‘You sure you’re OK to do this?’
‘I’ve been in worse places.’ Tom had already started opening a pack of disposable overalls. Gardner didn’t seem convinced, but when he realized I was watching he erased the concern from his face.
‘Then I’ll let you get to it.’
I waited until he’d gone back to the mortuary. ‘He’s right, Tom. It’s going to be uncomfortable in there.’
‘I’ll be fine.’
There was a stubbornness about him that told me I was wasting my time arguing. I zipped myself into the overalls and pulled on gloves and disposable overshoes. When Tom was ready we headed into the woods.
A hush enveloped us, as though the world outside had been abruptly cut off. Pine needles shivered all around, an eerie sound in the graveyard setting, like the whispering of the dead. A thick mat of them lay like coir matting underfoot, pebbled with fallen cones. The clean scent of pine that seeped through my mask was a welcome relief after the squalor of the funeral home.
But it was short-lived. The air was thick and still underneath the pines, untouched by any breeze. Almost immediately I felt myself begin to sweat as we stooped under the low branches and made our way towards the nearest white-clad agents.
‘So what have you found?’ Tom asked, trying to disguise his breathlessness as they made way for us.
It was hard to pick out individuals under the billowing protective gear and masks, but I recognized the big man who answered from the mountain cabin. Lenny? No, Jerry. His face was flushed and beaded with sweat above the mask, his overalls grimy with pine needles and bark.
‘Oh, Lord, this is gonna be a day,’ he panted, straightening. ‘Got a skull and what’s left of a ribcage, plus a few other bones. They’re scattered pretty good, even the bigger ones. There’s a fence further on back there, but it’s too fallen down to stop anything getting in. On four legs or two. And these goddamn trees are a real bitch.’
‘Any clothes?’
‘Nope, but we got something that looks like an old sheet. Body could’ve been wrapped in that.’
Leaving him there, we made our way towards the nearest find. The forest floor was dotted with small flags, like an unkempt putting green, each marking a separate discovery. The one closest to us had been planted by what remained of a pelvis. It lay under a tree, so that we had to bend almost double to reach it, slipping on the frictionless carpet of pine needles. I glanced at Tom, hoping this wasn’t going to be too much for him, but with the mask concealing much of his face it was hard to tell.
The pelvis was so badly chewed it was difficult to say whether it was male or female, but the femur lying next to it gave a better indication. Even though both ends of the big thigh bone were scored and pitted by animal teeth, it was obvious from its length that it was a man’s.
‘Quite a size,’ Tom said, squatting down to examine it. ‘How tall would you say its owner was?’
‘Well over six feet. How tall was Willis Dexter?’
‘Six two.’ Tom smiled behind his mask, obviously thinking the same as me. It was starting to look as if we might have found the man who was supposed to have been buried at Steeple Hill. ‘OK, let’s see what else there is.’
Branches scratched at us, showering us with needles as we pushed through the trees. Tom was showing no obvious signs of discomfort, but it was heavy going. Sweat was running down my face, and I was beginning to cramp from being forced to walk in a permanent crouch. The pine scent was nauseating now, making my skin itch inside the constraining overalls.
The remains of what had once been a sheet lay some distance from the pelvis. Filthy and shredded, it had been marked with a different colour flag to distinguish it from the body parts. Near it, partially camouflaged by fallen pine needles, was a ribcage. A few ants scurried busily over it, foraging for any last vestiges of flesh, but there was little left. The bones had long since been picked clean, and the sternum and several smaller ribs were missing.
‘Looks like this was where the body was dumped,’ Tom commented, as I took photographs. ‘The scattering looks pretty typical. Animals rather than dismemberment, I’d say.’
Nature abhors waste, and a body lying outdoors soon becomes a food source for the local wildlife. Dogs, foxes, birds and rodents— even bears in some parts of the US—will attend the feast, detaching and carrying away whatever they can. But because the bulkier torso is too big for all but the largest scavengers to move, it tends to be eaten in situ. That means the ribcage usually marks the location where the body originally lay.
Tom peered at the end of one of the ribs. He beckoned me closer. ‘See here? Saw marks.’
Like most of the other bones, the rib had been badly gnawed. But parallel lines were still visible among the teeth marks, fine striations running across the bone’s end.
‘Hacksaw blade, by the look of it. The same as you’d get from an autopsy,’ I said. Standard procedure during an autopsy was to cut the ribcage on either side of the sternum, so that it could be removed to give access to the organs underneath. Bone cutters were sometimes used, but an electric saw was often faster.
That would have produced marks just like these.
‘Starting to look more and more like we’ve found Willis Dexter, isn’t it?’ Tom said. He started to push himself to his feet. ‘Male, right height, with autopsy cuts on his ribs. And Dexter’s clothes were burned in the car crash. Without any family to provide more, chances are the body would be left in the sheet it came in from the morgue. Time scale’s about right, too. There’s no moss or lichen on the bones, so they’ve been here less than a year. That seems—’
He gave a sudden gasp and doubled up, clutching at his chest. I pulled off his mask and had to hide my alarm when I saw the waxy pallor of his face.
‘Where are your tablets?’
His mouth was stretched in a grimace. ‘Side pocket…’
I tore open his overalls, berating myself. You should never have let him do this! If he collapsed in here… There was a button-down pocket on the thigh of his chinos. I pulled it open but couldn’t find any tablets.
‘They’re not there.’ I tried to sound calm.
His eyes were screwed shut with pain. His lips had developed a blue tinge. ‘Shirt…’
I patted his shirt pocket and felt a squat hard shape. Thank God! I pulled it out and unscrewed the top, shaking out one of the tiny pills. Tom’s hand trembled as he slipped it under his tongue. Nothing happened for a few moments, then the tightness in his face began to relax.
‘OK?’ I asked. He nodded, too drained to speak. ‘Just take it easy for a minute or two.’
There was a rustle from nearby as Jerry, the big forensic agent, came over. ‘Y’all OK?’
I felt Tom’s hand tighten on my arm before I could answer. ‘Fine. Just need to catch my breath.’
The agent didn’t look fooled, but left us alone. As soon as he’d gone Tom’s shoulders slumped again.
‘Can you walk?’ I asked.
He drew in an unsteady breath. ‘I think so.’
‘Come on, let’s get you out of here.’
‘I’ll manage. You carry on.’
‘I’m not letting you—’
He gripped my arm again. There was a quiet entreaty in his eyes. ‘Please, David.’
I didn’t like the idea of letting him make his way from the woods by himself, but it would only agitate him more if I insisted on going as well. I looked between the pine trunks to the edge of the trees, gauging how far it was.
‘I’ll take it nice and slow,’ he said, guessing what I was thinking. ‘And I promise to rest as soon as I get out.’
‘You need to see a doctor.’
‘I just have.’ He gave a weak smile. ‘Don’t worry. You just finish off here.’
Anxiously, I watched as he picked his way through the woods, moving with the deliberation of an old man. I waited until he’d reached the tree line, vanishing through the close-pressed branches into the daylight before I went over to where Jerry was examining an object on the ground that might or might not have been a piece of bone. He glanced up as I approached.
‘He all right?’
‘Just the heat. You said earlier that you’d found a skull?’ I went on quickly.
He led me to where another small flag had been set at the bottom of a slope. The pale dome of a human cranium sat next to it, half buried among the pine needles. The mandible was missing, and the skull lay upside
