The Clockwork House by Wendy Saunders

Author:Wendy Saunders [Saunders, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

By the time they arrived back on island it was really late. The worst of the storm had blown over and the moon was high in the sky, casting a silvery glow over the damp island. One of the police squad cars met them off the last ferry of the night and drove them both up the steep curving road toward Ava’s cliff top. If they’d expected to find the site quiet and shut down for the night, they were in for a huge shock.

They had to make their way through crowds of people with cameras, who banged on the windows of the car, the lights from their cameras blinding through the glass as they yelled random questions. It was disorganized, chaotic and somehow out of place. When Gus had said the media had shown up, she had been prepared for a few news vans and some reporters but nothing like this. It was off the craziness scale.

When they finally made it through the blockade of people, the police barriers were lifted out of the way so they could drive onto the site.

Ava barely recognized it; her quiet sleepy little site was lit up like the fourth of July with huge temporary floodlights. There were dark colored vans everywhere and plastic sheeting hung over square tent-like structures. People milled around wearing protective coveralls and masks, and for one crazy brief second, Ava wouldn’t have been surprised to see E.T wheeled out.

‘What the hell?’ she muttered.

‘It looks worse than it actually is Ma’am,’ the young deputy told her. ‘Most of its just procedure, the rest is for privacy. The Press are notorious for telephoto lenses. They’ve managed to retrieve one of the bodies so far and until they’re ready to release a statement they don’t want them getting any photos.’

Slowly the pair of them climbed out of the car, surveying the bustling activity. After a few moments a figure broke away and crossed the distance to them. She was a slim built, middle-aged woman with curly blonde hair, cropped short and tucked behind one ear, and a friendly face.

‘Ava Cortez?’ she enquired.

‘Who wants to know?’ Ava asked warily.

‘Dr Casey Valentine,’ she held out her hand, ‘University of Maine, forensic anthropology.’

‘Oh,’ Ava reached out and shook her hand. ‘This is Kelley Ryan.’

‘Of course,’ she shook his hand also. ‘It was my understanding you both discovered the bodies?’

‘That’s right,’ Kelley nodded, ‘hell of an experience.’

‘I can imagine,’ Dr Casey replied sympathetically. ‘Usually they’re not quite so well preserved when they get to me, however I do have Dr Brightman with me,’ she glanced around and frowned. ‘Oh well, you’ll meet him at some point, he’s a forensic pathologist. We’ll be partnering up on this case as it’s so unusual.’

‘How long do you think they’ve been down there?’ Ava asked.

‘Can’t say for certain yet, we’re just in the preliminary stages of the investigation. We’ve managed to remove one of the bodies so far, but it’s slow going as we have to remove them in their caskets without breaching the sealed glass.

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