“Okay. Okay!” The man freezes and raises his hands. “I’m cool.”

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“Carl Shellenberger.”

“Show me some ID.”

While he digs for his wallet, I jab a thumb at the woman on the ground. “Why did you bring her here?”

“She wanted to see you.”

“Why?”

“I figure that’s between you and her, ma’am.”

“What’s your relationship with her?”

For the first time he looks contrite. “I’m her dad.”

I can still feel the sting of her palm against my face. The adrenaline beginning to ebb. A gnarly ball of guilt churning in my gut. “Is she on any kind of medication?”

He sighs. “I think the doc gave her something for the pain.”

“Did it cross your mind that bringing her here wasn’t a very smart thing to do?”

Another heavy sigh. “She was pretty adamant about it.”

“Well, now she’s under arrest for assaulting a public servant,” Tomasetti interjects.

Shellenberger’s mouth opens. “Aw, come on! You can’t do that! She’s got a broke leg and just lost her baby. Not to mention her home. You can’t take her to jail!”

“She hit a cop,” Tomasetti snaps. “We don’t have a choice.”

“It’s the law,” Rasmussen adds.

“Well, she’s not thinking right,” the man says, looking stressed.

Tomasetti and Rasmussen help Paula Kester to her feet. She’s sobbing now, head down, hair hanging in her face. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me,” she sobs. “It’s all her fault.”

I want to say something to reassure her. Let her know I’ll help her if I can. But I know she’s too angry, and any commentary from me would probably make things worse.

She raises her head. Her eyes connect with mine. Her lips peel back. Snarling an expletive, she yanks hard against Tomasetti and Rasmussen. “I’m going to get a lawyer and sue you!” she screams. “I’ll sue you for everything you’ve got, you bitch! All of you! Fuckers!”

Rasmussen looks away and shakes his head.

Next to him, the deputy clears his throat. “I’ve got a cage. Do you want me to transport her and book her in?”

The sheriff nods. “Let’s put her in the car.”

“What about her leg?” her father cries.

Tomasetti gives him a withering look. “I guess you should have thought about that before you drove her over here, Einstein.”

CHAPTER 6

It’s nearly 10:00 P.M. by the time Stevitch and his assistant call it a night. Sheriff Rasmussen left an hour ago. Tomasetti, of course, stayed.

Stevitch and Hochheim spent nine grueling hours going over every inch of the site, running the soil through handheld screens and geologic sieves. All the bones were placed in paper bags, labeled, and stowed in plastic tubs. Once the topsoil had been examined, they turned to their shovels and dug a series of shallow holes. Again, the soil was put through geologic sieves. As darkfall neared and they began to run out of light, I radioed Glock and asked him to bring a generator. I called Holmes County and they sent a deputy out with work lights. The two men continued their tedious work beneath the buzz of spotlights, setting aside bones and fabric and anything else that wasn’t indigenous to the site. Finally, once soil samples were taken, Hochheim went over the entire grid area with a metal detector.