A Merciful Silence (Mercy Kilpatrick #4)(17)

“The other bedroom is similar,” said Bolton. He led her to the last room.

This room was slightly smaller, and the bed was the same size as the last one. It also had a bloodstain on the pillow. Mercy checked the small closet. Adult male clothing. “Another man lived here?” she asked, thinking of the second male skull. “Did you find a wallet?”

“We haven’t found IDs anywhere in the home. No wallets with credit cards or anything. I suspect he took them.”

“He may have wanted to use the credit cards. Jeez. He could have been charging up a storm for months and no one would know.”

“No doubt the cards were frozen once no payments showed up.”

“Good point. But he still had a wide window of opportunity.” Mercy made a mental note to check the Hartlages’ credit reports.

“Think this is related to yesterday’s discovery up on March Mountain?” Bolton asked.

“It’s a good possibility. Same number of victims. Obviously they’ve been gone from this home for a long time.”

“The remains you found were skeletal. How long does that take?”

“Depends on the environment they were left in.” Mercy took a deep breath. “So far there doesn’t appear to be any clothing or even shoes with the bodies we found. Either they were stripped before they were buried in the culvert, or possibly the bones were recently put in there.”

Bolton scowled. “They were dumped somewhere else first and then moved to the culvert?”

“I’m speculating out loud. I know they can test the bones to analyze the soil they were buried in, and then they can analyze the soil and debris in the culvert. I’m curious to find out if they’re the same.”

Bolton stared at her for a long moment. “You don’t think they were in that culvert for very long.”

“We have to consider that as an option. Why hadn’t they already washed away? We had rain last fall and this spring.”

“But I heard the water was flowing around the culvert. Maybe it’s been doing that for months.”

“True. This is just a theory bouncing around in my brain.” She studied the blood on the pillow. “You said there were some family pictures?”

“This way.”

On a small table in the living room were six framed photos. A young girl with dark hair clutching a white-and-tan cat smiled in one. Another frame held a school photo of a teenage girl. The others showed the girls with their parents.

“What’s her name?” Mercy picked up the picture of the young girl. She was missing two top teeth, but her wide smile proved she didn’t care.

“I found some coloring book pages in the pink bedroom with the name Alison signed on them. I haven’t figured out the teenager’s name yet.”

The tiny skull suddenly had a potential name. No longer would Mercy think of it as “the child.” Now it was Alison.

Maybe.

“Dammit.” She set down the picture and looked away. It’d been easier to think about the bones when they were nameless.

“I think we found the murder weapon outside.”

“Saving the most important evidence for last?” Mercy asked.

“I like to make an impact.” Bolton’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.

They went out the front door and around the side of the home. In the tall grass next to the home lay a large hammer. It’d been washed by the rain and probably frozen by the snow over the last few months. Will there be any fingerprints?

“Awfully cocky to leave it behind,” Mercy murmured.

“I took it as a big fuck you,” said Bolton.

“What kind of hammer is it? I’ve never seen a head like that before.” Two-thirds of the head was a solid cylinder shape before it narrowed to a point at one end.

“I don’t know either. I’ve got an evidence team on the way,” Bolton said. “I’m not touching it until then.”

“I want the photos from this scene as soon as possible.”

“Not a problem.”

“Ask your team to look for dental or medical bills. We need the name of their dentist to get copies of their dental X-rays. If they don’t find any paperwork, check with the local dentists and see if any of them had the Hartlage family as patients.”

Bolton nodded as he tapped a notation into his phone.

“Meeeeoooow.”

A white cat with tan patches wound itself around Mercy’s ankles. “Oh my God.” The cat’s blue gaze met hers as it rubbed the side of its face against Mercy’s shin. It’s the cat from the photo. It was skinny but not deathly thin. “How on earth . . .” Shock and pity shot through her.

“The cat must have been living in one of the outbuildings. Catching mice.”

“You poor thing.” Mercy scooped up the cat and it immediately started to purr, pressing its head against Mercy’s hand.

“Looks like you acquired a cat.” Bolton leaned to one side and studied it. “A female cat.”

Mercy stared at Bolton. “Hell no, I didn’t.”

“Why not? I bet your niece would love it.”

True. “My place is too small.”

“Does it allow pets?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m sure you can work it out.” Bolton finally gave a real grin. “Or we can drop her off at a shelter.”