Nancy got up and walked over to the table. Dan could not take his eyes off the nicely shaped woman in front of him. Nancy finally turned to Dan and caught him looking at her.

She cleared her throat and then quickly added. “The victim was male.”

Dan appeared puzzled. “How can you tell?”

Nancy calmly pointed to some bones in the center of the table. “The pelvic bone. Definitely male.” She points up at the head. “Also on the skull, the ridge on the brow confirms it.”

Dan was curious now. “What else do you know about him,” he asks.

“From the sutures in the skull and the closure in the epiphyses of the shoulder and the basilar synchondrosis of the spheroid, I’d say the victim was about eighteen.”

Dan just stared at Nancy. He was never good in biology and it amazed him she could pronounce those words, and seemed confident in what she was relaying.

“I’d ask you to repeat that, but I still wouldn’t understand what you just said.”

Nancy laughed. “We learn things like that in school, that’s how any medical examiner can determine age when the body is in this condition. The body’s bones are constantly developing.”

“I can tell you he’s been dead nearly twenty years.”

“All that from a pile of bones?” Dan asked.

“That and the class ring we found.”

Nancy turned and walked over to the tray that was covered with a cloth. She lifted the cloth. Nancy picked up the ring and handed it to Dan.

Dan had a cold chill go through him. It was a ring he longed to have in high school, but money was tight. His parents could not afford the extravagance of a class ring for him and his part-time job did not pay enough for such a luxurious item. He put the ring back on the tray.

“Pine Bluff High,” was all Dan could muster up to say.

“I talked to Mac. He told me about a Jason O’Connor, who disappeared some twenty years ago. The J and O on the class ring kind of confirms it’s him, but I still want to examine his dental records so I can do a positive identification before notifying the family.”

The O’Connor family gave up on Jason years ago and had him legally declared dead nearly ten years now. His grave was two sites down from Kay’s so Dan saw it often.

Dan shook his head, not believing how good Nancy was, and urged her on.

“Do you have a cause of death?” he asked, not expecting an answer.

“Definitely, he was knifed.”

Dan raised his eyebrows. “You are good.”

Nancy reached for the tray and picked up the knife tip. She handed it to Dan.

“Found this lodged in one of his ribs,” she said and then quickly continued. “From it’s location, I’d say it pierced the lung. He probably bled out quickly.”

Dan just stared at the piece of metal in his hand. A cold sweat appeared on his brow but he said nothing.

“You don’t look so good.”

Dan wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “Can we get out of here? This place gives me the willies.”

Dan had a troubled look on his face while Nancy walked over to the coat rack. She grabbed a sweater, but Dan took it from her and put it over her shoulders. He would have to deal with what was bothering him later. Right now he wanted to enjoy the evening.

* * *

Dan leaned back and watched Nancy as she ate her salad. “So what brings you to our little community?” he asked.

“I have relatives living here and it seemed like a nice town. Low crime rate.” Nancy replied and then laughed. “That was before this week.”

Dan shook his head. “Maybe the blue moon rising has something to do with it.”

“There are people who believe in that theory that there are more crimes committed during this moon cycle. But no real study has been able to prove it valid.”

“After today, you have a believer in me.”

“You only found the second victim during the moon cycle. Besides, I usually don’t mix business with pleasure.”

Dan reached over and patted Nancy’s hand. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“Promise?” she asked teasingly.

“That reminds me,” he said, reaching into his inside pocket. He pulled out the envelope and handed it to Nancy. “Can you check this fur against the fur you found on Richie?”

“You found the black-bear rug?”

“You’re not the only working this case. It might not even be the same bear rug, I just thought it was worth checking.”

“You going to tell me whose fireplace it sits in front of?”

“Alan Maxwell,” was all Dan mustered up to say. He could tell by the look on Nancy face that this information did not surprise her.

He was about to pursue his gut feeling, but the waiter was back at the table. All he managed to do was raise his eyebrows. The waiter took the salad plates and set their food on the table. Nancy simply smiled up at Dan.

“So what else can you tell me about the bones?” Dan asked.

“The bones were disturbed, so it’s hard to tell the exact position of the body. I think the hands were tied behind the back,” she said and then hesitated a moment. “Mind you, I’m not positive.”

“You think the same person did this?” Dan asked.

“Not exactly,” she said. But then quickly added, “There are similarities. Maybe it’s just getting the bodies so close together.” She shook her head. “Both victims were found in the same proximity of each other. Both were tied from behind possibly and the same age group. A knife was involved in both killings. You don’t run across something like that very often.”

“You’re talking serial killer, who has been at it,” Dan studied Nancy a moment before continuing, “Twenty years or so?”

“It’s only a theory,” she added.

“What about the rope?”

“There was no trace. You realize it’s hard to determine something after a person has been buried for so long, with basically no protection from the elements.”

Dan looked at his steak a moment then leaned forward. “Jason? I can hardly believe it.”

“You knew him?” Nancy asked.

“It’s a small town. We graduated together. I went into the service, but my mother would send me clippings,” he added and then paused for a moment. “I just figured he ran off to Little Rock like he always talked about. He was supposed to go away to college but his parents didn’t have the money. The way I heard, they worked out some deal with the Senator to pay for his schooling.”

“A lot of people probably figured that. But the fact remains, he never made it out of town.”

Dan sat there, too stunned to eat. It bothered him that at every turn the Senator’s name was coming up, and if not his, then his son’s name. He was sure that somehow they were involved. In all his years as an officer of the Law he never knew a killer personally, so it was hard for him to comprehend that these two men whom he knew could be cold-blooded killers. That thought bothered him.

CHAPTER 13

Dan walked into the darkened house. He was careful not to make any noise, not wanting to wake Kelly. He really did not want to talk to his daughter about the date he had just been on. Somehow he just was not ready for that yet.

Dan quickly entered his bedroom and shut the door before turning on the light. Slowly he took off his shirt. He studied his reflection in the mirror. Dan sucked in his stomach. For a middle-aged man he did not look too bad. Dan walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. He rummaged through the socks until he pulled out the pocketknife from years earlier. Dan opened it and stared at the broken blade.

Why he kept it all these years, he did not know. It could have been to remember how vulnerable he had felt that night on the dark lonely stretch of road and the fear of the unknown. He had never again felt the kind of fear that was so intense that night.

* * *

The sun shone brightly, the temperature was in the high eighties already. Mac was at his desk operating the radio as he always was in the morning when Dan walked into work. Dan was curious if Mac ever went home at night. He was always the first one in in the morning and the last one to leave at night. If anyone did not have a life, it was Mac.