An Inarticulate Sea Read online

  She turned her attention back to their more immediate surroundings and several more minutes passed as they continued their walk. At one point, she stumbled over a tree root, and as she felt the pull of her uniform across her body, she also became uncomfortably aware of just how poorly police uniforms fit. Of course, a flattering fit wasn’t the point and she knew she shouldn’t even be thinking about it. But having someone so immaculately put together breezing along behind her wasn’t putting her in the most charitable, or reasonable, of moods.

  “Is it much farther?” she asked.

  “Just around the bend,” Drew answered with a gesture to their right.

  Knowing how close they were to the scene sharpened her focus, making her more alert and aware of everything around her. Despite her doubts about her personal life and wardrobe, Carly was confident about her job. It was the one area of her life in which she felt completely and utterly competent. The certainty she felt concerning her professional life was like a security web that held the rest of her life together.

  “Drew?” a male voice called from their right.

  “Yes, it’s us,” Drew answered as they rounded the bend.

  Carly stopped to take in the scene before acknowledging the other man.

  The trail continued on to her right, but her eyes were drawn to the hill that rose sharply in front of her. She knew if she forged ahead, Churchkill Road lay less than two-hundred yards up the rise. But between where she stood and where the road ran, the land was uneven and littered with the leaves of past seasons. It was also dotted with enough trees to cast the area into a shadowed darkness, with sunlight managing to filter through the few spaces made by branches that had already shed their leaves.

  Covered in leaves and debris and lying about three quarters of the way between the road and where Carly stood was the body of a woman. A body that looked as if it had rolled down the hill and come to an awkward and final stop.

  She lay mostly on her stomach, but with the pitch of the hill, she’d rolled slightly onto her side, giving Carly a view of her back. The woman was wearing a dark rose-colored lightweight knit sweater that was covered in bits of leaves and small twigs, both of which were also tangled in her long, dark brown hair, which fell across her back and the ground behind her.

  Though Carly could not see her face, there was no question in her mind that she was looking at the form of a woman. With the discernable dip of her waist and curve of her hip, the woman’s body lay much like Carly’s own did when she reclined on her side. Also, one of the woman’s arms was thrown over her head, leaving a delicate, feminine hand in view. Those details, along with her hair and her petite feet—feet that were bare—left Carly with no doubt that Drew had been right when he’d first referred to the body as “her.”

  Moving her focus from the body back to the area around it, Carly scanned the hillside. It wasn’t a bad spot for a body dump, and though she would need to wait for Vivi, the medical examiner, to make the official call and then for all the evidence to come in, it was pretty obvious to her that that was exactly what this spot was—a body dump. Whoever the woman was, Carly knew she hadn’t died there, not given what she was—and wasn’t—wearing. Which led her to believe that she probably hadn’t died naturally, either. There was something reckless in the way the woman had been left, something that spoke of a careless disregard for human life.

  “Carly?”

  Turning to look at Drew, she caught a look of concern on his face.

  “Yes?” she responded, wary of what he might be concerned about. There was, of course, the body to be apprehensive about, but it was also possible that he was wondering why she was just standing there—apparently doing nothing. Maybe he was even considering whether or not she had the ability to do the job at hand. It was a lot to read into a single word, but between being a woman in a male-dominated profession, and a younger woman at that, she almost couldn’t blame him. Almost.

  “You let out a big sigh, everything okay?”

  She frowned. She hadn’t remembered sighing. Then again, she’d been caught up in cataloging the scene.

  “Other than her,” Carly said with a small gesture of her head toward the woman, “everything is fine. I was just thinking that this scene isn’t going to be the easiest to process.”

  “No, I doubt it is,” came a response, this time from the man at Drew’s side—presumably Dani Fuller’s husband, Ty.

  Carly switched her gaze from Drew to Ty. Both men had moved off to the side, well away from the body and the scene she and her team would need to comb through. Unlike Drew, with his lanky, sophisticated appearance, Ty Fuller came across as down-to-earth and real to her, or maybe just more like the men she was used to seeing where she lived. He was tall, almost as tall as Drew, and built more solidly—exactly what she would expect from a former SEAL—and definitely differently than Drew, whose physique looked like a swimmer’s. Ty had dark hair and dark eyes, and in his jeans, boots, and leather jacket, he could have been any town’s working man.

  “You must be Ty Fuller,” she said, walking forward to shake his hand.

  “Call me Ty, please,” he said before casting Drew a quick look.

  “Ty, this is Deputy Chief Carly Drummond.” Drew performed the introductions.

  “Nice to meet you,” Ty said. “I saw you briefly at the fundraiser, which would have been a more pleasant place to meet, but . . .” He stopped talking and shrugged in a gesture of “what can you do?”

  “I was there but on duty and got called away about ten minutes after I arrived. I know Kit was happy you were all able to come. Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to radio my partner where we are, then I’d like to ask you a few questions. Both of you,” she added.

  The two men smiled politely as she stepped a short distance away to make her call to Marcus. She’d noted her GPS position when they’d arrived and relayed the information to him. She also gave him a quick debrief on the scene and asked him to warn the support vehicles to stay to the center of the road. Churchkill Road was a dead end—whoever had brought that body there would have had to turn around somewhere. They’d look for tire impressions at the two spots where the dirt road widened enough to turn a vehicle around between where the body had been dumped and the Kirby farm. But she didn’t want to rule out getting any additional impression matches from the road coming in. It wasn’t likely they’d find much, but she’d rather play it safe and preserve as much of the road as possible.

  When she turned back, Drew and Ty were both leaning against the trunk of a large fallen tree. Ty had his hands tucked into his jacket pockets and Drew’s arms were crossed. Both were silent and seemed lost in thought.

  “I know this isn’t all together new to you,” she said to Ty with another gesture toward the woman behind them. “But it must have come as a surprise this morning. Can you tell me everything that happened, including whether or not you touched anything?”

  Carly almost smiled when Ty answered the last part first, as adept as his wife in knowing what was foremost on her mind. “We came around the bend and saw her. Drew stayed back, but I approached from there,” he said, pointing out the path he’d taken from the trail to the body, “and felt for a pulse. I didn’t move the body in the process as I was able to reach her artery by reaching into the gap created by the arm that’s raised over her head and her neck. When it was clear she wasn’t alive, and she was cold to the touch, I backed out the way I came and have pretty much been standing here ever since.”

  She glanced at the body then turned back to the men. “Thank you,” she said, acknowledging their caution. “I’ll let the evidence teams know. And now, can you tell me what happened?”

  “At the risk of sounding cliché,” Drew spoke before Ty had a chance, “there isn’t much to tell. We were on a morning walk, the same walk we’ve been doing since we got here three days ago, and we came around the bend and saw her. Ty then checked to see if there were any signs of life, and when there weren’t, he placed the call
to the police and I went back to meet you.”

  Again, it struck Carly as curious that Drew seemed so matter-of-fact about coming across a dead body. There was no horror, no panic, nothing to indicate that finding the body of a woman was anything other than a minor blip in his day. Maybe corporate America was more cutthroat than she thought.

  “Did you see anything else or maybe hear anything? A car or vehicle on the road?” she pressed.

  Both men shook their heads. Which wasn’t a surprise. There were only three other properties this far up Churchkill Road before it dead-ended at the Kirby farm. Two of those were weekend homes and the third was empty and for sale; it was not a high-traffic kind of road.

  “And about what time did you find her?” As the question came out of her mouth, she realized that perhaps she should be more circumspect. It was the right question to ask, of course, but was it possible they hadn’t just “found” her but put her there, too? Her gut said no, but her intellect knew she’d also have to pursue that line of questioning.

  “About eight thirty or so, right before we called,” Ty answered.

  “And if you’re wondering,” Drew spoke, “we were all at Kit’s house last night, all five of us, all night. She has an alarm system that tracks when doors or windows are opened. Feel free to check it.”

  “Five of you?” she asked.

  “Ty, Dani, my brother, Jason, and his wife, Sam, who also happens to be Dani’s sister, and myself, of course,” he answered. Succinct and efficient as always.

  Carly didn’t miss the assessing look Ty gave his friend.

  “It’s interesting that you would offer that information,” Carly commented.

  “It was going to be your next question, wasn’t it?” Drew countered.

  She cocked her head. “It was. But in my experience, most people are surprised when asked to provide their whereabouts or an alibi. Have you been through something like this before?”

  A ghost of a smile touched his lips at her not-so-subtle inquiry into his past. “Not this specifically, but I’ve been involved in more than my fair share of investigations.”

  She held his gaze as she let his enigmatic statement sift through her brain. She briefly considered asking several of the follow-up questions that popped into her mind, but just as quickly, she dismissed the strategy. The truth was, she no more thought he was involved than she was; and somehow, instinctively, she knew that if she pressed him, she’d get nothing other than more oblique answers until she was frustrated and, potentially, flustered. And she had no intention of letting either of these men put her on the defensive. She gave a curt nod and let it go for the time being.

  “Thank you, both. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear some vehicles on the road and suspect the support team is arriving. I’m going to go up and meet them. You’re both welcome to head back to Kit’s; if we need anything more, we know where to find you.”

  She didn’t wait for a response from the two men, though she didn’t anticipate either of them leaving for a good long while. Making her way up the hill, she stepped onto the road just as Marcus came into sight in the police SUV. Standing off to the side, she watched as he pulled up, followed by Vivi in the medical examiner van, Ian in his sheriff’s truck, and two state trooper vans carrying the evidence response team.

  When everyone had gathered around her, she gave them the details of the situation. She looked to Ian to put a plan into place—partly because he was the senior officer, but mostly because he loved his plans. But Ian simply stared back at her, making it clear that he expected her, the responding officer and deputy chief, to make the decisions. She knew it was Ian’s way of mentoring her, of encouraging her to grow professionally—something he’d been doing since they’d first met—and that she should be grateful for the opportunity, but as it was, she felt more resigned than anything else as she issued orders and delegated tasks.

  Having sent Marcus down the road to check the two areas where a car was most likely to have turned around, Carly watched Vivi and her assistant, Daniel Westerbrook, make their way down to the body, careful of where they tread.

  “Everything okay?” Ian asked, coming up beside her.

  She lifted a shoulder. “Yes, fine. I mean other than that poor woman, of course.”

  “Of course,” Ian murmured in agreement. Carly was aware of the evidence collection team starting their work. They were always a buzz of activity—a systematic buzz, but a buzz nonetheless. However, even as they moved around the scene—taking pictures, placing markers, and making notes—she and Ian watched Vivi and Daniel.

  “It’s hard to believe he’s the governor’s son, isn’t it?” Ian asked, speaking of Daniel.

  She let out a little laugh, “I would say yes, but after seeing how hard he worked on that first case we worked together, it’s hard to see him as anything other than a dedicated forensic anthropologist.” Carly didn’t need to go into detail about just which case she was referring to—it was one neither she nor Ian would ever forget. A serial killer had landed in Windsor and set his sights on Vivi. It was also the case that had brought Vivi and Ian, now married with a one-year-old son, together over two years ago.

  “This should be your case, you know,” she said after a short silence.

  “And I’ll be the officer of record, but there’s no reason you can’t lead the charge. After all, that’s what good managers do, right? Manage down,” he asked with a grin.

  Carly all but rolled her eyes at him. He wasn’t doing this to manage down, he was doing this because he thought it would be a good opportunity for her. And even though she wasn’t entirely happy about embracing the opportunity, she knew he was right. Glancing at her former boss, she found herself wishing, not for the first time, that Ian hadn’t left the Windsor Police department after his short stint as their deputy chief of police, the position she now held. Of course, she knew why he’d made the move and become the county sheriff, and she honestly believed it was the best move for him, but still, she missed having his daily guidance and support.

  “Fine,” she said with a small laugh. “Why don’t you go manage the evidence team then? I’m going to join your wife at the body. Whoever she is, I hope we can figure out what happened to her, and quickly.” She paused for a moment, letting the sounds of the scene filter through her mind. “No one deserves to be treated that way,” she added quietly.

  “It does speak of carelessness and maybe even some depravity,” Ian replied.

  And that was the part that really got to her: the thought of such depravity in Windsor. She knew that with 7,000 people, they would have their fair share of good and bad. But for the most part, crimes committed by residents of Windsor were pretty minor. And there was some measure of comfort in that knowledge.

  But even as she approached the body and caught a few of Vivi’s words as they were faithfully documented by Daniel, she knew that comfort was an illusion. Crime, even murder, could happen anywhere people lived. And today, it just happened to have landed on her doorstep.

  “Rough time of death appears to be somewhere between eight and ten p.m. last night,” Vivi reported without preamble as soon as Carly came to a stop a few feet from the body. “Female, obviously,” she continued. “No ID in the pockets I can reach. Hard to say age without a closer examination, but judging by her hands and what I can see of her face, I’d say well into her forties. I won’t know cause of the death until we get her back to the lab for an autopsy, but I can tell you now, it wasn’t a natural death.”

  After working with Vivi for more than two years, Carly knew she shouldn’t be surprised by what the medical examiner could determine so quickly with so little information, but she was. Of course, she’d suspected it wasn’t a natural death, but to hear Vivi pronounce it was entirely different.

  “How do you know?” Carly asked.

  Vivi glanced up, ignoring the crime scene tech who was busy snapping pictures of the body, the flash going off at regular intervals in the tree-shaded area.

 
; “See here and here?” Vivi asked, pointing to an area on the woman’s jeans and another on her sweater. At first Carly saw nothing, but as she looked closer, she saw small spots of dark discoloration.

  “I see the spots, but what are they?”

  “Blood,” Vivi pronounced as she sat back on her heels. “There are several areas like that on her clothing, areas where blood has seeped through, staining the fabric.”

  Carly was silent for a long moment, as was Vivi. No doubt, they were both wondering just what Vivi would find when she removed the victim’s clothing back at the lab.

  “How many areas?’ Carly asked.

  “Seven, so far,” Daniel answered. “And we haven’t turned the body yet.”

  “Any idea what caused them?”

  Vivi shook her head. “And I don’t want to lift her sweater to look while we’re out here in the woods, I’d rather do that back at the lab.”

  “Of course,” Carly murmured. “Are you almost ready to turn the body?” she asked, wanting to get a look at the face of the woman they were all focused on.

  “I need a few more minutes and then we’ll be ready,” Vivi answered.

  Carly watched Vivi and Daniel turn their attention back to the woman, then took a few steps up toward the road and caught sight of Ian talking with one of the evidence techs. With a wave, she got his attention, then gestured for him to join her with Vivi and Daniel.

  Once he had made his way to her side, she spoke. “Vivi is going to turn her in a minute, and I want you here to see if you recognize her. There hasn’t been any obvious identification found yet.”

  His head bobbed once in response.

  Even though, in recent years, she’d been living in Windsor longer than Ian—she’d moved to the area five years earlier, and he’d only returned from the Army about two years after that—Ian had grown up in the small town and knew quite a few more people than she did, or at least he could recognize more than she could.

  When Vivi and Daniel indicated that they were ready, Carly watched them brace the body. Taking care not to disturb anything more than necessary, the pair rotated the woman until she lay prone on her back.