“My turn,” Dr. Gail Bergeron said, the click of her heels announcing her rapid approach in the corridor. “From the Meese Park site, I’ve got five skeletons—three men and two women—and not much else.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Mayes said. “Our killer is still on the loose.”
“I need Ms. Powell for a few minutes, fifteen tops. Then you can have her back.”
Staring at piles of bones wasn’t high on my fun list, but I needed a break from the testosterone level in this hallway. “I don’t see why not. I won’t be long. Mayes can check for Jonas sightings while I’m in the morgue.”
Gail nodded, and I followed her down a series of hallways. To his credit, Mayes didn’t protest my abandoning him. Guess the guy knew he was outnumbered.
“Thanks,” I said. “I needed a break from Mister I’m-In-Charge.”
As we walked, Oliver my ghost dog appeared, ranging in front of us, nose to the floor. He raced ahead and darted back to me several times. I was glad of the company. Despite my need to take a break from Mayes, Gail had her own agenda.
“He’s not a bad sort,” Gail said. “All the people here are concerned about Twilla Sue. I checked at the hospital. Her vitals are where they should be, but she isn’t responsive.”
“That’s what I heard as well.”
“Such a shame. I hope she recovers.”
“Any word on the Sandelman case we’d been working? Did you catch that little girl’s killer?” I asked.
“Investigators questioned Knox and Tawny separately. Tawny denied knowing anyone named Pug. Then she started crying and wouldn’t speak again. Knox identified Pug right away. Because the arrest is pending, I can’t release his name. But we’re actively looking for that red car and building a case against Pug. Thanks to you, we may catch this child killer.”
I blushed. “I didn’t contribute much. The hard part will be connecting the dots so that the case is solid in court.”
“We have our best people working on the case.” Gail cleared her throat. “Meanwhile, I’ve got a ginormous puzzle to solve at the Tree of Secrets. My bones are of adults, and we don’t have five missing persons in the area.”
I switched mental gears to her tree case. I remembered hearing two bodies were found beneath stout roots. “Could this be an older, unmarked graveyard?”
“If so, there’s no record of it. Someone used that park as a graveyard, but who? And why? All I have are the bones to give us answers, and a few scraps of fabric. The material is a modern blend of cotton and polyester.”
“What about cause of death?”
“Nothing obvious. The skulls are intact. No sign of bullet holes or trauma in the skeletons. Don’t know if they had soft tissue damage as it’s long gone.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Nothing’s quite usual with these bodies. Their teeth, for instance, show less wear and tear than you might expect. Almost no dental work either.”
“DNA?”
Gail opened the door and ushered me into the darkened room. The air temperature seemed to drop ten degrees at once. “No luck so far. Bone marrow is our best shot for a DNA profile, but even that’s not yielding any answers.”
“You lack fingerprints, dental work, DNA, and physical ID aids. No wonder you want me to help figure out who these people are.”
Oliver busily sniffed around each of the five gurneys, then he sat down in front of one of them.
Gail pointed to the bones of the nearest victim. “I thought we’d start here and work our way down the line. Fire up your psychic consultant skills and see what you get.”
I made my way to the first batch of bones. Oliver barked loudly from contestant number four. Since I trusted Oliver’s instincts, I went down where he sat and drew back the sheet. Gail had laid out the remains as if they were an intact human. I didn’t like this part of my job very much, but bones were solid links to the dead.
“I thought we’d start at the top with Jane Doe #1 and proceed in an orderly fashion,” Gail said.
“I’m starting here,” I said, pausing to read the name on the ID tag, “with John Doe #2.” I wasn’t about to tell her a ghost dog told me where to start. “Don’t touch me while I’m checking this guy out. If for any reason something goes wrong, call Mayes and my dad.”
“Will do. But I need answers.”
“Don’t we all.” I touched my moldavite necklace and was comforted by its good energy. Gritting my teeth, I took hold of one of John’s arm bones. The transition from living to dead happened as expected with the usual chill and disorientation from tumbling through the veil of life. Odd to think that these sensations were starting to feel routine. All too soon, I was standing in the thin murk of the Other Side.
Oliver leaned against my leg, and I reached down to pet him. “Good boy. Now why are we here? Why did you want me to start with this guy?”
The faint sound of music drifted my way. This was what we in the investigation business called a clue. I followed it and found a glade of trees and a meadow. A man sat in a chair beside a large musical instrument, a cello by the look of it. Melancholy music poured out of him in a way that made my heart ache.
As his song drew to a close, the man began to weep. “It’s no use,” he said. “I don’t want to go on without her.”
He carefully placed his cello in a case, stood, and stretched. Then he turned and headed down a narrow path, directly to a familiar-looking rock. He clambered aboard, sitting still as a statue. I touched the rock and felt the vibrations of the drumbeats I’d heard earlier while in his position.
The Little People again. They were tangled up in this somehow.
John Doe #2 spoke. “I’m ready.”
“Ready for what? Spending the day on the rock?” Though I’d spoken aloud, he didn’t notice, which often happened during a dreamwalk. I had yet to figure out why at times I could talk to the spirits and at others I was relegated to viewing a scene from their life.
Would I be stuck for hours watching him sit? One minute he was sitting on the rock, the next minute he vanished. I stared at where he wasn’t in disbelief. Was this the Little People’s version of the Rapture?
“Hello?” I called into the void but got no response. I waited a few more minutes, but John Doe #2 was done with me. I gave Oliver another pat and straightened up. Time to go home.
I pictured myself standing in the morgue and braced for the dizzying tumble of my spirit as I passed from the land of the dead to the land of the living. The large wall clock was the first item I focused on. Only five minutes had passed, though it seemed much longer to me. The ambient light seemed extra bright after that dark place, but my eyes adjusted with a few blinks.
“Well?” Gail asked.
“John #2 spent time with the Little People. I heard him playing a cello, but he was very sad. He chose to go sit on a transition rock, a gateway to the Little People’s world. He moved on to live with them.”
“John Doe #2 is a human. Nothing about his remains suggests otherwise.”
“We know time is different over there. No telling how long he stayed with the Little People. Somehow he made it back.” At her look of disbelief, I added, “He came back dead.”
“Tell me more about him.”
“He didn’t speak to me. He was sad about something. A woman. He didn’t want to go on without her.”
“You have a physical description? Height, weight, hair color, age … anything you can remember.”
“He was taller than me. Heavier than Mayes, but not by much. He wore jeans and a flannel shirt. And Hush Puppies boots, looked like. That’s it.” I thought of something else. “I mentioned the cello, right? He placed it in its case before he headed to the rock.”
“Hush Puppies footwear became popular in the 1970s.”
“They’re still around,” I said. “Though you don’t see as many of them.”
“So John Doe #2 could’ve gone missing anytime in the last, say, forty-five years? That’s a lot of records to search.”
“Except, he would’ve gone missing here. And the cello would be a big hint. I wonder if it’s in police evidence somewhere.”
“Why don’t you ask Mayes to help us on that?”
“You heard him. He doesn’t want to spend a second on this case. He’s got the name of a murderer and a dragnet out to catch him.”
The door opened and Mayes strolled in, a scowl riding his angular face. “We have to go. Jonas sighting at the hardware store.”