Page 67 of Preying Game

Chapter 19

“Christ, what’s that?” Jonah muttered.

The words were hardly out of his mouth when a powerful flashlight beam hit him in the face.

“Hands in the air, don’t move.”

The three men froze.

Jonah recognized the voice. It was Officer Daniels, the cop who had chased them off the estate the first time. He must have spotted something going on over here, turned off his lights, and crept up on the action.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.

To his companions Jonah said in a low voice, “Watch it. This guy is trigger happy.” To the cop, he said, “We’re unarmed. We came back to look for the bodies I told you about.”

“Unarmed?” The cop had a dilemma now. He had three suspects who might be up to no good, but he couldn’t search them because while he was busy with one guy, the others might get the drop on him.

“How do you know about any bodies?” he demanded. What he should have done was call for immediate backup, Jonah thought, but he wasn’t going to make helpful suggestions.

Jonah had been mulling over an answer to that question all evening. Now he said, “The granddaughter of one of the victims always suspected that Arthur Hayward was responsible for her grandmother’s disappearance. She hired Decorah Security to see if we could find the body and prove what had happened.”

“You said five bodies.”

“Our research told us there were likely five victims.”

“That sounds like a cock and bull story. You got a guard dog in the vehicle. What are you here to steal?”

“Nothing,” Frampton answered.

“And who the hell are you?”

“I am Douglas Frampton, a licensed cadaver dog handler. The animal in the vehicle is not a guard dog. She locates human remains, and she found five bodies on this property.”

“Prove it.”

“We can take you to the graves,” Jonah said.

“Yeah, because you put the stiffs there,” Daniels said.

Jonah suspected the response meant the guy wasn’t going to release them now. This small-town cop was such a dick that Jonah wanted to scream, but he kept his voice even. “I told you last time. These are cold cases. The women disappeared in the late fifties or early sixties. I wasn’t born then.”

“Nor was I,” Grant added.

“And I was a toddler,” Frampton said. “The remains are completely skeletonized. We reburied them.”

“Why?”

“To keep predators from getting to them,” Jonah answered.

“We’ll have a look at the graves in the morning,” Daniels snapped. “Meanwhile, you three are under arrest for trespassing.”

“Jesus,” Jonah muttered under his breath.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing.”

“What about my dog?” Frampton asked.

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