Deadly Promises (Tracers #2.5)(80)

Kelsey returned her attention to the form emerging from the dirt. She carefully dusted a humerus with her boar’s hair brush, knowing that any marks left behind by a metal tool could be mistaken later for signs of violence.

“Still no sheriff,” she muttered.

“A deputy’s on his way,” Gage said. “Sattler just called the phone at the dig site.”

Kelsey gritted her teeth. It was late afternoon. She could have used the sheriff’s help this morning.

Gage knelt beside her, respecting the string boundary she’d erected around the grave. He watched her for a moment.

“You all right?” he asked in a low voice.

“Fine.”

“You’re shaking.”

“Adrenaline,” she said. “It always happens to me.”

“Anything I can help with?”

“Not unless you want to be subpoenaed to testify at a murder trial.”

Gage glanced down at the remains as she brushed away another clump of dirt. It was the rope. Seeing this man’s wrists still trapped in their bindings made her feel… not anger, exactly, but a consuming sense of injustice.

Gage put a hand on her shoulder. “You need some water?”

“I just need to concentrate.” She glanced up. His blue eyes were filled with compassion, and she realized she was being brusque.

She sat back on her haunches and sighed. “I’m fine, thank you.”

He leaned over and kissed her. Just a soft brush of his lips against hers.

A few seconds ticked by before she could speak.

“What was that for?”

“I don’t know.” His hand dropped away. “You looked sad.”

For a moment, they stared at each other. Then he stood up, and she realized there was a car coming. She got to her feet and recovered her composure as a sheriff’s cruiser pulled off the road. The deputy parked and got out, then retrieved something from the backseat.

To her acute disappointment, it wasn’t a cadaver dog.

“Dr. Quinn?”

Both Kelsey and Gage turned around to see Aaron trekking across the creek bed. Everything about her field assistant, from his tone of voice to his expression, telegraphed disapproval, and Kelsey knew he’d seen the kiss.

She snapped off her surgical gloves and stuffed them in her pocket. “What is it, Aaron?”

“We’ve got a problem. Dylan is missing.”

“He’s on the escarpment, photographing the petroglyphs.” She looked around for her water bottle. Where had she left it?

“That was after lunch. No one’s seen him since two.”

“Where’s Jeannie?” Gage asked. “Maybe they’re taking a little break at the mine shaft.”

Kelsey looked at Gage, surprised how clued in he was.

“Yes, ask Jeannie,” Kelsey said. “She probably knows.”

“She’s the one who told me he’s missing,” Aaron said. “Apparently they had an argument, and no one’s seen or heard from him in two hours.”

“I have.” This from Rohit, who’d just walked over from the other side of the creek bed. “I saw him back at camp. He asked me to go get a beer with him, said he was knocking off early today.”

“He’s supposed to be working the ossuary,” Aaron complained.

“This is why we have a sign-out sheet.” Kelsey checked her watch, annoyed. It was nearly four and Sattler’s deputy was just now arriving. He trudged toward them with a sour look on his face and a metal detector in his hand.

She turned to Aaron. “See if you can reach him by sat phone. If he’s in town, maybe his cell is working. In the meantime, I’ve got to get these bones out of the ground before nightfall.”

Aaron walked off in a huff, but Kelsey didn’t much care. She didn’t have time to track down truant grad students. The forecast called for rain tonight, which meant the clock was ticking on this excavation.

“If you’re good here—”

“I am,” she told Gage.

“In that case, I’ll help the deputy. Maybe we can locate a shell casing.”

“Start here first.” Kelsey glanced around, looking for any unnatural rock patterns. “I think there’s another grave.”

“You’re saying we’ve got two victims?”

She stared down at the remains protruding from the soil. “At least.”

“How do you know?”

She lifted her gaze to his. “Because this one isn’t missing a femur.”

GAGE STOOD IN Kelsey’s camper and practiced the SEAL art of making himself invisible. He didn’t contribute to the debate. Not because he lacked an opinion, but because no matter what Kelsey and Robles concluded Gage had already decided on a battle plan.

“I don’t see how much more secure it could be,” Kelsey was saying. “We’ve got a sheriff’s deputy patrolling the area and a”—she turned to Gage and seemed to bite her tongue on the word “SEAL”—“an armed law enforcement officer right here in camp.”

Robles nodded. “And their presence is appreciated. But I can no longer overlook the situation. Our dig is located near a dangerous highway. Two fresh graves are ample evidence—”

“Those crimes occurred months ago.” Kelsey turned to the stove and stirred the soup she was making. “And what about the students? Some of them are conducting research for their dissertations. They paid good money to attend this field school, and we haven’t finished what we came here to do.”