Page 7 of Only Girl Alive

Though she considered her stepbrother a huge problem, he occasionally showed compassion. According to doctrine, children belonged to God and were not to be coveted by parents. Women were property and sold as such, holding only the value they could bring through marriage. From his intonation, Aaron was relieved Hannah had survived and he was sad the women had died. Eve had lived with her stepbrother for many years and had seen different sides to his personality. For example, he cared about his mother and protected her from punishment on several occasions. Polygamist families rarely kept secrets from those who ruled the community. Because of Aaron, his mother’s worst transgressions weren’t reported.

“The boy, age fifteen, was Elijah,” Aaron said, breaking into her thoughts. “He worked with his father and uncle at the cement plant. Marcella was his biological mother.”

Silence filled the line.

“Is that all you have?” Eve finally asked. “Or are we going to play the same game we always do where you make it as hard as possible for me to solve a case?” Her anger had faded to annoyance. She was able to think more clearly now that she knew there wasn’t a missing child held by those who murdered a family so viciously.

“And do your best to get me fired, you forgot to add,” Aaron muttered snidely.

“Yes, I forgot that small piece of info.” They both knew he was an elected official and firing wasn’t a possibility. A judge would need to find him guilty of a felony to get him out of office. “I’ll try harder this time,” she said anyway. “Where do you want to have a sit-down to go over the preliminary findings so I can read this statement you have? I would rather not do it outside in this weather.”

Her stepbrother never took strides to accommodate her team. Because of this they brought a forensic van that held most of what they needed and slept in a local hotel. Tamm, Eve’s secretary, had already lined up rooms for them. Eve knew she had a waiting email with the information along with a list of local eating establishments to make their stay easier. The town was growing rapidly with new restaurants and hotels. Tamm assured Eve she had booked them rooms in a hotel that had recently opened. The last time they had stayed in this town, they ran into continuous plumbing problems and nearly froze each time they showered.

“We can use my office,” her stepbrother offered.

She accepted graciously though she was still angry over his non-disclosure of the young girl. Eve gave Aaron a heads-up on the next steps her team would be taking.

“My people will start processing the scene during our meeting. The longer it takes, the longer the pathologist’s office will be held up because, as you know, I take my own photos and process the bodies myself. The medical examiner’s vans for transport should arrive in a few hours.”

Eve always tagged the dead, and once the techs bagged the deceased, she secured the closures with tape, and went personally to all homicide autopsies. This kept a clear chain of custody on the body evidence so her cases were never compromised. To do that, she had to make sure the evidence tape with her initials was intact when the pathologist first inspected the bodies. These small details won cases and no matter the problems her stepbrother caused, this case would go by the book.

“Anything else?” His tone conveyed he hoped there wasn’t.

“I’ll need local law enforcement available to hold the crime scene when we aren’t here.”

“How long will you need them?” he ground out.

“Shouldn’t be more than two weeks.” She didn’t say seven days, which was the most likely case. If something came up, she didn’t want to fight over the extra time.

“Two weeks?” he barked in his usual manner.

“I have four dead bodies inside a home compound. One is a child. If I want the house locked down for a month and need assistance from local law enforcement for that long, you will make sure it’s done.”

“Are you finished throwing your weight around?” Aaron snapped.

Eve took a breath and then another. Her stepbrother always knew the buttons to push. Though in his youth he had shown compassion for his mother, it didn’t extend to Eve. He’d been the cause of her childhood missed ice cream days. He’d punched her in the arms and stomach, shoved her down continually when no one was watching, and kicked her where bruises didn’t show. He then lied about her torn and dirty dresses to get her into trouble. As a female, it was Eve’s job to stay sweet and not incite her siblings, especially the boys. Aaron’s treatment was abusive and controlling. He bragged endlessly that someday he would be Eve’s husband and she would suffer for every transgression she’d ever made. He’d terrified her back then and she would have accepted an older man if it meant staying out of Aaron’s reach.

“You’re in charge of the media,” she told him. “You have a circus coming your way after this makes national news. I know the church prides itself on secrecy but you and I both know lips are already flapping. I also want any household keys you’re in possession of.”

“How do I speak to the media when you don’t tell me anything?” he demanded, his voice rising.

“Don’t worry. I’ll give you just enough to help you do the job.” They didn’t bother with goodbyes. Eve hit the end button and called Tamm.

“Have two medical examiner vans sent to my location: four dead. It could be hours before the bodies are processed but I want them on the way.”

“Got it,” she said. “How are you holding up?”

Tamm was the mother hen of their group. She was fifty years old and a bit of a hippy. Her long red hair streaked with gray frizz accented her heart-shaped face and large mouth. Her glare of green-eyed death was legendary and made you want to cross yourself even if you were not Catholic. She wore gauzy skirts down to her socks with Birkenstock sandals. She had an endless supply of long beaded necklaces that clacked together in a comforting chime when she walked. Tamm had explained her thoughts on life to Eve shortly after she started working for her: Live and let live and die if you want to. After Eve got past the shock, she shrugged her shoulders and accepted Tamm for who she was: a woman who danced to her own drum and one who breathed fire when she had a goal.

“I’m heading to my stepbrother’s office to tackle the monster in his den. Does that answer your question?”

“Practice your breathing exercises on the way.”

Tamm had a guru response for everything.

“Will do, gotta go,” Eve said, and turned to her team after ending the call.

“I’ll drive myself to Aaron’s office,” she said. “While I’m out, I’ll check into our rooms. Start processing the scene and I’ll get back as quickly as I can. Get my photo markers in place and I’ll take the pictures before DNA and print collection.” Photographing evidence was different than the photos she took in the initial walk-through. The first images gave a general feel of the entire scene and sometimes the photos showed a larger picture than the ones taken as evidence. She would be reviewing the initial images that evening at the hotel to see if they had overlooked anything.

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