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Pandora's Children - Part 9

We looked around the shack. Above the table was a cabinet with an old-fashioned teapot with China mugs. Beside the mugs was a small metal airtight canister.

"What's that?" Jaci asked.

"Green tea with #jasmine," Mrs. Marcus said. "Grace used it for her tea ceremonies."

***

"Tea ceremonies?" Jaci asked.

Mrs. Marcus nodded. "She kidnapped her victims she brought them here, had tea, and dumped their bodies in the lake. I tried to tell her she needed to find somewhere else but she was #obstinate and refused. Drain the lake and you'll see."

***

We left the shack and Jaci said, "We need the CSI's to check this place out."

"Enough of this #rigmarole," Mrs. Marcus muttered and pulled free of my grip. She knocked me over and ran for the water and disappeared beneath before I got close."

"Shit! Now what do we do?"

***

"You let her escape?" The captain asked, shouting to be heard over the #cacophony of shovels and metal detectors.

"She was still cuffed," I countered. "She'll drown unless she can swim with her hands bound."

"She's not dead unless you see the body," the captain said.

***

"How could she survive?" Jaci asked, coming to my defense.

"How did it #happen?" The captain asked in return.

"We left the shack, I said we needed to get the CSI's to look at everything, she broke free and headed for the water."

I sighed. "This was her plan all along."

***

"Go on, #amaze me with your deductions," the captain said, condescending.

"She was in jail, no way out. She knew that if she told us where the bodies were, we'd take her with us so she could show us. There's probably a tunnel or something close by."

"He might be right."

***

The captain scowled and ignored us. He paced around for several minutes before turning back to us. Before he said anything, a #range of emotions flitted across his face. Everything from helplessness and defeat to anger and fury, and then a calculating look. It scared me.

***

"She's a worthy #adversary, but we're smarter," the captain said. "Set up road blocks, have divers begin the process of bringing the bodies up from the lake, and then go back to the shack. Retrace your steps, find the clue that she saw that told her she could escape."

***

Jaci went to set up the roadblocks while I set about calling in divers to bring up the bodies from the lake. I was a trained diver thanks to my military career. I wish I #could have been the first one in the water. Maybe see where Mrs. Marcus had gone if she didn't drown.

***

Jaci and I reached the shed at the same time. "They've uncovered 20 bodies so far," she told me.

I thought about the #tremendous amount of effort it would take for the medical examiner to sort through all of the bodies. Hopefully we'd find something in the shack to help.

***

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