Awakened (Intimate Relations) (30 page)

He’d spent such a short time in college, but he remembered something one of his professors had said, that in order to succeed you needed to expect success but plan for failure. Always have a backup plan. Be prepared for anything.

He had no backup plan if they couldn’t find his mother’s remains. He knew they would find her. They might be using a dog with a really good nose, but as far as Marc was concerned, his mother was guiding him. She hadn’t let him down before, even though he’d doubted her. She wouldn’t fail him now.

CHAPTER 15

August 8, Dry Creek Valley

It was almost three before Ted pulled into the driveway in front of the cottage with a slightly built dark-haired companion in the front seat and a black-and-white dog hanging his head out the back window. The plane had been late after a mechanical issue in Portland, but Marc was hoping they might still get out to the site today. He called to Mandy—she’d been inside straightening up the kitchen and generally killing time as effectively as she could—and told her they were here.

He grabbed her hand when she came outside, and the two of them went down the stairs to meet the man they’d been waiting for. They got their first surprise when JD opened the car door. He was a very attractive she.

Without missing a beat, Marc grabbed the door on Ted’s rental and held out his hand. “JD? I’m Marc Reed. Thank you so much for coming.”

JD took his hand and let him pull her out of the front seat. She was a tiny thing, not even as tall as Mandy, with her short dark hair mostly hidden by a ball cap. She wore hiking boots, faded jeans, and a green plaid flannel shirt over a tank top, and the first thing she did after saying hello in a surprisingly deep, raspy voice was to turn away from Marc, open the back door and let the dog out. Bones bounded out of the car and, at a signal from JD, planted his butt on the ground. He quivered, ready to do anything but sit.

Mandy laughed. “He looks like he really wants to run, far and fast. Hi, JD. I’m Mandy.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet both of you. Is it all right if I let him run? He knows not to get too far from me.”

“Please.” Marc stepped back and gestured toward the vineyard. He’d started out with thirty-seven acres plus the twelve across the road where the wine cave was, had deeded five acres to Cassie when she and Nate got married, and added some extra land the next-door neighbor had been willing to sell—there was definitely enough room for the dog to run. “The service road is the perimeter of our vineyard, so he’s got about fifty acres on this side of the creek where he can go all out.”

“Bones, go!”

The dog took off like a shot, head down, body low to the ground, racing across the open ground and then in and out around the vines in a wide circle that brought him back to the spot where the four of them were watching. He made the loop four times before he finally sat at JD’s feet.

Marc tried to imagine what he’d look like working. He was definitely a good runner. “Ted said he’s a McNab?”

“He is, at least half of him. He was a rescue dog, a McNab/border collie cross. The McNab breed originated up the road from here, south of Ukiah. They’re a super intelligent, short-haired, herding breed. He’s probably smarter than the four of us combined.”

“Is it all right to pet him, or is he working?”

“Thanks for asking, Mandy. Go ahead. He’s just relaxing now. In fact, Ted’s already gotten me settled in the residence next door, which is very comfortable, by the way. Thank you. Plus, I made him stop and get me a sandwich on the way here, so if you’re ready to head up to the site, we can go any time.”

Mandy had knelt down and met Bones at eye level, but she immediately glanced at Marc. “Marc? I need to put on some hiking boots, but I’m ready if you are.”

“Works for me. Let me grab my phone. Ted, are you and Theo planning to come up as well?”

“If you don’t mind. I’ll get Theo. I know he was really interested in watching the dog work. Why don’t you go on ahead, and we’ll meet you up there.”

The ride up to Rockpile Road and then out to Jeb Barton’s property took about twenty minutes. Marc handed the key to the gate to Mandy, who got out and opened it. Jeb had told them to leave it unlocked during the daytime if they wanted while they were working, so she pushed it all the way open and hooked it to the post designed to hold it in place. Once she got back in the car, Marc pulled ahead and parked next to the rock with the tree growing out of the side.

JD pulled a heavy plastic water bowl out of her tote bag, along with a jug of water for Bones. She filled the bowl and left it in the shade of the car. After Bones took a drink, he sat, totally alert now that he seemed to recognize it was time for him to go to work.

“Ted told me you have a fairly specific area to search first.”

“This way.” Marc went toward the edge of the slide. “Between the car and the slide, for now. I’m hoping the area where he buried her wasn’t in the section that broke off, so it would probably be best to rule out the easy area first.”

“Sounds good.” JD watched Marc and Bones watched JD just as closely.

“I’ve parked about where I remember my father parking his car the night he buried her, but we’re dealing with a four-year-old’s memories. I really don’t know how far away he carried her body, though I can’t imagine him going too far from the car. He’s not quite my height, and my mother was a fairly tall woman. I’d suggest starting in this area between the car and the slide, and if nothing shows up, possibly on the face of the slide itself. The hillside slipped years ago, so it’s probably stabilized by now, but I’d prefer not to have to test it.”

“Bones will be okay. I think he’s part mountain goat. I’m going to send him out, and you’ll know if he gets a hit because he’ll lie down until I release him with a command.”

Marc nodded, hoping he didn’t look as nervous as he felt, but when Mandy reached for his hand, he tightly grasped hers.

“Bones. Find.” JD stepped back while the dog shot from his sitting position and went to work, racing around the area with his nose to the ground. He made wider and wider circles without any reaction until he got near the very edge of the slide.

Whining, he turned to JD, almost as if asking for permission. “Find,” she said. Bones stared at her, tail wagging and ears up, and then he jumped over the edge.

Marc raced for the edge of the slide, relieved to see that it wasn’t as sheer a cliff, as he’d feared. Rocks and trees had tumbled along into a wide swath of rubble. Bones lay on his belly near a ragged bush, panting, watching for JD.

The moment she poked her head over the edge, he barked, but he didn’t move. She pulled a wooden stake out of her backpack with an orange flag on the end. “I’m going to mark it and have him continue to search. If this slide occurred long after she was buried, it could have scattered her remains.”

Before Marc could caution her, JD was over the edge and moving quickly down the jumbled earth, using dead branches and roots for balance and the occasional anchor.

Mandy grabbed Marc’s hand when JD looked their way and said, “You might want to come down here. Be careful because it’s steep, but the ground actually feels pretty stable.” She planted the stake in the ground and gave Bones his command. “Find.”

And he was off. Marc helped Mandy over a couple of the rougher places, but she didn’t hesitate to follow him down to the spot where JD waited. They were almost to her when he heard Ted calling. Marc stopped and glanced back the way they’d come. Ted and Theo stood at the top.

“Wondered where you’d gone. We’re coming down.”

Marc and Mandy reached JD just ahead of Ted and Theo. She glanced at the two men and nodded, but her focus was on Marc. “I think Bones has found something. Didn’t you say she was wrapped in a comforter? Take a look.”

She brushed dirt away from what Marc at first thought was a pile of dried leaves. A floral pattern, badly faded and the fabric mostly rotted, appeared. “I don’t want to pull this out or do anything that might compromise evidence, but I have a feeling this might be what you’re looking for.”

Bones barked again. About ten feet down the hill this time, the dog had planted himself in a slight depression. JD took another stake out of her pack, threw the pack over her shoulder, and went down to mark that spot as well. Marc turned to Mandy and grabbed her hand just before his legs gave out and he sat, hard.

She knelt beside him, holding tightly to his hand, though, like Marc, she was focused on the faded piece of fabric.

Ted and Theo reached them as he went down. “You okay? Marc?”

He stared at the fabric without touching it. It was faded by time and stained to the reddish color of the soil, but he knew the pattern, knew what the colors had been. Purple flowers—iris? Possibly. He remembered iris in his mother’s garden with their long, leathery green leaves and silky purple flowers. The comforter in their bedroom had the same purple iris with green leaves against a white background. After a moment, still hanging on to Mandy’s hand, he turned to Ted and Theo. “This is the blanket that was on her bed. The one he wrapped her in.”

“I’ll call it in.” Ted pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and stepped to one side.

Marc blocked out Ted’s voice, concentrated on the way Mandy’s hand felt grasping his so firmly, the sound of Bones racing across the tumbled ground to JD’s commands to “find.”

The sound of her pounding wooden stakes into the ground to mark each hit.

Marc had no idea how much time passed. He was still sitting there, lost in thought, caught in the memories that spilled into his mind when he heard cars on the road above them. Ted was waiting to show the deputies where they were.

Marc didn’t have to worry. Ted and Theo would bring them down here when they were ready. Mandy was here to anchor him, holding him in the here and now while his thoughts raced through the childhood memories spilling into his adult mind.

Memories hidden for all these long years, images of his mother as she’d looked to his four-year-old self. Tall and beautiful with long blond hair and the same dark brown eyes he had. He felt her close by, his mother’s spirit like a warm hug on a very cold night. But then, voices brought him back. He leaned close and kissed Mandy, who somehow must have known he’d needed this time of silence. She stood and tugged, and he came easily to his feet so that he was standing when the four men came over the edge of the slide.

In the background, he was aware of JD’s sharp commands to find, of Bones running over the tumbled ground as if this were the greatest game of hide-and-seek in the world. The light was fading, which meant he’d been sitting here for hours at the very least, and more wooden stakes with their bright orange flags studded the hillside. He counted seven of them, all in a line that followed the original direction of the slide.

“Hey, Marc.” Jerry Russo shook Marc’s hand. “I want you to meet Franklin Emerson. He does a lot of forensics work for the county and he happened to be here on other business when Ted called. When he said it looked like a solid find, I thought we should bring Frank in from the beginning.”

After the introductions, Marc squatted in front of the tattered remnants of the blanket and lifted one edge with a twig. “I’m certain this is the blanket she was buried in. The one I remember on their bed was white with purple and green flowers on it. Considering the position of the dog’s other finds, I’m guessing the original grave was dug at the point just above us, near where the slide originated.” He turned to indicate the area below them. “The dog’s had hits on seven other spots, but they’re all in a direct line with the slide, as if her bones washed down the hill in whatever storm brought the hillside down. From what I’ve heard, it happened sometime in the early 1990s. It’s fairly stable by now, I think. JD’s been all over it with Bones.”

He glanced up at Emerson’s frown, and shrugged. “Bones is the name of the HRD dog.”

“Apropos.” Emerson gazed down the slope.

Marc stood and watched the dog working, now far below them on the hillside with Lake Sonoma in the distance. The sun was setting, shadows growing longer.

“It’s been over thirty years since she disappeared, right?” When Marc nodded, Emerson glanced over his shoulder as the sun disappeared behind a mountain. “I think I’d prefer to wait, call in a crew in the morning when the light’s good. There’s less chance of missing anything.”

“I understand.” Marc glanced at Mandy, wondering if …

“Marc and I will stay here tonight,” she said. “We can keep an eye on things.” She looked his way, as if needing his approval, but there was no need. She always seemed to know exactly what he wanted before he said a word.

Emerson got a few photographs, and then he and Jerry walked down the hill and he took pictures of each one of the marked sites. JD and Bones headed up from the bottom. They hadn’t set any new markers.

“If you like, Theo and I can take JD and Bones back to the valley.” Ted stared in JD’s direction for a moment. “I think Cassie has dinner planned for everyone, so we’ll bring something back up here for you two.”

“Along with some blankets and pillows,” Theo added, glancing at Ted. “We can take my car now, but when we get back let’s switch. I’ll leave mine, Marc, if you’re okay letting me or Ted drive yours. The seats fold down in mine and I have a roll-up mattress in the back, flashlights, a lantern, that sort of stuff. It makes a pretty comfortable camping setup.”

For whatever reason, Theo’s comment brought Marc out of the fog of memory he’d felt trapped in since Bones had made his first find. He turned to Theo and calmly said, “You have your car set up to sleep in? Why? In case I fire you and you’re homeless on the street?”

Theo lost it. No matter the situation, he always got it when Marc said something totally outlandish, and he was laughing so hard he ended up wiping his eyes. It took him a minute to get things under control. “Actually, no, but that’s not a bad backup plan. I take off some weekends and head down the coast. If I don’t want to hunt for a motel, I just spend the night on the beach in the back of my car.”

“Now that we’ve got that cleared up…” Marc grabbed Mandy’s hand and he actually felt like smiling. “That sounds like an excellent idea. Thank you.”