“I was already dressed when you messaged me,” Ann Marie said. “SoI went by the motel breakfast buffet. Got coffee and doughnuts.” Looking alittle nervous, she added, “Unless you’d like something different …”
“Great idea,” Riley told her. “We can eat in the car on the way.”
“What’s going on?” Ann Marie asked.
She showed Ann Marie the piece of paper where she had jotted downthe information Sheriff Wightman had given her over the phone.
Riley said, “I don’t know yet, but the sheriff wants us to meethim at this location. Come on, let’s get going.”
Ann Marie’s face erupted into a smile. Riley could see that shewas thrilled to be getting another chance. But she could also tell from theredness around Ann Marie’s eyes that she’d been crying a lot.
Riley felt a pang of sympathy.
The poor kid didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, shethought.
It was small wonder that she was up and ready to go already. She’dprobably given up on trying to sleep. Riley only hoped that the rookie wouldhandle herself better today than she had yesterday.
For both of our sakes.
With Ann Marie still carrying the food tray, they headed towardtheir car. As they crossed the parking lot, Riley’s phone buzzed and she pulledit out of her pocket. She sighed to see that the call was from home. At thisearly hour on a school morning, it was bound to be about some kind of problem.
When she answered, she heard April’s voice.
“Mom, Jilly’s being impossible.”
“What’s the problem?” Riley asked.
“She insists that I also wear a costume when I take hertrick-or-treating tomorrow night.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Riley said.
“Mom, I’m sixteen years old. Yesterday you said that Jillywas too old to go trick-or-treating. I can’t go walking around the neighborhoodin a costume like a kid.”
When they reached the car, Riley tossed the car keys onto thelittle food tray, indicating that Ann Marie should drive. Riley climbed intothe passenger seat and continued the phone conversation.
“I don’t see why not,” Riley said. “You wanted to go to aHalloween party. I’m sure you wanted to wear a costume there.”
“Yeah, but that would be different. I’d be around other kids myage.”
Riley felt her teeth clench.
One more word of this and I’ll get a splitting headache,she thought. Gratefully, she reached for the coffee that Ann Marie had justsettled into the cup holder. She took a sip before she replied.
“Mom,” April’s voice protested, “are you still there?”
“Of course,” Riley snapped. “April, you and your sister have towork this out between yourselves. I just got called in to work, which mightmean that a dead body is about to be dug up. That’ll be the second one sinceyesterday.”
A brief silence fell.
“Oh,” April said sheepishly.
“Now you two girls get ready for school. Gabriela’s surely gotbreakfast ready for you by now.”
“OK,” April said.
Setting up their destination in the vehicle GPS, Ann Marieglanced over at Riley as the call ended.
“Did I hear you say there might be another body?” Ann Marieasked.
“I don’t know,” Riley said. “That’s what we’re on our way to findout.”
The younger agent pulled the car out of the motel parking lot andfollowed the GPS directions through Winneway. On the way they both downed coffeeand doughnuts. By the time they arrived at the location Sheriff Wightman hadspoken of—a parking lot behind Pater High School—Riley felt primed to deal withwhatever they might find there.
The back of the parking lot was already crowded with police vehicles.Several of those vehicles and three cops blocked off part of the parking lot,making sure that nobody came into that area. The guards recognized Riley andAnn Marie and allowed them to pass on through.
More cops were clustered just off of the paved area, near a rowof small trees. From their bright red leaves, Riley realized that they weremaples. But since they were only about four feet or so tall, they couldn’t bevery old.
Two cops were energetically digging into the ground around one ofthe little maples. Several other men stood a few feet away, watching them work.One of those was Sheriff Wightman, who stepped toward Riley and Ann Marie whenhe saw them arrive.
“We got this message this morning,” Wightman said, holding out asheet of paper.
Like the one they’d seen yesterday, this message was made out ofcut-out print letters pasted onto a sheet of paper. It read:
BLOOD RED FROM THE ROOTS
THE SAPLING GROWS NICELYNOW.
ON THE HALLOWED EVE
GOATMAN WILL SING A NEWSONG.
“I don’t know what it means,” Wightman added. “But I sure don’tlike it.”
Riley felt her heart sink. The threat to someone’s life onHalloween, tomorrow night, confirmed what she had been expecting. But a saplingwith blood red roots was a new image and it didn’t bode well for what theymight find here.
Like the other two messages, this one was attached to a map.Riley saw at a glance that the map showed the school and its environs. The rowof trees was clearly visible on the map, and a rectangle was drawn directlyover the tree where the digging was now taking place.
One of the cops looked up from his digging and complained toWightman, “I don’t see how anybody could have buried anything under here. Arewe sure this isn’t like the first time? It’ll be a shame to kill a tree for nogood reason.”
“Just keep digging,” Wightman replied. Then he glanced at Rileyand Ann Marie and shook his head.
“I sure as hell don’t know what to expect,” he grumbled.
Riley understood just what the sheriff meant. Given the prankishnature of the killer, the cops might well be digging up an empty hole, justlike they had a year ago. On the other hand, the words in the message suggestedthat something sinister could be beneath this small red-leafed tree …
BLOOD RED FROM THEROOTS
Another cop started an electric chain saw and began to gnaw awayat some of the exposed roots.
Riley
