It was eerie to Webb how well the instructions in Jake’s letter matched the terrain.
Go directly south from Mile 112. It will take you down a path toward a split rock, the height of a man. Stay left until you get to the stream. Walk upstream to the first fork. Climb the cliff and look for a pile of rocks at the edge overlooking the river below. The necklace is beneath the rocks. Take the necklace to the address on the piece of paper inside this envelope.
It took Webb five minutes to reach the base of the cliff. A few times along the way, he paused, fighting the sensation that he was being followed. He told himself he was paranoid because of how hard he’d worked to leave a false trail.
It took another ten minutes to navigate his way upward, following a twisting, turning path that looked like a game trail.
At the top, the meter-high pile of rocks was obvious. There could be no doubt that it had been stacked by human hands. It was only about 400 meters off the old Canol Road, but with so few people going down the trail, this pile of rock could have remained undiscovered for decades, if not centuries. Only someone who knew it was there would have had a reason to go to it.
The rocks varied from baseball-sized to basketball-sized. Webb began dismantling the pile carefully, not knowing how far down he’d have to go to find the necklace, not knowing if the necklace was in a metal box or something else that could survive the elements. Something had to be there though. Why else would someone go to the trouble of piling the rocks in such a specific place?
After a while he stopped setting the rocks aside with any degree of care. There were just so many of them. He threw them to one side, not even bothering to see where they landed.
Any minute he expected to see a glint of gold or the shape of a box.
Ten minutes later came the moment of discovery. Followed immediately by confusion.
Whatever it was that was gleaming from between a couple of rocks wasn’t a necklace. Not even close.
He pulled away another rock and saw that what he had uncovered was the handle of a knife. Leaving it where it was, he pulled away a few more rocks and saw something that sucked the breath out of him completely.
Ragged bits of faded green cloth covering what looked like bone.
He tossed aside a few more rocks and his fears were confirmed.
The rocks had concealed a human body, its flesh long since consumed by the elements. All that was left was skeletal, partially covered in what was barely recognizable as an army uniform. And the rusted blade of a knife was stuck between the ribs.
This was a burial mound. And judging by the position of the knife, there was no doubt the person had been murdered.
Webb was stunned.
Below the skull, Webb saw what he’d been looking for. Gold chain. Flesh decayed, but gold never tarnished. Attached to the gold chain was a thin heart-shaped ceramic pendant.
Gently, he lifted it over the skull and put it in his front pocket. After a moment, he decided to take the knife as well. He wondered why he was feeling so calm. Maybe because this didn’t seem real. But it was real. And he’d have to report the body to Sylvain.
There was a military dog tag around the bones of the neck too. He took it as gently as he’d taken the pendant. The name on the tag was clearly etched, even though so much time had passed, because a military dog tag was meant to be able to identify the soldier for as long a possible.
Harlowe Gavin.
Gavin.
He knew that name.
But another thought distracted Webb. How could his grandfather and Jake have known about the body? Unless one or both of them had put it there.
Was his grandfather a murderer?
Webb made a quick decision to hide the body again. He’d wrestle later with whether to tell anyone about it.
He began to stack the rocks again, covering the body as quickly as he could. He had just set down the final rock, when he heard a scuffle behind him.
He turned, half expecting to see the grizzly again.
There was a blur of motion, and Webb barely had time to register that someone was swinging the butt of a rifle toward his head.
Then came the flash-bang of impact again, and Webb fell backward onto the pile of rocks.