Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [101]
“Gamble!” Adam called as he emerged from the cave and stripped off the hood.
“You found something?” the sheriff called back.
“I did. Call in your investigators. We have some remains.”
“Think it could be the Smith boys?”
“One of them, maybe.”
“Only one?”
“Appears to be. One body. And one backpack.”
Gamble called his office to request that the CSI be dispatched immediately, then went into the cave to view the scene for himself.
“There’s only one, all right. And it could be one of those boys you’re looking for. The body’s obviously been there for a long time, and I don’t recall that we’ve ever had reports of anyone else lost out this way.” Gamble paused and bit the inside of his cheek. “Wonder which one it is?”
“And if it is one of the Smiths, where,” Adam added, “is the other body?”
The crime scene investigators, dressed in the suits previously worn by Adam and Cole, ventured into the cave. The increased activity agitated the hive, and the two investigators were forced to leave until the bees settled down again, and then reentered, one at a time, lest the occupants be overly disturbed.
“I doubt they’ll swarm,” offered an entomologist they’d called in from a nearby college, “but with a hive that large, I wouldn’t want to risk it. I’d hate to anger a colony that large. There’s no telling what they’d do. Killer bees are unpredictable as it is, and I’ve never even read about a situation like this. I think the smartest thing to do at this point is to irritate them as little as possible, do your investigation around them, as surreptitiously as it can be done, and leave as quietly as you came.”
“Works for me,” one of the investigators had nodded, and flipped a coin to see who would be the first into the cave.
Several hours later, the remains were finally removed to a waiting ambulance, and the backpack carefully opened. Inside was a wallet. With the utmost care, Adam opened the wallet and withdrew a small white cardboard identification card. He turned it over and read the name aloud.
“Zachary Smith.”
“That’s him, then.” Gamble nodded slowly. “Zachary Smith.”
“Well, that’s Zachary’s backpack. We’ll see what the tests come up with as far as the positive ID is concerned.”
“You really expect that body to belong to anyone else?”
“Can’t think of any reason why it should,” Adam admitted, wondering how he was going to tell Kendra that they’d found what could well be her cousin, but no sign of her brother—and just what that could mean.
Chapter
Twenty
“Oh, Miss Smith. There you are.”
The young man called to Kendra from the back porch.
“I’m sorry,” he was saying, “I looked out before and didn’t see you.”
“Is something wrong?” Kendra rinsed her hands off under the garden hose. She was grimy and sweaty, but it had been good to spend the afternoon laboring at something. She’d felt out of sorts since leaving her house still in the hands of the police. It would be hours before their investigation would be completed, they’d told her, and it had unnerved her to learn that someone had had full and easy access to her home all along. She, who had always been so careful, so cautious. She’d been lucky to find Henry about to start planting in the Mission’s garden, pleased that he was one who enjoyed a little company at such times. It had kept her body moving and her mind occupied, for which she was grateful. Fortunately, Will Fletcher hadn’t much cared where they spent the time while they awaited the agent who’d been assigned to stay with Kendra. A glance at his watch, however, told him that they probably didn’t have too much more time before he got there, and that now would be a good time to start back