Chunks of blackened coal or burned wood started appearing in the dirt, which in turn went into a bucket. Its contents were then poured onto a screen and the black chunks were separated and saved inside another bucket. They worked together to uncover a channel around the center where they expected to find bones.
Mattie watched with horrified fascination as she realized that this gravesite might present with the same MO as Willie’s. A burning pit, first filled with a body and then filled with fire.
“Careful. Here’s what could be the skull,” the forensic anthropologist said. “Let’s leave it in place and clear around it.”
Using a brush and gloved fingers, he worked his way around the degraded bone, tinged gray from charcoal exposure. He slowly revealed the round frontal bone, the empty eye sockets, and finally the maxilla and gaped open jaw, both still holding teeth.
He held it up, inspecting it carefully. “This skull belonged to a child.”
In a split second, an image of a burning boy surrounded by flames flashed into Mattie’s mind.
Clenching her teeth, she turned and headed toward the volunteer’s campsite, taking Robo with her.
Less than a half hour later, Brody joined Mattie by the campfire. She’d poured herself coffee from a pot that hung from a rod above the fire, and she huddled over the cup, warming her hands. As she gazed at the glowing embers and listened to the wood snap, she’d shut down her thoughts about unearthing a child’s bones. Instead, she was thinking about the rough terrain around Willie’s gravesite and the crevice beyond the waterfall that she and Brody had been unable to search.
Brody bent to grab an empty cup and tipped the pot to fill it. “We’ve got a full skeleton. Can’t specify age until they get the remains to the lab, but they’re thinking around six years old. Some clothing remnants—zippers from a jacket and pants, some buttons probably from a shirt, partially burned rubber from the soles of tennis shoes. They’ve moved on to another grave now.”
Empty inside, Mattie nodded and took another sip of the bitter liquid.
Brody stared into the campfire as he sipped his coffee. “Why a dead child?”
Mattie shrugged, unable to speculate. She changed the subject. “You know that stream we crossed up by my brother’s gravesite? You know how it flows into that gorge we couldn’t get down into?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, the stream is fairly small now, but don’t you think there are times that it swells when runoff flows through there?”
Brody lowered his cup. “Yep, from snowmelt and rain. Could get a large head of water rolling if there’s a downpour.”
“Let’s go search it, Brody. Let’s follow the stream and see if we can find anything that might have washed downhill. It’s rugged, but it looks like a place where trash might collect.”
“All right. We’re not needed to excavate those graves, so we might as well make ourselves useful.”
“Do we have some rope we could take with us? It’s going to be hard getting down into that ravine.”
Brody nodded and then drained his cup before leaving to retrieve the rope. He came back carrying what looked like a curled lasso hanging from his shoulder. Mattie emptied her cup by tossing the remaining coffee aside.
Robo trotted out in front as they hiked the short distance uphill toward Willie’s gravesite, but Mattie called him back and told him to heel as they drew near. When they reached the stream, she asked Robo to take a drink.
The ravine ran downhill, perpendicular to the trail. Although somewhat shallow at this point, it dropped off quickly into a deep, rocky crevice that they’d searched around earlier.
She pointed to some huge granite boulders at the top of the falls. “I guess we’ll have to climb down there.”
“I’ll go look for the best way.”
Mattie prepared Robo by exchanging his everyday collar for the blue one that he wore specifically for evidence detection and then led him to where the stream tumbled off the ledge, splashing over boulders until it landed about twenty-five feet below. From there, the ravine looked rugged, filled with current bushes, evergreen trees, willows, and deadfall, but Mattie thought Robo could search places that she couldn’t.
Brody was busy at the top of the falls, tying the rope to a pine tree. “You can use the rope to let yourself down. Then I can lower Robo.”
As long as she had support from the rope, Mattie thought she could manage the footholds offered by rocks on the way down.
“I have a full-body vest that I’ll put on him.” She secured the vest by centering its mesh panel beneath Robo’s belly and buckling its straps over his back. To test it, she gripped the straps and lifted him a few inches off the ground, making sure the vest supported his weight throughout his entire length. “Slip the rope through these rings here on top.”
“Is he going to fight this?”
“He shouldn’t. He’s done this many times in practice. He knows what to do.”
After getting Robo rigged out, Mattie turned and tested the rope. She grabbed onto it and leaned back with most of her weight, pulling the knot tight against the thick tree trunk. Where the knot scraped the bark it released the sweet, pungent scent of pine, and sap stained the rope.
Mattie went to the edge of the boulders. “I’ll go ahead now. Robo, stay.”
She hated that his brow puckered in a worried expression, but she didn’t want him bailing off the ledge to come after her. She grasped the rope firmly in both hands. Backing cautiously, she looked downward for her first foothold, feeling her world tilt as the rocky bottom of the ravine came into focus. She shifted her gaze from far to near, focusing instead on taking one step at a time.
The stream splashed in a fall beside her, creating a rushing noise and slippery stones. Going hand over hand along the rope and placing her feet carefully into footholds, Mattie glanced up to see Robo peering down at her, his mouth open in a nervous pant, pink tongue highlighted against black muzzle. Her boot slipped off a rock, jamming her knee against a boulder, and pain wrenched her attention back to her feet.
Step-by-step, the rope pinching at her palms, she eased her way down until, finally, she felt the firm earth at the base of the falls. “Okay,” she shouted, releasing the rope. “Send Robo.”
Brody tugged the rope back up to the ledge. Grateful that her dog had enough experience working around Brody that he wouldn’t be frightened, Mattie waited the few minutes it took to secure the rope. Brody led Robo to the edge of the falls.
Her partner really looked worried now.
“It’s okay, boy. You’re going to come down here.” She tapped the rocky wall.
Brody lifted Robo by his chest and carefully lowered him over the edge. He hung there for a brief moment, his body limp and his legs splayed, while Brody adjusted the rope and began lowering him slowly. Mattie spoke soothing words and held up her arms, locking onto Robo’s gaze and sending him confidence with her eyes.
He landed in her arms without incident, and she held onto him, providing support as his feet came into contact with the ground. She hugged him and told him what a good boy he was, and in a split second his expression changed from worry to pure joy. The same response bubbled up inside her. As he took on every challenge that was asked of him, her brave dog was a huge source of both joy and pride. He always made her feel better.
Mattie untied the rope and looked up to see Brody peering down at her. “Your turn,” she told him.
She led Robo out of the way so that Brody could descend. While he made his way down, she removed Robo’s vest, leaving his collar in place. It took only a minute for Brody’s long legs to navigate the cliff.