The Missing

‘Let me see what I can find out about these names.’ Evan copied the names on a notepad and left the room.

Darby examined the rest of the document. Dozens and dozens of lines were written in Rachel Swanson’s cryptic number and letter code.

Darby took extra pictures with the Polaroid for her own personal file while Coop set up the camera equipment for the close-up pictures. She stuffed the Polaroids in her back pocket and then jotted down the directions on a separate sheet of paper.

She tore the sheet off the pad. ‘I’m going to give these directions to Evan.’

Stripped of her containment gear, Darby walked into the hallway. Evan wasn’t in here. A laser printer was spitting out a sheet of paper. It was a picture of a woman with curly black hair and pale features – Joa

Darby picked up the other two sheets.

Kate Bellora, nineteen, had the kind of sallow, haunted face Darby had often seen in battered women. Kate was a heroin addict and known prostitute. She was last seen working in the town she grew up in: New Bedford, Massachusetts. Nobody knew what had happened to her. She had been missing for almost one year.

The last picture held a photograph of a blue-eyed woman with feathered hair and freckles. Jane Gittlesen, twenty-two, from Ware, New Hampshire. Her abandoned car had been found on the side of a highway. Gittlesen had been missing for two years. She was married and had a two-year-old daughter.

Darby borrowed Coop’s phone and dialed Banville’s number. He didn’t answer. She explained what she had found, along with the directions, and stepped outside to find Evan.

He was standing near the crime scene van, talking to the Boston Bomb Squad commander, Kyle Romano. Dawn was breaking, the sun visible through the trees. The cool air still smelled of smoke.

Evan took a phone call. Romano walked away. Darby caught up with him and asked him if she could use the crime scene vehicle. She could. By the time she reached Evan, he had hung up.

‘Any good news?’ Darby asked.

Evan shook his head. ‘I need to head into Boston to take care of a few things.’

‘Romano gave me clearance to use the crime scene vehicle,’ Darby said. ‘I’m going to head out to the woods and see what’s out there.’

‘I need you to stay here and work the evidence until the lab people arrive.’

‘There’s nothing left to do until the paper dries. Coop and I will head out. I told Banville to meet us there.’

Evan checked his watch. ‘I’ll go with you,’ he said. ‘I want to see what Traveler left for us.’

Chapter 53

Darby pulled off Route 22 and came to a stop in front of two trees. Between the trees was a dirt road. Someone could easily pull a car inside there and be hidden from the main road. She didn’t spot any tire tracks on the ground.

‘This looks like the place,’ Darby said.

Evan nodded. He had been unusually quiet during the drive, communicating with nods and short answers.

Darby killed the engine. She felt a building, jittery panic as she hefted her kit out of the backseat. Evan grabbed the shovels.

‘It’s going to be slow walking back there,’ Evan said. ‘You want me to carry that?’

‘Thanks, but I can manage.’ Darby headed into the woods.

It was slow walking, steep and muddy from the rain. Twenty minutes later, the trail ended. In front of them now was an uneven terrain full of sloping ground packed with trees, rocks and downed tree limbs. They had to duck under tree branches as they walked.

Evan slung the shovels to his other shoulder. ‘You’re awfully quiet.’

‘I could say the same about you. You’ve hardly said a word since we left.’

I’ve been thinking about Victor Grady.’

‘What brought him to mind?’

‘The map you found,’ Evan said. ‘Riggers said he saw a map of these woods when he was in Grady’s house.’

‘I don’t remember reading anything about a map.’

‘It was destroyed in the fire. Riggers didn’t remember much from the map, but he said it was for these woods. The thinking was Grady might have used this area as a possible burial spot, so we searched the woods. We never found anything.’

‘How much of the woods did you search?’

‘About a quarter of it,’ Evan said. ‘I don’t have to tell you how big these woods are. The Belham department ran out of money and the search was called off.’

‘So Grady’s victims are probably still buried out here.’

‘I think so – at least that’s what I believe deep in my gut. To find where they’re buried, it would take a miracle.’

Darby stopped walking. ‘This should be the place.’

Below them was a su

‘I don’t see any evidence of recent digging,’ Evan said. ‘In fact, I don’t see evidence of anyone having been out here at all. Take a look at the slope. No boot prints.’

‘The rain we had might have washed them away. There’s barely any tree coverage here.’

‘We should assemble a team to come out here and search.’

‘Look down there.’ Darby pointed to a boulder spray-painted with a small, white smiley face.

‘Some kids could have done that,’ Evan said.

No. Evan was wrong. Kids wouldn’t come all the way out here. This location was too remote and private. Digging out here late at night, Traveler wouldn’t have to worry about being spotted or heard.

Darby headed down the muddy slope, wondering if Traveler made two separate trips out here – one time to dig the grave, the second to bury the body. Or did he do it all in one trip?

Darby placed her kit on top of the boulder. Next she set up the tarp. When examining burial spots, a team of people was used to help with the tedious task of turning over each leaf and setting it on a tarp while searching the ground for any potential evidence that might have been left behind.

‘We should call in more people,’ Evan said. ‘It will make this go quicker.’

‘By the time we mobilize a group and get them out here, we’ll probably be done.’ Darby grabbed a shovel. ‘Come on, let’s get to work.’

Chapter 54

Darby was hoping to find a cigarette butt, a candy wrapper or soda can – something with DNA that would place Traveler at this burial site. After sifting through the leaves for an hour, the only thing they found was an old pe

‘I say we start digging at the base of the boulder and work our way out,’ Darby said.

Evan agreed and handed her a shovel.

As Darby worked, the morning sun warm on her neck, her thoughts kept ru

I’m sorry, Mel. I’m sorry you and Stacey never got the chance to live out your lives. I’ve tried hard to forget what happened. If you had lived, Mel, I know you would have done a much better job at remembering me. If there is such a place as heaven, I can only pray that if we ever meet you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me.

The hole was rectangular in shape, about four feet deep. Darby tossed her shovel aside.

‘I don’t want to risk damaging anything with the shovel.’ She lay down on her stomach and reached inside the hole. ‘Do me a favor and grab the brush and hand trowel from my kit.’

Darby used her gloved hands to scoop away the dirt. The wet dirt had seeped through her jeans. In the far distance she heard the sound of branches snapping back.

Evan stood over her, watching. He had retreated back into his stony silence. He had barely spoken while they dug.

Darby felt something hard beneath her fingers. She scooped away the dirt. At first, she thought it was a rock. But as she moved away the dirt, she had an idea what it was.