Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery (20 page)

By the time Dr. Smith and Mark had
rejoined Lin and Ginger, Danielle had arrived on the scene.
 
She grimaced as she viewed the bodies of
the two men, “ This is getting to be a habit—finding remains in this part
of the park.
 
We have never
experienced anything like this before.”

“ Well, this certainly nixes our chances
for doing any work here this afternoon,” Neal seemed more annoyed than shocked,
“but I suppose we can’t leave until after the sheriff’s department checks
things out.”
 

“They should have someone here shortly,”
Danielle responded. “I called from the visitor’s center and they are on their
way.”
   

“ Dr. Smith, wait here with the students,”
Danielle instructed, “Lin, would you mind walking with me.
 
I want to take a look at this scene.”

Lin showed Danielle the path where they
had already walked and the two of them approached the grisly scene
cautiously.
  
Knowing that they
must not disturb the scene any further, Danielle also stopped short of actually
approaching the bodies.
 
She saw
that Lin was still carrying Mark’s camera.

“Did you take pictures?” Danielle asked.

“Yes, I did,” Lin responded, “this camera
has a nice zoom lens so I was able to get some pretty good shots of the
scene.
 
Would you like to see?”
 
She offered the camera to Danielle.

Danielle looked at the shots Lin had
taken.
 
As she viewed the shots of
the bodies she looked a bit puzzled.
 
“I can’t be certain, but one of these guys looks like another of the
Hopi collectors.
 
There is an older
man named Henry something or other, who has come by the visitor center in the
past, and the body on the right could be him—I can’t say for sure
though.
 
I don’t recognize the other
man.
 
These bodies have been out
here a while it appears.
 
It would
be hard to be sure of any visual identification.
 
They are also dressed similarly.
 
Well, forensics will determine who is
who I guess.”

“There is something else,” Lin said, “keep
going through the pictures.
 
I saw
that eagle-head belt buckle back on the path toward the track you drove in
on.
 
I think it is the same one
found on the remains of Cullen Honeyestewa.”

Danielle reviewed the remaining pictures.
“I think you are right,” she said. “That was a unique piece and I doubt there
are many, if any, others around—but how could it show up here again?”

“ I don’t know,” Lin responded.
 
She didn’t want to reveal that she had
visited the Honeyestewa family and that she knew they had been in possession of
the buckle.
 
The sheriff’s
department would know that it had been returned to them.
 
She felt she shouldn’t get involved in
that.

Sounds drifted down from the slot canyon
area.
 
Someone else was coming.
 
By the time Lin and Danielle returned to
the place where the others were waiting, Deputy Taylor and a couple of other
men were arriving.

“This is getting to be a habit,” Deputy
Taylor sounded annoyed.
 
He looked
around “I see the same people discovering bodies.” He eyed Lin, Danielle, and
Dr. Smith.

Danielle spoke, “ That is purely
circumstantial, Billy.
 
Dr. Smith
and his students have been working in this area for some weeks now and Lin is
serving as their park liaison.
 
What
I don’t understand is what these folks—she indicated the bodies—are
doing in this area at this time.”

“Well, I’m sure we will find out,” Deputy
Taylor responded.
 
The other men
were already at the scene near the bodies, taking pictures, making measurements
and searching the area.
 
“Did any of
you make an identification?”

“ Not yet,” Danielle did not reveal that
she might recognize one of the men, nor did she reveal that Lin had taken
pictures, although Mark’s camera still hung from her neck. The investigators
would have their own pictures anyway. “We tried to stay in areas that had
already been disturbed so we didn’t go close to the bodies.”
 
Lin nodded her agreement.

“Well, we have called the ME and he
should be here shortly, meanwhile we will collect whatever evidence we can
find.
 
It looks like this is no
accident.” Deputy Taylor was grim.
 
“You
folks all wait here until we finish.
 
We’ll need statements from you before you can leave.”

The five of them waited while the sheriff’s
men did their work.
  
Ginger
seemed to have somewhat recovered from the initial shock of seeing the
bodies.
 
Mark was quiet.
 
He was studying the maps and seemed to
be trying to visually locate the sites they had been planning to examine.
 
Neal Smith had not had much to say since
he arrived but he seemed calm and composed.
 
Lin and Danielle sat on a nearby rock
and tried to see as much as possible of what the men were doing at the crime
scene.

Lin eyed the silver buckle that still
glinted on the path.
 
She wondered
when the techs would spot it.
 
Should she point it out to them?
 
She got her answer when one of them turned and obviously caught site of
the shiny object.
 
The man walked
down the path, photographed the item in place, and carefully picked up the
buckle with a gloved hand.

“Hey, look at this,” he called to the
others, “this looks like the same buckle we found on that other guy.”
 
He carefully placed the buckle in an
evidence bag and retraced his steps back to the bodies.
 

Lin noticed that one of the crime scene
techs had continued examining the area beyond the bodies—toward the track
Danielle had used when she came.
 
He
approached the narrow track and knelt to examine the soil surrounding it on
both sides.

“Looks like there are two sets of tire
tracks here,” he called to the others.
 
He approached the park service pick up Lin had parked beside the track. “One
set seems to belong to this truck, but there are some that look different on
the other side of the track.
 
Could
be someone else parked here—but it wasn’t our victims—not unless
they were with someone else who escaped.”

By this time, Deputy Taylor had reached
the spot and he carefully placed some markers to protect the area.
 
“We’ll make a cast of these,” he
said.
 
“The tracks and the belt
buckle may be our best clues as to who did this.”

The afternoon grew warmer as Lin and the
others waited for the sheriff’s men to finish their work.
 
Neal Smith was very withdrawn.
 
Lin noticed that he seemed to be
studying his notes and maps, avoiding conversation with anyone—even his students.
 
It seemed a bit odd to her since he
obviously knew everyone there and was usually friendly and talkative.
 
She felt a bit of disappointment that he
continued to be cool toward her but she had to admit this situation simply
added to his difficulties in pursuing his work here.
 
Was she reading too much into his
behavior?
 
She couldn’t forget that
he had hidden any knowledge he had about Cullen Honeyestewa.
 
She still had a gut feeling that
something was going on here that had not yet been revealed.
 
Perhaps it was just as well his interest
in her socially seemed to be on the wane.

The medical examiner had arrived and the
bodies were bagged before Deputy Taylor once again approached them.

“We would like for each of you to take a
look at the bodies, in case you can identify them.
 
Jack here will take your statements and
I will walk you down to the scene one at a time for the identification.
 
After you have done that and given your
statements you are free to go.
 
Be
sure that Jack has your contact information in case we have further questions.”
Deputy Taylor said.

Lin wondered about the “one at a time”
viewing.
 
That precluded her being
able to see if Neal Smith reacted to seeing either of these victims.
 
She wondered if this was because Deputy
Taylor realized that this was indeed a crime scene.
 
Perhaps he had viewed the death of
Cullen Honeyestewa as an accident from the start.
 
She watched as Neal walked down with the
deputy.
 
He looked at each body as
the tech opened the bag for viewing but Lin could not observe any particular
reaction on his part.

When it was her turn, Lin braced herself
for the close up look.
 
It was not
pleasant but was quickly over.
  
She didn’t recognize either of these individuals as anyone she had seen
before.
 
Mark and Ginger had the
same response.
 
Danielle was the
last of them to look at the victims and she told Deputy Taylor that one of the
men might be this “Henry” person who was also a collector of eaglets and
feathers for the Hopi tribe.
 
She
could not recall his last name but felt she had seen him before.
 
Again, she said that she could check
with headquarters and probably get a name for the authorities.

Deputy Taylor thanked her.
 
He looked thoughtful as he considered
what she had said.

“So it seems likely that one of these
victims had some association with that other fellow whose remains we found a
couple of weeks ago?” he asked.

“Possibly,” replied Danielle, “ If I am
correct, they probably knew each other quite well.
 
They would’ve often worked together.”

“ I guess that raises some questions for
us.” Deputy Taylor was thoughtful. Lin wondered if he was reconsidering whether
or not the earlier case was an accident.

“Well, those remains were about a year
old,” Taylor reflected. “ The relationship between the two incidents could be
purely circumstantial.
 
We’ll have
to see where this investigation leads.
 
At least here we have more evidence.”

Shortly, Deputy Taylor dismissed the five
of them to leave the area.
 
The ME
and the crime scene techs would take care of removing the bodies back through
the slot and the box canyon to the parking lot where vehicles awaited
them.
 
Danielle was, once again,
instructed to close off this entire area to the extent possible.
 
Once news got out that a crime had
occurred curiosity-seekers could become a problem.

When they arrived at the parking lot,
Taylor addressed his men as they loaded the remains for the medical examiner, “Before
you leave, make a list of all the cars in this lot,” he waved toward the
visitor’s parking area,
 
“make,
model, and license plate.
 
Wait for
the owners to return to their vehicles and get their contact information
also.
 
Ask if they have seen anyone
or anything unusual.
 
It appears
that these deaths occurred a day or so ago but those men had to get here
someway.
 
They may have left
vehicles here.
 
The folks here today
probably saw nothing but, at least, we can match them to their vehicles and see
if there are others left.”
 
He
designated two of the men to stay and do this and the others left, following
the medical examiner’s vehicles out of the park.

Dr. Smith and the students had lagged
behind the sheriff’s men, putting themselves well away from the bodies being
transported.
 
They planned to go
directly back to Flagstaff and not return to the visitor’s center.
 
Once again they would use the north
entrance to the park.
  
Lin
followed them back through the slot canyon.
 
The park SUV was still in the Lomaki
parking lot.
 
Danielle had already
started toward the pick up truck she had driven, telling Lin she would see her
back at the center.

When they reached their vehicles, Lin
approached Neal Smith. “I am certainly sorry that today resulted in no
productive work for you folks but obviously that couldn’t be helped.
 
I don’t know how long the area will be
closed at this point.”

Neal seemed a bit more relaxed, now that
they were away from the crime scene. “We have certainly encountered some
unusual circumstances,” he almost smiled.

“I’m about to give up on any productive
research, at least for the present.
 
In fact, we won’t plan to come out again until all of this has been
settled and the area is fully opened.”