Кей Хупер - Chill Of Fear

A soft knocking at his door caught Quentin's attention, and he said, "I'll do my best. And I'll check in again later."

"We'll be here," Bishop said.

Quentin closed his cell phone and got off the bed to go out into the sitting room and answer the door. He was normally cautious enough to check the security peephole out of habit, but this time as soon as his hand touched the door handle, he knew who was on the other side.

Diana stood there, visibly stiff, both hands working the strap of the tote bag she carried over one shoulder. Her face was pale, and her eyes seemed huge, darkened.

Before Quentin could speak, she did, her voice almost toneless. "Can you come? There's... something I need to show you."

Nate McDaniel scowled as he watched two of his people working cautiously in the heat and glare of the big outdoor lights. "I don't have to be an expert to know that this body has been in the ground a long time," he said. "Years, at least."

"According to the head gardener," Quentin said, "there used to be a lot more topsoil in this area, with only a foot or so of the largest boulder sticking out. That would have been at least ten years ago. By the time the garden extended to include it just a couple of years ago, they decided to use the boulders as part of the scheme and just plant a few hardy flowers."

"Which I suppose at least partly explains why no one knew there was a grave here."

Quentin shrugged. "I honestly don't remember spending any time here over the years. It's too far from the main building and stables to have interested me as a kid. And five years ago, when Bishop and I helped in the search for that little girl, the gardens had already been covered by the staff and your people."

"Yeah. Christ, I wonder what else we've missed."

Quentin shook his head. "How many acres of gardens are there? Twenty? Thirty? Plus the rest of the valley and all the mountain bridle trails. Worse than a needle in a haystack. Maybe if the search dog had been able to work, he'd have found it."

"Maybe."

"In any case, at least it's inside the fence. Protected from predators and scavengers in the mountains. So the bones may tell a forensics expert a lot."

"You mean, other than the two facts we can be pretty damned sure of, that this was a child, and that the cause of death was probably decapitation? I don't have to be an expert to see that, either."

"DNA for identification," Quentin said. "Dental records are often unreliable when it comes to kids. Once the age of the remains is determined, we'll have to get a sample from a family member of every child reported missing in the area within the right time frame."

"Shit." Nate followed that weary curse by adding, "And how did she say she found it?"

Quentin glanced to one side, where Diana sat on a bench made of slabs of granite and watched the work going on a few yards away. She hadn't been willing to return to her cottage except briefly to grab a jacket when he had insisted, and she was still clearly upset, but she had said very little.

"You heard her," he said to the cop. "She was walking out here, leaned against that boulder — and happened to look down. Maybe the storm earlier today or the ones last week washed away enough of the topsoil and gravel to expose what had been buried here. The top of the skull looked different enough from all the rocks to catch her attention. It sure as hell caught mine."

"And then she went to you."

"She knew I was an FBI agent."

Nate shook his head, but more another weary gesture than negation. "This is a hell of a thing. I know you always suspected that at least some of the missing kids on that list of yours had been murdered, but this is the first time we've found anything to support that."

"According to that list of mine, there are three unsolved disappearances of children from this general area in the last twenty years, four if you count a supposed runaway."

"Okay, so maybe you were right to believe something was going on here."

"Maybe?"

"Quentin, we have an undoubted murder twenty-five years ago, the killer never caught. No question about that. And we have this skeleton, which may or may not be identified as one of the missing kids. But—"

"There are other missing kids. Missing adults as well."

"You say. And I'm not saying I don't believe you — it's just that in most of those old cases you've dug up, official reports were never filed. Or if they were, there was every reason to believe the disappearances could be explained in ordinary ways. Estranged parents taking their kids. Runaways. And then there's the mountains; you know as well as I do it's damned easy to get lost up there — and virtually impossible to find somebody who has."

"Yes, I know that. I know there have been wanted fugitives — federal fugitives — who disappeared into these mountains for years despite exhaustive efforts to find them. And some of them were never seen or heard from again. But there's something more, something going on here, at The Lodge."

Nate shook his head again, but said, "Well, after this you may have a better argument to use in persuading the hotel's management that taking a look at their records is in order. But I don't think a judge is going to force them if they say no, especially if we can't connect this child to The Lodge."

"He — or she — was buried here. That's enough of a connection for me."

"Yeah. I had a feeling you were going to say that." Nate sighed as he watched his people work. He zipped his jacket, adding a muttered, "When did it get so cold?"

Quentin could have answered, "Twenty-five years ago." But he didn't, of course. He just waited silently while Nate's people worked to uncover bones buried years in the ground.

Madison knew she wasn't supposed to be in the garden. In any of the gardens, now that the police were here. Her mama sure wouldn't like it, she knew that. But she was too curious to stay away.

And small enough to slip unseen through the gardens until she was within sight of what was happening.

"They found Jeremy," Becca said.

Madison held Angelo close to make sure he didn't start whimpering, and said to her friend, "They're digging up bones."

"Uh-huh. That's Jeremy."

Madison frowned at her. "If he's just bones, how come you know him?"

"He isn't just bones. That's all they see, though. All of them except her." Becca nodded toward the pretty lady sitting on a rock bench off to the side.

"She saw Jeremy when he wasn't just bones?"

"Uh-huh. He wanted them to find him, so he showed her where he was." She nodded as though to herself, adding thoughtfully, "I expect he was ready to leave."

"Leave The Lodge?"

"He's been here a long time."

Madison asked, "Have you been here a long time, Becca?"

"Yeah, I guess." Becca gazed off toward the police officers working in the very bright light, and added wistfully, "It used to be okay, really. Still is, sometimes. But mostly now it's just scary."

"Because of... what you told me? What's coming?"

Becca nodded. "It's been here before. And it keeps coming back."

"Why?"

"Because they don't know how to stop it. They can't stop something they can't see. Something they don't believe in."

"But you believe in it."

"I have to, don't I?"

Madison thought about that, absently hugging her small dog close as she watched the grownups working. Then, slowly, she said, "The lady who saw Jeremy could probably see it. Probably believe it. Don't you think?"

"Maybe. Maybe she could." Becca turned her head and looked back at Madison. "Maybe that's why she's here. But she'll have to hurry."

"Tracing the movements of a kid after years... How lucky would we have to be to find out anything at all about whatever led up to his death?" Nate swore under his breath. "And we're starting cold, with shit for leads."