Boneyard Read Online Free PDF Page B

skeletal remains, the body was dumped at least a month ago. All the victims appear to be males, but no luck yet on an ID.”
    “Your guy’s working on that though, right?” Monica said.
    Kelly had sent Dr. Stuart over to the morgue in Bennington, Vermont, to examine the John Doe being stored there. McLarty claimed that Stuart was the top forensic anthropologist in the field, capable of extracting evidence from the most scattered of remains. She was fervently hoping that he lived up to that reputation. Based on the expression of anxiety on his face when she sent him off in a Vermont state cruiser, she had her doubts.
    “How much longer we gotta keep Sam and his crew out there? You know, some of those people have jobs to get back to…” Doyle said.
    “We’ll get to that later,” Kelly said. “But let’s discuss the SAR team. Why were they called in?”
    Doyle shrugged. “Our unit didn’t have the manpower to handle that kind of search, and they volunteered to do the job. Why?”
    “It just seems to me that whoever dumped these bodies had to have some outdoor experience and familiarity with the area.”
    “And a member of the SAR unit would fit the bill,” Monica chimed in, finishing her thought.
    Doyle rolled his eyes. “Great theory—if half those guys weren’t bankers and stockbrokers. I can just see them running around the woods at night dumping bodies.”
    “Could happen,” Monica said, “Maybe one of them decided to try blue-collar crime for a change. Problem is, we got a lot of groups like that up in Vermont. At least a dozen I can think of offhand. Camping and hiking are what folks do for fun around here. Hell, even I know most of these trails like the back of my hand.”
    “Then I’d like each of you to compile a list of all the outdoor groups on your side of the border,” Kelly said firmly. “See if you can get membership rosters, some of them might be posted online. Based on what was found at the site in Vermont, we can be reasonably certain we’re dealing with a homicide.”
    Doyle scoffed. “Yeah, or some guy that got lost in the woods.”
    Monica raised an eyebrow. “And I suppose he just got rid of all his clothes and lay down there? Not to mention the evidence of wounds on the bones.”
    “Animals could’ve done that.”
    “Not any that I’ve ever—”
    “The Vermont medical examiner has ruled the death of John Doe number one a homicide. Until I hear otherwise, we’ll continue on that assumption,” Kelly interrupted. “So far we have five bodies confirmed, and other remains that haven’t yet been matched to the bodies. Doyle, when will your lab finish dating and running DNA on what you’ve got?”
    Doyle shrugged. “They get to it when they get to it.”
    “Well, have them put a rush on it.”
    He rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to make my guys work on a weekend for a stack of bones that’ve probably been there for years.”
    Kelly said firmly, “You will, or I’ll pull some strings and get samples sent to the FBI lab.”
    He glowered at her. She matched his gaze and cocked her head to the side. After a minute, he looked away. In truth, this was an empty threat on her part. There was still no evidence that any federal statutes had been broken, so she didn’t have the authority to move the bodies anywhere. But Doyle was clearly territorial, and she’d already gleaned that her best bet for keeping him in line was implying that with one word from her, a swarm of FBI agents would descend on his precious homicide unit. Kelly knew that among cops of all stripes, the fear of having the Feds steal “their” case was universal.
    The United States has one of the most decentralized policing systems in the world, with every city, county and state maintaining their own force, each with their own way of dealing with crimes. Which was why in cases like this one, where similar victims were found across state borders, there tended to be a lot of jockeying for position. Sometimes