15

The Cave

Boyett Farm

Good Hollow Road, Fayetteville, 3: p.m.

Bent scrubbed a hand over his jaw as he considered the new aspect of this expanding hornet s nest. Each layer seemed to reveal another.

What can you tell me so far? he asked, not entirely sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Will Conover nodded. One more set-four total. Three female, one male. As we ve already discussed, the female vics were arranged in place, arms folded, rocks on top of the bodies. Sheree was the only one with an assortment of personal possessions-a handbag, wallet, and suitcase. The jewelry worn by the other two females is the only personal items left with those remains. He shrugged. The male vic is newer-I m guessing he died three or four years ago, maybe a little less. Still got meat on the bones. Judging by the condition of the back of his skull, he died of head trauma, like the others. No wallet or anything like money or nail clippers, et cetera in his pockets. No cross necklace. But there is a school ring. University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Hope sparked in Bent s chest. Tell me there s a name inscribed.

Not his name, but there is what I m thinking is a nickname. Either that or the guy was berreligious. The inscription reads God .

Bent nodded slowly. God? That s it?

Conover nodded. Yep. I m thinking I can track down the owner of the ring through the manufacturer. They generally keep records. We have the school, the inscription, and a year-which should be the year of graduation.

Give it a shot. Bent surveyed the craggy walls, which right now felt as if they were closing in. Thanks, Conover.

No problem, he said. I m curious as hell about the inscription.

Conover made his way out of the cavern, but Bent stuck around. The folks from TBI wouldn t arrive until tomorrow. Just as well. He needed some time to think. He surveyed the mounds of rocks that had been removed from the two sets of female remains. The misplaced piles made the space a little crowded. Maybe eight feet by ten feet, it was not such a large area. The female victims had been placed on a slightly elevated ledge that time or water or whatever had carved out of the rock wall along one side. They had been easy to see upon entering the hidden cavern. The other victim-the male-had been placed in a corner at the back of the space, with fewer rocks hiding him. He d been tucked into a wide crevice at the base of the cave wall, where it met the floor, making his remains almost unnoticeable.

Each victim was against the rock walls of the area, none in the center of the space. The loose stones that had been placed over the bodies seemed a fairly large number. Bent suspected some had been brought from outside the cave. He had no idea how many-if any-had been inside.

The process of removing all the remains would wait until after the TBI folks had a look. Bent had assigned two deputies to keep the cave secure tonight. Two more tomorrow. He didn t want anything walking out of here.

It wasn t like Lincoln County was crime-free, and it hadn t been that long ago that six people were murdered in a drug retaliation hit. But this was different. These were four sets of remains from two different time periods. Conover estimated that the three females had died within a few years of each other. It was the last find that changed everything. Not only because the victim was male but also because the murder had occurred no more than three to four years ago. Since he had been shoved into a crevice, there was no posing. No cross and chain. The difference, he suspected, meant something about why he was murdered and maybe by whom. Possibly the male vic had learned something about the killer . . . or someone close to the killer, and that knowledge had gotten him murdered. Or maybe he was the one who d killed the three females and someone close to one or all three had levied revenge.

Bent shook his head. Could be a serial killer-the TBI would no doubt see it that way. Either that or there were different perpetrators involved who just happened to use the same dump site.

Not very fucking likely, he muttered. There would be a connection of some sort.

Bent walked back to the access point that separated this space from the primary one the cave s exterior opening entered into. Since the opening was only about two feet tall and three feet wide, he had to low crawl through to the other side. The way the access was hidden behind a boulder, it wasn t readily noticeable when first entering the cave. You had to be looking for it. The big question in Bent s mind was Why not drag Sheree through that small access and hide her with the other two? Her remains were the only ones in this front area of the cave.

Maybe the killer had a specific reason for keeping Sheree separate from the others. Or he just hadn t taken or had the time.

The bigger worry here was the more recent murder. There was a greater likelihood that the killer could still be in the area and active. Someone Bent knew. A neighbor. Even one of his deputies.

Not to mention the equally troubling bad feeling growing in his gut. Vee was not being completely up front with him. He couldn t say for sure that she was lying, but she wasn t telling him everything she believed or knew. Though it had been a long time since the two of them had been involved, and they d been damned young for sure, he knew her eyes . . . knew her voice.

Not to mention he d searched for her on the internet many times over the years. He d watched countless interviews. Kind of dumb, but he hadn t been able to ignore the need. No matter that it had been more than twenty years since they were close, he had watched her and listened to her enough to know something was not quite right.

She was hiding something.

Maybe nothing earth shattering . . . but something relevant.

He made his way through the cave s exterior entrance, which actually wasn t that much larger than the one going into the secondary cavern. Conover and his team were outside in the tent-style temporary processing area they d set up for preparing the remains for movement.

One thing was damned clear, they were going to need a bigger tent.