Black Thunder Read Free Page A

watch the police work the scene—might even volunteer to help,” Ella said.
    “I’ll also be taking shots of every car that stops to check us out. You never know,” he said.
    “Sure would be nice to get lucky,” Ella said, “investigation-wise,” she added quickly, seeing Ralph’s eyebrows rise.
    Hearing someone clear their throat directly behind her, Ella spunaround. “You don’t make a lot of noise when you walk, do you?” she said, glaring at Benny.
    “Sorry about that, boss,” he said. “We looked around for footprints connected to that extra set of tire tracks, but there isn’t anything fresh. The driver must not have exited the vehicle. We did find something interesting—another set of fresh prints that clearly belong to a child. They’re along the fenceline and elsewhere, but not close enough to the tire impressions for the child to have been the driver or a passenger.”
    “So the only adult prints belong to the work crew?”
    “That’s right,” Benny said.
    “The next thing we’ll need to do is check on kids who live in this area. Anything else?” Ella asked him.
    “So far we’ve found the usual windblown debris of candy and food wrappers, paper cups,and the kind of stuff we’d normally find alongside the highway. But something struck me as particularly odd.”
    “What is it?” she pressed.
    “I’d rather show you,” he said.
    “Lead the way.” This was going to be one of those cases where nothing fit the norm. She could feel it in her gut.

TWO
    Benny Pete came to a stop at the western edge of the crime scene tape line and looked back to where the hand had been uncovered. “Notice anything?”
    Ella studied the area but nothing struck her as particularly noteworthy. Then, as she widened her focus, she saw what Benny was talking about. “The surface of the ground doesn’t look quite right.”
    “Exactly,” Benny said. “I’d say someone dida lot of digging, then spent time reshaping and smoothing everything over. It’s such a large section, too. Makes you wonder just how big the body beneath there is … or if we’ve stumbled onto some kind of graveyard.”
    “It’s also been replanted with vegetation, and at different times, too,” Ella said after a beat. “The section closest to the hand is covered with tumbleweeds and goatheads. Thoseare the first type of plants to appear in soil that has been disturbed. That should give us a rough idea of when the grave was dug.”
    “All the plants in that location seem younger and smaller than the ones farther out, too,” Benny said. “We’ll need a plant expert to help us with the time line.”
    “I know just the person,” Ella said, thinking of her mother, Rose Destea, a prominent member of thePlant Watchers.
    She reached for her phone, then saw Dr. Carolyn Roanhorse’s van coming up the dirt trail. Ella put the phone away and went to meet her. Carolyn stepped down out of the van easily and without all the mobility problems she’d had in the past. It was clear that her long-term diet was working. Her old friend looked like a new woman.
    “We’re still working the scene,” Ella told her.“We haven’t even begun digging up the body yet. You’re going to have to wait a bit.”
    Carolyn smirked. “Terrific. I postponed my lunch just so I can sit here?” She exhaled softly. “What’s kept me on this diet all these months is making sure I don’t go hungry.”
    “It’s sure working for you, though. You look great. How much more do you want to lose?”
    “Another ten pounds, then I’ll switch to a maintenancediet. It was never my goal to look like a model. As far as I’m concerned, real women jiggle and come with curves.”
    “I agree with you,” Ella said.
    As Ella and Carolyn watched, Neskahi and Benny began uncovering the body using the hand and the emerging arm of the victim to guide their progress. They placed the dirt removed on a ground cloth. Later, they’d sift through that soil, searching