Page 84 of Lost Cause
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Kelsey said.
Abby gave Kelsey’s arm a gentle squeeze. “I’m so thankful you and your team are here.”
Kelsey beamed. “Glad to help. I’ll have Ainslie send the photos of the belt buckle to your email right away.”
“Thank you,” Abby said. “Any idea how long it will take you to complete recovering these remains?”
“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Shawn should have them ready for transport in less than two hours, and I can probably finish the property search in the same amount of time. Gathering the evidence will take longer. In fact, since I won’t be working the recovery, there’ll be room for Sam to work alongside Shawn right now and may reduce the time she’ll need after we’ve departed.”
“I’ll send her right out,” Abby said. “Is there anything else I can help with?”
“If it isn’t inconvenient, it would be great if you could provide lunch for us. I hate to waste time traveling somewhere to get food, but I want to make sure my team is fed.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Burke said.
Now that was a surprise. Abby would never expect him to offer to get their lunches.
“Thank you,” Kelsey said. “And you don’t need to be concerned about any food allergies, but in general, we prefer to eat light at lunch.”
“Understood,” Burke said. “Anything else we can do for you?”
“Not that I can think of right now,” Kelsey said. “But as we get further into the dig, we’ll likely come across something we need your help with, so it would be great if I can reach you by text or phone at all times.”
“We’ll be available,” Abby said. “Now we’ll take off and let you get back to work.”
Kelsey stepped over to talk to Shawn, and Abby and Burke took long strides to the path.
Abby looked up at Burke. “This certainly changes everything.”
“You can say that again,” Burke said. “Big question is whose remains did we find? Only one male we know of who spent much time here. The gardener. I don’t mean to stereotype, but Hispanic males are typically not six feet tall, and he probably wouldn’t have had money to spend on expensive clothing items, so I doubt it’s Juan.”
“I would agree, but we can’t rule him out yet. If Victor can’t identify the belt buckle, we can ask him about Juan’s height.”
“Only other guy we know of who hasn’t been seen in a while and that’s Victor’s brother.”
“You think it’s him?”
Burke shrugged. “The detective Victor hired didn’t actually see him so it’s possible.”
“Possible, but a long shot.” She got out her phone and woke it up. “I’m texting Hayden to look into Vincent to see if he can locate the guy.” She fired off a quick text, then looked back at Burke.
“Something else we need to consider.” He ran a hand over his hair. “These remains might not be related to the crown theft at all.”
“Let’s hope Victor can shed some light on the victim’s identity so we know what to make of this murder.” Abby was already dreading having to tell the older man a body was found on his property. Not because she didn’t want to question him, but she didn’t know how he would react. At first, he would be thankful they hadn’t found Estelle, but then what?
Maybe Victor wouldn’t be surprised at all. Maybe he’d killed a man, his brother even, and buried him by the cliff. If so, he wouldn’t readily admit it, and they had a challenge in front of them to identify this victim. Hopefully Sam would locate additional evidence in the grave to help.
They picked their way through the overgrown path to the mansion and found Sam in the library on her knees in front ofthe fireplace. She was dusting the lid to the hidden storage space with a fingerprint brush. Her hand stilled, and she looked at them. “Did Kelsey find any remains?”
Abby nodded. “But not what we expected. She located a male who appears to have been buried since the eighties.”
Sam’s eyes widened. “Oh wow. Any thoughts on who it might be?”
“We’re considering a couple of guys, but nothing definite enough to mention,” Abby said. “That’s why I’m here. Kelsey said you can begin recovering evidence from the grave. We’re hoping you can locate something to identify this guy.”
“As soon as my assistant finishes dusting the exit doors, she can take over here. Then I’ll get right on it.” Sam picked up a large roll of clear tape and ripped off a three-inch piece.
“I’d like you to start by collecting the victim’s belt buckle,” Burke said. “We want to show it to Victor. Hopefully he knows who owned it.”
