Page 11 of Everything She Feared

“Where is Katie Harmon now, Rob?” Pierce asked.

“At the camp, isolated. I’ve got a deputy with her.”

“And she’s not hurt?”

“Not physically. Paramedics assessed her. She’s pretty shaken up, though.”

“Alright, before we get going,” Pierce said. “Carl, Lyle—” she nodded to Tilden “—we need to contact the park owner. Arrange to collect any footage from the security camera in the lot. You guys go back, record all vehicle plates, and canvass for dash cams and phone photos in the lot. Then join us at the camp.”

“I thought I was partnered with you?” Benton said.

“Just go with Lyle,” she said.

“If it’s because I said I think this is an accident—”

“Carl—” Pierce stared at him, she didn’t have time for this, she had enough to deal with “—just go with Lyle.”

“You’re the lead.” Benton gave her a half-hearted salute.

“Rob,” Pierce said. “Walk us through Shaw’s steps to the point where she fell.”

Pierce used her phone to record a video as the small team moved along the trail. They reached the area, which was cordoned off with yellow tape. The deputy posted there acknowledged them. A few yards beyond the tape were two lone backpacks on the ground.

Beyond them, the cliff.

“Only me and one other deputy have gone in there since the supervisors were here. No one’s touched them,” Hirano said, pointing to the path they’d taken to the backpacks, lifting the tape for Pierce.

Continuing to record, she went to the backpacks, opening them, conducting a preliminary inventory and finding things like a hoodie, socks, jacket, a phone, earphones and a charger cord in the pocket of one. She also found granola bars, oranges, carrot sticks, apple slices, a water bottle, a small cosmetic pouch, tampons, mints, gum, hand sanitizer, lotion, bug spray, lip balm, a brush and a hair tie.

Pierce noted the contents, then surveyed the area. The section had patches of grass leading to a scattering of stones in the underbrush, then the forest. Near the backpacks she noticed a series of faint partial foot impressions in the soil, took photos and made notes, thinking they’d need casts made as soon as possible.

Then she went to the cliff.

Standing on the edge, Pierce looked out at the view that had cost Anna Shaw her life.

She looked down at the tree branch, some twenty feet below. The remainder of it extended like the twisted, gnarled fingers of a claw. She looked down farther to the riverbank, saw remnants of the branch. Near it on the ground, she saw the sheet over the body and investigators at the death scene.

“Can you get us down there, Rob?”

Hirano led them along the route the Sunny Days supervisors had used.

Several minutes later, Pierce and her group joined Cindy Lehman and Hilary Fung, with the ME’s Office. The investigators were suited and gloved, interrupting their work to bring Pierce up to date.

Fung said that they’d checked the body’s position, took its temperature and made note of the surroundings, the weather and initial witness statements relayed to them. They’d proceed to photograph the area and take measurements, then they’d take a look at the clifftop as well.

“The most obvious cause appears to be a fall,” Fung said. “But we’re not making any conclusions until after an autopsy. When we’re ready, we’ll get Search and Rescue to airlift her out to a secure area where we can transport her.”

Fung added: “We’ll make a positive ID through dental records, or fingerprints.”

“Thank you,” Pierce said. “I need to look at her.”

They moved closer and crouched down. Fung lifted the sheet and Pierce tensed at Anna Shaw’s arms and legs, which were horribly contorted. Blood was puddled at the back of her neck. Then Pierce met her eyes: frozen open, empty of life. It was clear from her driver’s license that this was Anna Catherine Shaw.

Pierce took photos of her face, her tattoos, the T-shirt with the embroidered motto, her torn jeans, her feet missing one shoe.

You only lived seventeen years on this earth. Was the picture worth your life, Anna? Is that what happened here?

Pierce wished for Anna’s soul to be at peace. Then she nodded to Fung, who lowered the sheet.

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