“And you’re sure Brad wasn’t the one who did it?”
“I’m sure.He was only out of my sight for fifteen minutes.That’s not enough time to have dug that grave, even though it was shallow.”
“I don’t know if I agree with that,” Faith said.“If it was shallow enough that the victim’s hand could have accidentally been grabbed by Brad, then it can’t have been more than a few inches deep.”
“It was two feet deep,” Anna corrected.“Brad believed—as did I—that the arrangement of the bushes here was artificial, indicating a shrine—possibly to a fallen leader—or a memorial to the battle.It was common for Natives in the area to erect memorials at the conclusion of a conflict to remind others that the fighting had concluded, and a resolution reached.Not that such tokens stopped them from fighting again.”
Faith didn’t want to be rude, but now wasn’t the time for a history lesson..“I’ll want to talk to Brad anyway,” she said briskly.“Even if he’s not an accomplice, I want to get his impression of what he saw here.”
“You can talk to me now,” a voice called from behind them.
Faith turned around to see a young man who was just as much of a stunner as Anna was.He was a good fifteen years younger than her, and his boyish face showed it, but his chiseled jaw, blue eyes, and sandy blonde hair would have made anyone attracted to men weak at the knees regardless of their age.His build was athletic and unfairly symmetrical, and Faith wasn’t surprised at all to see Anna color.It looked like the attraction between the two was mutual.
“What are you doing here?”Anna asked him.“I told you to go home.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Brad protested.“I want to work.”
“I appreciate that,” Anna replied, “but I need you at a hundred percent.I don’t think you can be at a hundred percent after witnessing something like that.”
Her tone was perfectly professional.Brad might be a hunk, but he was also her student.Faith respected that.Look, but don't touch.
Unfortunately, Brad had touched a dead person’s arm before he had the chance to look.“How long were you here digging before you discovered the body?”Faith asked him.
"Ten minutes," he said."I already apologized to Dr.Winters.We weren't supposed to be digging here, but I thought if I could find something important here, it might look good on my CV."
“I understand that’s a fairly common occurrence,” Faith said.“How did you figure out that there was a dead man here?”
“I struck something with my shovel and thought it was a body.I mean a Native body.Like an old one.”
“But it was a new body,” Michael inferred.
Brad nodded.He swallowed, and Faith noticed a slight tremble in his knees.Turk trotted to him and pressed his shoulder to the young man’s leg so Brad could stoop down and stroke his fur.Faith wasn’t too suspicious of Brad to begin with, but seeing Turk’s behavior around him eased the slight concern she’d had.
“Yeah, I tossed the shovel and started digging with my trowel.That’s what we use so we don’t damage things.I mean, they still get damaged sometimes, but…” He took a deep breath and gave them a sheepish smile.“Sorry.I’m kind of all over the place right now.”
“That’s all right,” Faith said.“Take your time.”
Anna walked close and laid a hand on his shoulder.Brad immediately calmed.Faith knew it contradicted her earlier opinion, but a part of her hoped the two of them would risk stepping outside of their professional boundaries a little.Maybe she just missed David, but she didn’t think there was anything wrong with seeking a little human connection after a difficult event.
“So I dug until I saw something that looked like bone.I grabbed it and pulled it, and then I saw the hand and realized I was grabbing a fully fleshed arm.The soft stuff wasn't dirt, it was skin."He shivered."I got Dr.Winters, and we called the cops."
“Did you recognize the person buried here?”Faith asked.
He shook his head.“No, I didn’t even know who he was until the police dug him up and got his wallet.”
"And at any time, did you hear or see anything or anyone suspicious?"
Another head shake.“The cops said he was probably killed overnight while we were home.He said that the river doesn’t close during the night, but the lot does, and people almost never come up here.”
“So the killer knew he’d have opportunity,” Faith said.
“He also had to know that we were digging here,” Anna added.“That’s what I don’t understand.It’s almost like he wanted someone to discover the body.”
“You’d be amazed how many killers want exactly that,” Michael said.“They hide their victims, but they do it in a way that makes it easy for people to find them.”
“Yeah.Maybe.”
Anna didn’t seem satisfied with that explanation.Faith wasn’t either.She wasn’t sure exactly what this killer’s intentions were, but something in the back of her mind told her that the killer wasn’t looking to show off.
