Page 16 of Immortal By Morning
“What?” Abril interrupted with amazement. “A porta potty? And tomorrow? They won’t be done today?”
“Oh.” Peters blinked at her questions, glanced nervously toward where Detectives Delacort and Roberts were walking Lilith, and then turned back with resignation and said, “I guess they didn’t tell you about the other skeleton.”
“The other skeleton?” Abril echoed with confusion. “What other skeleton?”
“Apparently, while working on the first set of skeletal remains—the skull Lilith first revealed,” he added to clarify for her, “while working on that, they uncovered evidence of at least one more victim near it. So, if the hands in the other corner don’t belong to the bones in the first area, then there are four sets of skeletal remains that need to be uncovered, catalogued, photographed, and removed. It’s a pretty lengthy process.”
“How lengthy?” Abril asked, dread building in the pit of her stomach.
“Porta potty long,” Peters said simply.
Taking that to mean the man had no idea exactly how long it would take, Abril cleared her throat and asked, “You can’t even give me an estimate?”
Peters shook his head. “Sorry. There’s only been one other case where a body had to be exhumed since I transferred here from Windsor. It took two, maybe three days to handle that one, but it was only one body. They’re dealing with two to four here, and possibly more. I really can’t say how long it will take.”
Abril was fretting over that when he added reassuringly, “It’ll get faster once the archeology students get here.”
“Archaeology students?” Abril echoed with confusion.
“Yes. I guess an archaeology professor at the university is a friend of Bill’s, the head of our forensics team, and the professor has agreed to bring his class out tomorrow to help out. They both think it will be a learning experience for them.”
“A learning experience?” Abril tilted her head slightly as her mind raced. “Are they thinking this is an old gravesite for native Americans, after all?”
“No,” he told her regretfully.
“Because the bones are too close to the house,” she said for him.
“Yes,” Peters agreed.
“Then how will it be a learning experience exactly?” she asked, not understanding that part.
“I gather that exhuming murder victims uses pretty much the same techniques as they use at archaeological digs. And this isn’t the first time the professor has brought his students to watch the retrieval of skeletal remains, although it was only one skeleton at a timebefore this. So, of course, usually the students only get to watch, since all of them working around one body would be more disruptive than anything. But Bill apparently plans to put the students to work this time to speed up the dig. The professor’s graduating class will help remove the skeletons and the dirt around them.”
“I’m sorry, the dirt around them?” Abril asked with uncertainty.
Peters nodded. “As well as the dirt from directly on top of them.” When she simply stared at him blankly, he realized more explanation was needed. “You see when skeletal remains are found and foul play is suspected, they take any dirt around the remains in case there is evidence in the soil that might help identify the victims, or explain how they died, or even help identify the murderer.”
Abril considered his words, her mind slowly computing what she’d just learned. What it boiled down to was that it looked as if there were going to be police, forensics people, and archaeological students around for quite a while. For days, possibly weeks. Which meant the renovations would be delayed again... at least until the bodies were removed and the scene cleared for the construction crew to continue their work.
None of this was good news, but there was nothing that could be done about it. The only way that might’ve avoided all of this was if she had dug up and got rid of the bones herself rather than call the police. Which, of course, she would never have done even had she known the trouble the bones were going to cause. Well... probably she wouldn’t have.
“Right,” she said finally, running a hand through herhair. Letting it drop to her side, she said, “You don’t need to bring in a porta potty. They can use the bathroom here. You too, of course, and any other officers who have to be on site.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind of you. I’ll let the others know.”
When he then hesitated on the step, she asked, “Do you need it now? You mentioned not wanting more coffee because then you’d have to—”
“Yeah,” Peters interrupted with a smile. “If you don’t mind?”
“Not at all,” she assured him and stepped back to let him enter, saying, “I’ll make you that second coffee in the meantime.”
She closed the door behind him once Peters was in. When he paused in the entry, she assumed he was going to take his shoes off. As she started into the kitchen, she pointed out, “There’s a bench right there that you can sit on to take off your shoes.”
“Yeah.”
It was the concerned sound to his voice more than anything that made her pause to look at him. He was still standing, staring into the living room with a frown.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, returning to his side and peering at the room now as well. The entry was actually almost part of the living room. The only thing delineating the two spaces being the flooring, marble in the entry area, carpet in the living room.
