Hold Back the Night (A Detective McDaniel Thriller Book 1) by Axel Blackwell

Author:Axel Blackwell
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2019-11-15T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

At 1:57 a.m. McDaniel lost the coin toss. At 1:59 a.m. he called Lieutenant Osen. The man answered on the fourteenth ring, but when he did finally pick up he sounded fully awake. McDaniel guessed the first ring woke him and he had spent the intervening time exercising his voice to give the impression he had been awake and awaiting the call.

“This is Osen.”

“Sir, it’s McDaniel.”

“You found something?”

“Sir, we found what we believe to be six bodies buried in the cellar.”

There was a long pause. McDaniel could almost hear Osen’s mind processing the information, visualizing the consequences and repercussions tumbling one after another like dominoes. Finally, Osen said, “Believe to be?”

“Sanders ran the Ground Penetrating Radar. Gable is on his way back with gas probes, so we’ll have those results shortly, but the GPR indicated results consistent with buried human remains.”

Osen let out a long, disgruntled sigh. Bellingham was known for several things - its art, culture, history, and progressive ideology to name a few. No one in city governance wanted serial killer to be added to that list. But even more importantly, Bellingham was a college town, home of Western Washington University. A killer on the loose could lead to all sorts of problems on campus, from students leaving the school to attend elsewhere, to staged hoaxes, to protest marches that turned to riots.

Eventually, Osen said, “You know I’m going to have to turn this over to State, right?”

“Give them the scene, but keep Vanderwyk and me on lead,” McDaniel said.

“They have the manpower to handle something like that,” Osen continued.

“Sir, whoever this guy is, he’s already hustling to cover his tracks. He’s got to be,” McDaniel said. “We are up to speed. We’ve got some solid leads. If you dump this on State…”

“I’m not ‘dumping’ it anywhere!” Osen said, his voice a harsh whisper. “You are telling me we have six bodies buried in the basement of a condemned house in the middle of nowhere, and I’m telling you we don’t have the resources to handle a scene like that.”

“If you turn this over to the State Patrol, their team of forensic anthropologists will spend two weeks picking that place apart,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get every piece of the puzzle, except for the who-done-it piece. Because he’ll be long gone by this time tomorrow.”

“McDaniel, it’s two o’clock in the damn morning,” Osen said, “I’m not pulling you off this, not yet anyway. I’m not making any decisions right now. Are Gable and Sanders working the scene?”

“Yes, sir,”

“Good,” Osen sighed again. “Tell them their work will be turned over to the State’s team, so make it look professional. Tell them to document the GPR and gas probe results, but beyond that, stay clear of the graves. Get the rest of the scene processed as they normally would.”

“Okay, sir,” McDaniel said, “I got it.”

“You and Vanderwyk wrap up whatever you’re doing and get out of there. I will set up a conference with the State investigators tomorrow morning. I want you two fresh and ready to present everything you have compiled so far.

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