Page 5 of Immortal By Morning
Crispin nodded. Being immortal, or a vampire as most mortals would call them, had its advantages. Having the time to build up personal wealth was just one of them.
“The owner of this house is a mortal,” Roberts went on. “How the hell were they able to afford this? For that matter, how the hell have all the mortals on this street been able to afford these homes?”
Crispin shrugged and peered toward the house again. “Hard work maybe. Or inheritance and hard work,” he added as his gaze landed on the man, woman, and dog standing in front of the house. The man was a patrolman in uniform, one he knew, Officer Tim Peters. He was a smart guy with aspirations of becoming a detective himself someday. He’d been on hand at more than a few of the murders they’d investigated over the last several years.
His gaze moved on to the woman and dog; a pretty, petite blonde who couldn’t be more than thirty years old, and a yellow Labrador retriever on a leash. The woman was young to have the kind of success thatwould land her in the largest house on the largest property on this crescent.
Roberts seemed to agree and as he parked next to the patrol car, he commented, “I’m thinking inheritance or a lottery win, most like.”
Once out of the vehicle and moving toward the pair, Crispin noted that the pretty blonde was presently looking somewhat stressed. Not surprising, he supposed. Finding a body in your garden had to be something of a shock, but that wasn’t all that was stressing her, he realized when she greeted them.
“Thank God, you didn’t come in a police car. It’s bad enough having one police car here. As it is, Gina will have fits about that and the gossip it will no doubt cause in the neighborhood. But a second one would definitely be an issue.”
Crispin exchanged a glance with Roberts at her words. It was true they had an unmarked car. However, the neighborhood would soon be crawling with cops and technicians, all of them arriving in police vehicles bearing the London Police logo.
Fortunately, Peters saved them from having to admit as much when he said, “Ma’am, these are detectives Roberts and Delacort. Sirs, this is Miss Abril Newman. She’s house-sitting for the homeowner, a Ms. Gina”—he flipped back a few pages in the small notepad he held and finished—“Ms. Gina Spaldine. She’s presently vacationing in Italy.”
Crispin nodded at the woman, “Miss Newman.”
After Roberts also greeted her, Crispin glanced to Peters and raised his eyebrows. “So, what do we have here? The report was a body in the garden?”
“Ah, yes. Actually, it’s not a garden anymore. It apparently was at one time, and part of it still was prior to this, but they were digging it up for the foundation of a planned addition,” Peters explained, leading them to stand in front of a large hole along the right side of the house. It was about twenty feet wide, nine or ten feet long, and about five feet deep. “Apparently the excavator broke down, the men left and Lilith”—he paused to explain—“the Labrador retriever. She dug up the skull. It’s really a skeleton, not a body.”
Crispin and Roberts followed his pointing finger to the disturbed area five feet below the sliding doors where a human skull was half uncovered.
“I’m just going to take Lilith for a bit of a walk around the yard while you catch them up. If that’s okay, Officer Peters?” Abril Newman asked and Crispin glanced around to see that she was standing back and struggling to hold onto the Lab as it fought to follow them to the hole.
“Of course. Go ahead,” Peters said, and then glanced quickly to Crispin and Roberts in question as he realized that he was no longer in charge of the scene now that the two detectives had arrived.
“That’s fine,” Crispin assured him.
Relaxing, Peters told the woman, “We’ll shout when the detectives are ready to talk to you.”
Offering a quick smile and nod, Abril Newman headed for the open yard beyond the excavator, having to use a lot of strength and effort to drag the Lab with her. The animal seemed desperate to return to the bones she’d uncovered.
“The dog dug up the skull?” Roberts asked. “Not the construction crew?”
“Yes, sir,” Peters affirmed. “Not just the skull either. She got loose while Miss Newman was talking to me and started to dig up what I think are parts of a second body in the opposite corner over there. A pair of hands.”
Eyebrows rising, Crispin managed to pull his attention from Abril Newman’s curvy behind to peer at the officer with sharp interest, but it was Roberts who asked, “There’s more than one set of remains?”
Peters hesitated, and then said, “Well, it’s either a second skeleton or it belongs to the skull and the body was chopped up and spread around the area.”
Crispin immediately jumped lightly down into the hole to get a better look at the revealed skull, fully expecting Roberts to follow. Instead, the man said, “I’ll be right back.”
Surprised, Crispin watched his partner rush back to their car. It wasn’t until he opened the trunk and reached in to grab the hand broom and dustpan kept there that Crispin understood what he was doing. Roberts had bought the hand broom to clean up any messes in the vehicle after another detective had apparently eaten donuts in the car and left a dusting of white powder everywhere. After a brief look through the trunk for anything else of use, Roberts closed it.
Knowing his partner would join him momentarily, Crispin squatted next to the skull to get a closer look. The forehead down to the jaw was on view, the eye sockets and nose hole were filled with the dark, almost black earth surrounding it, but everything else was pretty dirt free, almost like the skull had been washed.
“Miss Newman suspects the Lab was licking the skull before she found her and saw what she was upto,” Peters said suddenly from where he still stood at the edge of the hole, looking down at him. “Apparently, the Lab likes to eat dirt for some reason.”
Crispin grunted and then glanced to Roberts as he dropped into the hole and squatted beside him.
“Let us see if it is just the skull or not,” Roberts muttered. Given that the earth was so damp, he bypassed the hand broom for the dustpan and began to cautiously sweep away the top layer of dirt, starting just below the jaw. He was careful only to scrape a light layer away, then another and another. After that, he switched to using his hand to brush the dirt aside until he uncovered bone. The cervical vertebrae of the neck, Crispin recognized, and picked up the broom to brush away the now light dusting of dirt left on the neck bones as Roberts continued his own efforts farther down and in a much wider sweep.
“I think this is the clavicle,” Roberts said suddenly.
Crispin stopped what he was doing to examine the results of his partner’s efforts. Roberts had cleared away enough dirt to reveal the rotting remains of part of a shirt and what appeared to be a clavicle showing where the collar was open.
