Fear Thy Neighbor (29)
A bone.
Not the kind a dog gnaws on. No bully stick here. If Ali had learned anything from years of beatings and a few broken bones herself, she knew the bone she held in her hand was human. The femur was easily identifiable, as it was the largest bone in the human body.
Her hands shaking, she removed her cell from her purse and dialed 9-1-1.
Chapter Six
It took over an hour for the police to arrive. Ali returned the bone to the hole as she was instructed to do by the 911 operator. Pretty sure this was not normal procedure when one located a bone at a crime scene, she did what she was told, even though she thought it very strange.
Renée arrived a few minutes after she found the bone. Ali asked her to leave, as she didn’t want the young girl to view what she’d dug up.
“It’s that bad?” Renée stated when she arrived to help.
She nodded. “Just stay back, okay?” Ali instructed. “Better yet, go see your mom. Like now,” she added, raising her voice. “You do not need to see this, go!”
The girl nodded, apparently knowing Ali wouldn’t use such forceful words if they weren’t necessary.
Ali stood next to the vile discovery when a Fort Charlotte cruiser’s siren alerted her to the police’s arrival. She watched as the deputy parked on the edge of the road in what should’ve been the entrance to the drive.
He came toward her, giving her a few seconds to size him up. Average height and build, with the beginnings of a potbelly. Probably too many donuts, she thought as she scanned him.
“You the lady that found the bone?” The sheriff’s deputy wore a forest green shirt with a gold star on each sleeve. He also wore mirrored sunglasses and was chewing gum, his thumbs encircling his belt loops on either side. A gold-plated badge read: DEPUTY RICKY SANDERS.
Immediately, she was turned off by him. He reeked of know-it-all-cop, and if one dared to defy him, they would have hell to pay.
“I did.” She refused to say more than needed to him. She knew a forensics team would take charge of the scene, and then she would tell them whatever they needed to know. Ali would bet a hundred bucks this guy was one of the cops Valentina spoke of. He seemed the type who would cover up a crime.
“You got any reason to be on this property?” he asked, his Southern accent heavy.
“Yes,” she said. And if she had to, she could prove it.
He spat out his gum, the pink wad landing near the hole where she found the bone. “Isn’t that contaminating a crime scene?” She’d watched enough television to know this wasn’t standard in any way.
He laughed, then kicked at the dirt to cover up his gum. “You need to answer my question. Now, let’s try again. You got a reason for being on this property?”
Again, she answered, “Yes.”
She could do this all day if that’s what it took for this guy to leave her alone.
Pent up with testosterone, his chest puffed out. “You gonna give me trouble over this, then I’ll have to bring you down to the station.”
“Whatever,” she replied, knowing she wasn’t breaking the law. At least she didn’t think she was. Tomorrow morning, this land would officially belong to her. If need be, she’d call Kimberly and have her draw up the papers today. She’d write a check and be done with the process.
A white van with FORENSICS spelled out in dark green letters on the side parked on the shoulder on Dolphin Drive. The only other way to get to the property was to park in the public lot.
Ali didn’t say anything when three people got out of the van. They wore full body suits with hoods, face masks, booties, and gloves. Each carried a large case, and one had a camera dangling around their neck. As soon as they saw the deputy, they converged on her.
“You the lady who called?” said a man with creepy pale blue eyes, and a recent shave, as Ali could smell an overload of too much Old Spice, a cologne one of her foster dads had used.
“Yes, I am.”
“Good,” said Old Spice. “Are you searching for something on the property?”
Ali thought it very odd they weren’t asking more pertinent questions, such as asking for her identification and all. Maybe this entire force was dirty. The two others from forensics took out equipment, placing numbered signs around the hole where the femur lay like a fallen tree branch. The deputy strung crime scene tape along the perimeter of the drive, while another deputy appeared, dressed in the same forest green shirt. He spoke on a cell phone, his head bobbing up and down, as though the person on the receiving end could see him.
“Ma’am?” Old Spice said.
All she’d wanted was a normal life, a new start, to leave the past behind. Finding a human bone and having deputies scattered all across the property wasn’t exactly her idea of a fresh start, the quiet life the beach promised. “Yes, I’m trying to clear out all of this.” She gestured with both hands, pointing to the vegetation around her. “I’m buying this property. Kimberly Everette showed the house to me. I decided to buy, as it’s a good deal. I wanted to start clearing this land so I could actually use the drive.”
He nodded, wrote something down in a small notebook. Didn’t they use iPads these days? “You have the agent’s info?”
She’d stuffed the card in her jeans pocket instead of returning it to her purse that lay next to the shears. “I do.” Ali handed him the card. He wrote down the information, then returned the card.