Dirt Nap Page 2

  Collier nodded between them as he scribbled in his ever-present notebook, which was like an extension of his hand. “Curtis, Austin. Austin, Curtis.”

  Corey shook her head disapprovingly and extended her hand. “Corey.”

  “Steph.”

  Collier glanced at Corey briefly. “You look different.”

  She waved her left arm. “Got my cast off this morning.”

  He grunted and coughed. “Just in time. I’d go down with you but it’s a tight fit.”

  “My ass you would,” Corey shot back, noticing the twitch of a smile from Steph Austin. “I’m going to get set.” She headed back to her truck and Steph joined her.

  Corey was already impressed with her. The air was so foul with decay you could taste it, and if Officer Steph Austin was bothered by it, she gave no indication. Maybe she was anosmic and couldn’t smell. “I can tell just by the way you stand that you’ve been doing this a while. You pull the short straw to get this gig?” she asked as she dropped the tailgate.

  Steph seemed pleased with Corey’s comment. “I’m coming up on twenty years. I’m partnered with Sergeant Collier for the time being.”

  “You could do a hell of a lot worse.”

  “And I have,” Steph agreed, staring at Corey’s vivid, full sleeve, ocean life tattoo on her right arm. “That looks like Frankie Fortune’s work.”

  “You know Frankie?”

  Steph’s mouth quirked. “Maybe.”

  Corey’s eyes narrowed and she assessed the woman again. The only skin that was showing was from the neck up and her arms in her summer uniform.

  “You’ll never guess and I’m not the tramp stamp type of girl,” Steph deadpanned.

  Corey laughed. She really liked Steph Austin and could see them being friends. “So, how long are you going to be riding with Collier?”

  “Unknown at this time, but you’ll be seeing me around as long as I am.”

  “Where he goes you go?”

  “Pretty much.” Steph grimaced and removed her sunglasses. “In this case, though, I’m going with you. Photos and evidence.”

  “What? In there?”

  Steph smiled and now Corey could see the lines around her hazel eyes. There were more than a few strands of gray streaking through her brown hair pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck. She was older than Corey originally thought, and if she’d been on the job for twenty years, she was at least in her early forties. She looked more than physically capable. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Absolutely not but it’s the job.”

  “Atta girl. Let’s get you kitted out. What are you wearing under your uniform?”

  Steph cocked a brow at her. “I have a T-shirt on if that’s what you mean.”

  “It is.” Corey smiled. “Take your vest, duty belt and uniform top off. Don’t wear anything that could get caught and tear your suit, and don’t bring anything you would have to go back in for if you lost. The suits are thin so empty your pockets.” She patted the Tyvek suit. “It’s also going to be hot as hell in there so the less you have on the better.” Corey scanned the contents of her truck bed. “Oh, shit, I forgot to pick up water.”

  “The patrol cars have bottles in the trunk. They’ll be warm but I’ll make sure we get some.”

  “Great. All of it. We’re going to need it. Get the suit on and I’ll help you with the rest. And if you have to pee do it now.”

  “Right.” Steph took the suit and headed to Collier’s unmarked car to take her gear off, and he, in turn, wandered over to Corey’s truck.

  “I like your partner,” Corey said to him as she stepped into her own suit.

  “Who? Stone Cold?” He snorted as he continued writing whatever he was writing in the little notebook.

  “Why do you call her that?” Corey glanced at him while she exchanged her expensive glasses for a pair of hardware store, yellow-tinted safety glasses. They didn’t work as well long term but were fine for short periods, and she wasn’t risking her good ones. Then she pulled thick, disposable boots over her shoes and tied them up over her calves.

  “She’s a goddamn robot—totally emotionless. Never talks about herself. Never cracks a smile. Don’t even know if she’s gay or straight.”

  “What the hell difference does that make to how well she does her job?”

  “It doesn’t. I just mean no one knows anything about her.”

  “Maybe because a woman in the good old boy police force feels like she can’t emote lest it be used against her in some way.”

  He eyed her over his notes. “Like what way?”

  “Like being called a bitch, a dyke, or a tease. Your nickname? Stone Cold Steph Austin—very clever, by the way—already screams, ‘You should smile more, honey, you’ll be prettier.’”

  Collier grunted and turned back to his notes. “I didn’t make it up and she’s not my partner. She’s training. The brass are grooming her for advancement. Some initiative from the mayor’s office to promote more women into leadership.”

  “Oh, I see. It’s because she’s a woman and not because she’s put in twenty years in a uniform with an impeccable service record, and she probably aced the detective’s exam and has still been passed over for promotion repeatedly?”

  He snapped his notebook closed and glared at her. “What do you know about it? She tell you all that?”

  Corey snorted and snapped her first layer of gloves over her hands. “Nope. Didn’t have to. I know how it works.”

  “It’s not my fault there are hardly any women on the force.”

  “Oh, really? Because the police have such a strong history of recruiting and welcoming women?”

  “The fitness requirements are strict and it’s a dangerous profession. Women are—”

  “Do not finish that sentence. I like and respect you, Collier, but I think I hate you a little bit right now.” She pulled on heavier weight gloves and pulled them up her wrists as far as they would go. “Do you even hear the bullshit coming out of your mouth right now?”

  “I’m not sexist,” he barked. “You know me.”

  Corey rolled her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry. That’s right, hashtag not all men. Well, what are you doing to change the culture? How many of your bros in blue have you told to shut the fuck up when you hear them spouting filth about pussy grabbing in the locker room?”

  He looked away. “I’m not going to win this, am I?”

  “Nope. Don’t worry, Collier. I know you’re one of the good guys. When we finish this case, I’ll take you out for a beer and introduce you to terms like ‘toxic masculinity’ and ‘mansplaining.’”

  “Man—what?”

  From behind them Steph Austin coughed to cover a laugh, drawing their attention, but couldn’t contain the bright smile lighting up her face letting Corey know she had most likely heard much of their conversation.

  Corey grinned knowingly and threw her a wink, admitting Steph Austin was quite attractive when she smiled. Corey immediately quelled the thought and turned her attention back to the job at hand. Steph had the department-issued camera and was tasked with taking the photos of the body and scene under the house, as well as recovering any obvious evidence before the crime scene unit came to do a more thorough sweep once the body was out. Of course, they risked contaminating the scene by going in first, but the only way around that would be to move the house to allow proper access. An expense like that would be astronomical and would never be approved by the city.

  Corey helped Steph with her gloves, booties, and respirator mask. She gave her a pair of safety glasses and a face shield that would go on last after they pulled the suit hoods up and snugged the elastic around their faces. Their personal protective equipment would do as much to protect the scene from them as it would protect them from the scene.

  She glanced to the entrance as Cin and Audrey were setting down the battery powered portable LED lights, a backboard from the ambulance, a heavy-duty black body bag and a stack of towels.

  “L
ooks like we’re set.” She looked at Steph. “Ready?”

  “No.”

  Chapter Three

  “You and Sergeant Collier pretty good friends?” Steph asked.

  “I guess.” Corey was already sweating and breathing heavily, her skin itching beneath the suit. She was grateful for idle conversation and something else to think about. “In our line of work we cross paths a lot. We’ve been colleagues for five years or so. The friends part came about a little more recently. Why do you ask?”

  “He respects you a great deal. Cares about you and what you think.”

  “There’s no way he told you that.” She laughed. “We go out of our way to never say nice things to or about one another—kind of like siblings.”

  “He didn’t,” Steph agreed. “I just know I’ve never heard anyone bust his balls the way you just did and live to tell.”

  “Yeah.” Corey grinned. “That was fun. He needed to hear it.”

  “You respect him?”

  Corey could tell that despite her casual tone, she was fishing. “Very much. He’s a great cop and I would trust him with my life. Nearly had to just recently, in fact.”

  “I’m familiar with your story. What you did was really…”

  “Please, don’t say brave.”

  “I was going to say stupid, but we just met and I wasn’t sure how that would go over.”

  She laughed. “I can live with that. Probably the only time Collier’s said nice things to me or called me by my first name was when I was in the hospital. His mouth may say differently sometimes but his heart is always in the right place. A little rough around the edges but he’s a great guy.”

  “I think so too,” Steph said quietly.

  “Yeah?” There was an almost imperceptible wistfulness in her tone and Corey glanced at her.

  “If you ever repeat that to him they will never find your body.” Her voice was cool as ice but the glint in her eyes belied her threat.

  “Understood.”

  The four women stood garbed head to toe in protective plastic and nitrile just outside the range of the green bottle fly swarm.

  “Can you fill us in, Steph?” Corey asked.

  “Nothing about the body,” Cin added.

  Audrey nodded. “Any information or suspicions about cause of death might prejudice our analysis.”

  “No worries there.” Steph coughed. “We don’t know a thing. Not even sex. Early this morning a couple of hikers caught the stench, and thinking it was a dead animal, decided to investigate. When they realized the house was the origin they went no further and called 911. A patrol car came out and made the discovery. He only poked his head and flashlight in far enough to determine a human body.”

  “That the poor guy out on the road?” Corey asked.

  “Yeah. Officer Kelly Warren. On the job six years. This is his first body discovery. The sergeant and I did a sweep of the interior and immediate grounds to determine there were no other deceased, injured or other immediate threats and called you. The crime scene unit is standing by until after the recovery.”

  “Good enough,” Audrey replied, taking charge. “Corey, I want you to go in first and set up the lights. Do your best not to interfere with the scene. We have no idea yet how much room we’ll have and your height makes you the limiting factor, so get your bearings and let us know. Officer Austin is in next to get her photos and whatever else she needs. If it’s too crowded, one of the two of you will pop back out, and we’ll send the backboard and bag in. We’re going to roll the body and bag it in there to avoid causing any more damage on the way out. The backboard will keep the body from flopping around. We can pack it with towels on the outside to sop up the mess.” She held out the tin of gel. “Last chance.”

  Everyone dug in and smeared the gel over their faces before affixing their masks in place and lowering their face shields.

  Corey did her best to ignore the flies and stepped down into the hole. So far it was only two feet deep and she peered down seeing it dropped further. “I’m good.” She hunkered down and folded herself into the gap, her chest and back muscles informing her of their displeasure.

  She was in and felt for the bottom of the house, touching the ceiling of the crawlspace easily from her knees. “About four feet high.” She leaned back out. “Pass me the lights.”

  Cin handed them down one at a time. “You okay?”

  Corey coughed. “Great. Let’s make this quick.”

  She ducked back down, breathing heavily through her mask. The heat was oppressive and made even heavier by the indescribable sickening stench. Her scrubs stuck to her back and legs, and sweat prickled against her scalp and trickled down her face beneath her glasses and mask. There was no way she could brush it away so she endured.

  She didn’t want to move too far into the crawlspace for fear of stumbling over the body. She would have liked to prepare more, but she couldn’t spend any longer than necessary. The respirator protected them from biohazard particles but did nothing to cut the smell, which was so dense she imagined she could see it. She flicked on the first light, blinking against the visual assault.

  The scene revealed was so gruesome that her breath was stolen, and a cry of alarm was impossible. The body, unclothed but for boots and socks lay along the far wall from where she knelt—a writhing, undulating mass of insect activity. The maggots carpeted the face and neck and part of the torso and groin. Their movement made a wet, popping sound as they fed and grew. “Dear god.”

  Corey set up the other lights against the walls in a quadrant as fast as she could, doing her best to avoid the ground immediately around the body. She estimated the space at fifteen feet square—a tight squeeze for all of them. She didn’t want to be alone any longer. “Steph?” She gagged and choked back bile.

  Corey moved farther back as Steph hunched in. “Jesus Christ.” Steph choked, her eyes going enormously wide through the shield.

  Corey patted her hard on the shoulder. “I know. Get the job done,” she managed, and to Steph’s credit, she immediately began snapping her photos and studying the ground for any evidence, gently sifting through the dirt with her fingers.

  “It’s tight but we can make it work. Send in the backboard and bag and come down,” Corey directed to the anxiously peering eyes of Audrey and Cin.

  She set the backboard out of the way and arranged the body bag so it was open and ready to receive its cargo, leaving room for Audrey and Cin.

  Steph clicked away on the camera, but all Corey could hear was the sound of her own labored, nearly panicked breathing. No one deserved to be found like this.

  “Holy Mary. That poor bastard,” Audrey said while Cin went pale and silent at the sight of the rotting, bug-infested corpse. They had no reason to know it was a man save the body was large, despite the decay.

  “You have everything?” Audrey eyed Steph who had stopped taking photos and was studying the ground.

  Steph swallowed hard. “I’ve done what I can.”

  “Good.” Audrey jerked her head. “Get up top and get ready to guide the body out.”

  Steph didn’t need to be told twice and scrambled out of the space.

  Audrey produced a series of small vials from within her custom suit and proceeded to pluck off maggots of varying sizes into each one. She pulled a small shovel from another pocket and skimmed through the surface dirt around the body, taking additional samples. “The good news is since the body was relatively protected, there’s only small animal activity and we don’t need to go hunting for missing limbs that a fox or coyote dragged off.” She began brushing the maggots off the body and into the dirt away from the path they needed to exit. “Cin, let’s clear it off as best we can. Every single one of these little bastards is a biohazard and I don’t feel like battling with the administration about it. Corey is that bag set up?”

  “Yes.” Corey didn’t want to talk more than necessary. She was starting to feel light-headed from breathing shallowly or dehydration or both. She’
d completely sweated through her scrubs, and it felt like they’d been down there hours but it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes.

  “Cin, get on his legs and roll him toward the wall on my count.” Audrey placed her hands beneath the shoulders. “Corey, slide the backboard beneath him.”

  Corey duck walked over the body bag and crouched into position, lining up the backboard.

  “One. Two. Three.” They rocked the body over and Corey pressed the board hard through the dirt until they could ease the body back down.

  “No straps,” Audrey instructed. “It will strip the flesh off. On three let’s get him in the bag.” They gripped the board ends and Corey leaned over to grab the side to guide it in. “One. Two. Three.” Audrey gauged the distance to the opening. “Cin, at the head with me. Corey, I need you at the legs to lift him out. Bet you didn’t wish you were so strong right about now. You’re going to have to do the heavy lifting.”

  Corey could only nod. She would lift whatever she had to in order to get out of this hole.

  The three of them worked together to maneuver the body toward the entrance to the crawlspace, Corey’s overtaxed muscles screaming their displeasure the entire way.

  “Up,” Audrey barked. She and Cin shimmied out, leaving Corey by herself again, alone with her ragged breathing.

  Gloved hands reached back in and Corey strained to lift the head end through. They caught their grip and dragged the body out while Corey shuffled quickly to the feet and lifted with effort as they wrestled the body out the gap. Her neck and back muscles burned with the strain, but it was finally through and natural sunlight blinded her as she gazed up.

  A gloved and sleeved arm thrust through the opening at her. “Quit fucking around, Curtis,” Collier barked.

  She reached up and was jerked through the opening.

  She blinked at him and he looked her over with what she almost thought was concern.

  “All right?”

  “Yeah,” she gasped, though she didn’t feel it. She ripped the face shield off, dragged down her mask and yanked off her hood, breathing deeply.