Page 52 of Operation: Discovery

Dee slipped the gloves on. “You mean, ‘now’ right? Whatever is in the grass could’ve been here for a long time or for two days.”

He gave a quick nod. “That’s correct. We’re running under the belief that this building was largely left abandoned until a few days ago. We’ve talked to the farmers surrounding it and they haven’t seen anyone parked here. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen, but that’s the assumption we’re running under in this case.”

“Understood,” she said. “Where would we be the most help?”

He pointed over to the east side of the building, where the grass was almost three feet tall. “We need to look through there. I can show you how if you want, but the two important things are that you go slowly and that you catalog anything you find and where you find it.” He showed her the evidence bag and handed her a marker pen.

“We have a map in my car where we’re logging the location of everything we’ve found. So, call out if you find anything and I can log it.”

Dee paled slightly. “You’ve found things?”

The officer looked away for a moment. “A few bone fragments, but they could be animal. We won’t know until the lab looks at them.”

Brendon prayed they were nothing. This area of Piper’s Ridge was rural. Hunting animals was common practice and there were plenty of predatory animals around that had to eat, too. The bones absolutely could be animal. That’s what he’d believe until he had to believe otherwise.

“Will you be able to look from your chair, or do you want to be on the ground?” Dee asked.

He hated being on the ground. Not only was it one of the most difficult places to start from to get back into his chair, but it was dirty, and he hated feeling grimy. He couldn’t just walk around, so that meant he had to sit in the dirt. But from his chair, he was no help because he couldn’t do much more than move the grass out of the way from up in his chair.

“I’ll be on the ground.”

“Then I’ll join you there.” She smiled at him and headed for the far corner of the building.

Brendon was thankful his chair was built to go over sand, gravel, uneven turf, and pretty much anywhere he wanted to go, because the grass hadn’t been mowed in a long time. Even though the officers had trampled the area in the front, making it slightly easier to roll over, the ground wasn’t even after years of neglect.

Dee tugged her sweatshirt off over her head and laid it on the grass that had already been searched. She kneeled on the shirt and ran her fingers through the grass, gently waving it back and forth to see down to the ground beneath.

Brendon slowly lowered himself carefully out of his chair. He’d had to work for years to be able to get out without tipping his chair or toppling over. Once on the ground, he had to arrange his legs so that he could sit without them getting in his way. Dee smiled encouragingly at him, making him feel a little better about the situation.

He didn’t like to slip into the type of thinking Rebecca was stuck in at the moment, that he was somehow less than normal because he couldn’t walk. Walking was only a means of transportation, and hehadtransportation. The trouble was when he had to be away from that means of movement, he felt awkward and less able than usual.

Once his legs were in position so he could carefully work, he realized that moving would be the hardest part of the job. He could search in his designated area, but once he’d done a thorough search, he’d have to move using his hands which was easier side to side than forward since his legs got in the way of forward movement.

Dee worked alongside him, quietly working in the one-foot by one-foot square she’d started in. “I feel like I should pull the grass out to see what’s under all the dead grass at the base. Know what I mean?” She tilted her head to him.

“I’m not sure if that would help or not.” He ran his fingers along the ground, feeling for anything that didn’t feel like grass.

“Maybe that would just make a mess. No one else pulled it out and that officer said they’d found evidence.” She mimicked his movements, then turned her face up to the sun and stretched her neck.

She probably didn’t think she was beautiful since she never had when she was younger, but he’d thought she was gorgeous from moment one. That first day she’d sat by his bed, smiled down at him, and asked him if he was ready to try sitting up without help, he’d thought she was amazing in every way.

She finished her square and moved to his other side, using a few sticks to stake the area where she would look. He soon finished his own and moved his area to her other side. They’d worked for about an hour when the rumble of a vehicle broke the silence around them. Cars were so rare that all five of the people searching stopped to look.

A dark car sped down the road with its window half open, music blaring from inside. Brendon watched the car, his senses on alert. Dee ignored it, humming to herself as she picked through the undergrowth.

A loud shot burst from the car as it sped by, hitting one of the officers working on the other side of the building. Brendon shoved Dee down and covered her as best he could, hoping the long grass would provide more cover.

She trembled under him, and he fought the fears that reared up inside him. He was trapped there. His chair was a few feet away and he couldn’t easily get to it. If he did, he’d be a clear target if that car turned around and decided to drive by again for another shot.

“Todd?” one of the officers inside yelled.

“I’m hit,” the other answered, sucking in his breath and groaning.

“Dee, we could use your help over here,” Conner yelled. “Hold on, man. Dee’s a nurse. She’ll take care of you until the ambulance can get here.”

Dee pushed against Brendon’s chest, but he didn’t want to let her go. What if he let her up and she got shot? He couldn’t protect her over there.

“Brendon, I have to go.” Dee looked up at him, her eyes confident in her ability.

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