Faye Kellerman - Bone Box

“Didn’t you live here for a year?”

“Two and a half but who’s counting? Have you personally ever seen me in a windbreaker or a parka?”

“I don’t think I have.”

“That’s because cashmere snags when caught on a tree branch. My idea of hiking is going from the law school to Widener. I repeat. Where is Bogat Trail?”

“Just call up Peter. Tell him I’m in my car at the trailhead. He’ll know where that is. And tell him to call me. I can’t get hold of him and by now, I’ve left so many messages, his voice-mail box is full.”

“He’s in a meeting with Radar and one of the college proctors. There was an altercation at one of the bars last night; punches were thrown and a window was broken. The owner is not happy.”

“The semester just started.”

“Exactly. Just stay put, Rina. I’ll go interrupt him.”

A few minutes later, her husband’s voice cut through the line.

“What in God’s name are you doing at Bogat Trail by yourself ?” he thundered.

Rina paused before she spoke. “I’ve been on this trail alone at least a half-dozen times.”

“Well, you never told me you were there.”

“I’m certain I did but you never cared because I never found any human remains before.”

A pause. “Go home. We’ll talk later.”

“I’m not going home, because you need me to show you the spot. I copied down the coordinates from my compass.”

“Then I should be able to find it myself. Just go home.”

Rina sighed. “Look, sweetie, I know your anger is coming from a place of concern, but it wasn’t my fault I found bones and this call isn’t about me, okay?”

A long pause. “You’re right. You’re sure the remains are human?”

“Unless there are monkeys here, I saw human finger bones.”

“Are you okay?”

“No, but thanks for asking.” Rina felt her throat clog up. “Just get here as soon as you can.”

“I’m leaving now. It’ll take me about twenty minutes.”

“Is Tyler coming with you?”

“Probably.”

“You drive because he hasn’t a clue where Bogat is.”

“I’m sorry, Rina. It must have been awful for you.”

“It was, but I’m breathing normal again.” A pause. “I took pictures.”

“You took pictures? Of the bones?”

“Of the bones and the area around the bones. After the initial shock, I figured I might as well do something useful.”

“Are there people around?”

“No one, but I’m protected. I’m in my car eating a tuna sandwich with the windows slightly open and the doors locked.”

“Close your windows.”

“Not when I’m eating tuna. But stay on the phone with me.”

“Of course. We’re walking out to the car now. Did you happen to see anything else while you were up there?”

“Like a potential murder weapon? No. How’s your day been going? I heard about the trashing of the bar.”

“Stupid kids. Other than that, uneventful.”

“Same here until this.”

“What were you doing up there?”

“Enjoying a beautiful day. I found a magnificent oak and I was hoping to take some pictures of it. Oh well, I’m sure you’ll get lots of pictures of my tree now. I didn’t smell anything putrid, Peter. Whatever was buried rotted a long time ago. How long does it take a body to decompose?”

“If the weather’s warm, it can take weeks. Longer if the ground’s frozen, but it isn’t. Thaw was months ago.”

“So the body’s been there for a while?”

“I don’t know. There haven’t been any recent missing persons reported, but I’ll check the archives; maybe some local girls have gone missing. I’m turning on the car’s ignition. You’re going to Bluetooth. I may be cut off.”

A moment later, the line was reconnected.

“Are you there?”

“Still here,” Rina said.

“Hi, Rina.”

“Hi, Tyler. Thanks for giving Peter the message.”

“No problem. How are you doing?”

“Better than when we first spoke. Are you calling out SID?”

“Mike Radar is assembling a team,” Decker said. “He’ll call in a coroner and depending who’s available and how far away he or she has to come from, we’ll have the whole crew up there in a couple of hours. There’s still a lot of daylight left.”

“I passed a lovely meadow on the way. It was still filled with flowers. I’m sure the trail will be closed for a while. How sad. I mean it’s way sadder for the person buried up there. I’m kind of rambling. I guess I’m still a bit shaken up.”

“I’m shaken up and I’m not even there yet,” McAdams said.

“Said by the man who has been shot twice.”

“That was so last year.”

Rina laughed. “Just stay on the phone with me until you get here.”

It was the second time she said that. She was more shaken than she was letting on. Decker said, “Again, I’m sorry if I was gruff with you. It scared me, thinking of you alone up there, miles from civilization.” When Rina chuckled, Decker said, “What’s the joke?”

“I was just thinking. Despite all those spooky Grimm’s fairy tales, it’s probably still safer in the woods than in so-called civilization.”

The forensic teams were relegated to hand tools and brushes in order to preserve the integrity of the bones. It didn’t take long before the hints of a skeletonized body emerged. Decker spoke to the coroner, a man in his forties from Hamilton Hospital about thirty miles away. His name was Jerome Donner and he mostly dealt with assigning death certificates to natural causes. He wasn’t ideal, but since Greenbury was not near Boston or New York, he was as good as it gets on short notice.

“No soft tissue left so far. There is hair and nails, which can outlast soft tissue by a long stretch.”

“Long dark strands. Female?”

“Can’t tell from the position of the body. I have to wait until I get the bones in the lab.”

The body was curled in a fetal position. An unusual way for a body to be buried, but it did require a smaller grave.

Donner turned to Rina. “You didn’t notice the hand sticking out right away?”

“No. I just stepped back, heard a crunch, looked down, and saw the fingers.” She made a face. “Sorry if I ruined the crime scene.”

Decker put his arm around his wife. “Why are you still here?”

“Because I want to be here.” She stared at the open grave. “Can you age the skeleton?”

“Not easily,” Donner said. “I’ll try once we get it into the morgue. You’ve got the hair. Dead hair, but at least we have a length and a color.”

“Probably a woman,” Decker said.

“Probably.” The coroner looked up. “Aren’t these things usually women?”

Decker’s shrug was noncommittal. He said, “Once all the biological material is removed, we can poke around and see what else we can find.”

“Like a purse with ID?” Donner asked.

“In a perfect world.”

“Paper by itself would disintegrate. Paper in a purse or wallet would take longer. Even if we can’t find ID, maybe we can get bits of clothing.”

“How long do clothes last before disintegrating?” Rina asked.

“If it’s an artificial fiber, it could be a while. If there’s a purse and it’s made from plastic, then we get lucky.”

McAdams came over. “Reception’s really spotty, but I finally did connect to Kevin. He’s going to pull all the missing person cases going back around five years. I told him it could be anyone, although with long hair it’s probably female.”

Decker nodded. “The body could be local or from anywhere. This is prime dumping ground.”

“But she wasn’t dumped, she was buried,” McAdams said. “Someone took the time to dig a deep hole and cover her up.”