The Wrong Bones (Widow's Island #10)(14)

“Good. Hungry.” Cate took a bite of a cinnamon bun.

“Thanks for helping out tonight,” Logan said.

Cate chewed and swallowed. “You’re welcome. Now go solve your case. People in town are a little freaked out about the box of bones. All kinds of occult and serial killer rumors are floating around town.”

At the front door, Tessa stepped into her boots. “Everyone knows?”

Cate snorted. “Of course everyone knows. I’m surprised it took a whole day for the news to circulate.”

“Great.” Tessa mentally crossed her fingers that people wouldn’t panic.

As she and Logan stepped out the front door, she heard Patience ask Cate if she wanted hot cocoa, and Cate answered, “Of course.”

Grateful for the close-knit community of Widow’s, Tessa slid behind the wheel. “We have two suspects so far—Simon Dooley and Duncan Marshall—although we have no physical evidence tying either to Alyssa’s murder or the attempt to bury her bones.”

In the passenger seat, Logan buckled his seat belt. “If Duncan Marshall is a felon, his prints will be on file.”

“Yes. I emailed the fingerprint examiner to compare the prints from the shovel with his.” Tessa drove toward the cemetery. “But that would only address the burying part. We need to verify where Marshall has spent the past year.”

“What do you think will happen to Chandler?” Logan asked.

“We can only hope he gets to live with his brother.” Tessa couldn’t fix everything, as much as she wanted to.

“Do you think it was him trying to bury the bones in the cemetery?”

“I don’t know.” She tried to picture the running suspect. “Let’s say his father had Alyssa’s bones. Chandler could have stolen them to get even or because he thought what Simon did was wrong. Or taking them could have been what started the fight.”

“It would certainly explain why Chandler ran away.”

“And why he seemed afraid of his father—but why wouldn’t he tell us?” Tessa asked.

“Maybe he doesn’t think we’ll believe him.”

“We heard his dirt bike, but that could have been a coincidence. Our suspect could have continued on foot, which would make someone closer to the cemetery a better fit.”

Logan agreed with a nod. “Like Duncan Marshall.”

“Or whoever is living in the A-frame.”

Tessa’s phone rang. Bruce’s name was displayed on the screen. She answered the call on speakerphone.

Bruce said, “I made some calls about Duncan Marshall. His second-degree manslaughter charge came from a drunken bar fight. He elbowed the other guy in the head and killed him.”

“Did he have priors?” Tessa asked.

“None,” Bruce answered.

“Yet he served the maximum sentence,” Tessa said.

Bruce continued. “He was offered a plea deal but refused. Reading between the lines, it seems the judge wasn’t happy the case went to trial.”

Defendants who agreed to plea bargains were often given lighter sentences than those who exercised their constitutional right to a trial.

“What was his defense strategy?” Tessa asked.

Bruce shuffled papers. “Self-defense. The other guy threw the first punch. But Marshall was a former amateur MMA fighter, and the prosecutor argued he responded to the threat with excess force. His opponent was smaller and unskilled.”

“Sounds suspicious,” Logan said.

Bruce exhaled. “The judge said he should have been able to respond proportionally to the attack, especially since he’d trained for years in a sport that requires discipline. Multiple witnesses testified Duncan got nasty and violent when he was drunk.”

Logan folded his arms. “If he killed one person in a drunken rage, it’s reasonable to suspect him of a second killing.”

“We’ll talk to him this evening,” Tessa agreed. She ended the call with Bruce and turned to Logan. “Let’s talk to Simon Dooley first. Then we’ll head to the cemetery, question Duncan Marshall, and see who’s living in the rental at the end of the road.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Her phone rang again as she started the engine. She answered the call. “Deputy Black.”

A woman said, “This is Detective Kreisler from the Bainbridge PD.”

“Thanks for returning my call. I’m putting you on speaker. Also present is forest ranger Logan Wilde.” Tessa switched the call to Bluetooth. “You’re still handling Alyssa Collins’s missing person case?”

Kreisler hesitated. “Yes.”

“We found skeletal remains of a teenage girl on Widow’s Island.” Tessa described the bone plate and screws attached to the ulna.

“Shit.” Kreisler sighed.

“The bones are with our coroner.” Tessa gave her Henry’s name and number. “If you have medical and dental records, he can officially ID the remains.”

“I can coordinate that.” Kreisler blew out a long breath. “In addition to the bone plate, she had orthodontic work.”

“Yes, the remains had a permanent retainer on the lower front teeth.”

“It’s been nine months. I really didn’t expect to find her alive, but it’s still hard to learn she’s probably dead.” Kreisler paused. “Do you know the cause of death?”