Island of Bones(88)

“Mel, there’s a table over here.”

Landeta came up next to him and Louis clicked on the flashlight, running the beam over the table.

It was a small, rough wooden table. A dark red cloth was spread over the top.

“Do you see any candles? Knives? Anything for a ritual?”

“No,” Louis said, “just the table and the cloth.”

“Take a picture of it.”

The flash lit up the cemetery again, hanging in the air like lightning. Louis heard a sound behind him.

“Shit,” Landeta muttered.

“What’s the matter?”

“I stepped in a fucking hole.”

Louis clicked on the flashlight. Landeta was sitting on the edge of a large hole. There was a small mound of dirt with a shovel lying on it.

“Christ, Mel, it’s a grave.”

“What?” Landeta pulled his leg out and scrambled to his feet.

Louis shined the light directly down into the hole. It was about two feet long, maybe a foot deep.

“You’re sure it’s a grave?” Landeta asked.

“Yeah, but there’s nothing in it and it looks like it’s only half dug. There’s a shovel here.”

“What else do you see?” Landeta asked.

“Nothing,” Louis said. “We’ve got to call this in now.”

“Horton’s going to be pissed,” Landeta said.

“I don’t care. Call it in.”

Landeta got the police radio out. Louis moved away, his flashlight scanning the brush, looking for anything that could tell them what was going on here. The flashlight beam picked up a break in the brush. It was another path and it seemed to head uphill and inland. Louis heard Landeta’s voice and then a low burst of static.

Landeta clicked the radio off. “I’m not getting anything. We must be out of range.”

“Shit,” Louis muttered. “All right we’ll try again when we get out in the sound.”

Landeta was quiet “You’re sure there are only five markers here?”

Louis flicked on the light and swept the small cemetery. “Five, that’s all.” He turned off the light. “Maybe they were digging this grave for Shelly Umber.”

Landeta knelt by the hole and grabbed a handful of dirt, bringing it up to his nose.

“The dirt is fresh. Someone had just started digging it,” he said. He stood up, throwing the clot to the ground.

They stood motionless in the dark, listening, attuned to the smallest sounds in the brush and trees. But there was nothing except the whine of the mosquitoes.

Louis wiped his forearm over his sweating face. His brain was screaming to get the hell out of there. But suddenly he could see the faces of all the girls -- Cindy, Emma, Paula, Mary, and Angela.

“Mel,” Louis said, “if this is a new grave, someone could still be alive somewhere, a girl we don’t even know has gone missing.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Louis hesitated. “I saw another path,” he said. “It heads inland. I say we go up and look around.”

“You’re reading my mind.”

Louis switched the flashlight back on, aiming the beam into the break just beyond the wooden table. He went to the path and hesitated.

“Better turn that off,” Landeta said coming up behind him.

He felt Landeta’s hand on his back. It was pushing him forward. Louis started up the slight incline of the path, Landeta behind him.

“It’s all uphill now, Rocky,” Landeta said.





CHAPTER 40




Louis saw the lights first, and then the house emerged, coming out of the dark trees. It was large, two stories, and made of wood. It looked like the restaurant, but without the white paint.

As they crept closer, Louis could tell they were at the side of the house. The path continued on to the front, opening onto what looked like a large yard. Louis could see the outlines of other smaller buildings arranged in a semicircle facing the big house. The light had been coming from the ground floor of the big house. It had the soft glow of lanterns. There were lights on in the windows of the second floor, too, but none of the cabins surrounding the house were illuminated.

“There’s a house, and smaller ones around it like a compound,” Louis whispered.

“People?”

“No one.”

“But I hear someone,” Landeta said.

“Okay, we’re going closer,” Louis said.

Louis led Landeta up to the house. They flattened themselves against the weathered wood, moving toward a lighted window. Now Louis could hear the voices.

“Tomas, I don’t want to talk about this.”

Louis looked at Landeta. Female.

“He’s causing trouble,” the man said. “He’s trying to change things.”