Forgetting Jane Read Free

I’m going to freeze my ass off.”
    Tom chuckled while he grabbed the evidence bag and handed it to Elias.
    “I’ve heard you say that before. You were close to him.” Eli glanced at the officer, then back at the red-black dirt in his tiny shovel. He stood and put the soil in the evidence bag and sealed it.
    “I guess you can say that,” Tom said evenly, his attention was at the hole.             
    “Well, cold or not, we have to scour through every part of this area.” Elias looked back toward the lake. “Maybe we should check around the lake.”
    “Why?” Tom paused and looked in the direction where Elias was studying.
    “My gut is telling me to,” Elias turned back to Tom. “I don’t know why, but I think we should.”
    “We should leave that part up to CLS. It’s too big of an expanse for us to work,” Tom suggested.
    The Criminal Laboratory Services handled all forensic services throughout Wisconsin. A small town like Beaver Lake wasn’t able to manage evidence of this caliber. Elias realized it immediately when his predecessor killed himself.
    Elias wanted to argue, but Tom made sense. It was too big of an area and he wasn’t sure what to look for anyway. “Fine.”
    It took nearly an hour to comb through the crime scene, leaving the hole for last.
    At the bottom, Tom pulled out a partial ripped up button shirt. He placed it inside the evidence bag and sealed it. The fabric was the only thing they were able to find—at least to the naked eye.
    “What do we have so far?” Elias asked, moving his right shoulder around. Slight jabs of pain came from the old bullet wound he’d gotten four years earlier.
    Tom clicked his tongue. “Your shoulder okay?”
    “Yeah. Fine. So what do you have?” Elias wasn’t in the mood to discuss his health issues.
    The officer got the hint. “Soil samples. Shoe prints. Hair and partial ripped shirt—Maybe you need a cigarette?”
    “Crap.” Elias couldn’t contain his agitation toward the minimal amount of evidence and Tom’s insubordination.
    “You’re jonesing hard, aren’t you?” Tom’s mouth quirked.
    Elias snapped his gloves off, dropped them in the kit, and pulled out a pack of gum. He popped a piece of the nicotine gum into his mouth and chewed it quickly. The taste reminded him of burnt down filters. Nasty, but it did the trick when he needed that boost.
    “Not anymore.” Eli exposed the chewed piece of gum between his teeth.
    Tom chuckled, then turned his attention back to the shallow grave. “Jesus, Elias. How in the hell did they find her? Alive, no less.”
    “Raymond said Harold got off a damn lucky shot. Traitor went to retrieve the bird and found her.”
    “That is lucky.”
    “I guess.” Elias’s heart sank in his chest. Tom hadn’t seen the woman’s face. The beaten image was plastered in the forefront of Elias’s mind. He could never forget the way she looked.
                  “I wonder how the woman’s doing.” Tom snapped at his gloves.
    Elias cleared his throat. “I’m not sure. Ryan’s at the hospital. I told him to call me in case anything changes.”
    “Should I call Waldon County? I’m sure Chief Bartoz could assist us with a few men.”
    “No. We’ll wait for CLS. No more contamination,” Eli said. “Besides, he has his own crap to worry about with that Jolie girl and the few others that had gone missing.”
    “Yeah, you’re right.” Tom let out a heavy breath. “You think this was random? Or do you think this is connected to their cases?”
    Eli shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ll find out.”
    Tom nodded once. He grabbed the evidence bags of dirt, fabric, hair, and blood, and carried them back to his squad.
    “Do me a favor and call CLS. Tell them to notify the station when they arrive. I’m heading to the hospital. Call me if you find anything else,” Elias said as he turned toward his truck.
    “Will do.” Tom saluted. “Hey.”
    “What?” Elias