Page 26 of Solid as Steele
“A woman’s likely been murdered. I have to be.”
Mackenzie got out her phone, but wasn’t surprised when the screen displayed zero bars. She’d checked her phone as they’d hiked and hadn’t gotten any bars since early yesterday morning. “No signal.”
“Maybe Ryan carries a SAT phone.”
“Yeah, I bet he does.” She scrambled back around the rock and tried to let go of the image of the skeletal remains held in some sort of large bag that had been ripped open at the top to reveal the remains. The woman was wearing a dusty pink sweatshirt and matching pants that looked like they were designed for hiking. Her ankles were tied with thick rope, and she wore hiking boots. She’d been murdered. Had to be with the rope around her ankles and the bag holding her body.
Mackenzie took a long breath and let it out. “Looks like the bag kept the skeleton intact.”
“Yeah.”
“Which would maybe help confirm that she’d skeletonized in water where predators didn’t carry bones away.”
“Makes sense.”
She didn’t like his short answers, but he was likely trying to process too. “Do you remember seeing her before?”
He tilted his head. “I keep trying, but nothing is coming back.”
“I’ll continue to pray that it does.” And she would pray for much more. Like he hadn’t killed this woman and come back to move the body and been discovered by the UTV driver.
They needed answers even more now. And she had to consider that Owen actually remembered and was lying to her. She didn’t think so, but the former law enforcement officer in her told her not to lose sight of that.
She started for the campsite. “If Ryan can get a call through, I want to get ahold of Dr. Kelsey Dunbar too. She’s a forensic anthropologist at the Veritas Center in Portland.”
“The name seems familiar.”
“The Center is a private lab devoted to forensic testing for law enforcement agencies, and they’re world renowned for their facility and skills.” Mackenzie looked at Owen. “If you’re an officer, you might’ve worked with them.”
“Maybe.”
“Anyway, due to the status of the remains, the sheriff will likely turn this investigation over to OSP, and they’d have to call in a state anthropologist. I might as well see if they’ll agree to let Kelsey recover the remains instead.”
Mackenzie paused to make strong eye contact and rest her hand on his arm, hopefully telling him that she was on his side. “You want answers, and she’s the best. On the cutting edge of research and data. If a lead can be found in those remains, she’ll find it. And I’ll ask her to bring Sierra Rice with her too. She’s their trace evidence expert.”
He frowned. “It’s going to take them time to get here.”
“Not to worry. They’re driven to help. If they agree to take the investigation, they’ll drive through the night to be here at first light.”
He offered her a tight smile. “Then let’s get back to Ryan and hope he has that phone.”
Owen paced the campsite. He was at once uncomfortable and comfortable with the sheriff department’s presence. Two young deputies—one thin and wiry, the other tall and stocky—raced onto the scene, their lights and sirens blaring when there was no one in need of warning.
Ryan had given them coordinates and asked them to approach the campsite from the south to not disturb the tire tracks. They complied. Both deputies stomped around the end of the butte and came back looking pale. They shared their story with Sheriff Wheeler when he arrived on scene.
The guy looked to be in his mid-fifties, short. Squat, but powerful. His men wore black uniforms, but he was dressed in a long-sleeved green shirt, dark jeans, and had a holster and badge clipped to his belt that sported a large gold buckle under a burgeoning belly. He marched with purpose behind the deputy he called Dahl toward the creek and disappeared behind the rocks.
Owen looked at Ryan and Mackenzie. “Either one of you know anything about the sheriff?”
“Not me,” Ryan said.
“All I remember is that he unseated a long-term sheriff by a landslide when he was elected,” Mackenzie said.
Owen nodded. “Popular guy.”
“I think it was more that there was a question about the prior sheriff’s business dealings.”
Wheeler came back around the corner and stomped toward them. His ruddy complexion remained intact. No loss of blood in his face at the sight he’d witnessed but his jaw was clamped closed as he took long steps, kicking up dust with each one.
