Chapter 8

8

Colin had met Kelsey and Sierra in the lab and expected them to be sharp and scientific when in the field. He didn’t expect them to be kind and compassionate too, but they were. They stood near a white van they rented after flying in. Both women were tall, but that’s where the similarity ended.

Sierra swung open the back doors, and her stick-straight blond hair that hung down to the middle of her back slid over her shoulder. Equipment in tubs and boxes filled the back of the vehicle.

Kelsey slid a blue storage tub toward the door, and her shoulder-length black curls remained in place. Sierra wore khaki tactical pants and a polo shirt, but Kelsey had on a frilly blouse and black dress slacks along with dress heels. Not the way he expected her or any woman to arrive at a crime scene.

Sierra glanced over her shoulder. “Have you secured our participation with the locals yet?”

“Not yet,” Colin said. “I’ll notify them in a minute.”

Sierra turned and locked gazes, hers intense and curious at the same time. “Mind if I ask what you’re waiting on? It’s been some time since Nick called us.”

He really didn’t want to answer in case she thought he was manipulating them, but she deserved an answer. “We’re hoping if you were on site when they arrived, they’d be more apt to let you do the work.”

“Ah, yes. That’s been tried several times.” She chuckled.

“Successfully?”

“Depended on the officer in charge.”

“I know the sheriff from college,” Dev said. “She’s a real stickler for rules, but she has an open mind too.”

“Let’s hope the open mind takes precedence with us,” Colin said. “I wouldn’t want to have brought you here for nothing.”

“Never for nothing.” Kelsey smiled. “If the temps have cooled enough in the house we could do a cursory look at the scene before they arrive and give you an overview.”

Now that sounded like a plan. “Could you?”

“We’ll do it while you call the locals.” Sierra reached into a storage tote in the van and took out two protective suits. She handed one to Kelsey, who’d removed rubber boots from the bin she’d slid closer to her.

Practicality at last. He had to respect the fact that she liked to dress in a feminine manner. Maybe it was her way of saying she didn’t deal with gruesome things. Either way, she sat on the bumper to slip into the legs of the white suit and put on the clunky boots.

Sierra looked up from pulling on her suit. “Nick said you saw an accelerant trail and suspect arson.”

“We did and do,” Dev said. “Looks like the trail leads from the door to the body.”

Kelsey’s delicate eyebrow raised. “So someone could’ve been trying to hide a homicide by starting a fire.”

“Could be,” Ryan said. “Or the fire was set to kill him.”

“I don’t much like that thought.” Kelsey stood. “I always hope the victim died of another cause and not by flames. To me, dying in a fire is what nightmares are made of.”

“Same,” Colin said as he thought that had to be one of the worst ways to go. Horrific even. “We also located a fortified enclosure that held some sort of large animal. Sierra, might you be able to help us with identifying the animal?”

She slid her arms into the suit. “I can take a look.”

“The enclosure is located on the east side of the house.”

She gave a firm nod and put protective booties over her shoes. “I’ll check out the house first. Then, if time allows, review the enclosure.”

Kelsey handed a pair of disposable gloves to Sierra. “We’ll get to it, but know that this will be cursory, as I said. We can’t move anything to get a better look at something else or alter any evidence.”

“Understood,” Colin said.

“Then we’ll check in when we’re finished.” Sierra slung the strap of a camera around her neck and led the way. Kelsey moved behind her as they strode confidently toward the burned-out shell of a house.

Colin turned to Dev. “You still up for calling this in and taking lead with the locals?”

“Sure thing.” He dug his phone from his cargo pocket. “I’ll start with 911, then ask to be dispatched to Abby or a detective.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Reid said.

Dev nodded, then made the call on speaker and tapped his foot. Colin watched Kelsey and Sierra test the heat of the floor, then stand back. Too hot? Probably.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” the dispatcher asked.

“I’m Devan Graham, a former Clackamas County Deputy,” he said. “I need to report a house fire and death.” His tone was clear, sharp, and filled with confidence as he explained the situation. “The fire is nearly out. Smoking embers. The body visible in the rubble and obviously deceased.”

“Hold on.” The sound of fingers clicking over a computer keypad filled the air. “I have a fire crew on the way, but all of our deputies are dispatched on priority calls. You can expect one in twenty to twenty-five minutes. ”

Murder, if this was murder, was a priority in Colin’s book, but not in terms of saving lives, which dispatch had to consider. This victim was going nowhere, and they couldn’t effect a rescue, so the other calls had to remain top priority.

“We have reason to believe this fire is a case of arson,” Dev said. “And I was hoping you could dispatch me to the sheriff. I know she would like to get a heads-up as soon as possible.”

“I can’t do that, sir.”

“Abby and I are friends from college. Give her my name, and I’m sure she’ll talk to me.”

“Hold on.” The sound of those keys clicking again filled the cool night air. “I’ll connect you to the department.”

The phone rang, sounding through the still of the night. Colin shifted his attention back to Kelsey and Sierra. They’d moved further down the house rubble, but didn’t enter at this location either. Kelsey shone a high-powered flashlight beam on the body, and Sierra used her camera to snap copious pictures. They continued further down the building exterior and followed the same procedure.

“Sheriff Day.” The female voice came over Dev’s speaker. Her tone was deep and sleepy, like she might be off duty and had been woken.

“Hey, Abby,” Dev said. “Dev Graham.”

“Dev! Dispatch said it was you, and you were a former deputy, but I thought you were still with Clackamas County.”

“Nope. Recently hung up my badge to join the team at Shadow Lake Survival.”

“Right, I’ve heard of them. You train all the crazies in Armageddon prepping over there.” She laughed.

He joined her. “Something like that, yeah.”

“And you’re reporting a deceased individual caught in a potential arson fire?”

Dev gave a clear and succinct description of what they’d found minus mentioning Kelsey and Sierra along with what they were doing on scene. Nor did he mention he and the team were here to break and enter—Dev would never be that dumb—but said they were surveilling Kane Tarver.

“Please tell me you haven’t disturbed my scene.” Ah, yes, the territorial tone that Colin had expected.

“Come on, now, Abby.” Dev rolled his eyes. “You know me better than that.”

“That’s why I’m asking. Wouldn’t be unheard of if you went barreling into a fire to try to save someone.”

“No one to save.” Dev frowned. “He was long gone by the time we got here, and before you ask, we did not go into the house at all.”

“Good. Keep it that way.” Her sharp tone said she was used to others following her directives. “But I need you to remain on scene to give me an official statement. See that you don’t touch anything, and I mean anything, while you wait for our arrival.” She let out a long breath.

“Something wrong, Abbs?” Dev asked. “I mean other than someone might’ve been murdered on your watch.”

She groaned. “Way to point that out. But no, that’s not it. A murder investigation is the last thing I need when we’re already short-staffed. Hiring is a nightmare these days. Not many people want to go into the field, and a lot of the good ones are leaving like you did.”

“I’m sorry,” Dev said. “I get it. Clackamas is having the same problem. I felt guilty going.”

“You should.” She let out a long breath. “I didn’t mean that. It’s just with the recent distrust of law enforcement, especially here in the PNW, it’s hard to recruit.”

Dev glanced at Colin but then turned back to the house. “I might be able to help.”

“What? You want a job? ’Cause if you left Clackamas under good terms, I’d hire you on the spot.”

“No, sorry. No job. What I was going to tell you is that we’re working with the Veritas Center staff right now. Have you heard of them?”

“Who in this part of the world hasn’t?” she asked, and thankfully didn’t sound like she had a negative opinion of them, calling them boutique forensics only for the rich as many law enforcement officers did.

“They have a top-notch forensic staff and a forensic anthropologist who could handle the victim for you.”

“Would love that. You don’t know how much.” She let out another almost endless breath of air over the phone. “But they’re way too pricey for my blood.”

“I’m sure we could persuade them to handle the investigation pro bono.”

She didn’t speak for a long, tense moment, and Colin had to wonder what she was thinking. So far she seemed to be accepting Dev and could go along with him, but then, he hadn’t asked her to do anything yet.

“What’s in it for you?” Suspicion lingered in her tone. “You hoping they’ll share their findings so you can locate this Tarver guy?”

“Now that you mention it, that would be great, but I know that’s not going to happen.” Dev sucked in some night air. “They’ll sign a contract with you to provide you the exclusive rights to their results unless you tell them otherwise. They have a reputation to uphold, and they won’t violate that for anyone.”

“So again, I say, what’s in it for you?”

“If Tarver is behind this arson, perhaps your agency’s collaboration with Veritas will find him and bring him to justice. Getting him off the street is all we’re hoping for.” Dev fell silent, but Abby didn’t speak. “I can have them here before you arrive.”

She snorted. “How’s that even possible when they’re out of Portland?”

Here was the tricky part, and Colin held his breath for Dev’s answer.

“Like I said we’ve been working with their people. Give me the go-ahead, and you could have one of the world’s top forensic anthropologists recovering the body tonight and giving you insights right away. This could go a long way with your constituents, who I know want to feel safe in their own county.”

Nice one. Make her think about the people who elect her.

“Fine,” she said decisively. “Make the call, but no one goes into the house before I arrive.”

“Don’t worry. We won’t be sending anyone into the house or go in there ourselves.”

A perfect answer from Dev because they’d already directed someone to enter and would not be asking anyone else to do so. Colin was most proud of his little brother. He was handling the sheriff without lying to her and while getting her to agree to accept help that would solve this murder, if indeed it was one, sooner rather than later. That was, if the sheriff and her team knew what to do with the data they received from the Veritas staff.

“I’m about twenty minutes out,” she said. “Looks like I’ll arrive at about the same time as my deputy, but the fire crew has a head start.”

“We don’t want them busting into the house and destroying evidence, do we?”

“I’ll get on the horn with the chief and tell them to talk to you and stand down until I arrive. I figure they’d comply unless a life is threatened.”

Colin hoped the firefighters didn’t consider a smoldering fire a threat to life, but it might not matter what he said. Sometimes when a first responder was called to a scene and adrenaline took over, it was hard to stand down.

Dev ended his call and shoved his phone into his pocket.

“Great job, man,” Reid said before Colin could. “You handled her like a pro.”

“Thanks.” He wrinkled his brow. “But, honestly, it was all because I know her.”

“No matter the reason, I’ve never been so proud of my little bro.” Colin grabbed his brother and knuckled him on the head.

“And then you had to go and ruin it.” He extricated himself and laughed.

Colin should probably have laid back, but it was hard to stop treating his little brother like anything but his little brother. “We need to get eyes at the road so we know when Abby and her deputy arrive and we can all be waiting here by the van.”

“It’s a good idea, but I assume they’ll run with lights and sirens,” Dev said. “This isn’t a life or death situation, and they could cause an accident by running hot, but their adrenaline over a potential murder could overpower common sense.”

“I have to admit I’d be tempted.” Colin grinned.

“So will Abby, but I doubt she’ll give in,” Dev said. “She was top of all of our criminal justice classes in college, and it took self-restraint to study all the time when there were parties all around her.”

“Then we need eyes on the road more than ever to know when she gets here,” Colin said. “Who wants to head out there?”

Ryan pushed off the side of the van where he’d been leaning. “I’ll do it.”

“I’ll go with my little bro,” Reid said.

Ryan flashed a look at his brother. “Don’t trust me?”

Dev locked gazes with Ryan. “Hey, I get that. We should compare notes.”

Ryan laughed, but Reid planted his feet. “It’s not that at all. I just need something to do instead of standing around.”

“In that case, you’re welcome to join me.” Ryan plugged in his earbud. “I’ll update you the minute I have eyes on them.”

“Thanks.” Colin pushed his earbud in, too, as did the others.

Nick dug out his phone. “Since we’re on pause, I’ll look to see if I can find any hint of Kane on the internet. Maybe he’s already bragging about the fire. Or the victim. Would be like him to claim his superiority in outsmarting us, if that’s what he did.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Colin said. He wanted to give Kelsey and Sierra a moment to take a look at the property and it would be a perfect time to follow up on his earlier conversation with Nick.

Colin joined Nick. “Before, when we were talking, you had mentioned handling the brutality that you see in your work. How do you go on doing it and still sleep at night?”

Nick didn’t answer right away, but a pensive look took hold. “I guess I focus on the ones we put away and on my faith.”

“I tried that. Failed.” Colin bit his lip. “Big time failed. You have a verse or something that helps you?”

“Yeah, sure.” Nick nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I do.”

“Mind sharing it?” Colin took a step closer to listen more carefully.

Nick shoved his phone into his pocket. “Psalm 37:9 - For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. I know that even if we don’t find a particular bad guy or if there are more waiting in the wings, ultimately God will take care of them. I can only do my part and not let the garbage I see every day take over the life that God wants me to live.”

Colin had hoped hearing Nick’s verse would miraculously erase his angst, but it didn’t. “I’ve tried that.”

Nick tilted his head. “You’re likely looking at things from the viewpoint of the victims. We have to do that while investigating, but not after an investigation concludes.”

“Easier said than done.”

“Yeah, man, I get it. Unfortunately, even when a case is closed and the bad actor is behind bars, the anger can remain. The images of their abuse remains too. We’re indignant over the injustice. The harm done to innocents. I turn that lingering anger and disgust into righteous anger instead. You could try that.”

That piqued Colin’s interest. “What’s the difference?”

“Righteous anger recognizes these offenses as against God or His Word. View these crimes as an offense against Him and His to deal with. Not yours. Never yours again. You did your part. Then, trust Him to have it and let go.”

Colin had to admit that was an interesting take. One that might work. “I’ll give it a try because nothing else has worked, and it’s had a hold on me. You don’t know how much I want to let it all go and move on.”

“I do, man. I was there once. Not anymore.” Nick took a deep breath. “It also helped to meet Piper. It’s hard to let those past memories take over when your current life is filled with goodness.”

Brooklyn’s face came to mind. “Yeah, yeah, I can see that too.”

Should he pursue these feelings for her or would he just be using her to help him get over his issues? Could he ever tell if his motives were selfish? Until he could, there was no way he could move forward with her in any way other than boss and employee. Something to table for now as it would all be irrelevant if he couldn’t protect her from Tarver.

“Thanks for the info, man,” Colin said. “I’m going to check in with Kelsey and Sierra to see if they can give us something to go on.”

Colin made his way through the fallen debris. Chunks of charred wood. Thick ash and smoldering items he couldn’t identify.

Kelsey was looking at the camera display screen, the colors lighting up her face, and he caught a flash of sadness in her expression before she glanced at him and controlled it.

“I guess it was too hot to enter the house,” he said.

“Way too hot,” Kelsey replied but had gone back to looking at the camera. “So we took photos instead.”

“Can you forward all of the pics to me before you sign with the sheriff?”

She nodded. “They onboard?”

“Sounds like it, but you might still need to assure them of the privacy of any forensics results you recover.”

“We can do that.” Sierra stepped over to them. “But before then, you should know I can confirm an accelerant trail. Also, if you get close enough, you can smell gasoline, so it was most likely what was used to start the fire.”

Colin liked her straightforward approach. “Then we’re looking at arson for sure.”

“I can’t say for sure.” Sierra pressed her lips together. “Not until I take samples and analyze them, but first blush says yes.”

Kelsey looked up. “The trail runs from the door to the victim as you said.”

Sierra pointed at the enclosure area. “I’ll go look at the enclosure while Kelsey updates you on her findings. I’ll be taking the flashlight.”

Colin nodded.

She took off, swinging the light in front of her, brightening what was now an ominous scene.

Kelsey turned with the camera and held it out. “A close-up of the victim. I feel certain he’s male, but the only other thing I can tell you with certainty is that the fire burned hot. Very hot.”

Colin held back a shudder at the vision forming in his mind and forced himself to ask questions that would bring additional details he knew would gross him out. “How do you know?”

“One of the great perks of working at such a well-respected agency is that we get invited to work on cutting-edge forensic studies.” Her shoulders raised. “In the current study I’m working on, we’ve determined the heat of fires by looking at the bone discoloration patterns.”

“Discoloration patterns?” To him, the body just looked white or grayish, sort of like charcoal ready on the grill.

She nodded. “Bones subject to temperatures below four hundred degrees are typically well preserved, and ones that appear yellow and brown in discoloration indicate temperatures between four to six hundred degrees. Ones exposed up to six hundred fifty degrees are black or smoked in appearance. Up to fifteen hundred degrees and above have a white or calcined appearance.”

Queasiness set into Colin’s stomach. “And the guy in this picture is whiteish.”

“Exactly. Plus, gasoline fires can burn over three thousand degrees.”

He shook his head. “Things that nightmares are made of.”

That sadness Colin had seen earlier flashed for a moment in her expression, then faded. “Agreed. I always hope burned victims have succumbed to some other cause of death before the fire. Usually it’s the smoke inhalation that causes death.”

Colin could no longer hold back his shudder and didn’t need to see additional photos. He handed the camera back to Kelsey and walked with her to the van. Dev leaned against the vehicle, and Nick sat on the bumper looking at his phone.

Colin recapped the information Kelsey and Sierra had shared.

Nick grimaced. “Kane is a true sociopath, and I wouldn’t put it past him to set a fire while the guy was still alive but incapacitated somehow.”

Colin didn’t like hearing that. Especially since this was the guy who wanted to find Brooklyn more than anything.

Sierra hurried across the clearing to them. “You were right. A big cat of some sort was being kept in an enclosure way too small for it. No room for a large cat to exercise or even live well.”

“Why have a pet, then abuse it like that?” Dev asked.

“Maybe it wasn’t a pet,” Sierra said. “He could be into wildlife trafficking.”

Colin blinked at her while he gathered his thoughts. “Wildlife trafficking?”

Nick looked up from his phone. “Trafficking makes more sense than Kane having a pet. He never had pets or even indicated he liked animals, so I can’t see him suddenly deciding to have a pet, much less a large cat. Plus, if there’s money to be made at it, then he would exploit it to the max.”

“Oh, there’s money in it all right.” Sierra frowned. “Twenty billion a year on the black market for illegal wildlife products. That can include the animals of course, but also medicine ingredients, exotic pets, jewelry, and accessories. It’s the fourth largest illegal economy worldwide.”

Wow! “I had no idea.”

“And it’s not just the money.” She ripped off her gloves. “They’re hunting, gathering, and trading endangered species and protected wildlife. That includes plants and animals, either dead or alive. Which is messing with our biodiversity. Currently more than five thousand animal species are threatened with extinction.”

Dev shook his head. “That’s a crazy number.

“I know, right?” She curled her fingers into fists. “But you can’t stop there to get the whole picture. There’s a human toll too. Illegal wildlife trade now includes armed violence, corruption, money laundering, and other forms of organized crime. And up to a hundred rangers a year are killed while trying to protect wildlife from poachers.”

She stopped and tossed her gloves into a disposal bag. “Sorry. I’ll get off my soapbox now. Can you tell I’m passionate about this?”

“Not the first time I’ve seen her on that soapbox,” Nick shook his head.

She punched his arm. Seemed like their team worked much like the Shadow Lake team did with good-natured ribbing.

“What’s being done to stop it?” Colin asked.

“Oh, no, back on that soapbox we go.” Nick chuckled.

Sierra rolled her eyes. “The usual criminal investigations, but wildlife officers are running into problems identifying illegal furs and pelts with enough accuracy to succeed in court. DNA scientists like Emory are working on improving their odds. She’s part of a group specializing in extracting genetic information from proteins that are coded for in DNA. They then compare the amino acid sequences of proteins to work back to DNA sequences.”

“Why not just do the DNA?” Dev asked.

“It isn’t always available, and these proteins are tougher and more abundant than DNA.” Sierra unzipped the top of her suit. “It’s all pretty complicated, but she’s working with the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory to build a database of proteins for the most trafficked species so samples collected in the field can be analyzed.”

“Did you find anything in the kennel she can analyze?” Colin asked. “I didn’t see any real fur, more like hair.”

“I spotted some fur samples in the kennel. Not large, but we don’t need a big sample, and Emory has a good shot at figuring out what type of animal he was keeping.”

“That’s great,” Nick said. “My super team does it again. But how does that help us find Kane?”

Sierra frowned. “First of all, think of him being involved in wildlife trafficking. What if the victim was part of a trafficking ring that he participated in and for some reason Kane needed to kill him? If we find the animal type, we might find the ring that could lead to Kane.”

Nick turned off his phone and darkness replaced the light illuminating his face. “Sounds logical, but there’s something you don’t know about him. He’s never been one to join a group of any kind. He flies solo. So no ring. Just him. He has to be the best. Top dog. No matter who he steps on to get there. Unless that’s changed, which I’ve seen no evidence of.”

Dev studied Nick. “Do you think he would become a group player if it meant big bucks?”

Nick tapped his foot. “Could happen, I suppose. Although I think if he did, he would look for a way to eliminate his affiliation with the others and make those big bucks on his own.”

Sierra perked up. “Then think about this. Organized crime is very much a part of wildlife trafficking. What if he cut in on their business, and they sent the victim to take him out of the picture, but Kane took the guy out instead?”

Nick shot to his feet and ran a hand through his hair. “Could be. Yeah, I could see him doing that, and now he’s on the run. Desperate. Maybe even more willing to hurt Brooklyn. I’ll get some searches set up on the dark web for Kane and any hint of wildlife trafficking.”

Sirens sounded closer.

“Patrol car in sight,” Ryan said over their comms.

“Officers are close,” Colin told Sierra and Kelsey.

Sierra shrugged her shoulders out of her suit. “We’ll get out of our protective gear. Don’t want to look like we’ve been snooping.”

“After that, can you send me the pictures you took?” Colin asked.

“Will do,” Sierra said.

Colin wanted the photos. He really did. He had to search for any leads. But honestly, looking at photos that included the gruesome sight of a man burned beyond any recognition—perhaps on purpose by the man stalking Brooklyn—was the last thing he wanted to do.

The very last thing.