The Crying Season (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Nope.” He scanned the area where he had last seen Wolfe but nothing moved. “Orders, ma’am?”

“Move out with caution. I’ll watch your back.”

Kane turned to look at her. “Roger that. Keep Duke with you; he’ll make too much noise.”

He slid between the close-growing trees using the shadows as cover and moved to Wolfe’s last location. To his relief he heard voices and rounded a clump of bushes to see three men crouched down and examining the ground. Two he recognized as Wolfe and Webber but not the third. “Wolfe, are we clear to enter the area?”

“Yeah.” Wolfe stood and his mouth quirked up at the corners. “Sorry, man, I should have shouted out but Atohi found something and I was engrossed.”

Kane turned to look back in Jenna’s direction and called out, “Clear.”

He took in a tall, lean man with black hair flowing past his shoulders. The man, a Native American, walked toward him, his brown intelligent eyes dancing with amusement. He was about thirty, wearing a thick hunting jacket, plaid shirt, and jeans.

“You must be Dave Kane? Atohi Blackhawk.” He held out his hand. “Man, you came in here without a sound. I’m impressed.”

Kane shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. Have we met before?”

“Ah, no. Shane dropped by the res to ask about sacred burial sites close to the boundaries. He mentioned you moved like a ghost. I’m a tracker so I came back here with him to check out the skull in case it was one of ours. I had a poke around and found a few interesting items close by.” Blackhawk smiled. “I’m happy to help out when needed.”

“We’ll be glad of any help you can offer.” Kane heard footsteps and turned at Jenna’s arrival. “Ah, Atohi Blackhawk, Sheriff Jenna Alton.” He waved a hand toward the other deputies. “Jake Rowley and Paula Bradford.”

“Nice to see you again, Atohi. What did you find?” Jenna moved to his side.

“A cellphone and more bones.” Blackhawk frowned. “I’d say the animals got to the body—they are spread all over. We only found a few of them.”

“I see.” Jenna wrinkled her nose. “What do we have, Wolfe?”

“From the size of the pelvis, a female; from the teeth, she was in her late teens, early twenties.” Wolfe’s fair brows narrowed. “I would say the bullet wound in her skull is the cause of death but I’ve found what is consistent with knife wounds across two of the bones we found. I need to take a closer look to determine if this happened post-mortem or not.” He rubbed his chin. “The cellphone is toast. The screen is broken and it’s soaking wet. I doubt I’ll be able to pull anything from it at all.”

“We found a body on the way here; well, Duke found a skeleton. From the clothes and size, I would say it is male. It is pinned to a tree by an arrow through the forehead.” Jenna rested both hands on her hips. “Then Duke found a couple of backpacks. We have ID and Kane figures they must have a camp close by—they only had one day’s supplies with them.”

Kane called the dog to his side. “Duke is becoming an asset. We would have missed the skeleton; he is some ways off the main trail.” He glanced at Wolfe. “If the skull belongs to the woman he was travelling with, then I’d say he was killed first. She dropped the backpacks and ran for her life and the killer caught her here.” He turned to Blackhawk. “Where did you find the cellphone?”

“About twenty feet in that direction.” Blackhawk pointed toward the mountain. “It was close to a boulder at the foot of the mountain. Don’t worry, I didn’t touch anything. Wolfe took photographs and bagged the items. I found a button as well.”

“I think she tried to wedge herself behind the boulder, she probably dropped her phone and smashed it.” Wolfe’s expression was grim. “Any signs of torture on the male victim?”

“I’m not sure, there’s not much left and what is there is held together by clothes.” Jenna pushed a strand of hair behind one ear. “Apart from the missing hands, it appears to be intact.” She glanced at Wolfe. “Why are their hands missing?”

“Small bones are difficult to find; they are easily carried off by birds or rodents.” Wolfe shrugged. “Finding them in a forest this size would be near impossible.”

“I’m wondering why the male victim’s bones haven’t been scattered by animals.” Kane let out a long sigh. “I would say he was shot as well; his shirt looks like there are bullet holes in the material.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions.” Wolfe frowned. “Decomposition causes stains of all descriptions on clothes, but being untouched by animals is unusual.”

“The only thing I can think of that keeps animals away is gasoline.” Blackhawk’s eyebrows drew together. “Maybe the killer planned on burning the body then thought better of it.”

“Yeah, if he started a wildfire up here, he wouldn’t be able to outrun it.” Kane stared into the thick, dry undergrowth. “I can’t imagine anyone would be stupid enough to even contemplate such a thing.”

“I can test what remains of his clothes for residue.” Wolfe lifted his chin. “If he is covered with gas, our killer might have used it to ward off animals. He might have liked to visit his victim. Many of them get a thrill out of watching a corpse decay.”

“How disgusting.” Jenna grimaced. “Although, I guess I shouldn’t say that as it’s a crucial part of your job. Kane’s told me all about the forensic body farm you visited.”

“I wouldn’t make a very good ME if I couldn’t identify the different stages of decomposition.” Wolfe looked abashed. “I happen to find the different variants, including insect infestation, animal intervention, and the effects of temperature, extremely interesting.”

“Just the image I need before lunch.” Jenna’s stomach clenched. “How much longer do you need here? We’ll need to get to the other crime scene ASAP.”

“I’m done.” Wolfe turned to Webber. “Collect up the equipment and get it packed away on the horses.” He glanced at Jenna. “Unless you want to see where we found the skull and other bones?”