“Remember that bus wreck about, what, twelve years ago now? All those old people were burned to hell. What was it Warchovski called them?”
“Crispy critters,” Logan said. “Ski said that’s what they called the burned bodies back in Vietnam.”
“Yeah, well that’s what we got here.”
“A hundred years from now, when people read about this case and what we’re about to do, do you think people will be amazed or appalled?” Liam asked.
Logan grunted. “A little bit of both, I imagine.”
“Yeah,” his brother agreed.
“I suppose I need to get started.”
Logan squatted down at the first corpse, said a silent prayer, and then started. He made a Y-incision on its torso. It was dirty work, and the smell was horrendous, but it did not deter the burly man. He took the pair of pruning shears from his brother’s outreached hand but paused.
“You know, I think I need to start down below, make sure these are women and not men.”
“Understandable, brother. I hope you remember the difference between a uterus and gonads.”
Logan’s reply was a grunt. He worked his knife in the groin area and confirmed the first corpse was indeed female. He said as much to his brother.
Liam paused in taking photos to notate this in a small pad as his brother continued working. He stopped a couple of times to add fresh wood to the fire, but that was the only noise he made. He knew his brother hated distractions and preferred it quiet when he was working on something important.
It took a little over four hours. Logan was not a doctor, nor had he performed an autopsy back in his previous life, but he’d watched plenty and he had studied the subject extensively.
It was easy to determine the most likely cause of death in two of them. Multiple bullets were found in them, including a spent projectile in the heads.
The third corpse was interesting though. As much as Logan cut and dissected, he could find no projectiles. After much effort, he was able to find a deep serration to the hyoid bone.
The fourth and final corpse was interesting. There were also no projectiles found. The burning of the tissue limited his observations of any injuries to the skin, but he did find gouges in two ribs.
After he was satisfied that he’d done all he could, Logan lined up the projectiles on the ground and then cleaned his hands in the snow. Liam handed him a fresh mug of tea when he was finished. Logan nodded his thanks and gestured at the third corpse.
“Those two weren’t shot. It appeared as though one of them was stabbed multiple times and this one may have had her throat cut,” he declared. “Their assailants were able to not only get them to stop their van, but they also got up close and personal with two of them. Oh, and none of them had soot in their lungs. They died before the fire.”
“Interesting,” Liam said, and paused in thought for a moment before speaking. “You know, brother, they’re going to ask us to tell the cause of death. I’m thinking something.”
He peered at his brother quizzically as he warmed his hands by the fire. Liam continued.
“I think we agree the corpse with the gash in her throat is Rochelle, right?”
Logan nodded. “Her physique is similar to Rochelle’s, so I’d agree with that.” He pointed at the second one. “She’s a big gal. That matches the Lillard woman.”
“I’m thinking at least two assailants.”
Logan thought a moment before speaking. “Let’s do something, brother. Let’s tell, or at least imply, that they were all shot to death and not mention the knife wounds. False witnesses and all that.”
Liam thought about it before responding. “We keep a little info to ourselves in case somebody comes forward claiming to have information or witnessed it.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“Good idea, brother. We can’t tell Priss or Grace,” Liam said and then chuckled slightly. “Do you know the only person who comes to mind whom I’d trust with such a secret?”
“Fred McCoy,” Logan instantly said.
“Yes indeed. Isn’t that funny?” Liam asked.
“I’d add Zach to that list of trustworthy people, but he’s gone. Justin would tell his wife, and she’d tell somebody, and they’d tell somebody. Same with everyone else, including our girls.”
“Alright, it’s settled. We’ll omit the true cause of death for these two in our report, for now,” Liam said. His brother nodded in agreement.
They recovered a total of nine projectiles. Liam had them lined up and looked them over.
“All nines,” he observed, meaning nine-millimeter. Currently, the Mount Weather logistics team only reloaded 9mm and 5.56 due to a shortage of materiel.
“Indeed,” Logan said. “That and the stabbing makes one think two things.”
“They knew their assailants,” Liam said. “They had to.”
“Yeah, and Rochelle’s killing seems to indicate the assailant had a personal grudge against her.”
“Zach had a grudge against her,” Liam remarked.
“Yeah, but we happen to know he and his family were miles away when this happened,” Logan said. “Although that’s another one of those things we can’t tell anyone.”
Liam nodded in agreement. There were only a couple of people who knew where Zach was. The fact that the two brothers knew happened entirely by accident when Grace accidentally divulged the information. The two men agreed to keep it to themselves until they otherwise needed to let someone know about it.
“It’s getting dark,” Liam remarked.
“We can make it back, I think. The snow is powdery, and the tires still have plenty of tread on them.”
Liam nodded in agreement. “Let’s hurry up then.”
They gathered up their equipment and packed it back in their vehicle. The only noise heard in the desolate landscape were the sounds of the crunching snow from their footsteps. Liam put out the remains of the fire while Logan scanned the area.
“Still no zeds,” he remarked.
Liam looked around and shrugged his shoulders. He snapped a few more pictures before knocking the snow off his boots and getting in. Logan got in the
