Don't Look Back Read Free

saved to line the bottom of the bird cage or start a fire in the fireplace.
    Jamie had gotten her doctorate and she’d been in the paper holding her diploma.
    Jamie. The one who’d gotten away.
    Anger tightened his gut. He couldn’t believe she’d had the nerve to survive, the strength to thwart him. But no matter. He reined in the anger.
    He could hear the voice in his head, chanting. “Stop the pain, stop the pain. Only you can stop the pain.” He shook his head.
    It was time.
    Time for the fun to begin.
    Time to let Jamie Cash know her hero had returned and he was ready to renew their relationship.
    He put the binoculars away and cranked the car.
    The clock on the dash glared at him, reminding him he had an appointment in fifteen minutes. He’d have to hurry. After all, it wouldn’t do for someone known for his punctuality to show up late. But after that . . .
    He had a stop to make before Jamie got home.

2
    Spartanburg Regional Hospital housed the morgue and autopsy room located beneath the Emergency Department. The back door allowed her to come and go as she pleased without running into many hospital visitors who normally came in through the reception area. Jamie preferred the anonymity of the back door.
    Once every piece of bone that could be found had been excavated from the unofficial grave, she returned to the lab to get to work on the pieces she had. The grave hadn’t seemed disturbed by scavengers, just the backhoe; therefore, the absence of teeth from the skull’s oral cavity meant the person had been in the grave for at least a year, most likely longer. The absence of most of the tissue indicated longer. Possibly a lot longer. The evidence of insects would require an entomologist in order to say whether her estimated length of time in the ground for the bones was in the right ballpark.
    She kept her phone nearby, expecting to get called back to the scene to examine the second body she was sure would turn up. Then she would help excavate it just like she had the first.
    For now, the first body was a good excuse to get away from the area where she’d been so close to succumbing to a panic attack. That hadn’t happened in quite a while, but she’d been on edge lately. More so than usual and her defenses were down.
    And the handcuffs . . . she’d thought she’d conquered that fear, had put it to rest. Today it had snuck up on her and belted her a good one.
    And again, out at the excavation site, she’d felt . . . watched. She’d had the feeling on more than one occasion lately and it disturbed her. But she didn’t have time to think about that.
    Her jaw ached. Also a common occurrence in her past. She realized her teeth were clenched. Today had opened one too many doors for her to feel comfortable. But she would work through it. Slamming the door on thoughts that would keep her from doing what she had to do, she took a deep breath and told herself to relax.
    Focus on the job, she ordered herself. She slid the first box toward her. Reaching in, she pulled out the first bone, a tibia, and placed it on the table beside her. The bones would go to the cleaning room, but first she wanted to see what she had. As she’d explained to Dakota, from the pelvis and the skull, she knew the victim was a female.
    For two hours, she worked, examining each piece before placing it in the cleaning container, which held a mixture of hot water and chemicals.
    A contract forensic anthropologist for the office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the state of South Carolina, Jamie might be relatively new on the job, but she had already proven her worth in the field of osteology. Putting bones back together to find some way of identifying a person was no easy task.
    But one Jamie excelled at.
    Her cell phone rang, startling her, causing her heart to jump. She snatched it up. “Hello?”
    “Jamie?”
    “Dakota. Oh, hi. Well?”
    “You were right.”
    The news didn’t thrill her. She’d rather have been wrong. “I’m