“Do you have a shovel?” he whispered, his voice sounding funny in the shade of the tree.
She looked at him. “In the garage, but…”
“Go get it.”
She looked at the dog’s paw again, her lip trembling, and then she left to get the shovel. He looked at the area around the paw and could tell it had been disturbed. The grass looked funny. He reached out and pulled a piece and it shifted easily in the soil. It had been dug up and then put back. He would never have noticed it unless he was standing right on top of it. Another fly buzzed around the protruding paw and then a third. Luke could now smell a whiff of decay and he backed away, unsure if he wanted to dig up the rest.
Ellie came back with the shovel and she handed it to Luke. “Are you sure?” she said.
Luke grabbed the shovel and started to dig. It only took a minute for him to realize the dog was not the only thing buried here.
“Bingo!” Sally shouted. “We got him!”
Jaxon rushed over and peered at the picture she was holding in her hand. Dead Ringer. Their John Doe now had a real name.
“Stewart Alan Littleton,” Sally said. “He’s been missing since October 31, 1984. Last seen by his Mother, June Littleton, before he went out Trick-or-Treating.”
Jaxon scanned the statistics on the sheet. “He lived right here in Fairfax. Reston. Last address Southgate Square.”
“Twenty seven years ago,” Sally said.
“Yeah,” Jaxon said. “Unbelievable huh? Let’s see if we can get a contact. Parents, brothers, sisters, anything.”
“Last known phone number and address are current as of September,” Sally said. “They kept it updated every year. The number listed is for June Littleton.”
“This time we do it the right way,” he said. “You contact her and we’ll bring her in to identify the body.”
“Thanks, boss. I find him and you make me do the dirty work.”
“You’re better at it than me. Remember what happened?”
“I’ll handle it.” She smiled.
His cell phone rang. “Jaxon.”
“Mr. Jennings?” A kid’s voice.
“This is Detective Jennings. Who is this?”
The kid paused for a second and Jaxon thought they hung up.
“You told us to call you if we had any more information on the pool kids.”
“Harrison?”
“Yes, sir. This is Luke Harrison. Ellie’s with me too. Can you come to Ellie’s house? Something bad has happened.”
“We’re very busy right now, Harrison. Can you just tell me what’s going on?”
“We found more decapitated animals.”
“You say animals? Plural?”
“Yeah. Five of ‘em. Three dogs and two cats. They were buried in Ellie’s yard.”
“Don’t touch anything else. I’ll send some people over there now.”
“You’re not coming?”
“I can’t at the moment. We have something very important to do.”
“What?”
“I can’t talk about that with you.”
“Did you find out who the other kid is? Because there’s something buried with the animals you need to see.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a picture. A school picture, but it’s old. I think it’s the kid from the pool. I’m not sure though. That picture you showed us a while back? The one you asked if we knew? Is that him?”
“Yes.”
“You need to come out here. There’s a name on the picture, but it’s all covered in-uh-dead gunk and guts. The one name I can read is Little.”
“Littleton?” Jaxon asked.
“That could be it, yes. How did you know?”
“We’ll be right there. Don’t touch a thing.”
Chapter 21
Jaxon stared into the hole and felt Sally move next to him. “The heads are all missing,” he said.
“I see that,” Sally said. “Three dogs and two cats?”
“I believe so. The little one looks like a dog. The fur is right. It’s hard to tell without the head. Maybe a Chihuahua?”
He held up the picture. It was in a Ziploc baggie and he was holding it with gloved hands. “Stewart Littleton,” she said. “Dogwood Elementary, 1984. Good likeness. I wonder why our guy decided to give us a little help?”
“Down deep, they all want to be caught. They can’t stop themselves unless they are locked up, so they unconsciously help the investigation. He just doesn’t realize it.”
“Is that what your FBI training taught you?”
“That and Michael.”
She nodded. Apparently, she didn’t want to go there, and that was fine with him. Michael’s murder was something he thought about every day, or maybe he should say, tried not to think about, and though the case had been solved, he lived with his own failure in everything he did. He couldn’t save him.
The Crime Scene team arrived and he let them move in. It was going to be messy and he was glad he wasn’t the one going through it. It had been tough enough pulling the picture out of all the rotting flesh.
He glanced over at the small crowd gathered in the backyard and saw Luke Harrison and Ellie Pemberton. Her mother was there too along with a boy he didn’t recognize. He had the features of the Pembertons and figured he must be related. They all looked anxious. He turned to Sally and said, “Let’s find out what they know.” She walked with him up to the group.
“Mrs. Pemberton, remember us? I’m Detective Jennings and this is Detective Winston.”
“Yes, Detectives, I remember you. I’m a little disappointed I’m seeing you again. I would have expected all this to be resolved by now.”
“Yes ma’am. I agree. We seem to be having some difficulty. Maybe you can help.”
“I don’t see how.”
Jaxon tried to plaster a smile on his face, but it felt strained. “Who found the gravesite?” he asked.
“We did,” Luke said.
“You and Ellie?” Sally asked.
Luke nodded. “We were goofing around and she saw a dog’s paw sticking up out of the ground.”
“What else?” Jaxon asked and Luke told them the rest of the story.
“Why would you dig it up?” Sally asked. “Pretty gross.”
“We noticed a bunch of signs all over the neighborhood,” Luke said. “Actually, Ellie noticed them first. Missing pet signs.”
“Five different signs,” Ellie said. “We kind of thought maybe this was one of them. I never would have guessed it would be all of them.”
“So these are all neighborhood pets?” Jaxon asked.
“I think so,” Ellie said. “I recognized one of the cats. It’s Jinxy. The Eldridge’s cat on Cotton Court.”
“Have you seen anyone back here?” Sally asked.
They all shook their heads.
“Have there been any strange things happening?” Jaxon asked.
“You mean like dead children showing up in frozen pools? That kind of thing?” Mrs. Pemberton said.
Jaxon just stared at her.
“I’d like to ask you two a few questions,” she said. “What’s being done to protect this neighborhood? When will my children and I feel safe? It started with our dog and now more decapitated animals are buried in my yard. It sure looks like someone is targeting my family and I want some protection.”
Jaxon looked at Sally who seemed to sympathize with Mrs. Pemberton, but she remained silent.
“Mrs. Pemberton, I’m sure that…”
“I don’t believe you’re sure of anything Detective and I want something done. You and your department seem to be ignoring the whole problem. I haven’t seen a single police car or heard of any police action inside this neighborhood in over four months.”