Page 14 of Gem Warfare

“I got the fright of my life,” said Carrie. “I knew right away it was a human skeleton. I’m a doctor. I’ve seen enough of them in medical school to know a real one when I see it, even if itiscaked in dirt.”

“I just happened to be walking past when I heard a yelp. Since the fence was down, I figured I’d make sure no one was hurt,” said Mom.

“We were concentrating so hard on the body that we didn’t even hear Mrs. Graves come into the yard. We got a second fright when she spoke and then it was just such a relief that we were all stood there, agreeing we weren’t seeing things andwere, in fact, seeing the same thing,” said Carrie. “Pete got on his phone to call the police, and Mrs. Graves said we should call you too. She said if anyone could figure out why there’s a body in our yard, it would be you.”

“That’s nice of you, Mom,” I said. “But youdoremember your oldest son is a homicide detective?”

“Homicide!” Carrie clapped a hand to her chest, her eyes widening.

I pulled a face, realizing my faux pas. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that’s what it is. Only that human remains in your yard is suspicious so it’s likely there will be an investigation into the death and improper burial. My brother is the type of detective who would ascertain if there were any wrongdoing, and how the body came to be buried in your yard.”

“But he would be on the side of the police. If you hire Lexi, she’ll be on your side,” said Mom.

I flashed her a look. On the one hand, it was nice she was trying to drum up business. On the other, the Dugans looked even more worried. Plus, I wasn’t sure what Mom was trying to say about my detective brothers. Or my ex-detective dad.

“There’s no way we could have done this,” said Pete. “We only brought the house three months ago!”

“I’m sure the body has been in the ground much longer than that,” said Carrie. “I’m not an expert on decomposition but I’m positive that the body was put there long before we gained ownership, and we can guarantee no one had any opportunity to place it here since we bought the house.”

“How can you guarantee that?” asked Solomon.

“We put up security cameras as soon as we could. We couldn’t move in immediately because of the work that needed to be done. Then a friend of ours scared us with a story about squatters moving into their friend’s newly bought home and the expensive legal fight to get them out so we wanted to put upcameras for some peace of mind. We put one at the front of the house and one at the back,” said Pete. “The only time we get an alert, it’s a cat.”

“It’s pretty annoying,” added Carrie, with an eye roll that seemed to momentarily distract her from her worries. “But I’d be more worried if we hadn’t installed the cameras. It’s costing us more than we anticipated for the renovation and a legal fight would be more than we could afford.”

“The point is we would absolutely have been alerted by the system if someone decided to bury a body while they thought the house was unoccupied. The system records everything and we can access the recordings any time.”

“I’m convinced its burial pre-dates us moving here,” said Carrie. She rubbed her arms and glanced toward the yard, worry written across her face.

“Damn right it does,” scoffed Pete. He darted a glance towards the backyard, his jaw stiff.

“Security was a smart choice,” said Solomon. “Make sure to offer the police access to the system when they ask so they can rule you out of any inquiries.”

“There’s going to be an investigation, isn’t there?” asked Carrie. She folded her arms across her chest, almost hugging herself.

I nodded. “Almost certainly. The police will want to know how the deceased came to be that way, and how they got into your backyard.”

“What are the neighbors going to think of us?” Carrie asked as she looked around. “I know it’s selfish to think that way but we just moved here. They must all have seen the police car by now.”

“They’ll be feeling awful sorry for you,” said Mom, reaching to pat her arm. “No one will think badly of you and hardly anyone will think you did it.”

Carrie let out an upset squeak and clasped her hand over her mouth.

I flashed a look at my mom. She shrugged and raised hands in surrender, mouthing, “What did I say?”

Flashing lights appeared in the periphery of my vision before two dark, unmarked, sedans rolled to a stop. I turned away, ignoring the slamming of the doors until the police officers emerged from the backyard burial site and moved to greet them.

I twisted to see who had arrived. A familiar face made me smile.

“Hi, Garrett!” I called, waving to my brother as I seized the opportunity to be not only noticed but acknowledged by the most senior ranking officer on scene. It wasn’t often I got to work with two of my brothers in one day, a fact that didn’t seem to have reached my mom yet. Long may that continue.

“Not a surprise to see you here,” said Garrett, his face an expressionless mask. “I hear it’s been an evening of mayhem.” Then he spotted my mom and swallowed a groan. “Or you,” he added. “Stay here, all of you. I mean it.” He barely broke stride as he spoke, waving a stern finger, and then he was past us, disappearing through the hole in the fence into the yard. As I began to follow him, one of the officers blocked my way. Then Solomon, my mom and the Dugans joined me. I thought about getting them to rush to one side and distract the officer while I made it through but it didn’t seem fair with five against one. Plus, Garrett would shout at me.

Stepping to one side of the officer, who seemed content with allowing us to watch so long as we didn’t edge past, I regarded the scene of devastation that had once been a yard. Piles of dirt were heaped around the corner lot, shrubbery had been cut back, but the flower beds were long overgrown, shapeless, and weedy. The area spanning the length of the back of the house had been cleared but not leveled and a pallet of stone pavershad been deposited close to the fence disruption. A shovel lay abandoned on the ground where the yard level abruptly rose up.

Garrett came to a stop by a pile of dirt, knelt and surveyed the scene. He pulled on gloves and reached for something, taking a long look at whatever he found.

“Should we hire you to represent us?” asked Pete, watching Garrett examine the ground.

---