Deadly Promises (Tracers #2.5)(71)

“It’s not part of anyone’s dig,” Dylan told her. “You’re the expert, but I’d say this bone looks fresh.”





Three

The sun had dipped below the horizon but the stones lining the creek bed still retained the day’s heat. Kelsey lay flat against them, blinking sweat from her eyes as she positioned her Nikon camera. She heard the police cruiser pull up. She heard the heavy crunch of boots. She took one last shot of the mandible, collected the ruler she’d used for scale, and walked over to greet the sheriff she’d met the other day.

“Word is you found us a jawbone,” Sheriff Sattler said.

“Actually, two of my students found it.” She glanced up at the line of onlookers who had gathered on the edge of the dried creek. Gage wasn’t among them, and Kelsey wondered where he’d disappeared to.

She led Sattler to the bone and he knelt down for a closer look.

“You think it’s one of your Indians?” he asked.

“At a glance, I couldn’t tell you the ethnicity. But it’s definitely modern, not ancient.” She crouched beside him and pointed to the molars. “For one thing, there are the fillings. Also, traces of dried soft tissue, in this case ligaments. The scratches suggest animal activity, probably carrion birds, but it looks like they missed a few spots.”

Sattler stood up now and surveyed the surrounding area. The lawman was tall and bulky, and his thick silver hair contrasted sharply with his leathery brown skin. If not for the badge pinned to his chest, Kelsey would have guessed him for a cattle rancher.

“Just a jawbone, huh? Anything else?”

Kelsey stood, too. “Nothing readily apparent, but of course you’ll have to conduct a thorough search. A cadaver dog would be a huge help. Does the county have a canine unit?”

“Just the drug-sniffing kind.”

“Well, that won’t work for this.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes and glanced around, hoping to see some evidence she’d missed earlier. It was that strange time of day, lightwise. Everything looked flat and gray and a bone would be easy to overlook among all these rocks.

Sattler pulled a toothpick from his breast pocket and popped it in his mouth. He didn’t say anything, so Kelsey continued.

“Given the animal activity, I’d say there’s a good chance the skeleton could be scattered over a wide area.” She paused and waited for a reaction. Nothing.

“Another possibility is that the remains were buried and an animal dug them up. You might find the rest of the skeleton, except for the skull, obviously, in a shallow grave nearby. You could rope off this area and use ground-penetrating radar—”

“Who could?” Sattler asked around the toothpick.

“You. Your deputies. And your medical examiner will want to—”

“Seco County doesn’t have a medical examiner. Not big enough. Our justice of the peace serves as coroner around here.”

“Your JP, then.”

He nodded. “Fella by the name of Sam Niederhauser, ’bout seventy years old. Not much on death investigating.”

Kelsey stared at him, pretty sure she knew where this was going.

“Fact, that shooting we had last week pretty much wore him out.” Sattler plucked the toothpick out and looked her in the eye. “I hear when you’re not digging up old skeletons, you work at that crime lab in San Marcos. The Delphi Center.”

“That’s right. I’m scheduled to go back there in less than a week, in fact.”

“You’re a forensic anthropologist. An expert on bones.” He nodded in the direction of the campsite. “You’re already out here with all your equipment, why don’t you take a crack at it? See what you come up with.”

“I’ve got a field school to run. And I don’t have jurisdiction.”

“I’m giving you jurisdiction. Thing like this, we have to get outside help anyway. You’re here already, I’d just as soon get it from you.”

She gritted her teeth, irritated at being steamrolled yet again today. And the look on Sattler’s face told her he knew he’d won.

Actually, he’d won even before he pitched her. Kelsey had never turned down a request for help, and she wasn’t about to start now, in front of her students. Some of them could be headed for jobs like hers, and the reality was when a call came you went. Police work didn’t always adhere to a convenient schedule. In Kelsey’s experience, it never did.

“We sure appreciate it.” Sattler nodded. “Tomorrow I’ll send out one of my deputies to give you a hand with the search.”

“I’d rather have a cadaver dog.”

He smiled slightly. “I’ll see what I can do.”

IT WAS AFTER dusk when Gage returned from town, and he wasn’t happy to see the sheriff had already left. Speedy investigation. Gage pulled up to the campsite just as Kelsey stepped out of her door, keys in hand.

He parked his truck and climbed out. “Where you headed?”

“Nowhere.”

He walked over to the steps of the camper, and they stood there, staring at each other.

She’d cleaned up while he’d been gone. Her damp hair hung loose around her shoulders, and she wore a snug-fitting black T-shirt and brown cargo pants that hit her mid-calf. Something black and bulky stuck out of her pocket.