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The crime scene in Connecticut was very different from the one in New York.

There, Faith had found no crowds either of police officers or civilians.

The people who were present were more frustrated at the interruption of their morning than perturbed by the fact that someone had buried a body not even a half mile from where they stood.

Here, a dozen police officers were keeping about four dozen looky-loos outside of a taped-off section of ground about thirty feet off of a popular hiking trail in the Collis P.

Huntington State Park about five miles southeast of Danbury.

The crowd was mostly well-behaved, but it still bothered Faith to see them craning their necks to get a better look at the scene or extending their cell phones to film CSI as they gathered evidence for their report.

Did it not matter to anyone that someone had been murdered and left dead in an unmarked grave right here where they got their ten thousand steps done and munched on granola bars?

Maybe it was a good thing that people didn’t register the violence that took place around them every day. If people truly opened their eyes to how fragile life was, most of them would never leave the house.

Or maybe they would. Maybe it was human nature to ignore anything that didn’t have to do with oneself.

They flashed their IDs to the officers and were allowed behind the cordon.

A tall mustachioed man with a sergeant’s chevrons followed them.

When they were a few yards into the dig, he introduced himself.

“Sergeant Avery, Connecticut State Police. Danbury turned the case over to us, and unless I’m mistaken, we’ll be turning it over to you shortly. ”

“You’re not mistaken,” Faith replied. “I’m Special Agent Faith Bold. This is my partner, Special Agent Michael Prince, and my K-9 unit, Turk. We’re investigating a very similar murder on federally owned land by the Upper Delaware River in Hancock, New York.”

Avery nodded. “That’s what Danbury told us. One of their officers remembered the news story from a few days ago. Good thing, or it could have been a while before you two found out about this.”

They came to a stop just out of the way of the half-dozen men and women in white lab coats and masks busily examining the scene. “Folks,” Avery called. “This is Special Agent Faith Bold and Special Agent Michael Prince. They’re taking over the case, so please give them whatever they need.”

The CSIs nodded absently, probably the best they were going to get while the team was working.

Avery didn’t seem bothered by the lack of a verbal response.

CSI seemed a little bothered when Turk trotted to the crime scene and started sniffing around, but when they looked at Faith, they decided it wasn’t worth their time to protest.

"According to Danbury," Avery continued, "the body was called in by a couple on an early morning run. They came down here claiming they heard a woodpecker. Judging by some fibers left on the bark of the tree just in front of the grave, CSI's pretty sure they came here for another reason."

Faith wasn’t interested in salacious gossip right now. “How did they discover the body?”

"At some point, the husband was on his back. As he was getting to his feet, he brushed some dirt off of the victim's face. It appears he was buried in less than a foot of Earth."

That was new. The killer had made the grave shallower this time.

That could be due to the longer and more tiring walk to this spot compared to the previous grave.

They were a mile from the closest road accessible to vehicles, and the killer would have had to cross several hills on his way here while carrying a dead body.

Or it could be that he liked the attention he received last time and wanted to make it even easier for his victim to be found this time.

“They didn’t have any cell signal until they were back at their car. We’re still not sure why nine-one-one routed them to Danbury instead of us, but I guess it got handled either way.”

“Does the victim have a name?” Michael asked.

“Sure does,” Avery replied. “Staff Sergeant Kevin Barnes.”

Another servicemember. “Was he active duty?” Faith asked.

“No, but he had a veteran ID card with his last active rank.”

Another veteran. Also another male NCO. Their killer had a type, that’s for sure.

“So nothing’s missing,” Michael said.

“Nothing. The killer even left Barnes’s wallet behind.”

“That’s not really surprising,” Michael said. “Thieves don’t usually go through the trouble of burying their bodies in the woods.”

“Good point,” Avery replied. “Good thing this is an active archaeological dig. The grave was very shallow. Looks like he ran out of time to dig deeper.”

Faith frowned. “Speaking of that, where is the archaeological team?”

“They’re meeting with the administration at Yale to ask for a budget increase,” Avery replied. “According to Dr. Cuthbert. He asked if he should cut the meeting short and come here, but I verified his alibi and that of his dig team and told him I would let you two decide that.”

“You verified the alibis of the entire crew?” Faith asked.

“Yes. There’s only Dr. Cuthbert and six graduate students.”

That was much smaller than Dr. Winters’ team at the Hancock site.

“I see,” Faith replied. “Well, call him back and tell him to get back here as soon as he can. We’ll explore other angles until he gets here.

If you verified everyone’s alibis, then we don’t need the entire team just yet. The body’s still here, correct?”

“Unless your dog is bothering CSI for some other reason.”

Faith flashed a sharp look at Avery, but he didn’t seem upset at all.

His face was as placid as ever. It occurred to her that a perpetually calm expression might actually be an asset in his line of work.

If Faith were trying to hide wrongdoing, she would find it very difficult to remain level across from that emotionless gaze.

She stepped closer to the scene. One of the CSIs muttered, “Well, we were almost done anyway,” as the team cleared out.

Turk lifted his eyes to Faith, wearing a mournful expression. Faith reached down and scratched him under his chin, then straightened and regarded the body.

Kevin Barnes lay on his back with his legs straight and his arms crossed.

His eyes were half-open, but one of the CSIs explained that when he trotted back and held two baggies with gold coins up to Faith.

"These were used to hold the eyes shut. They're American Eagle five-dollar coins.

Mint proofs, but that doesn't make them especially valuable except for the fact that they're gold.

The mint makes a bunch of these every year for collectors. "

“They might still have value as evidence,” Faith said.

"Yeah, yeah, for sure. I just wanted you to know that the body was discovered with these holding the eyes shut.

We'll get you a full report, but I know you FBI types like to see the full picture for yourselves.

" He hesitated for a second, then asked, "Do you want me to close the eyes again and put these back? "

Faith smiled slightly. “That’s all right, thank you. Just get that report to me as fast as possible.”

“I will. Your partner gave me a business card, so I’ll email the report to his address.”

The CSI left, and Faith tried to piece together events from the killer’s perspective.

Assuming he had a truck or an SUV with at least some four-wheel drive capability, he could get to the top of the wider, flatter walking trail a mile below that Faith had identified as the nearest vehicle-accessible place.

If he was in a normal car or a truck without four-wheel drive, then he would have to park an extra mile away at the public lot.

Then he would have all the way up here, passing several more secluded, easier-to-access places to hide the body.

He chose to bury his victim in this archaeological dig and put only a token amount of dirt over him.

Even if he'd been pressed for time, Faith couldn't believe that he'd been so pressed for time that he couldn't bury him two feet deep like he did Paul Martinez.

And this was a dig site. Where people were going to burrow far deeper than two feet into dirt specifically hunting for bodies. Not fresh bodies, obviously, but the point was that the killer chose to bury him somewhere he would be found quickly.

Leaving the wallet was a choice too. At first, Faith thought that the killer just didn’t care, but now she believed otherwise.

He didn’t just want people to know where the body was.

He wanted them to know who he was. He wanted people to know that he had killed and buried Staff Sergeant Kevin Barnes.

Why? Why him, and why Paul Martinez? And why was Kevin different? Paul didn’t have his wallet, and no coins held his eyes shut.

It was possible that there was no reason. If he was a brand-new killer, he could still be perfecting his MO. Perhaps he buried Paul, realized there was nothing to keep his eyes shut, and added the coins for his next victim.

Michael tapped her shoulder, interrupting her musing. “Danbury PD just got a call from Maria Fuentes, Kevin’s ex-wife. They were supposed to talk this morning about adjusting child support payments, but Kevin never answered.”

Faith nodded. She turned to Sergeant Avery and said, “Give CSI and the Medical Examiner all the time they need, then send the reports to me. Once they’re finished, you can release the crime scene and the State Police will have completed its obligation to the FBI.”

Avery nodded. “Of course, Special Agent. Good luck to you.”

“Turk,” Faith called. “Come on, boy.”

Turk gave Barnes a final mournful glance. His eyes were as haunted as those of any soldier. Faith knew that feeling well.

The three of them trekked back to Michael’s SUV, leaving Staff Sergeant Barnes in the care of the Danbury Medical Examiner’s Office.

One thing that stuck with Faith was the reverence the killer showed both victims. That was important. She had a hunch that it was going to be the key to finding the answers she needed.

Hopefully, she'd find those answers before she and Turk had to see the body of another fallen comrade.