Page 90 of Found Objects

“That’s incorrect,” Cole told her. “We live here.”

“Okay, I’ll make a note of that in the file.”

“Perfect. Now please tell us whose remains were buried on my uncle’s land.”

Washington looked at Cole with her lovely hazel eyes and took a deep breath. “Apparently, the bones your uncle had on his property are those of your father, Anson Swann, and were disinterred from Holy Oaks Cemetery in Woodside, New York, without authorization.”

“Someone stole my father’s bones and buried them here?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“How did no one notice a grave being dug up?” Cole asked her.

“We’ve been in touch with the cemetery staff, and unfortunately, no one saw anything. The grave itself appeared undisturbed when it was checked on.”

Cole nodded.

“If the bones weren’t currently sitting in the chief medical examiner’s office in Charleston, no one would have believed the bones had been moved. As it stands, once the bones are finished being completely examined, they will be released to you, and you can make arrangements for them to be reinterred. Since your father’s grave is next to your mother’s, I assume you’ll want them to go back to Holy Oaks.”

“I will.”

She looked at Fuentes, who immediately pulled a tablet from the laptop bag on the couch beside her, powered it up, and began to type. Washington then returned her gaze to Cole. “What’s the best email for you so we can pass the information on to the cemetery director?”

Once Cole had given it to her, he asked the question I already knew the answer to. “Why do you think someone dug up my father’s bones, Detective?”

She cleared her throat, then took another sip of her coffee. “At this time, the examination is ongoing. We have a holiday on Thursday, and several staff members are taking Friday off as well, but we expect that all the findings will be concluded and put into a final report by the beginning of next week.”

“You must have some preliminary information and a theory about the crime.”

“We do. We believe that whoever removed the bones wanted the facts of your father’s death to be made public.”

“And what are they?”

“The medical examiner in Charleston concluded that there were several perimortem fractures to the back of your father’s neck and spine. They were made with a lot of force, leaving deep cuts on the bones.”

“So the ME thinks what?”

“She’s not finished with her⁠—”

“But he was murdered.”

After a moment, Washington nodded. “Yes.”

“Which was done by literally stabbing him in the back.”

“That’s correct. She suggested that the attacker used a single weapon; a blade about eight inches long.”

“Why didn’t the first medical examiner state that my father was murdered? The original cause of death was listed as a car accident.”

“Yes. Since it appeared as though your father had died in a car accident, and your uncle didn’t request an autopsy, one wasn’t performed. And that made sense as, according to the records, it was a single-vehicle accident, late at night, in a remote area. There was no reason to question the findings.”

I could feel the anger rising off of Cole, and the way he was clutching my hand, like I was his lifeline, made a lump form in my throat that I knew I wouldn’t be able to speak through.

Cole understood, in that moment, exactly what had happened, and the betrayal was monstrous.

“I won’t lie to you and tell you it’s going to be easy for us to solve a twenty-year-old case, but we’re going to do our very best, and we have a lot of tools at our disposal that weren’t available back then,” Washington stated.

“Thank you,” Cole replied gruffly.