Chapter 23

The skull was human. You didn’t need her expertise as a physical anthropologist to determine that. The elongated shape, the presence of a chin, the size of the empty eye orbits, left no doubt. The flesh had rotted, but fine strands of long dark hair clung to a patch of desiccated scalp.

“Is that what I think it is?” Aiden’s deep voice resonated in the cavern.

“It’s a human skull.” She licked her dry lips. Were these the remains of the person who’d left the bare footprints in the snow last November? Amanda Jacobs? Her heart skittered.

“Is the skull old?” He cleared his throat. “I mean, can you tell how long it’s been in the cave?”

She sucked in a ragged breath. “There’s very little weathering, so it’s not prehistoric.” Using light, feathery strokes, she brushed away more dirt and pointed at the skull’s gaping mouth. “Shine the light here.” She squinted under the bright beam, trying to bring the skull into focus. Damn it. She should have brought her glasses.

He angled the pinpoint of light. “What are you looking for?”

She eased the jaw open, exposing a set of even white teeth. Her heart sank. Picking up a twig and using it as a pointer, she tapped a dull silver discoloration in a back molar. She pointed at another similar marking in another molar. “These are modern dental fillings.”

He sucked in a noisy breath. “How old was the vic—” The clearing of his throat was loud in the dark cave. “How old was the person when they died? Can you tell?”

She knew what he was thinking, and she shared his fear, praying she was wrong. “Teeth are one of the ways to determine the age of the person at the time of death. Throughout our childhood, teeth erupt and are lost according to a predictable time frame.” She pointed at the incisors. “These front teeth are permanent adult teeth and would have erupted when this individual was between six and eight years of age.”

She squinted in the thin, wavering light. “The permanent teeth are all present. That usually happens when a child is between ten and twelve years old.” She gasped and fell back on her heels.

“What is it?”

“Our wisdom teeth usually erupt when we’re around eighteen years old.” She nodded at the jawbone. “This mandible doesn’t have any wisdom teeth.” She met his gaze. “The skull belonged to an adolescent.” A sob hitched in her throat, and tears blurred her vision. “How did a child’s bones end up here?”

Aiden’s face was devoid of expression, but the pulse in his jaw ticked like a metronome. “Can you tell if the skull and tibia belonged to a male or a female?”

“There’s no pronounced brow ridge.” She pointed at the skull’s smooth forehead. “Women tend to have a rounded frontal bone like this skull, and female eye sockets are often round with a sharp upper edge.” She swiped her hand across her damp face, wiping the streaming tears. “A young male wouldn’t have developed a heavy brow ridge.” Scooching closer, she feathered more dirt from the skull. “The features of the skull, combined with the length and width of the tibia bone, indicate this person was probably a young female. But I can’t be positive.”

He gaped at her. “You really know your stuff.”

“I’ve identified human remains in the field before.” She swallowed back bile. “But this is different. The bones I unearth in excavations are thousands of years old.”

“So, it’s possible that these could be Amanda Jacobs’s remains.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. The skull and tibia are free of flesh. Amanda’s only been missing a few months. Body decomposition begins less than five minutes after death, and there are four distinct stages. A lot of factors affect the rate of decomp—humidity, exposure to the elements, the mineral composition of the soil, animal predation, and even what season of the year it was when the person died. There are…” Her voice trailed off. She was lecturing and telling him more than he probably wanted to know, but stepping into the role of instructor gave her much-needed emotional distance from the horror of the bones.

He waved his hand for her to continue.

“Full skeletonization can take anywhere from a month to a year or more.” She pointed at the ground. “The soil in this cave is sandy loam. There’s a bit of humidity, but the temperature would be pretty constant. Given that, I’d guess a body wouldn’t break down very fast. Three months isn’t enough time for the flesh to be this decayed.”

He nodded. “So, if these bones aren’t Amanda’s, whose are they, and how did they end up in this cave? You said it’s not on the park map, and even the locals don’t know of its existence.”

Her gaze skittered over the skull and tibia, and she shivered. Someone knew the cave existed. They’d entered the hidden cavern, built a fire, and heated cans of food. Somehow, a young girl had died in the cold and dark, her body buried in the dirt until scavengers, and Tracker, had dug up her remains.

Aiden’s warm breath washed over her. “I know this is hard, but we’ll figure out what happened. Trust me.”

She leaned into him, desperate for his strength and solidness.

He gently squeezed her arm before releasing her and turning toward the entrance. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before we compromise the scene any more than we have.”

She didn’t budge. “We’re not leaving the bones. We can’t. It’s not right.”

He smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear. “This cave is most likely a crime scene. The forensic technicians will want everything left as we found it.”

“But—”

“I’m sorry, Candace, but we have to leave them. It’s the only way we can find what happened. Somewhere, someone is looking for her, grieving her loss, filled with questions, just like your family. They deserve to know.” He crossed to the entrance and gestured for her to crawl through the narrow fissure. “Now come on. Let’s go so I can call for back up.”

With a last look at the haunting skull and its empty eye sockets staring up at the ceiling, she squeezed between the slabs of rock and emerged into blinding sunshine. It was still daylight. Impossible to believe less than an hour had passed since they’d entered the cave.

Tracker bounded through the opening, followed by Aiden.

“Come on. Let’s find that cell service.” He stuffed the flashlight into the backpack, hefted the nylon straps over his shoulders, and grasped her hand. “Are you okay?”

A lump welled in her throat at the compassion in his warm hazel eyes. She nodded, though she wasn’t okay. Not by a long stretch. Finding the skull and tibia, and knowing someone, probably a young girl, had died in the cave hit her hard, and resurrected all her past grief and guilt.

Dark shadows filled his eyes turning them a deep-sea green. “Attagirl.”

Their gazes connected, and for a heartbeat, she forgot the shock of finding the human bones and lost herself in his warm, approving gaze.

He coughed, cleared his throat, and looked away, but he kept his long warm fingers threaded with hers. “Let’s go.”

They didn’t speak as they hurried back to the parking lot, not stopping for rest or water breaks.

As if he sensed their urgency, Tracker trotted at Aiden’s heels, not pestering them with sticks to throw.

They didn’t encounter any other hikers on the trail, and by the time they reached the parking lot, the sun was on its way down. Theirs was the only vehicle.

She peered into the lengthening shadows under the looming trees, afraid the man with the dark beard was watching from the shadows. But other than a crow cawing from atop a lofty fir tree, chickadees flitting amongst the aspen leaves, and a squirrel scurrying across the rough ground, the forest was deserted.

Aiden unlocked the car and opened the passenger door. Before she slid in, he touched her arm, stopping her. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

Inches separated them, and she sucked in a shaky breath. Her eyes were level with his chin, revealing the dark shadow of whiskers. “Aiden—” His name expelled in a gust of air. Her arm tingled where he’d touched her. She gulped and fought to focus on the day’s shocking discovery. “Why didn’t the K9 unit find the bones in the cave?”

“I don’t know.” His brow furrowed. “That area was beyond the search parameters. The cave’s thick stone walls could've blocked the scent unless the dogs were close, like Tracker was.” Opening the back door, he ushered Tracker onto the back seat and then slammed the door. Moving around to the driver’s side, Aiden opened the door and settled behind the wheel. He tugged out his cell phone from his pants pocket and studied the screen. “Damn. No service.”

“You should be able to pick up a few bars a couple of miles down the road.”

“Good.” He slid his phone back in his pocket. “I’ll make the call, and after I drop you at your place, I’ll double back and meet the crime-scene techs.” He started the car and sped out of the parking lot.

She stared through the windshield, not really seeing the road, or the rich dark earth of the plowed fields prepared for planting, or the yellow-and-purple wildflowers dotting the ditches. An image of the cream-colored bones rose before her, and she swallowed back the acrid taste of bile.

They were almost in the city limits before he spoke. “You saw the strands of hair on the skull?”

“Yes.” She rubbed the tightness at the back of her neck.

He slid her a look. “Does hair color change when a body decomposes?”

She frowned, struggling to recall everything she’d learned about body decomposition. “Oxidation can occur and alter the pigment in hair strands, but the hair on that skull was either a very dark brown or black when the person died. I’m certain of that.”

“The same color as Amanda Jacobs’s hair.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Yes, the same.”

He skillfully navigated the rush hour traffic, but his face was bleak, and it was obvious his focus wasn’t on the road. “A young woman’s body was found in Lynn Canyon yesterday.” He clicked on the blinker and pulled into her driveway. Switching off the car’s engine, he faced her. His hazel eyes glittered with golden specks in the warm rays of the setting sun. “We haven’t ID’d the body yet, but the victim was in her teens, and she had long black hair.”

“Both Amanda Jacobs and the murdered girl from Lynn Canyon have long black hair?”

He nodded.

Her heart raced like a trip-hammer in her chest. “Why did you come to my house this morning?”

“I wanted to ask if you remembered any new details about the attack the other night.”

She waved his words away with a dismissive flick of her hand. “But that’s not really why you were there, was it?”

“No, it wasn’t.” His gaze strayed to her hair. “Your hair is long and black. Just like the other victims. I believe there may be a connection.”