Page 16 of Buried Secrets

Hansen’s expression remained carefully neutral. “Ground-penetrating radar isn’t exact science, but I’d say eighty percent. Could be old utility work or other debris, but the depth and dimensions match our first find.”

Matt digested this information. “Let’s extend the search perimeter to include the cottages,” Matt instructed, as he gestured toward the tree line where two small structures stood.

Hansen raised an eyebrow. “Your call.”

As the team relocated their equipment, Matt’s deputy, Alex, approached from the direction of the driveway. The younger man looked apologetic even before he spoke.

“K-9 unit’s running late,” Alex reported, hitching his utility belt higher on his hips. “Ferry’s delayed due to mechanical issues. They’re on the next crossing, probably another hour.”

Matt suppressed a sigh. Island logistics always complicated matters. “Let’s hope we have enough daylight for them to finish today. You may want to make arrangements for them otherwise. Unless you can find someone to go and get them ahead of the ferry.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Alex replied, already reaching for his radio. He hesitated, then added, “Alice wanted me to tell you the State lab called about those soil samples. Said they’ll have preliminary results this afternoon.”

“Good. We need all the information we can get.”

As Alex headed back toward his cruiser, Matt turned his attention to the grand Victorian structure looming against the clear autumn sky. He’d attended community events in its gardens as a child, had assumed like everyone else that it was simply an impressive relic from a bygone era. Never had he imagined it might be concealing a serial burial ground.

The word “serial” flickered through his mind, bringing with it implications he wasn’t fully prepared to address. If the potential deaths were indeed homicides, one body could be an accident or a crime of passion. Multiple victims, systematically buried on the same property, suggested something far more disturbing, something calculated and sustained over time.

Matt walked the perimeter of the eastern garden studying the flagged anomalies. Knowing that each flag did not mean for certain a body was buried there, but what if there was?

If these deaths were connected to the mansion’s function as a sanctuary for pregnant women, the possibilities were troubling. Women already vulnerable and likely isolated from family support, would have made easy targets. And what of their babies? Illegal adoptions, perhaps? It was a stretch, but Matt couldn’t dismiss any scenario.

The radio at his hip crackled with Hansen’s voice. “Sheriff, we’ve got something at the first cottage site. Northwest corner, near the garden plot.”

Matt made his way across the grounds to where the radar team had set up near Amy’s cottage. It was the old cook’s cottage, a charming stone structure with a slate roof. Amy had rented it, and now it was her personal residence on the estate.

Hansen pointed to his monitor, which showed another subsurface anomaly, roughly rectangular and at a depth consistent with their previous findings. The location was smack dab in the middle of Amy’s renovated kitchen garden. She wasn’t going to be happy about it. He hoped he didn’t have to be the one to tell Amy what had been fertilizing her herbs.

“Similar density pattern to what we found in the eastern garden,” Hansen explained. “Could be a root system, but the uniformity suggests otherwise.”

“Mark it,” Matt instructed, a sense of dread settling in his stomach. “Check the other cottage too.”

By the time the cadaver dog—a German Shepherd with an impressive track record in recovery operations—finally arrived, thanks to Alex’s efforts, the radar team had completed their scan of both cottages and the surrounding grounds. The dog handler, a taciturn woman named Reeves, listened to Matt’s briefing with professional detachment before beginning her work.

“She’ll alert with a sit and stare,” Reeves explained as she fitted the dog with its working vest. “No barking, no digging. Just a clear indication.”

Matt watched as the handler and dog worked the property, starting at the original discovery site to give the animal a baseline scent. Within an hour, the dog had alerted at one of the radar-identified locations in the mansion’s eastern garden.

As they approached Amy’s cottage, the dog suddenly changed direction, pulling toward a small ornamental garden near the front porch. Without prompting, the animal sat rigidly, staring intently at a spot beneath a flowering bush.

“That’s an alert,” Reeves confirmed, her expression grim. “And a strong one.”

The radar team had missed this location.

This was rapidly becoming the kind of case that attracted media attention, the kind that brought outside agencies and specialized units. The kind of case that was beyond his department’s resources to handle alone.

“Sheriff?” the dog handler interrupted his thoughts. “We’ve completed the sweep. Two positive indications total, not including the initial find by the residents.”

Matt nodded. Two more victims, all buried on the same property. “Any chance the dog is wrong?”

The stoic woman shook her head. “I’ve seen it surely, some dogs alert to buried animals or other things. But we’ve got a pretty good track record. That and you’ve got the ground radar confirmation.”

Matt nodded and thanked the woman. “If you could provide me a written report for the case file, I’d appreciate it. We’ll start excavation on these sites tomorrow.”

First, though, he needed to update Amy. Finding any more potential human remains on the site was always going to alarm her, but having them near her cottage and in her garden was really going to freak her out.

Inside the mansion, the grand entryway echoed with his footsteps as he made his way toward the east wing, where Amy had established a temporary office. Passing the library, he caught sight of Kaitlin at a makeshift plywood desk surrounded by dust covered ledgers and file boxes. She was completely absorbed in her work, oblivious to his presence as he passed by the doorway.