Boneyard Read Free Page B

we’re heading out a little early this year. So if I don’t see you again…”
    “Absolutely, have a good one!” His grin vanished as soon as Allen lumbered away across the parking lot. His truck was parked in the opposite direction and he strolled toward it, keeping his head down. Once there, he opened the doors to the king cab back seat and dropped the bag into the wheel well. It landed with a clank. He draped an old blanket across, concealing it, then slid into the driver’s seat. He pulled the hat brim down low over his eyes as he pulled out of the lot, ruminating on what Allen had said. So people were frightened to the extent of leaving early, which was a shame. This time of year the Berkshires were so lovely, he thought ruefully. Chasing away good churchgoers had certainly never been his intent.
    Strange that his boys had been found after all this time. Strange, and inconvenient. But then he was due to switch things up a little, he mused, flicking on his turn signal and executing a sharp right toward home. After all, in these hills there was no shortage of places to bury a body.
    Two
    Kelly Jones peered out the window of the helicopter as it circled the site. Through the dense foliage below she could make out a long line of people hunched shoulder to shoulder, slowly forcing their way through the underbrush.
    She tapped the button activating her mike. “Are those state police down there?”
    The helicopter pilot shook his head. “From what I hear, local search and rescue is handling it. Berkshire State Police couldn’t spare the manpower.”
    Kelly made a motion for him to drop down and circle. The chopper banked right. Sunlight glistened off the tops of the waves kicked up by their rotors as they dove past small beaver ponds. A few heads in the line tilted up to stare at them.
    “Are we landing soon?” another voice chimed in.
    Kelly half turned in her seat to regard the passenger behind her. Despite the fact that they were the only three in the chopper, Dr. Howard Stuart was perched dead center in the back, clutching the seat belts strapping him in, eyes squeezed tightly shut.
    Kelly switched her mike back on. “My apologies, Doctor. Thought you’d want to see the scene, since you’ve come all this way.”
    One eye cracked open a notch. “I’m not much for flying, I’m afraid.”
    “Understood. One more pass and we land.”
    Kelly settled back into her seat and sighed. Personally, she’d really enjoyed the chopper. They had left Boston forty-five minutes ago and were already arriving at the opposite end of the state. It had been a beautiful ride, too. All of Massachusetts appeared carpeted in green, a never-ending stream of trees gliding past below. As they approached the Berkshires the terrain started to roll in waves, hills rising up to lap at them as they passed overhead. It had temporarily made her forget about the grim job she was heading toward, and she made a mental note to thank McLarty for arranging it. Dr. Stuart was clearly not feeling the same way. She sincerely hoped the forensic anthropologist would prove useful so that they could get out of here quickly. He certainly looked as if he knew his way around a lab—judging by his pallor he hadn’t been out of a Smithsonian bunker in years.
    They set down by a small picnic area, next to an open pavilion that swept to the edge of a large pond. It reminded her of a summer camp she had gone to as a kid. Gorgeous day like this, Clarksburg State Park should have been packed with people enjoying the last gasp of summer, Kelly thought. It was closed now, had been for a week, ever since the first remains were discovered. Today the picnic tables and deserted boat launch played host to a squadron of police cars and green forest service SUVs.
    Kelly jumped lightly from her seat as the rotors slowed and strode forward. A group of Massachusetts state troopers were perched on the edge of one of the tables, sipping from Dunkin’ Donuts cups. Their