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Pandora's Children - Part 8

"I needed to know what was going on," I told him. "Grand was my mentor and I wanted to find his killer."

"Grand always said you were #inquisitive, and advised me to make sure that you didn't get into too much trouble. I talked to IA last night. You're cleared for duty."

***

We walked out of the captain's office just as the rest of the team flooded into the bullpen.

"Look #lively, people! Mrs Marcus is going to show us her handiwork thanks to the efforts of Garcia and Thibodeaux. We'll be able to give these families the closure they need."

***

As we traveled toward the mass grave, the lack of sleep began to catch up with me. The #languor and sluggishness took over and I nodded off.

Jaci woke me up and whispered, "We're here. Don't let the captain catch you napping."

"I'm fine," I said, yawning and stretching.

***

More than a dozen detectives and uniforms climbed out of several vehicles and we hauled Mrs. Marcus with us.

"It's just through here," she said as we walked her through a wooded area just off the highway beyond a rest area. "There it is!"

It was a large #opaline rock.

***

The rock was covered in #fibrous brush. When we cleared it away we saw crude etchings.

There were numbers followed by cardinal letters. Lots of them.

From the weathered look of the etchings, some of them were quite old.

"How long have you been killing people?" I asked.

***

She didn't answer the question directly. "Grace helped me to #flourish once I knew who I really was."

Jaci was taking pictures of the rock. "There have to be at least 30 groupings here."

"34," she countered. "I can tell you their names. I remember them all in detail."

***

Jaci and I stared at each other and watched the uniforms pull out ground-penetrating radar, shovels, and cameras. I had a #yearning to join them and uncover the secrets hidden beneath the soil but I was a glorified babysitter at the moment.

It was extremely frustrating.

***

A little further from the grave was a small #riparian shack on the edge of  whatever lake we were near. Inside it were all of the tools you'd need to dispose of a body.

"Look, more numbers and letters," Jaci said, pointing.

"This isn't my handiwork," Mrs. Marcus said.

***

"There are a lot more bodies here than back there based on the number of groupings," Jaci said.

Mrs. Marcus looked #muddled and then a moment of clarity passed across her face. "This is Grace's marker," she said. "She taught me to use the cardinal directions and steps."

***

"You're going to have to be a little more #articulate on that," I said.

"The groupings represent the distance from the marker in any given direction."

"These are all in one direction though," Jaci muttered.

"She likes water burials," Mrs. Marcus replied with a shrug.

***

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