Page 47 of Girl Lost
The men stood up and shifted uncomfortably.
“Yeah,” Brock said. “We were just ... you know, looking around.”
“Looking around? Out here?” Corbin glanced over his shoulder.
Brock looked at Levi and said, “Salvaging parts. Looking to see if we could find anything worth selling.”
“I had to take a ... you know...” Levi’s eyes darted to hers, the ground, then back to Corbin. “Anyway, I went to find a tree. Maizie here followed me cuz I hardly ever have her on a leash. But while I ... uh ... did my business, Maizie took off barking. I called and called, but she wouldn’t listen. Wouldn’t come back. That’s not like her.” He reached down and patted her side. “She’s always so obedient. But she was onto something. I was worried about gators and coyotes so close to the Everglades, so I hollered for Brock to help me track her down.”
Brock picked up the story. “We finally found ’er, but she wasway in there, digging like crazy. Levi had to put her on the leash to drag her away.” He shook his head. “Could smell something awful. Thought she’d found a dead animal or something. That’s when I saw it. Something weird. Like a clump of hair. I crouched down to get a closer look. Pushed some dirt away ... and there was a ... a...” Luna saw his Adam’s apple roll. “A human ear.”
She turned to look at the woods. The stillness. The silence.
For a moment, the junkyard faded away. Luna was back in that dusty marketplace. Bodies lay strewn across the ground, limbs at unnatural angles. A child’s doll, stained crimson, rested in a pool of blood. Lifeless eyes stared back at her. She blinked hard, forcing the images away. This wasn’t that war-torn country. She was here, with Corbin, facing a different kind of tragedy.
“You guys did the right thing by calling it in,” Corbin said.
“We appreciate your help,” she offered. Especially when their reasons for being out here were less than legal. They didn’t have to report what they’d found. Could’ve hauled it out of here and had a wild story to tell their friends.
“You did good too.” Corbin crouched and scratched behind Maizie’s muddy ears. “Such a good girl.” He stood and dusted off his hands. “Mind hanging tight for a while longer? We might have a few more questions. I’ll get someone to bring Maizie some water. You guys too.”
Luna noticed he’d added the humans last, and she kind of liked that about him.
The men nodded and sat on their buckets. Brock and Levi both petted Maizie and gave her praise. It probably brought them more comfort than it did Maizie. Dogs had a way of doing that for people.
Corbin headed for the wooded area, and Luna followed. He glanced at her sideways. “You sure you’re up for this?”
She squared her shoulders and nodded. “I can think of a million other things I’d rather be doing, but yeah.”
“Me too,” he muttered.
Her gaze swept over the boat graveyard. The sinking sun bathedthe junkyard in an amber glow, a fleeting moment of beauty before darkness swallowed the scene. A shiver slithered down her spine, and it wasn’t from the humidity.
They walked into the woods, following a narrow path that curved through a tangle of palmetto bushes, towering pines, and strangler figs that wrapped their tendrils around ancient oaks. The humid air was thick with the scent of pine needles and damp earth.
And something else. Something sickly sweet. Decay.
The path opened into a small clearing. A blue tarp had been strung between two trees, creating a makeshift tent. Floodlights illuminated the area, casting an eerie glow on the scene. Two officers stood guard, their faces pale and drawn. Hands hooked on their duty belts.
A woman wearing a polo embroidered with the Broward County Medical Examiner’s seal, khakis, and blue latex gloves approached them. “Hey, Agent King.”
“Dr. Santos.” Corbin greeted her with a nod. “This is Agent Luna Rosati. She’s consulting on the case.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Agent Rosati.” The doctor wore her dark hair piled in a loose topknot and very little makeup. There were deep lines at the corners of her eyes, and she had a sharp chin. The woman was thin. Too thin. Luna figured it had something to do with long nights at gruesome crime scenes like these.
“You have a positive ID on Carlie Tinch?” Corbin asked.
“Tentatively.” Dr. Santos pulled off her gloves. “She’s in early stages of decomposition. The clothing and dental work appear to match. Commissioner Tinch will confirm once we get her back to the lab.”
Corbin’s shoulders sagged. “You’ve notified the commissioner?”
Luna remembered the anguish in the father’s voice, the desperation in his eyes. He’d wanted to find his daughter, but not like this. She looked beyond Dr. Santos to where two techs in white one-piece suits set up another tent over a shallow grave.
“He wanted to be here. But his wife couldn’t handle it.” Dr.Santos wadded her gloves and shoved them into her pocket. “She had a breakdown. They had to sedate her.”
“Probably for the best,” Corbin said. “No parent should see their child like this. Not even a cop.”
Dr. Santos drew in a breath. “And I’m sorry to say, we’ll have more parents to console. We’ve found four graves.”
