Unstoppable (5 page)

Madrone occupied a semiarid patch of land about a hundred miles west of the Pecos River. This was cattle country—hard, dry, rugged—and the people he saw in town seemed to mirror the land they worked. Despite being the county seat, Madrone was barely a spec on the map. It had three stoplights, two gas stations, and one bar, and the only motel looked to be a run-down hunting lodge on the south end of Main Street. The entire place had a parched feel to it, as if the blazing west Texas sun had sucked out all its energy.

Whatever Kelsey had wanted at this cow town sheriff’s office, Gage doubted she was going to get it.

Finally, she exited the little building, looking frustrated. It seemed to be her default expression, and he wondered if she was always this way or if it had been a rough summer.

She yanked open the passenger door and slid in.

“Where to?” he asked, firing up the engine. Hot air shot from the vents as he pulled onto Main. He glanced at the woman beside him. “Kelsey?”

She blinked at him, as if surprised by the question. “What?”

“Where to?”

Her eyes searched his, and he got the impression she still hadn’t processed his words. “Does it seem reasonable to you that in all of west Texas there isn’t
one
available cadaver dog?”

He gave up on getting any direction.

“I mean, how can that be possible?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“It isn’t possible. It’s crap. Sattler’s just too lazy or too stubborn to get me someone, even after I showed him evidence we’re probably dealing with a murder here. I get a deputy. That’s it. A few hours of unskilled labor from one of his rednecks, then I’m done.”

Gage pulled into a space in front of the town’s only restaurant, and Kelsey’s brow furrowed as she looked around.

“What are we doing?”

“Getting some lunch.” He pushed open his door.

“But I need to get back. Dr. Robles—”

“Can manage fine without you. Come on, I’m starved.”

She joined him on the sidewalk and glanced at the sign in front of them, then shot him a look. “You know this place is a grease pit, right? I think everything on the menu comes with a side of eggs.”

“Sounds perfect.” He pulled open the door to the diner and enjoyed the rush of cool air.

A waitress with big blond hair seated them at a booth near the window and handed them some menus. Kelsey tucked hers behind the napkin dispenser without looking at it, then proceeded to order the tuna melt. Gage scanned the menu and ordered the Cowboy Breakfast Platter.

When the waitress was gone, Gage settled his attention on Kelsey. She’d been in here before, obviously, probably grabbing a bite to eat with some of her students. Or was there one student in particular? That guy Aaron was very territorial. Gage could feel the man watching him whenever he got within ten feet of Kelsey, which was pretty much all the time. Aaron’s preoccupation seemed to go beyond professional interest, but from what Gage could tell it was a one-way street. At the dig site, Kelsey was completely wrapped up in her work, much like right now.

“Okay, spill it.” Gage rested his arm on the back of the seat. “What’s the problem?”

She blew out a sigh. “Sattler’s the problem. He’s not taking this seriously.”

“What’s to take seriously?”

“I think we’re dealing with a homicide. He should be all over this. The rest of the remains need to be recovered, and he needs to launch a murder investigation. Instead, you know what he’s doing today?”

“What?”

“Speed traps between here and I-10.”

“He told you that?”

“I overheard one of his deputies talking while I was waiting to meet with him.”

Their drinks came and they both downed half the glass in one gulp.

“How can you be sure this is a murder case?” Gage asked.

“I can’t, especially not until I have the other bones, but I definitely found signs.”

Gage lifted his eyebrows and waited.

“Tiny flecks of metal embedded in the mandible,” she said. “Probably the result of a bullet fired through the skull.”

“And you showed Sattler?”

“Whipped out my magnifying glass and everything. He wasn’t convinced.”

“So forget the cadaver dog. Why don’t you get a metal detector out there, see if you can find the bullet? If he was shot on site you might even get a shell casing.”

She leaned back against the booth and blinked at him.

“What?”

“You ever thought of becoming a cop?” she asked.

Gage glanced away. Life beyond the navy wasn’t something he talked about. But Spec Ops was a young man’s game, and he’d just turned thirty-two. He’d been doing a lot of soul-searching lately, especially since Kandahar.

Kelsey stirred her drink with a straw. “I sent the jaw off to the lab for testing. Before they run the metal, I’m going to have my friend Mia take a look at it. She’s a DNA tracer, and I’m hoping she can get something useful from the tooth pulp.”

“Don’t you need something to compare it to so you can get an ID?” Gage asked.

“There could be something already in the Missing Persons index. If there is, we’ll get his remains turned over to his family. If there isn’t, we’ll enter the DNA profile in case someone comes looking for him someday.”

Gage watched her, intrigued by the way she talked with so much emotion about a little chunk of bone. Obviously, to her, it represented a lot more than that.

Their food came and she immediately dug into her sandwich. She had an appetite, which didn’t surprise him given the amount of time she spent working outdoors. Gage had never cared much for skinny girls, but this one actually had some meat on her—in all the right places.

She caught him staring. “What?” she asked and took a slurp of Diet Coke.

“You keep saying ‘him.’ You’re sure it’s a man?”

She shrugged. “Mia can tell me for sure, but it looks that way, given the shape of the mental protuberance.”

“The who?”

She motioned him closer. He hesitated a second before resting his elbows on the table and leaning in.

“The mental protuberance.” She rubbed her index finger over his chin. “It tends to have a square edge and be thicker for males.” Her finger moved to the side of his jaw. “And the gonial angle here? In males it’s usually more flared.”

She dropped her hand away and picked up a french fry. “Anyway, we’ll know the sex for sure when Mia runs the DNA. I also found some interesting dental work.”

“Oh, yeah?” Not that he gave a damn whatsoever. Gage forked up a bite of eggs and tried to shut out the thoughts racing through his head.

“Two porcelain fillings. It goes a long way toward disproving Sattler’s theory.”

“And what’s Sattler’s theory?”

“That we’re dealing with an illegal immigrant, maybe a drug runner who got himself into trouble down near the river. It would be surprising for someone like that to have this sort of dental work.”

Kelsey checked her watch and signaled the waitress. “Do you mind if we go soon? I really want to get back before that deputy shows up.” She smiled slightly. “Robles hates idle hands. If he sees him just sitting there, he’s liable to put him on bucket duty.”

“I know all about bucket duty.”

The waitress reappeared and Gage took the check. He reached for his wallet but Kelsey deftly snatched away the bill.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said. “You slept in your truck last night. The least I can do is feed you.”

Sattler’s deputy hadn’t shown up by the time they made it back to camp, so Kelsey went ahead without him.

She cherry-picked a team of her most capable students and started them at the highway. Their skeptical expressions told her they thought she was off base, that the search should have focused on the place where the mandible had been found. But when she’d mapped the area last night, she’d decided to start with a swath of land about a hundred yards north, her logic being that whoever had brought the victim here—dead or alive—had probably come via the highway and wouldn’t have wanted to stray too far off course. Scavengers could have moved the bones, whether they’d been left in the open or buried in a shallow grave.

And so it began, the painstaking process of combing the ground, inch by inch, beneath the blistering Texas sun. At the outset energy was high. The students seemed to welcome a break in their routine, and Kelsey was counting on their enthusiasm to make up for their lack of formal training. This wasn’t a search and recovery squad, but she’d worked with volunteers before, and she knew what to expect.

And as expected walking at a snail’s pace, head down, in the scorching heat eventually lost its appeal. Muscles ached. Eyes burned. Minds began to wander. After four hours of fruitless searching, she could tell everyone was ready to get back to the relative comfort of the caves and tarps.

Everyone but Gage. He worked doggedly, without complaint, looking totally undaunted by both the climate and the task.

For the millionth time this afternoon, Kelsey checked her watch. Still no deputy. Her temper festered. What could be keeping him? And why hadn’t Sattler so much as put in an appearance today? Kelsey didn’t understand how he could be so blasé about a potential murder within his jurisdiction.

“Whoa, check it out!”

Kelsey’s head snapped up at the gleeful words. Rohit, a PhD candidate in cultural anthropology, had dropped to his knees beside a prickly pear cactus.

“I think it’s a femur.”

Kelsey and the rest of the team rushed over. It was, indeed, a femur. But was it animal or human? She would need to examine a cortex sample under a microscope to be sure. But the size looked good, as did the joint surfaces.

A shadow fell over her and she glanced up to see Gage.

“You look excited,” he said.

“This is good. A femur will tell us a lot. Stature, sex, probably PMI.”

“PMI?”

“Postmortem interval. The time since death. I can look at a cross section and get an idea.” She turned to Rohit. “Could you get my camera bag?”

He sprinted off, and the rest of the team wandered away to find shade and break out their canteens.

Gage crouched down beside her, shielding her from the sun with his body. “You sure it’s not from a cow or something?”

“We’ll find out. But my hunch says it’s our guy. Now we just need the rest of him.” She glanced around. They’d crossed over to the west side of the road, but they weren’t far from it, maybe sixty yards. She was gaining more confidence in her roadside execution theory.

Gage stood up and shrugged out of his backpack. “Nice work, Dr. Quinn.” He unzipped the pack and handed her a bottle of water. “Now, drink up. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

She stood up and swigged, then passed back the bottle. He took a long gulp, and her stomach fluttered as she watched his throat move.

“Thanks for helping,” she said. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

He screwed the cap back on. “Now you tell me.”

She felt a pang of guilt. “You could knock off for the day. If you’re tired—”

“Who says I’m tired?” The side of his mouth curled up.

“You’re sweating.”

“It’s hot.”

“Yeah, well, I’d think you’d be more into water sports.”

He gave her a quizzical look.

“You’re a SEAL. We’re in the desert.”

“Sea-Air-Land, SEAL.” He smiled fully now. “Didn’t your uncle teach you anything?”

His eyes twinkled with amusement as he gazed down at her. It was the first time he’d smiled at her, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe.

Don’t do it, Kelsey. Don’t you dare fall for this beautiful man who has to leave in a few days.

She looked away—at the ground, the road, the cactus. Anything but Gage.

And that’s when she spotted him.

“Sattler’s guy showed,” Gage said.

Kelsey set off toward him. “It’s about goddamned time.”

It was the
perfect night. Clear. Breezy. The temperature had even dipped below ninety. It was an ideal time to be out with friends, sitting at one of the riverfront bars, laughing and drinking margaritas.

Instead, Mia Voss was headed home to an empty apartment, and the computer bag slung over her shoulder was stuffed with unfinished reports.

She reached for her keys just as her purse started to glow and sing. She checked the number on her phone. Darn it, she’d forgotten to call Kelsey.

“I’m
so
sorry,” Mia said, juggling computer, purse, and phone as she slid behind the wheel of her Jeep. “Yes, I got your message. And yes, he brought the bone.”

Silence on the other end.

“Kelsey?”

“
Who
brought the bone?”

“The sheriff’s guy.” Mia backed out of her space and nestled the phone in her lap so she could shift gears. “He had a ten-gallon hat and everything. Very
Lonesome Dove.
”

“You’re telling me Sheriff Sattler had someone personally deliver my package to the Delphi Center?”

“You sound surprised,” Mia said.

“I am. So far, he hasn’t had the slightest interest in this case. At least, I thought he hadn’t.”

“Well, evidently someone’s interested, because this guy was under strict orders
not
to simply leave the package with the evidence clerk. He had me paged down to the lobby to make sure I knew that his item had arrived and it was top priority.”

“I’m shocked,” Kelsey said. “Did you have the heart to tell him the true meaning of top priority around there? And why am I on speaker phone?”

“I’m in the Jeep,” Mia said. “Stick shift and cell phones don’t mix.”

“It’s after ten. Don’t tell me you’re just leaving work.”

“Okay, I won’t. Actually, I’m glad you called. There’s a chance your case could get bumped to the front of my line. What’s your estimate of the postmortem interval on this thing?”

Kelsey paused. “I’d say six months to a year.”

“Hmm . . .”

“That’s a loaded
hmm.
What’s going on?”

The Delphi Center’s electronic gates parted. Mia waved at the guard and rolled through, then turned onto the two-lane highway that would take her into San Marcos.