forearm lightly. “You don’t know how I appreciate this.”
“Madeline.” He stepped to the side, jerking his chin toward the street. “Crime scene van is here.”
Madeline avoided Allison’s eyes, concentrating instead on Tick’s professional mask. “The foundation is sealed all the way down to the concrete apron. There are a couple of really small vents but it looks like the only access is through the panel in the kitchen.”
The arriving crime scene technicians and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents stopped to greet them.
“We’ll walk you through.” Tick signaled for the young deputy who’d arrived also. “Allison, Deputy Farr will stay with you until Tori arrives and then you can get what you need from the house.”
During the hours that followed, as the crime scene unit removed the skeletal remains and made a painstaking record of the area and all possible evidence recovered, Tick surprised her by not only listening attentively to her theories but allowing her to take an active role in the investigation. She’d not expected that from him, certainly not after his statements earlier that day. Some of her tension and apprehension drained away, leaving her focused on the intricate puzzle inherent in the remains and their location.
Once the skeleton, remarkably complete, lay arranged neatly in the body bag, Madeline and Tick hunkered on either side of it. He sketched a finger over the pelvic area. “Female?”
“Looks like it.” She kept her voice pitched low, out of the sense of reverence the dead always inspired in her. No gallows humor so popular with other detectives for her. Each victim was a real person, one who deserved respect and justice. “She’s been here a long time too. At least five years, as dry and clean as those bones are. Decomposition is complete.”
“Don’t think the shoe down there is hers, though. It’s a man’s shoe, size ten.” He glanced at the tape measure stretched alongside the body bag, indicating the skeleton had a height of approximately five and a half feet. “She’s too small for that.”
“It could be related, if we can date it. Maybe it’s been with her the whole time.”
“We can definitely work that angle, especially if there’s anything to help us place her within a time period. Ford did that for us with a body we had a couple of years ago. The guy had a metal screw in his leg that wasn’t used medically anymore, helped us narrow the time period.”
“Then we can contact the rental agency, get a list of their tenants.”
“Shit, that list will be huge. But you’re right. It sounds like the smartest place to start.” He looked up at her. “I’ll start going through old missing-persons reports too, but the records from Hollowell’s time in office are a mess. Not sure if we even have everything—”
“Investigator Calvert?” A GBI crime scene tech appeared in the doorway. “Could I speak to you a second?”
“Excuse me.” He rose and followed the agent from the room.
With him gone and only the soft buzz of the technicians talking, Madeline studied the remains, the skull grinning at her as though keeping a gruesome secret.
“Who are you, sweetheart?” she whispered. “What happened to you? And why the hell are you here?”
Chapter Five
Tick was late, after he’d promised Caitlin he wouldn’t be. To top that off, he’d tried calling her and kept getting the voice mail, both on their landline and her cell. He was pretty sure if they’d had a dog, he’d have been sharing its house.
The sound of her voice trailed down the stairs, and he took them two treads at a time.
He found them in the upstairs bathroom, painted blue and white and decorated with prints of old sailing ships, Caitlin kneeling by the tub, Lee chortling and cooing while kicking water everywhere. Warmth and home and love curled through him. Even if she was pissed at him, he couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be.
“Hey.” Dropping to the
“Madeline.” He stepped to the side, jerking his chin toward the street. “Crime scene van is here.”
Madeline avoided Allison’s eyes, concentrating instead on Tick’s professional mask. “The foundation is sealed all the way down to the concrete apron. There are a couple of really small vents but it looks like the only access is through the panel in the kitchen.”
The arriving crime scene technicians and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents stopped to greet them.
“We’ll walk you through.” Tick signaled for the young deputy who’d arrived also. “Allison, Deputy Farr will stay with you until Tori arrives and then you can get what you need from the house.”
During the hours that followed, as the crime scene unit removed the skeletal remains and made a painstaking record of the area and all possible evidence recovered, Tick surprised her by not only listening attentively to her theories but allowing her to take an active role in the investigation. She’d not expected that from him, certainly not after his statements earlier that day. Some of her tension and apprehension drained away, leaving her focused on the intricate puzzle inherent in the remains and their location.
Once the skeleton, remarkably complete, lay arranged neatly in the body bag, Madeline and Tick hunkered on either side of it. He sketched a finger over the pelvic area. “Female?”
“Looks like it.” She kept her voice pitched low, out of the sense of reverence the dead always inspired in her. No gallows humor so popular with other detectives for her. Each victim was a real person, one who deserved respect and justice. “She’s been here a long time too. At least five years, as dry and clean as those bones are. Decomposition is complete.”
“Don’t think the shoe down there is hers, though. It’s a man’s shoe, size ten.” He glanced at the tape measure stretched alongside the body bag, indicating the skeleton had a height of approximately five and a half feet. “She’s too small for that.”
“It could be related, if we can date it. Maybe it’s been with her the whole time.”
“We can definitely work that angle, especially if there’s anything to help us place her within a time period. Ford did that for us with a body we had a couple of years ago. The guy had a metal screw in his leg that wasn’t used medically anymore, helped us narrow the time period.”
“Then we can contact the rental agency, get a list of their tenants.”
“Shit, that list will be huge. But you’re right. It sounds like the smartest place to start.” He looked up at her. “I’ll start going through old missing-persons reports too, but the records from Hollowell’s time in office are a mess. Not sure if we even have everything—”
“Investigator Calvert?” A GBI crime scene tech appeared in the doorway. “Could I speak to you a second?”
“Excuse me.” He rose and followed the agent from the room.
With him gone and only the soft buzz of the technicians talking, Madeline studied the remains, the skull grinning at her as though keeping a gruesome secret.
“Who are you, sweetheart?” she whispered. “What happened to you? And why the hell are you here?”
Chapter Five
Tick was late, after he’d promised Caitlin he wouldn’t be. To top that off, he’d tried calling her and kept getting the voice mail, both on their landline and her cell. He was pretty sure if they’d had a dog, he’d have been sharing its house.
The sound of her voice trailed down the stairs, and he took them two treads at a time.
He found them in the upstairs bathroom, painted blue and white and decorated with prints of old sailing ships, Caitlin kneeling by the tub, Lee chortling and cooing while kicking water everywhere. Warmth and home and love curled through him. Even if she was pissed at him, he couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be.
“Hey.” Dropping to the
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