The Hidden

“Why don’t you let me take care of that?” Gray offered, and promptly pulled out his phone to make a call. When he hung up, he was smiling. “There’s a guy on the way,” he promised.

“Thank you,” Diego said. Whatever had changed the guy’s attitude for the better, he was glad of it. He leaned forward to talk to Lieutenant Gray. “I understand that you’re handling the human remains found up on the mountain.”

“Yes, a month or so ago. I mean, what’s left of the body was found a month or so ago. It had been there awhile. It’s strange when you find remains at the tundra level. Because they’re above the tree line, there’s a lot less cover to protect them, so sometimes they’re nearly perfect, if the snow comes in time to cover them, but otherwise, it’s a crapshoot. In this case, we don’t know yet when he—we do know it’s a man, by the way—was killed, whether it’s been months or even years. Our department experts can’t agree. Betsy Wiggin, the department head, is convinced he died this summer, so not even a year ago yet. A couple of the others say the fabric scraps found under the body suggest that the remains are a lot older. But Betsy thinks we’re looking at the reenactor wearing authentic clothing. At this point we’ve got a forensic anthropologist working on it, and we’ll wait and see what he says.”

“You said it’s a man, but do you know anything else?” Matt asked.

“Somewhere between thirty and forty, but that’s it,” Gray said.

“No one similar in the missing persons database?” Brett asked.

“No one so far, but once we figure out when he died, maybe we can focus our search more effectively.”

“Have you done a facial reconstruction yet?” Diego asked.

“No,” Gray said. “Right now we’re focusing on how he died—along with when, of course. There aren’t any nicks on the bones that suggest a knife wound. No bullets were retrieved from the area. He could have gotten himself lost up there and just frozen to death. Or fallen. We’re still working on it.”

Diego made a point of not looking at any of the other agents. He knew the Bureau had the resources to figure that out—and quickly.

“We don’t believe he was from around here,” Gray told them. “There’s definitely no one missing locally who’s anywhere near the description.”

Matt cleared his throat. “We have an agent in our unit who’s a brilliant forensic artist. We can bring her in, if you want.”

When Gray didn’t say anything right away, Diego thought he was going to refuse their help, since the case didn’t have any connection to the murders of Larry and Candace Parker.

But then the lieutenant surprised him by shrugging. “Sure. Quite frankly, we have no idea what we’re dealing with, and I’d appreciate any help.”

“I’ll get on it,” Matt said.

“On another note, what can you tell us about the guests who left the Conway Ranch after the Parkers’ bodies were discovered?” Diego asked.

Lieutenant Ernie Gray almost smiled. “The interview reports have already been emailed to all four of you.”

“Thank you,” Meg said.

“I like to think we could have handled this,” Gray said gruffly. “But, hey. A solved murder is a solved murder, right?”

Scarlet stood. “I think I heard someone at the door,” she said, and started out of the room.

Diego rose quickly, blocking her.

She turned to him almost indignantly. “I was going to look before I opened the door.”

“That should be the security guy,” Gray said.

Diego went with her to open the door and discovered that Gray was right.