A Merciful Silence (Mercy Kilpatrick #4)(31)

“You okay?” Dr. Peres asked from above, gripping the safety rope, concern on her face.

“Yep.” The word was casual, not revealing that her heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest.

“Need a hand?”

“I’ve got it. Give me a moment.” Her right leg felt as if it’d run a marathon, the muscles useless. She took a deep breath and hauled herself to her feet with pure arm strength and willpower. She crept back up to the safety rope, forcing her right leg to move. She kept a tight grip on the line as she followed Dr. Peres, paying better attention to the placement of her steps. Her leg shook from the strain. No wonder the search for more bones had taken so long. Dr. Peres looked over her shoulder and took in Mercy’s dirty pants and coat.

“That was why we put in the safety line. Sorry about your clothes.”

“I’ve got another outfit in my vehicle.” As always. She never went anywhere without a duffel or backpack stuffed with clothes, food, medical supplies, water purification tablets, and ammunition.

Preparation.

The women worked their way down the hill with no more accidents. At one of the fallen trees, Mercy exhaled as the ground flattened out near the trunk and gingerly placed all her weight on both feet at the same time.

“I’ll get my team out here tomorrow to officially excavate the area,” said Dr. Peres. “I thought you’d like a first look.”

Mercy nodded and crouched beside the downed tree. The pine was easily four feet in diameter and had landed perpendicular to the downhill slope, held in place by the thick trunks of still-standing pines. Beneath one section of the fallen tree, water had washed away the dirt and still trickled downhill unimpeded.

Are there more bones farther down the hill?

She knew a lot of the slope had been explored, but the searchers weren’t done yet.

To the right of the wash under the tree, branches had trapped mud and debris when the flow of the water was heavier. It took Mercy a moment to spot the bones that had caught the eyes of the searchers. Several small white nubs stuck out of the mud. Around one, a searcher had dug a little deeper to reveal that the nub was a bone.

“A femur,” stated Dr. Peres as she pointed to the exposed bone. She pulled out her camera and took several photos of the area before she gently brushed away loose debris. Two more nubs were exposed further. “Bingo,” the anthropologist said under her breath.

Mercy fought back the urge to start randomly digging. It was best left to the experts and their careful processes. She stood back and watched over Dr. Peres’s shoulder as she carefully moved small tree branches and rocks, photographing every step.

“Aha!”

Mercy’s heart sped up. She’d spotted the smooth section of bone at the same time as Dr. Peres. The anthropologist gently removed the packed soil around the bone. A minute later she had a skull in her hand. No mandible. Its front teeth had been shattered, and Dr. Peres clucked her tongue in sympathy as she brushed mud from the bone.

“Male. Adult,” Dr. Peres stated. “Caucasian.”

“Possibly the Hartlage father or brother-in-law,” said Mercy. “Whichever we don’t already have.”

“Possibly,” the doctor repeated.

“We still need the dental records for the adults.” Frustration filled Mercy. I have to assume one or more of the Hartlage adults could be alive. “DNA testing will take a long time.”

Dr. Peres did some more superficial digging, unwilling to disturb most of the site. No more skulls.

In her gut Mercy believed this was the Hartlage family, but she didn’t have proof outside of the children’s dental records.

How does the Asian skull fit in the picture?

Possibly this was a dumping site for multiple murders. The Hartlage family might be only a few of many deaths.

Mercy had run a search for a missing adult Asian male within the state of Oregon. From the last thirty years, two relevant cases were still unsolved. The men had been in their sixties and seventies when they vanished. Dr. Harper had examined the dental records in the missing men’s files; they didn’t match the Asian skull’s dentition.

“I’ll take this skull with me and clean it up tonight,” said Dr. Peres. She surveyed the ground near the fallen tree. “I wonder if they’ll find more skulls tomorrow?”

That was Mercy’s question too.



Mercy limped up the stairs to her apartment.

Driving home had almost been too much for her leg. Continuously pressing the gas pedal had taken an amazing amount of concentration. Now she just wanted Advil, a hot shower, and her bed.

Thank goodness there is a bench in the shower.

She pushed open the apartment door and was greeted by a screech from Kaylie. “Don’t let her out!”

A low white flash shot from the kitchen and Mercy slammed the door behind her. The cat slid to a halt, meowed, and wound herself between Mercy’s legs, her tail wrapping around Mercy’s calf. The cat didn’t appear to resent that her escape route had been cut off. Mercy bent over to pet her and was rewarded with a throaty purr.

“I swear she’s smiling,” said Kaylie, who had appeared from the kitchen. “I think she likes you more than me.”

“I was the first person she’d seen in a long time.”

“She needs a name.”