My Sister's Grave (Tracy Crosswhite, #1)(16)

“His intent was clear.”

“Roy Calloway has never been subtle.”

“Good thing I don’t work for him.” Rosa smiled, but it quickly waned. “But are you sure you want me to go through this? These are hard enough when they’re anonymous.”

“No, I’m not sure, but I need to know what you found.”

“How much do you want me to tell you?”

“As much as I can stand; I’ll tell you when I can’t.”

Rosa rubbed her hands together before forming a steeple at her chin, like a child preparing to pray. “As you suspected, the killer used a hole created by the root ball. Shovel marks indicate he tried to enlarge the hole but either misjudged the size, got lazy, or ran out of time. The body was positioned with the legs higher than the head and bent at the knees. That’s why the dog uncovered the foot and leg first.”

“I gathered as much.”

“The position of the body in the hole, with bent knees and hunched back, also indicates rigor mortis prior to burial.”

Tracy felt her pulse thicken. “Prior? You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“How much prior to burial?”

“That I can’t be certain. I can make an educated guess.”

“But definitely before burial.”

“That would be my strong opinion.”

“Were you able to determine a cause of death?”

“The skull was fractured in the back, just above the spine. Whether that was the cause of death, I also can’t be certain. It’s just been too long. There were no other bone fractures, Tracy. Nothing to indicate she’d been beaten.”

Rosa was being kind. The lack of fractures was not conclusive evidence a victim had not been beaten or tortured, especially when the remains were so decomposed. “What other personal effects did you find besides the belt buckle?” Tracy knew from experience that any organic materials, such as cotton and wool, would have long since deteriorated but inorganic material, like metals and synthetic fibers, would remain.

Rosa pulled out a small notebook from her jacket and flipped through it. “Metal rivets with ‘LS&CO S.F.’ on them.”

Tracy smiled. “Levi Strauss & Company,” she said. “Sarah was a rebel.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Levi Strauss supports the anti-gun lobbyists. We wore Wrangler or Lee, but Sarah thought they made her butt look big so she wore Levi’s. You had to know her to appreciate her.”

“Let’s see. Seven metal snaps.” Rosa looked up from her notes. “I’m assuming from a long-sleeved shirt. Two were smaller in diameter, I’m thinking for the cuffs.”

Tracy reached into her briefcase at the side of her chair and pulled out a framed photograph, the championship photo of Tracy and Sarah and the third place finisher. “Like this?”

Rosa considered the photograph. “Yeah. Though the buttons are no longer black.”

Sarah had worn long-sleeved shirts made by Scully. She’d worn her white-and-black-embroidered shirt at the competition that day. Tracy took back the picture.

Rosa reconsidered her notes. “Bits and pieces of plastic.”

Tracy’s stomach cramped, but she fought to remain focused. Sarah’s killer had had to bend her body to fit her into the hole. He’d also apparently stuffed her into a common garbage bag.

Rosa hesitated. “You okay?”

Tracy took a deep breath and forced herself to say the words. “A garbage bag?” she asked. The bag could be significant. Calloway claimed Edmund House had confessed to immediately killing Sarah and burying her body. The theory was that House had stumbled upon Sarah walking on the road and attacked her. If so, it would have been more than fortuitous if he’d had a garbage bag in the truck to use.

“I think so.”

“What else?”

“Trace amounts of synthetic fibers.”

“How big?”

“The fibers? Fifty microns.”

“Carpet fibers?”

“Likely.”

“You think her body could have been rolled up in a carpet?”

“No. If that had been the case, I would have expected to find remnants of the carpet, or at least a lot more fibers than we did. These were likely fibers that she came into contact with, maybe inside a vehicle?”

Edmund House had been living with his uncle, Parker House, and driving one of the many vehicles Parker restored on his property and resold, a red Chevy truck. He’d gutted the cab down to the metal. Carpet fibers in the grave also did not fit with Calloway’s testimony that Edmund House had confessed to raping, strangling, and immediately burying Sarah’s body. “Anything else?”

“Some jewelry.”

Tracy leaned forward. “What specifically?”

“Earrings. And a necklace.”

Her pulse raced. “Describe the earrings?”

“They were jade. Oval-shaped.”

“Teardrops?”

“Yes.”

“And the necklace, sterling silver?”

“Yes.”

Tracy slid the photograph back across the table. “Like this?”

“Exactly like that.”

“Where are they now?”