Shadows of Lives Once Lived
by Jeffrey Scott Holland - part 2

     Ray Watson sat at his desk inside the Sheriff’s Office, which was located inside the county courthouse.  He was rocked back in his chair reading the local newspaper—his feet propped on the desk.  He had just taken a sip of his morning coffee when Danny, one of his deputies, entered the office.

     Danny was a strapping young lad with reddish-blonde hair.  He was taller than Ray.  His broad shoulders and large chest filled his uniform.  Ray had always considered Danny to be the most dependable of his deputies, and Danny was always eager to learn as much as he could from Ray.  So they had a mutual respect for one another.

     Ray was in his thirties, and was about ten years older than Danny.  He had a mustache and goatee that went well with his dark hair.  He was of average weight and height, and he probably would not stand out in a crowd except for his sheriff’s uniform.

     Motioning towards the newspaper’s headline with his head, Danny said, “Well, tomorrow’s the big day!”  Across the front page in bold words read, ‘Tomorrow’s Halloween Festival To Receive National Attention.”

     Ray nodded about the comment as he lowered the paper, “Hey there, Danny! How’s the world treating you this morning?”

     Danny, in his usually chipper mood, said, "Did you hear yet?  Johnny Walker stumbled across three bodies buried out at the old Mackey place this morning while he was hunting!"

     Ray put his feet on the floor, sat straight up in his chair, and tossed the newspaper aside.  "Human graves?" he said with a concerned look.

     The deputy answered, "Yep!  Well, one of them at least.  His coon dog dug up half a corpse before he caught up to him.  He said he didn't realize what it was at first, and when he did he just about messed his pants.  He said there’s two more graves beside that one that he didn’t disturb."

     Ray tossed the newspaper aside and quickly got to his feet.  "We better get out there!"

     When they arrived at the old house, Ray noticed that there were tire tracks in the yard.  He told Danny, who was driving, not to pull into the yard.  He didn't want to disturb any evidence that might help them figure out what had happened.  Danny parked on the side of the road in front of the old homestead.

     After assessing the property, Ray said, “Call in anybody you can.  We’re going to have to block off this entire property as a crime scene.”  He sighed deeply.  “I have a feeling this is going to be a long day.”  They both made a few phone calls and radio dispatches before working their way to the back of the property.  They were careful not to disturb any tracks that might have been left.

     As they rounded the back corner of the house, they saw the old pickup truck.  They inspected it and called in the tag number over the radio.  Ray observed that the battery was dead.  He wondered if it was because one of the doors had been left open.  After checking, he determined that the headlights had also been left on.  The driver’s side fender was dented to the point that it was touching the tire.  The damage was so severe that it had caused the white paint to flake away, revealing its original color.

     Ray knelt down to inspect the tire.  He shouted to Danny, “This fender was dented while the truck was parked here, because if it had been driven after the dent the tire would be worn down.  You wouldn’t be able to drive very far like that without the tire going flat.”

     When Danny didn’t reply, Ray looked up to see him crouched beside three spots where the soil had been disturbed about thirty feet in front of the truck.  When Ray stood, he could see a half-buried corpse of a male Caucasian in one of the places.  He could tell where Johnny Walker’s hunting dog had dug, and it had revealed the head of the corpse.

     As Danny brushed away the dirt around the corpse’s face, he said, "I recognize this one.  I pulled him over last week for reckless driving."

     Just then, a report came back over the radio, "Ray, that truck belongs to Joe Mackey, and he has two outstanding traffic tickets."

     Danny looked from the corpse to Ray.  "I guess he don’t no more."

     The rest of the day passed slowly.  Uncovering the bodies was a tedious process.  The bodies from the first two shallow graves were removed, put into body bags, and sent to the morgue.  The second body that was exhumed had been identified as Cyrus Scott.

     Both boys’ families had been notified and asked to go to the morgue to identify the bodies.  However, Joe’s family came to the crime scene instead of the morgue.  They created such a ruckus that they had to be taken to the police station, where they were questioned about whether they knew anything about Joe’s recent activities.  Once they had calmed down, they were taken to the morgue, where they positively identified Joe’s body.  By that time, Cyrus’ family had positively identified his body as well.

     In the meantime, a forensics team had been carefully unearthing the third body.  Throughout the day about twenty people had arrived to process the site; sheriff's deputies, state forensics examiners, medical examiners, and several reporters from the local newspaper.

     There were a lot of shoe prints found at the scene.  Two sets of prints were quickly determined to belong to Joe and Cyrus.  A third set of prints were found, and molds were made for further analysis.  The only tire prints found on the site belonged to Joe’s truck, as was expected.

     Ray sat in his car eating the lunch his secretary had brought when he noticed Chester Stubbs, the mayor, with his arm around one of the newspaper reporters persuasively whispering something in his ear.  Ray watched for a moment longer until Danny came around the house.  He motioned for Ray to come over.  Ray stuffed the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth and climbed out of the car.  As he approached Danny, the excited deputy said, "Ok! Get ready for a shock!"

     "What is it?"

     "That other body...well, it isn't much of a body anymore!"

     Ray looked confused.  "What are you talking about?"

     Danny said, "Just look for yourself!"

     Ray walked over to where the forensics team was working and looked down into the grave.  “That one looks like it has been here longer than the others.” Ray said.