The hide beetles and rove beetles that are attracted to buried remains prefer to dig down through the freshly loosened soil directly above the body; by removing the earth above the skeleton, the worker had inadvertently removed most of the insect evidence that might help Nick determine a postmortem interval. Most of the pupal cases and insect body fragments would be gone; a few might still remain, but finding them wouldn’t be easy.

He knew the job would be even tougher for the forensic anthropologist Donovan promised to send. Nick gently swept away the soil from the humerus with a soft bristle brush, gradually exposing more of the bone; sure enough, he found the bone shattered twice before it even connected with the radius and ulna, probably because the nose of a shovel had chopped it in half. He crawled forward on the boards and brushed the dirt away from the side of the skull; he found it crushed flat like an eggshell, forming a delicate mosaic in the shape of a human head. Good luck determining cause of death with this guy, Nick thought. The FA would pull his hair out attempting to recover any reliable forensic evidence from this mess.

Nick hoped he’d have better luck with the body in the fourth grave— maybe it would be in better shape. But even if it wasn’t, it might not be his last opportunity. There was no telling how many graves they would find in this old graveyard—and how many double occupants might be among them. Somebody had come up with the clever idea of disposing of a body by burying it on top of an existing grave, and whoever it was had used the technique at least twice. Who knows? Maybe the killer had used it three times—or four, or five. With each additional victim there would be more evidence—and more of a chance to find out who the killer was.

“Excuse me, I’m going to need you to leave.”