"So somebody already called this in?" I finally said, directing the question to Cleve while I bent to pull my canoe higher up on the ramp.
"Called what in?" Hammonds said.
"You've got a crime scene out there," I said but I could tell immediately that even though it wasn't unexpected news, it still caught all of them hard. Hammonds' lips went tight together and Diaz winced. I felt the woman take an instinctive step closer.
"What kind of scene, Mr. Freeman?" Hammonds said.
"A dead child. Wrapped up. Just above the dam."
Cleve was the only one in the group that registered any true shock.
"Jesus, Max," he said, looking at the faces around him.
"Let's get a team out here," Hammonds said to no one in particular as he looked out over the water, his block chin tipped up into the air.
CHAPTER 3
Within an hour they knew what I knew and I was left guessing. That's the way conversations go with good investigators. Even in supposedly friendly interviews. You answer their questions, offer your observations, try to be cooperative. They nod their heads, encourage the dialogue, make nice, and give you squat. By the time you walk away you feel like your pockets are empty and you just made a really bad deal with a door-to-door salesman. No wonder lawyers tell you to just say no and close the door.
The only line I'd been able to read between their questioning was that this wasn't the first kid they'd found. There had been others. I couldn't tell how many or where. I also knew I was a suspect. The first person who comes across the body in a homicide always is. I didn't have to be told not to leave the state.
In two hours a crime scene truck was parked on the boat ramp and Cleve was loading up his park service Boston Whaler. Hammonds had decided not to wait for daylight. Cleve had tied a spare canoe to the stern cleat. In this high water, and with his knowledge of the river, he could get them up to the dam. From there they would have to take the other boat up to the body. Hammonds, Diaz and two others climbed into the Whaler and Cleve started it up with a rumble, got the men to cast off his lines and then chunked it into gear and slowly motored out onto the river.