Free She Who Watches by Patricia H. Rushford Page A

He secured some of the powder and dropped it into an evidence bag.
    â€œLime?” Nate hunkered down beside him.
    â€œTo decompose the body and throw off time of death. The lime works great if it’s wet and decomposes the body. The lime here probably didn’t do much because there hasn’t been much rainfall. My thinking is that whoever buried this gal wanted the body to decompose quickly. But he forgot to do his homework on the conditions needed to make the lime work. We’ll have to let the crime lab verify that, though.” He handed the bag to Dana, who added it to her evidence roster.
    â€œOne thing for sure.” Mac grinned up at Nate and lifted the dead woman’s left hand out of the shallow grave. “This isn’t an ancient site. Not unless your ancestors wore wristwatches.”
    â€œHumph. I concur with your findings, Detective.”Nate raised an eyebrow at Mac’s attempt at humor. “But we still have that piece of beaded leather.”
    The medical examiner assisted in cleaning the dirt from the body, every particle going into an evidence bag. The body was lying on its right side in the hole. There was no evidence of restraints or clothing. “She can’t have been here too long. The high desert only gets around six to eight inches of rain a year,” the M.E. said. “Most bodies found out here look like mummies, with the skin stretched over bone and tendon. This woman hasn’t even begun to mummify. I’m guessing maybe four to five weeks.”
    â€œThat’s how long Sara’s been missing,” Dana said.
    Preparing to pull the body clear of the shallow grave, the medical examiner nodded at Mac. “You ready for this?”
    â€œJust a sec.” Mac looked for and found a better handhold. “OK, let’s get her out. I hate doing it this way; we should take more time. But it looks as though Mother Nature has other plans for us.”
    Mac and Steve pulled on the body, sliding it out of the shallow grave and setting it down about four feet away. The hair was long and black. “Any of your people unaccounted for, Nate?” Mac asked.
    Nate shook his head. “Nope—not that I know of, anyway.”
    Mac dusted off the face and then stood and backed away from the body. Without looking at the agents, Mac asked, “You guys have a picture of Sara?”
    â€œYeah. Hang on a sec.” Miller went back to his car and hurried back to where Mac was standing. He handed over a large black-and-white photo of their missing person. Mac scrutinized the photo, focusing on Sara’s beautiful features. He placed the photo on the ground beside their victim’s face. Sara had high cheekbones and a small mole on her cheek. So did the corpse.
    â€œWe’ll need the doc here to tell us for sure,” Mac said, “but I’m guessing this is Sara Watson.”

EIGHT
    M ac and Dana secured an evidence tag over the zipper of the body bag after Sara’s body was loaded in the back of the medical examiner’s truck.
    â€œLooks like the investigation is yours now, Detectives.” Agent Lauden rubbed his forehead. “I hate to see a case end like this.”
    Dana nodded, offering empathy. “We were all hoping for a better outcome.”
    â€œShe was probably killed within a few hours after the abduction.” Miller pursed his lips. “We’ll meet up with you guys Monday morning to brief you and turn over our files.”
    â€œThanks,” Mac said. “Appreciate the offer.”
    â€œI’m taking the remains into Portland,” the M.E. told them. “We won’t be able to get to the autopsy until late morning.”
    They would need the official report from the medical examiner’s office, of course, but it looked as though all the rumors and speculation of Sara’s whereabouts had come to an end with a dog’s find in a shallow grave. Mac watched the M.E.’s