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Although it was a late April morning, fat snowflakes were falling as Gil and Lili drove over the Green Mountains of Vermont. Route 9 had been heavily salted, so there was no accumulation on the road. Gil was curious about Lili’s state of mind, so he thought he’d probe. “Well, our lives are a little more exciting than we expected lately. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse than having a much quieter life, at this stage. What do you think?”
“I was just thinking about that, too. I guess I kind of like acting as a detective or a consultant. It’s more interesting than processing DNA backlogs, even though the DNA results may be more helpful. I really don’t like people spying on me and bugging my house. That really creeps me out. I think it might be fun if we worked together on cases.”
“I’d like that too, and I think we could steer things more in that direction. Are you thinking about retiring altogether?”
Lili thought for a moment and replied, “I guess I am. I’m curious to see how things work out for us, as a couple. I think it’s great right now. What do you think?”
“I think we’re great as a couple! I definitely love you as a best friend, and not just romantically. Maybe we need to think about if we should live together, and where. We were together in Florida for the winter and I really enjoyed that. Except for that minor shooting incident. Up here, you live in Northampton, I live in Saratoga, and I seem to be working a lot around Greenfield.”
“I don’t have a problem living somewhere besides Northampton. But your grand-kids are in Saratoga. I’m a little surprised that you would consider moving away from them.”
“I don’t know. I guess I’d be okay moving away from Saratoga. I’ve lived there for a very long time. I love the grand-kids, but I don’t really babysit for them much. Mike’s mom does that. Maybe I wouldn’t mind living in Greenfield, but I’m not sure. We’ll have to think about it and keep talking. Look, some deer!” Gil slowed down as a doe and fawn crossed the road in front of them.
Lili’s phone beeped a few times, so she looked at it and chuckled. “It’s the Florida girls answering my text message about Martha possibly having witnessed a crime.” She read the responses to Gil.
“She witnessed adultery on General Hospital!” said Beryl.
“During a walk, she saw some kids spray-painting a bridge near her house,” said Ellen.
“She talked about a guy in her neighborhood who doesn’t pick up his dog’s poop,” said Francine.
“Is he good looking?” asked Beryl.
“Oh brother,” said Ellen.
“Who’d want a guy who doesn’t pick up after his dog?” asked Francine.
“At this stage of my life. I’d take just about any guy who can fog a mirror,” said Beryl.
“She told me that somebody she knows cheats at mahjong,” said Deb.
“How do you cheat at mahjong?” asked Francine.
“She explained it to me once, but I don’t remember,” said Deb.
Gil sighed. “I don’t think any of that is fertile ground.”
“But, it makes me happy to hear from those girls again,” said Lili.
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GIL WAS BACK IN GREENFIELD, slowly steering his new robot down through the tunnel opening in the woods on Oak Street. He and Lili were sitting in beach chairs, by a small folding table that held the remote controller. When Karen came to unlock the tunnel hatch, she discovered that the police lock had been removed and a new combination lock installed. Karen cut the lock off with bolt cutters and bagged it as evidence. Gil was taking a while to get set up, so Karen left them to it.
“I made the robot as big as possible so I could install a ground-penetrating radar unit that I bought used on eBay. It also has two arms, one for moving dirt around with a shovel and the other to grab samples. This robot isn’t radio-controlled, though. It has a tether for power and control. That way, I could keep the batteries up here and make the robot lighter.”
“At the State Police, my people were considered the nerds,” said Lili. “But you could definitely out-nerd us all. What are these crescent shapes on the screen telling you?”
“These are probably rocks of various sizes and at different depths. This is what a fish finder screen looks like when it displays fish, unless the fish finder is put in the mode where little fish symbols show up. This down here is a change in density of the soil. Maybe the dirt they used to build up this area many years ago covered the original clay layer. We’re looking for something closer to the surface. Can you explain why Karen is having us search the tunnels when Katrina Ryu already told us that Kevin was just looking for some artifacts?”
“Karen’s hoping we can find the artifacts before back-filling the tunnels so people don’t dig them up again,” said Lili. “It’s a long-shot. Whoa, what’s that big thing near the top?”
“I don’t know. Let’s take a look.” Gil backed up the robot to where the new signal started. He angled the camera so it was looking at the spot in question. Then he took the shoveling arm and clumsily wiped it back and forth to move the surface dirt around. “There’s something. I don’t know what it is.” He moved it with the shovel.
“It’s an ear!” said Lili. They looked at each other. “We’d better stop.”
“I got a shiver up my spine, but somehow it doesn’t gross me out too much since we’re looking at it on a screen.”
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POLICE OFFICERS TAPED off the tunnel entrance areas on both ends. Lili’s co-workers showed up to investigate the crime scene. The city engineer, Rona Polo, determined that the tunnel could not be made safe enough for the crime scene techs to enter, so they decided to haul the body out with the help of Gil’s robot. Gil worked with his robot for over three hours to free the body enough to move it. The only way he could put a strap on the body was to loop it around one shoulder. He used the robot to attach a winch hook to the strap. A police officer used the winch on the bumper of his cruiser to carefully pull the body up toward the tunnel access. When it was close enough, they used a couple of hoes to pull the body up to the manhole. The body belonged to a guy with a reddish-brown beard that none of them recognized. Lili stayed with Gil and the other crime-scene techs while the robot was used to examine the tunnel for evidence in the area where the body had been buried.
Later that afternoon, Karen met with Katrina Ryu and her lawyer. The lawyer’s name was Shaina Klein, from Springfield. Karen knew Shaina as a reasonable and competent criminal defense attorney.
Karen began recording and reminded Katrina of her rights. “Ms. Ryu, have you been inside all of the tunnel structures in Greenfield that you designed and manufactured?”
Ms. Klein nodded to Katrina, and she responded, “Yes.”
“How many tunnels were constructed?”
“There were three main tunnels, but they also had some smaller side tunnels. I don’t remember exactly how many.”
“When was the last time you were in any of these tunnels?”
“Um, last fall, around October, I think. I don’t know the exact day.”
“When was the last time either Kevin Clarion or Evan Melsty had been in these tunnels?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Mr. Clarion and Mr. Melsty ever discuss with you their activities related to the search for artifacts that you previously described to me?”
Ms. Klein gestured for Katrina to stop talking. She said, “Detective Tindall, you’ve been beating around the bush long enough. Please tell us what this line of questioning is all about, before we proceed.”
“Very well. Earlier today, the police were searching one of the tunnels for evidence. A body was discovered.” Katrina’s eyes went wide and she looked at her lawyer. Karen showed them a picture of the deceased man, taken after his body was rinsed off at the Crime Lab. “Katrina, do you recognize this man?”
“No. I definitely don’t know that man or anything about a dead body!” A tear ran down her cheek.