Chapter 35

"So how is Sarah?" Joe asked the next morning when Charlie and Rex walked into the Major Crimes unit. Rex headed for his usual spot along the wall.

"Glad to be home and looking forward to me and Rex taking some time off," Charlie told him.

"I bet. They completed the removal of the tree and the propane tanks out at the cabin. Since we can't be sure if there is any evidence inside, Mika and Jesse are supervising the selective demolition. The RCMP sent some cadets to help, thanks to Anna," Joe filled him in.

"Where is Anna?" Charlie asked.

"She's down at the coroner's office. You better meet her there," Joe said. Charlie nodded, called to Rex, and the two were back out the door they had just come in. Luckily, it wasn't a long walk to the coroner's office.

"Hi Anna," Charlie smiled at her. Rex hung outside the coroner's office just like he did in the lab. Since Karma had left, the new coroner did not want Rex in with the autopsy tables.

"Hi Charlie. Joe send you?" She asked.

"Yup. Seems Jesse and Mika have the cabin portion under control," he told her.

"Somehow I wish that I was out there," Anna was not a squeamish officer, but the sad look of a full skeleton laid out on a metal table was a lot to take in. Charlie knew what she was feeling. It wasn't often that he dealt with skeletons, especially ones that had been buried so thoughtlessly. The black bags were cheap and had easily ripped, as evidenced by the multiple bags that had been wrapped around the body. The first bags ripped and whoever buried her just continued to wrap more bags around her. It wasn't enough to stop dirt and insects from getting at the body. Some of the smaller bones were missing so part of the team was still out at the burial site hoping to find them.

"Sorry, I'm late. My students had a lot of questions before their exam next week," a Jamaican Canadian woman walked into the coroner's office without introducing herself. She was tall and thin, and her dark hair was styled in a curly bob with bangs.

"Detective Hudson, Inspector Anna Siku, this is Professor Alvita Devon. She's a forensic anthropologist. I called her in to help with identification of our body," Coroner Melvin Bristow made the introductions.

"Nice to meet you. We don't get too many victims like this and could use all the help we can get," Charlie admitted.

"Nice to meet you as well. Who has the adorable German Shepard?" Alvita deflected a little as she put on gloves and a gown.

"That's my partner Rex. He helped find the body," Charlie said.

"Good for him. From what Melvin explained, if this is your victim, she's been missing a while," Alvita smiled.

"She's been gone long enough that we don't have dental records," Anna spoke up.

"So, it's DNA or nothing," Alvita nodded as she looked over the bones.

"Yes. Her children are still alive so we can use that to help," Charlie said.

"Good. Her thigh bones are in decent shape so we may be able to get some remaining marrow there but if not, we could grind up some teeth," Alvita said. To Charlie that seemed like an awful thing to do to the body, but he knew they were running out of options.

"Did you find the hyoid bone?" Alvita asked.

"No. Some of the bones were missing. Our forensics team figured that was because they were small and she'd been down there for over twenty years," Charlie admitted.

"I suppose it isn't as big of a deal, given the fact that there is a large skull fracture," Alvita shook her head.

"I'm calling that the cause of death. Blunt force trauma to the back of the head. Most likely a bat, a pipe, a…" Melvin was cut off by Anna.

"A hockey stick?"

"I'd have to test it out but possibly. What are you thinking?" Melvin asked.

"The more we dig, the more it looks like Richard might have killed his mother and that his father helped dispose of her body," Charlie admitted.

"Why would he do that?" Alvita stood up from looking over the bones and gave him a look.

"Richard's deceased father was making indecent images of children. We think he was using kids from the hockey teams he coached. We haven't identified all of the children in the photos," Charlie started.

"So, his mother confronts his father…" Melvin was cut off again.

"That's what we thought at first, but that doesn't explain why our initial victim, therapist Tim Watkins, had to die. Lynn was seeing Watkins – in an attempt to gain access to the records that he had. The man we arrested was abused by Richard's father, but the weapon didn't match the wound, and Watkins' computer records were accessed after his death. It couldn't have been the man we arrested because he was still tossing the deceased's house looking for photos. Photos that Lynn had stashed in the suspect's apartment," Charlie explained.

"There are a lot of balls in the air on this one," Melvin said.

"It became way more complicated once we found out that a former RCMP Inspector was taking part in the child abuse," Anna admitted.

"So, Richard was using Lynn to try and find out about the suspected shooter and what he was telling the therapist. Richard thinks that the shooter was going to say something. Not about the abuse so much as his father is no longer with us. It had to be about something else," Melvin said.

"When Charlie and his team tried looking up Debra Moffat, I was notified. We plugged the leak in the RCMP, but he didn't know anything about what happened to Debra. We think Lynn and our suspected shooter know things that they might not even realize. Lynn is developmentally disabled, and our suspected shooter suffers from PTSD. Their ability to get on the stand is not great but if Tim Watkins knew something…" Anna trailed off.

"He could have testified. That's why he had to die," Alvita shook her head.

"Richard had carefully covered his tracks right up until our suspected shooter needed to see Tim Watkins. At that point, he panicked. We have to be getting close because Richard punched Mika and got himself arrested," Charlie said.

"He couldn't control his anger," Alvita figured.

"So, if he lashed out and hit his mother – accident or not – she died. Richard's father couldn't have what he was up to exposed and he wasn't about to have his son speak to the cops. Richard had to know what was going on. Lynn was being abused by our former RCMP Inspector and our suspected shooter was being abused by Richard's father. Debra had to have found out. She might have tried to talk to her son – to see if he was being abused too – and something went wrong. Problem is, Richard lies like he breathes so he's more than likely to pin this all on Lynn or our suspected shooter," Anna heaved a sigh.

"This body was found on their property so Richard could even say that his mother was killed by his father and that his father made him help to dispose of the body," Alvita said.

"Exactly. We need to nail everything that moves down. We have to make this airtight and that is going to be tough since we don't have a murder weapon in either murder," Charlie told them.

"Well from a quick examination, I can tell you that this is definitely a woman. One who had given birth based on the pelvis. Melvin will help me take samples to try and get DNA and any other identifiers. I hate to ask, but we don't think that this is someone other than Debra?" Alvita asked.

"Richard's father liked boys. Our RCMP leak liked girls but as far as we know his only victim is still alive," Anna said.

"I'll keep an open mind, but I had to ask - in case there was something specific I should be looking for," the professor explained. Charlie's phone rang and he excused himself.

"Thanks Doc, Professor. Please keep us posted," Anna smiled slightly. Melvin promised they would and Anna exited the coroner's office. Charlie was just hanging up his phone.

"Who was it?" She asked.

"Doctor Kley. He thinks that we should talk to Danny," he said.

"Mika never did get back in to see him," Anna pointed out.

"Come on Rex. We're going for a ride," Charlie winked at the Inspector.

To Be Continued…