Page 27 of Dead Girl Running

Kellen interrupted Birdie, and with a broad gesture, she pointed toward the resort. “The main hotel building was built in 1957 and inspired by the royal palace of the Spanish kings of Navarre Olite. The resort was enlarged in 1970 and again in 1999. While you’re here, take the time to study the antiques the Di Luca family has collected.” She drove under the portico, turned and smiled at the guests. “Here we are! Your luggage has been tagged and will be in your rooms when you get there. Go in, check in and enjoy a complimentary beverage.”

Russell opened the van door and helped the ladies out. Chad Griffin grabbed his bag and hurried in. Birdie herded the guests into the lobby.

Kellen waited until they were inside and standing in line at the desk, then she pulled on her rain gear, grabbed a handful of linen napkins out of the van and sprinted down the wet driveway and into the grass. She started to reach for it, then halted, her hand inches from the broad bowl of the well-gnawed bone. It wasn’t a shank or a rib, but a hip socket or…or something similar. The femur remained in the socket and that, too, had been gnawed on.

Something about this wasn’t right. More than not right. Terribly, horribly wrong. This looked like…

A man’s voice spoke behind her. “That’s a female human pelvic bone.”

She jumped hard and spun around.

Nils Brooks stepped back, hands up.

Right. He had startled her, but she’d overreacted. Feeling foolish, she snapped, “How would you know?”

“Writer. Suspense. I study this stuff. Also, I was in the military. I saw some bodies while I was on active duty.”

Rain fell. Wind blew. He kept his glasses in his pocket and those eyes—brown with dark lashes—made her nervous. Made her wipe her damp palms on the thighs of her pants. “What branch?”

“Marines.”

No wonder she didn’t like him.

“Why are you out here?” she asked.

“I spotted the bone when we drove in, saw you run for it, thought I’d see why it had your attention.”

Great. He was observantandirritating. “This held my attention because guests are squeamish.” Covering her hand with a napkin, she picked up the bones.

The femur wiggled around, grinding in the socket.

“Unless you have gorillas around here, there is nothing other than a human woman that has that distinctive shape.” He bent to look more closely.

She covered the bones with another napkin. “I’ll show this to the Cape Charade policeman.”

Nils Brooks stuck his hands into his pockets. “Let me know what he says.” Turning away, he wandered back toward the portico and the lobby, and as he did, he called back, “But I’m right.”

Too bad that he probablywasright.

She sprinted across the soggy lawn toward the hotel wing where the remodelers were working, and as she ran, she called Temo. “Did you get that carcass picked up yet?”

“Not. Yet.” She could hear the motor of his ATV, the wind blowing past the phone and his incredible frustration. “First I had to explain to two of the local idiots that, no, I’m not paying them to play games on their iPads. Then Smart Home called. They are neither.”

“Smart, nor home? I am sorry, Temo. Let me know what you find as soon as you find the, um, skeleton.” She hung up on him, then called Sheri Jean Hagerty. “I have an emergency. Can I postpone for an hour?”

“You had an emergency yesterday.”

“Did you hear about the carcass found on the grounds this morning?”

“What about it?”

“One of the coyotes dragged off a chunk and a guest saw it.” Which was true. Nils Brooks had seen it.

No one understood the megrims of some guests as well as the guest experience manager. “Let me know as soon as you’re free.”

“Will do.” Kellen ducked under the tape warning guests not to enter, opened the door and walked toward the still-unfinished concierge lounge. Sheets of plastic hung over the door; she pushed them aside and entered a hell of leaning ladders, a roaring belt sander and swirling wood dust.

Lloyd Magnuson stood alone in the middle of the room, wearing ear protection and a filtering mask, and frowning at the cornice board he was smoothing.