Swamp Victim

  Chapter 2

  Caley Givens, Deputy Sheriff of Caldwell County, was in charge of department’s criminal investigations. The 32-year-old brunette had come to the job when she left the Navy after eight years of service and two tours in Iraq as part of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service commonly referred to as NCIS. Caley was born and raised in the town of Warrenton, the county seat of Caldwell County. In high school, she was on the basketball team, on the school’s newspaper staff, and very popular with teachers and the student body. She went on to attend the University of South Carolina, where she was active on the Student Council Advisory Committee and was on the staff of the university newspaper, “The Gamecock”. She had an opportunity to demonstrate her leadership skills when she became part of the Navy Officer Training Corps known as the NROTC, which allowed her to become a Naval Officer upon graduation. After leaving the University with a degree in Business Administration, she joined the Navy and wound up in NCIS. Her stint with NCIS provided the experience to get her the job as head of the newly formed Caldwell County Criminal Investigations office, under the county sheriff.

  The call came in through the 911 Operator, who knew to divert non-emergency, calls on crimes or information related to them to the Criminal Investigations Office. The small investigative staff consisted of Caley and two other people. They took turns answering the phone. It was her turn today.

  The operator identified herself and said she had a person on the line reporting he had found human remains in the river. “This is the Sheriff’s Office of Investigations, could you please repeat the information you gave the operator.”

  “Good morning, my name is Lonnie Sharp. I run an airboat business for people who want to travel on the Salketcher. When I was riding down the river this morning, I found a human skull back in the swamp and just wanted to report it to somebody. I didn’t touch it or mess with anything around it, but I know exactly where to find it again.”

  Caley asked several questions about the discovery and inquired as to where Lonnie was located.

  “I’m at my place which is about a mile and a half west of Snyder’s Crossroads. My place is called Lonnie’s Landing and is on the left side of the road by the bridge that crosses the swamp.”

  “I know where it is and I will be there in less than an hour.”

  Caley hadn’t been to that area of the county in a long time and was anxious to check out the information, but also welcomed the drive west of town. She put on her deputy’s baseball hat. Guessing that she may be going into the swamp thickets, the occasion didn’t call for her to wear her Smokey the Bear hat. She told Sarah, the laboratory assistant, to call her if anything important came up.

  The sheriff’s office and other county departments were located in Warrenton. The drive west of Warrenton was on a two-lane road that went for about twenty miles before it reached the next county. As she drove, Caley passed small farms and an occasional rural business that dotted the area to the right and left of the road. Unaware of the impact it would soon have on her, she passed a sign on the right announcing the “Hudson Cemetery.” It was located about a quarter of a mile off the road, sitting placidly among a cluster of tall oak trees surrounded by several acres of farm land. A brick façade at the entrance, as well as a labyrinth of headstones, were visible from the road. But right now Caley’s mind was on only one thing: the skull reported by Lonnie.

  About a mile and a half beyond the crossroads Lonnie had mentioned, Caley saw the landing almost hidden among the trees on the left. A small building sat at the top of a sloping boat ramp that reached the water’s edge. A sign advertised Lonnie’s Air Boat Rides, fish bait, soft drinks, ice cream, and other convenience items. Two airboats and several flat bottom aluminum boats equipped with outboard motors, one of which had no cowling on it, were sitting at the edge of the water.

  The SUV pulled to a stop, and Caley got out. Her 5 foot 6 inch, 115-pound frame punctuated her overall attractiveness. Her natural beauty was reflected even though she wore the unflattering sheriff’s uniform that hid her slim waistline with an arsenal of weaponry that included a Glock semi-automatic, a Taser, two extra ammunition clips and a set of handcuffs. A personal asset that set her apart was her ability to relate to those she met in the line of duty. Firm when she needed to be, yet understanding and passionate as the situation dictated.

  The two men working at the ramp stopped working and waited for Caley to approach them. One of them took the initiative and introduced himself as Lonnie Sharp. He went over the story that he had already told about finding a human skull down the river.

  “I will be glad to take you to the place if you want me to,” said Lonnie.

  “That will be great Lonnie, let me put on my wading boots in case I have to get out of the boat.”

  Lonnie shoved the airboat backward into the main stream with an eight-foot push pole then started the engine. Within seconds, the boat was sliding down the river at more than thirty miles per hour, leaving smooth ripples flurrying on the water fifty feet behind. The bill of Caley’s baseball hat was turned backward to keep the wind from blowing it off her head. It wasn’t in keeping with the official dress code, but highly appropriate for riding in a fast moving boat. Lonnie kept looking down at the hat as though the sheriff’s logo was staring directly at him.

  Lonnie had a squat frame and was no more than five and a half feet tall. His 250-pound body caused the ends of the soft seat cushion to lift upward on the wide seat atop the elevated platform, which sat just in front of the whirling propeller. A four-passenger seat was located in front and several feet below the boat operator’s platform. Caley was perched in the center of the seat all by herself. She waved as they passed two separate groups of fisherman in flat bottom boats along the way. It took fifteen minutes to reach the small cove that extended about three hundred yards off to the east before it terminated with several large branches overhanging the water at the far end. Lonnie slowed down, made a wide arch and pulled into it. The boat tilted to one side as it swerved into the narrow body of water. About half way down the cove, he stopped and pointed to a white human skull half buried in the mud.

  “I was just riding around yesterday and happened to notice it. We haven’t had any rain in the past three months, and the water is low. I guess it was covered up before the water level went down.”

  Caley put one foot over the side, and her boot bogged in the mud above her ankle. Sloshing over to the skull, she just craned her head examining it for a few moments. Then she took a pair of plastic gloves out of her pocket and carefully picked the skull up and placed it in a bag she had brought along for the purpose of collecting evidence.

  Laying it on the front of the boat, she said, “Lonnie I’m going to walk along the shore to see if I can see anything else. Just wait here for me.”

  After a short distance, she saw a bone lodged against a rotten log at the edge of the water. Walking over to it, she picked it up and placed it in a second plastic bag. It appeared to be a human lower leg bone. The bag would not hold the entire bone, so she placed another bag over the exposed part and continued walking down the side of the water until she had covered the length of the cove.

  When she got back into the boat, she said to Lonnie, “Let’s circle around the area one more time to see what we can spot.”

  The boat slowly moved in a semi-circle around the other side of the cove as both Caley and Lonnie carefully searched. Suddenly, Caley caught a glimpse of a white object in the shallow edge of the black water. Not being able to talk over the roar of the whirling blades, she turned around, waved to Lonnie and pointed to the water. Lonnie got the message. He turned the boat around, cut the engine and let it glide slowly to where she had pointed. It took a few minutes to relocate the object, but when they did, it was plain to see that it was the bones of a human arm and several fingers partially buried in the mud barely below the surface. Lonnie shoved the push pole into the mu
d to secure the boat. Caley kneeled in the front of the boat and stepped off into the water. As she did, the mud swirled and almost obscured the object, but she was able to reach down and retrieve it. When she placed it on the front of the boat, there was no doubt that it was what was left of an arm and hand. Back on the boat, she carefully placed it in a plastic bag. They slowly rode along the river and went into several other coves looking for more remains. After searching for several hours and finding no more bones, they returned to the landing.