.
"But I will do as you ask."

"Good, and remember this idiot loves you."
His voice changed, became more teasing. "Speaking of love, any
men over there making your hormones sing?"

She gasped, caught by surprise at the sudden topic
change. Even though he couldn't see her, she shook her head. "No
one. Don't be an idiot."

Okay, so there was Dane – did he count?

"I'm not convinced. Your voice says something
different. Someone has caught your attention. And I for one couldn't
be happier."

Sighing, she added, "No there isn't, but believe
what you will."

"I will. Don't worry. I will."

She could see his grin in her mind. "Idiot,"
She said affectionately. "I'm going to bed now. Have a good tomorrow."

"I will, just make sure you call me. I'll be
waiting."

"Got it. Now good-bye."

They rang off, leaving her sitting there with a silly
smile on her face.

She really did miss that big teddy bear. He was a
good man.

"Now, that is a lovely smile on your face."
Bruce and Stephen walked into the office. "What are you doing working
at this hour?"

She held up the hotel phone. "I'm not working.
Just calling my brother." She grinned. "Or you could say I'm
doing as he requested and checking in with my brother."

Bruce sat down in the chair beside her. "Oh he's
protective, is he? That's probably a wise thing."

"There're just the two of us, so protective comes
naturally to him." And she missed him.

"What does he do?" Stephen sat down at the
computer next to her.

She stretched her back and rotated her neck. Something
about bending over the tables in the lab had kinked her back. The table
was probably at the wrong height. "He's a counselor for kids at
risk."

Stephen turned to look at her. "Wow. Good for
him. That can't be an easy job."

"No, it isn't. Still he's very good at it."

Bruce added in, "That's no surprise. You're also
very good at what you do."

The compliment, out of the blue, surprised her. "Thanks,"
she said, a squeak of surprise in voice.

He looked taken aback. "You're welcome. It's
true. And what I expect from every team member here." He lifted
a sheaf of papers and walked out after saying goodnight.

Stephen rolled his eyes as Bruce left. "Yeah,
we're all just one big happy family."

H
ead down, Jade shifted the camera lens as she detailed
the story of the next set of bones on her table. She had no idea how
many pictures she'd taken so far. Dr. Mike had been working at the second
table all morning.

Something was wrong. He'd been muttering for hours
as he pored over his worktable. That couldn't be good.

Dr. Mike's face had gone stiff and cold within minutes
of starting on the first of the manacled bodies. Jade had been too concerned
to bother him. He'd tell her soon enough. Ten minutes ago, the two of
them had returned one set of remains to the reefer and brought the next
one out. He never said a word except to ask for her help to make the
switch.

Bending lower, she snapped several more pictures of
the small breastbone, all but pulverized. She moved around, taking as
many pictures as necessary, enjoying the calm silence of the room despite
the job she had to do.

She moved to the far side of the body bag and put
her camera down. Time to move onto the next step. She charted the injuries
as she found them and took out her measuring tape. She didn't think
this boy could have been more than five or six years old. His bones
had a stick-thin look to them.

Her heart ached for him. At least he'd have died quickly.
Not like the last one she'd processed.

The day's work hadn't been too bad; still they had
a long road ahead of them. Susan was helping Bruce at the clinics two
mornings a week. So far only one person had shown up looking for their
loved ones. Matching families to bodies would take time.

Dr. Mike sighed heavily.

Jade straightened, and stretched her arms over her
head. "Problems?" she asked him gently. She glanced yet again
at the open windows. Without a breeze the air hung heavy and hot.

He glanced at her and nodded. "Oh, I think maybe."

She walked over to his table to see what he was working
on. "What is it?"

"She was in the ground longer than the earthquake
victims. Much longer. Possibly even as long as a decade." He pointed
to the skeleton in front of him. "She died from blunt force trauma
to the head."

"Meaning?"

"I don't know. Everyone that we've found in that
mass grave had something in common. Especially their estimated time
of death. All died within a short window and of course we're using the
earthquake to help to determine that time. Then come these other remains."
He shrugged. "All we can do is record the differences. Maybe there
was an earlier grave under the mass grave. The countryside is full of
small cemeteries. It could be a coincidence – not out of the realm
of possibility.

"So one possibility is that these victims were
from an earlier calamity and it was easier to just bury more on top.
We'd been told a cave had collapsed, creating a natural depression.
That cave-in could have been an old grave splitting open instead."

He groaned slightly as he shifted his position. "Another
possibility is the earthquake could have opened another grave somewhere
else and the responders used the mass grave as a place to dispose of
bodies that needed a new home. Again, not something that is necessarily
a crime."

"And if it's all guesswork, then we still don't
have any evidence to bring to the authorities, do we?"

"I can only compile the information and present
it to them. Will they care?" He raised his shoulders in a tired
shrug. "I highly doubt it."

"Have you been able to examine all of the women?
Did they all have the same cause of death?"

Dr. Mike stretched his arms. "These two died
of blunt force trauma to the head." He stood and walked around,
shaking out his arms. "But the first one we found was strangled."

"The first one we found died more recently than
the others, right?" Jade frowned, beyond confused. "So the
chain is similar yet the cause of death is different? Over a ten years
period? I wonder why? Different killers?"

Jade paced the small trailer, trying to find a reasonable
explanation, but the pieces weren't adding up to anything other than
criminal activity. "Of all the things that I keep coming back to,
it was the absolute chaos and panic I saw when I was here right after
the big earthquake. People were left to die, slowly and painfully. The
dead were sometimes cut up in order to move them out of the way. In
other cases, it was easier to kill trapped victims quickly than watch
them die slowly. Chaos ruled. People were also being killed to gain
food and blankets. Brother killed brother – out of compassion and
for sheer survival."

Dr. Mike pulled at his beard in a movement she'd come
to equate with slow, thoughtful thinking. "Except in this case,
there were no missing limbs."

Jade agreed. "I've found enough crushed limbs
to confirm there are plenty in the mix."

"So for a moment, we have a mystery. Not a crime,
but a mystery." He took off his gloves and put them into the garbage
can. "I need a drink of water and some fresh air. There is a little
too much death in here for the moment."

"Are you done? Do you want to move the body back
over to the reefer?"

"No, I'm not quite finished." He motioned
toward her stretcher. "If yours is, can you process this one while
I take a break?"

"I'll need another half an hour at least to finish
this one." Jade stopped, looked at her watch, and frowned. "I
think Meg will be arriving soon with our lunch. Normally we switch at
this time, however if you'd like, I can stay and process yours this
afternoon."

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it. Although,
if Tony finds out..."

Uh oh.
"I thought he left this morning?"

"He and Bruce were going over personnel files."

Jade grimaced.
Great.
She wasn't sure Tony was happy with his decision to
have her here. She understood his reluctance... Initially, she might
have agreed with his decision; not now. Now she had a vested interest
in finishing this job. They'd been here almost three weeks. They could
see the end of the job within three months. She wanted to see it through.

Oddly enough, the more involved in these deaths she
became, the more accepting she was of the loss of her own child.

At least she felt she was. Time did wonders for healing
the pain. And closure here could bring her more closure once she returned
home.

Dane had tapped every idea he could come up with and
still did not have a decent excuse for going home at noon. And then
he drove right past John and Tasha's driveway instead of going home.
He left a trail of dust floating toward John's small house. Dust. Another
thing that was sure to be pissing Tasha off. Not that he could blame
her. For years there'd been minimal traffic on this road. Now there
were several vehicles a day.

Coming here was stupid because Jade had probably left
already. She'd said something about switching off with Meg in the afternoons
now. He parked, surprised to see two SUVs there. He checked his watch,
after 2:00 pm.

She'd be gone.

He strode over to poke his head into the lab.

"Hey Dane," Meg called out cheerfully. "Haven't
seen you in a few days. How have you been?"

"I'm doing all right. Just stopping in to see
how things are doing here. To see if you need the heavy equipment back
again." He hoped not; it was off doing a job on the other side
of town and couldn't get back here any time soon. Peering into the back,
he was surprised to see as many people as there were. Tight quarters.

Meg turned to the back. "Hey Dr. Mike. Dane's
here. Any idea if you need the loader back today or tomorrow?"

Dane walked up the stairs and went in, surprised to
see Jade working down at the far end. "Hi Jade, didn't expect to
see you here."

She lifted her head from whatever she'd been working
on so intently and smiled. "Don't suppose you brought coffee, did
you?"

He laughed. With her hair back in a clip, she looked
like a teenager. "Sorry. If I'd known you'd be here, then I'd have
stopped and picked up some. I thought you'd be at the hotel sipping
your own brew by now."

"Should be," she said cheerfully. "Dr.
Mike asked me to stay and help out."

"Good for me." He smiled broadly.

She flushed charmingly and laughed. "That's nice
of you."

Another of their SUVs drove up. "Looks like Bruce."

Dr. Mike came over to join them at the door. "Oh
no, Tony is with him." He glanced back at the body Jade had been
working on. With his voice lowered almost to a whisper, he asked, "Are
you finished with that one?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Could use another
half hour, maybe even an hour." She waffled as she considered the
work left. "Do you want me to pack it up unfinished or finish it
while Bruce and Tony go to the gravesite?"

He brightened.

Meg suggested, "Let's process it together quickly."

They didn't waste any more time, but raced back to
the end of the trailer and started work.

Dane pursed his lips and watched with interest. He
caught Dr. Mike's look. Dr. Mike grinned and said, "He's the boss.
Thinks things should be going faster and not cost so much."

"Right. That sounds familiar." And it did.
Dane knew many clients that were constantly watching that bottom line
– even to the detriment of a project. He turned to watch the men get
out of the SUV.

Bruce had a weary patience surrounding him, as if
he'd heard everything more times than he wanted to and still didn't
like the end result.

"Hi, Bruce." Dane walked over to see the
men. He figured the women needed some extra time to finish off whatever
they were working on. He smiled at Bruce. "Don't you look a little
on the tired side… Heat getting to you?"

"Just a little. How are things with you, Dane?
Business good?"

"Business will always be good here." With
a casual friendliness, he added, "Just lacking the funding to do
what needs to be done right."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "I hear you on that one."

Tony walked around the SUV to stand beside Bruce.
He held a thick folder, clipboard and pen in his hands.
The moneyman.
Talk about a cliché. Dane could have picked
him out of a crowd. He smiled politely. "Hello, welcome to Haiti."

Bruce introduced them. "This is Tony. Tony, this
is Dane Carver. He helped us in the beginning with the loader."

Tony's face thinned. "Right. Pretty expensive
day rates too."

So
not.
Dane was in business here. He'd pulled the equipment off
another job to give them a start here. He wasn't going to listen to
this crap. Dane smiled grimly. "Feel free to find someone else.
If you can. Equipment is scarce right now."

Bruce interrupted hurriedly. "Sorry, Dane. We
certainly appreciated your help. Tony doesn't understand some of the
costs related to this business."

Tony's glare was hot and lethal. "I've been doing
this job for a long time, thank you," he said stiffly. "Now
maybe, we could start with a look at the gravesite itself. If I could
put that into perspective, I'd understand the need for machinery in
the first place."

"That's a good idea." Honestly, Bruce should
have taken him there on the first day. If Tony had no idea what size
of a grave they were talking about, then of course he didn't understand
the need for heavy equipment. "I'll walk up with you. I want to
check on the progress."