"Jacob and Annabelle were married today, in a small, quiet ceremony. She was a lovely bride; and he was a perfectly dashing groom. I wish my Eliza was still alive to see our boy wed. But then again, if she'd lived, things might have turned out differently. Jacob was such a bright and happy child before her death, and so somber and quiet after. I can't help but wonder if the gentle love of a mother would have made him a better man. A father can only do so much...especially when he has a farm to run as well as a child to raise. Perhaps I should have married again, if only to have a mother figure for Jacob. But no one ever compared to my beloved Eliza..."

--excerpt from the private journal of Ephraim Barton

Smoky Hills Part 23
Lost and Found

"Trowa!" Heero shouted, hoping his companion could hear him at this distance. "Trowa--he found it!"

"Coming!" he heard faintly through the trees.

Taking a moment to tie the dog's leash around a sturdy sapling, Heero then went over to the excavation the animal had begun, and surveyed the array of scattered dirt, hoping there wasn't too much destroyed.

He was heartened to see very few bones in the disturbed soil. But he did find the ends of larger ones protruding from under the decaying log--as if someone had placed a body in a shallow grave and then shoved a log on top--or perhaps dug under the already-fallen tree and shoved the body beneath it. Either way, he had no doubt it was the rest of the skeleton belonging to the tibia he'd already sent to Chang.

"Heero--?" came a gasping voice, as Trowa hobbled into the clearing, using his crutch as he'd promised, and leading Balder by the leash. "Seriously--he found the rest of the bones?"

Heero gestured to the remains, careful not to touch them and risk disturbing more than Thor already had. "He found them," he said with a smile.

Trowa sank down onto a boulder. "Thank God. Don't think I could've made it another yard--!"

"I told you to tell me if you got tired."

"I did--but I thought maybe we'd head back home after I rested. I didn't anticipate hauling ass up here to catch up to you."

Heero looked around, trying to judge where they were on Barton's property. "We might be near the road around the reservoir, Trowa. How 'bout if you stay here with the dogs to keep the site secure, while I go home and get the car?"

Trowa started to shake his head, but then thought better of it as Heero cast him a narrow look. "O-okay. Maybe that's a good idea. Guess I'm more out of shape than I thought."

"Just your knee," Heero insisted, walking over and patting his friend on the shoulder. "I shouldn't have let you come this far with me. But I didn't realize how much rougher the terrain would get." He glanced up at the angle of the sun, judging it to be past noon already. "Just sit tight. Shouldn't take me more than a couple of hours to get home and bring the car around--if that. I'll take Thor with me, so you'll only have Balder to deal with. He'll probably lie down and sleep the whole time I'm gone."

Trowa nodded, reaching out to scratch the wolfhound behind an ear. "We'll be fine," he assured Heero. "I like being out in the woods. Just wish I could go the distance these days."

"You will. The surgeons said the knee would eventually be as good as new, if you follow through on the therapy and exercises, and you have been." Heero glanced back at the grave site, shaking his head. "Poor bastard," he muttered. "Wonder who he was--"

"Your pal Chang should be able to figure that out, now that we've found all the remains."

"Well--most. If Thor brought home some, other scavengers might have carted off other parts. But I suspect the skull will be underground deep enough that we'll find it intact, and then dental records might make it possible to make a positive identification."

"Get to it, then," Trowa urged. "Give Chang a call about getting his team out here, like he said."

"I will. And I suppose I'll need locals out here to secure the site until then. I'll call the cops from the house--the cell reception out here is crap."

Heero hurried off, moving a lot faster without Trowa to worry about, and letting Thor jog easily at his side, the hound's long legs keeping pace without effort.

He made it home in under an hour, admittedly out of breath and sweaty, but energized by the excitement of finding the remains. After settling Thor in the kitchen with a dish of fresh water, he went to the phone and quickly dialed Wufei's private cell number.

"Chang here."

"It's Heero. We found the rest of the remains."

"Why am I not surprised?" came a faintly amused voice. "I take it you need my mobile crew out there to canvass the site."

"Well it's for damn sure the locals wouldn't be up to the task," Heero replied, trying to keep his tone neutral.

"It's just killing you not to call them morons, isn't it?" Wufei said with an audible grin. "Feel free, though. Because after my brief conversation with that Officer Kurt, I had to spend an hour reading the dictionary to recharge my brain cells."

Heero laughed aloud, having almost forgotten his former lover's scathing wit. "I can't talk long right now," he said with a bit of regret. "I left Trowa out in the middle of the woods guarding the location, while I came back here to call you and the local morons."

He got a chuckle in return. "Where shall I have my crew meet you? And I mean you. Again, I will not deal directly with those small-town twits. I want someone responsible and competent to direct my staff, and act as a liaison."

"How many hours will it take your people to get here?"

"Hm." Chang considered for a moment. "They're all back from lunch, and not out on any major cases. So I can have them on their way by five. Allow for six hours of driving time, and they'll reach you around eleven o'clock tonight."

"Jeeze, 'Fei," Heero said uncertainly. "Maybe you should have them wait until morning, so they wouldn't be working in the dark."

"Not a problem, and you know it. They've got portable equipment--plenty of lights they can set up to illuminate the area. And you know it'll take a full twenty-four hours or more for them to thoroughly vet the location." He lapsed into a smooth, reassuring tone. "Don't worry about inconveniencing them, or me. I've already obtained authorization, as you know. Now, where shall they meet you?"

Heero thought for a moment, and finally gave Wufei directions to the dam across the reservoir, as it was an easily-identifiable landmark. "From there, I'll lead the way to the nearest road access to the dump site."

"And dare I hope a cell phone might work from that location, so they can call you if they run into any delays?"

"I think cell reception is okay near the dam itself," Heero said carefully. "But either way, they can call the house phone. I won't let Trowa come back out tonight. He's done enough to his knee hiking with me to find the remains."

"How is he?" Wufei asked, his voice a bit less curt.

"Great, actually," Heero told him enthusiastically. "He's been off the crutches for days now. But walking up and down rocky, uneven trails today wore him out."

"I'm surprised you let him."

"As he pointed out, he's a grown man, Chang. And he promised to tell me if it got to be too much." Heero couldn't help but reflect that Trowa actually had admitted to his fatigue. Clearly he needed to lighten up a bit, and let the other man judge his own capabilities. "Speaking of him, I've got to get back up there. He's got one of the dogs with him, but there are bears, bobcats, and all kinds of wild animals in these woods. I really don't want to leave him much longer."

"Get to it then. I'll contact your local police department."

"But--"

"I know I said I won't deal with them, but I can make this one vital call for you. They'll take orders better from me anyway, and you know it," Wufei said firmly. "Expect them to call you later, when you've gotten Trowa home. You can lead them up to the place to secure it until my people get there. I'll have the crew call both your cell and the house phones when they get close to your general location, so you can meet them. And I'll expect you to keep in touch throughout this investigation."

Well, Heero had known there'd be no avoiding that. And surprisingly, he found comfort in Chang's calm professionalism during such an unexpected crisis. "Wufei--thank you," he said simply, before hanging up.

Heero made sure the birds were fed, and grabbed a jacket for himself and one for Trowa, figuring that as the afternoon waned, they might get cold. He also had the presence of mind to take along an old drop cloth, so they'd have something to mark the clearing with, for when he had to bring the cops in after dark. Nothing like a white sheet to stand out against an inky black forest.

He headed out to the car then, eager to get back to Trowa and bring him safely home.

He was so preoccupied that he very nearly ran into Duo's Jeep at the end of the driveway, as the mailman was pulling away from the box. But a quick stomp on the brakes enabled him to stop just short of the familiar vehicle and in time for Duo to notice him and wave cheerily as he drove off.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath. "That is not the kind of impression I want to make on him."

He focused more on his driving, and headed for the road he'd noticed on the map, that seemed to be closest to where they'd found the remains.

"Dibble Hollow Road," he noted as he pulled onto the narrow lane, driving past several logging roads and a lookout point over the reservoir, before he neared the edges of the Barton property, where it abutted the State Forest. "Gotta be near here," he decided, pulling off onto a rutted lane and parking far enough in that it was unlikely anyone would notice the car while he was out locating his roommate.

He got out, grabbing the coats and of course his map and compass, before heading in a westerly direction, seeking a bit of high ground so he could call out for his partner. More quickly than he'd expected, he found himself practically immersed in the thick underbrush, and he began to regret not bringing Thor along. Or maybe a gun.

He wished it even more as his progress seemed tortuously slow through the rugged terrain. And he chided himself for not having brought Trowa home with him, even though it would have meant a longer hike for his recovering friend; at least they'd have been sure of their directions.

Casting a wary eye upwards, he saw that the sun was noticeably lower in the sky than it had been when he left Trowa, and for the first time he felt a bit worried. Much as he enjoyed the outdoors, he hadn't spent so much time in it that he considered himself any kind of woodsman. And if he got lost--who would help Trowa make his way home?

"Trowa!" he called a bit frantically. "Balder!"

In the distance ahead he heard an answering bark, and he let out relieved breath, his anxiety subsiding. He picked up the pace, eager to be reunited and know that Trowa was safe.

"Trowa!" he called again as he neared the place he thought the bark had originated.

"Over here!"

He broke into the clearing, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of Trowa comfortably resting against a tree with Balder curled up by his side. "Are you okay?"

Trowa looked up at him in surprise. "I'm fine. Jeeze, Yuy. You look like hell. What'd you do, crawl through the bushes to get here?"

Heero ran a hand back through his sweaty bangs, and felt twigs and leaves caught in the strands. "Might as well have," he admitted. "There's no real path from the road to here."

He held out a jacket, and Trowa took it with a smirk. "Thanks. But if the way you're panting and sweating is any indication, I probably won't need this."

"I'm sweating because I practically ran all the way from the road to here," Heero said with a shrug. "I didn't like your being out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a dog for protection. I was worried."

Trowa smiled gently at him. "I can see that." He pushed himself upright, using his crutch to hobble close enough to throw an arm around his roommate. "Thanks, buddy."

"Don't mention it. You wanna help me tear some strips off this sheet so we can hang banners from the trees to help me find this place later, in the dark?"

"Oh--hadn't thought of that," Trowa admitted, accepting a piece of cloth and proceeding to rip it into long pieces. "How many trees do you want to mark?"

"As many as possible, so that when I shine a flashlight, they'll stand out."

They spent a solid fifteen minutes stretching to reach the highest possible points along tree trunks and branches, finally creating an oddly Halloween-like look in the clearing.

"Shoulda brought a roll of toilet paper," Trowa joked as he tossed a long strip of fabric up over a branch. "We could've thrown it higher."

"As long as it's easy to spot from a distance-- That's all that matters."

"I think it will be. Your only trick will be finding this particular hollow in the dark, so your light can pick up the pieces of sheet."

Heero looked around them at the clearing, realizing it was indeed a bit lower than the surrounding landscape. "Shit," he muttered. "It's going to be pure hell trying to lead a forensic team in here in the middle of the night."

"Chang's people?" Trowa guessed, pulling on the jacket since it was easier than carrying it while using the crutch.

"Yes. They should hit town around eleven, if things go well. And I'll have to be able to show them the way in here." He looked around them, trying to memorize landmarks that could be found in the dark.

"We could leave a trail of bread crumbs," Trowa smirked, gesturing to a few bits of bread left from his sandwich.

"Very funny. Would you be Hansel, or Gretel?"

"I dunno. But Balder would be the little bird that ate the crumbs." He pointed to the wolfhound, who was happily snuffling around the clearing for any trace of leftover trail mix or sandwich.

"Let's just get out of here, and maybe blaze a bit of a trail on our way," Heero suggested, snapping a small branch on a mountain laurel bush so that the fresh break showed. "Easiest way is to leave markers by breaking branches, or piling rocks in the shape of an arrow showing directions. We can use bits of leftover sheet to tie to branches along the way, too."

"Whoa. I'm impressed." Trowa handed off Balder's leash and fell in step behind his roommate. "I'm also tired as hell. So let's get home, and I promise to never bother you to take me hiking again."

"A likely story," Heero scoffed, his humor returning in the wake of his relief at finding Trowa again.

"You know," Trowa mused as they walked. "If the local cops gossip about this like they did about the first bone, we'll have a bigger problem than just a few kids having fires and leaving trash on the property. There'll be all kinds of curiosity-seekers wanting to scope out the place a body was buried."

"Ugh. Don't remind me," Heero sighed. "I'll have to put up dozens more 'no trespassing' signs."

"Yeah, you will. Unless you can convince the cops to keep their mouths shut."

"How would I do that?"

"Well, maybe if we threaten to call them constantly to have folks arrested for trespassing, they'll decide it's worth their while to keep quiet about the location. I mean, people might know the remains were found somewhere near the reservoir; but they don't need to know if it was on State land or private."

"True. When I talk to them this evening, I'll bring that to their attention." Heero glanced over his shoulder at his limping roommate. "As for you--when we get home, you're going to take some pain meds and soak in a hot bath, while I make supper. I'll deal with the police after I've made sure you're squared away."

"You'll get no argument from me," Trowa assured him. "I'm headed straight for bed."

True to his word, he bathed, rested, ate a quick meal, and then crashed headlong into his mattress; he was asleep and snoring peacefully, long before Heero even took the call from the local police, and slipped out of the house to meet with them.

~*~

About the same time as Chang's forensic crew was arriving and setting up their equipment the next morning, Duo and Quatre were rolling out of bed, dressing and grabbing a quick breakfast, and putting the final touches on their weekend preparations.

Duo shoved the cooler into the back seat of the Jeep and tossed his backpack beside it, pausing to double check the buckles and make sure it was secure. He'd once hiked half a day with stuff trickling out the back of his pack, until he stopped for lunch and realized most of his supplies were long gone.

"Smart move," Quatre told him, shoving his own gear in from the other side. "You serious about staying out overnight?"

"Yep."

"Gonna be cold."

Duo leered teasingly. "I'll keep ya warm."

Quatre merely rolled his eyes. "You're all talk," he accused. "I know it's not me you wanna snuggle."

"Any port in a storm?"

He got a skeptical snort in reply, and the blonde closed up his side of the car and went around the back to check for their bottled water and tent stakes. "Speaking of storms," he mused. "Maybe we ought to bring a couple of tarps."

"Not supposed to rain all weekend," Duo shrugged. "But it wouldn't hurt to be prepared, Scout Winner." Quatre looked up quickly and Duo grinned and flipped him the Boy Scout salute.

"Not funny, Maxwell. I always wanted to be one, but my dad never let me."

Duo pouted prettily. "Poor, underprivileged rich boy," he sighed. "You were so deprived."

Quatre couldn't help blushing, recalling the times he'd told Duo about the opulent European vacations his parents had dragged him on as a child. "Well, I was deprived of normal," he pointed out.

"That you were," Duo agreed, slamming his door and hopping into the driver's seat. "Which is why I'm gonna give you all the 'normal' you ever wanted! Let's get hiking, buddy!"

Quatre held up a finger. "One sec. I meant it about the tarp. I'm gonna grab one out of the garage." He suited actions to words, and ducked inside to fetch one of the folded tarps they had on the workbench.

When he climbed in, and threw it into the back seat, Duo started up the vehicle. "All right! We're off!"

He headed out of town, taking the road that led up around the reservoir, since it was the most direct way to the best camping areas in the surrounding hills.

"So--" Duo commented, fiddling with the radio for a bit, before turning it off in favor of conversation. "When I went to fill up the Jeep yesterday, Hilde said she heard from Mister Gunderson that there's gonna be a service station opening up down in Lakeville. Trying to take business away from both of them, I think."

"Oh, that's low."

"Yeah, but I don't think it'll hurt 'em much. No one wants to drive all the way to Lakeville for gas, and folks around here trust Gunderson to give them quality service. I think they'll be okay." Duo said firmly.

"I hope so. It's got to be hard for Hilde, keeping up with the competition."

"I think she worries too much, though," Duo asserted. "Howard left her a solid customer base when her dad bought her the business. All she's had to do is keep stocking what people buy, and be her sweet, charming self." He gave a wistful smile. "People like her," he pointed out. "She's perky."

Quatre chuckled. "If I didn't know you, I might wonder if you were talking about a certain part of her anatomy. Perky, Duo?"

The braided man grinned. "It's a perfectly good word, Quat," he insisted. "And it doesn't always have to refer to breasts. Although, those are perky, too."

"As if you'd looked--"

"Whoa!" Duo said abruptly, hitting the brakes rather hard.

Quatre looked up sharply, and frowned in confusion. "What the hell--?"

Ahead of them were two police cars, pulled well off the road, but with lights flashing, and parked along the sides were several of the local volunteer firemen's private vehicles, as well as a big, black van with Sanc Institute of Forensic Pathology on the side.

Alex was out directing traffic, though there wasn't much that early in the morning, while a few of the firemen milled around drinking coffee, and some other men carried buckets and tools towards the trail into the woods.

Duo pulled up beside the cop and rolled down his window. "What's going on, Brown? Someone take a header in the Gorge again?"

It was fairly common for accidents to happen along the remote mountain stream. Between the waterfalls where kids liked to swim in the summer, and the deep gorge that ran through steep, rocky ledge, that stretch of river was fairly treacherous. At least once or twice every summer, a rescue operation was mounted to pull a stranded swimmer off a mossy boulder where he'd gotten trapped, or to carry someone out who'd broken an arm or leg going over the falls.

"Don't I wish?" Alex said sourly. "Looks like that Barton guy found the rest of the bones to go along with the one he turned in before."

"You mean Yuy?" Duo corrected automatically.

"Huh?"

"Yuy. That's the guy living with Barton," Duo explained. "His dog was the one that found the first bone, wasn't it?"

"Guess so." Alex pulled his jacket a little tighter, shivering in the cool morning air. "Asshole called the forensic people from Sanc, and their boss ordered us to 'secure the area,' and make sure no one disturbed the remains before his team showed up. Had us out here all night taping off the area and standing guard until the van showed up a couple of hours ago."

"Wow," Quatre breathed, eyes widening as he looked over the sleek truck and the uniformed people surrounding it. "Looks like they sent in the National Guard practically."

"Might as well have," Alex sneered. "Ten or fifteen of 'em--all arrogant as hell--ordering us around and acting like they own the freakin' place!"

Duo couldn't help smirking at the officer's annoyance. There was no love lost between Alex and him--not any more--and he kind of enjoyed seeing him inconvenienced. "Well if it's on the Barton farm, then Mister Barton would be the one who owns the freakin' place," he pointed out.

"Haven't even seen him," Alex retorted. "Just that Japanese guy showing us where to put up the tape around the clearing, and now the forensic jerks." He shook his head. "Y'ask me, it's all a waste of time. It's not like you could solve a murder that happened decades ago, right? So what's the point?"

Duo's smirk widened into a grin. "I'd say they did it just to drag your sorry ass out of bed in the middle of the night," he suggested. "That's the point."

Alex snorted wryly, not taking the snide comment personally. "You'd think they could've at least waited until this morning to call us in. That freakin' skeleton wasn't goin' anywhere--"

"Speaking of which," Quatre commented, nudging Duo with an elbow. "We've got hiking to do."

"Oh yeah." Duo couldn't seem to drag his fascinated gaze away from the van from Sanc and the bustling crew around it. "Gotta go, Al," he said absently, shifting back into gear.

The cop stood aside and let them continue on their way up the winding mountain road.

"Well, shit," Duo said quietly.

"Hm?"

"Never thought they'd find more human bones," mused the braided man. "I thought it was a fluke when that first one turned up."

"Weren't you the one going on about how Old Man Barton probably shot a tax man?"

"Yeah, but I was kidding," Duo shrugged. "I never expected there to really be a body out here."

"Me neither," Quatre admitted. "How bizarre."

"Sure is. But then, that's par for the course around here," Duo replied. "Everything's bizarre in Smoky Hills."

"You keep saying that," Quatre pointed out. "But it's just like any other small town anywhere."

"No, it's not."

"Why not?"

"Because--" Duo frowned, his expression going a bit distant. "I dunno, Quat. It's just--it's a really old hill town, an' most of the families have been here for generations. There's a lot of--history. Old grudges. Ghosts of the past. Shit like that."

"Ghosts?" Quatre rolled his eyes.

"I'm not talking about white sheets and moans in the night," Duo protested. "I mean, there are plenty of those kinds of ghost stories, too. But I'm talking about things that have happened here over the years." He shot an almost accusing look at his friend. "You've been in the library and read some of the history of the town; feuds between families--between business partners who turned into enemies. Then there was that section of town they flooded to make the reservoir, back at the turn of the century. Folks were put out of their homes; their farms destroyed--whole lives just laid to ruin, y'know?" He shook his head, looking very serious. "Shit like that leaves a mark on a place, Quatre--a taste. And Smoky Hills has a really, really bitter taste, because of everything that happened in the past."

"Jesus, Duo," breathed his friend. "You talk about this town like it's a living thing, almost. It's just a place. A location. Nothing more."

"You're wrong," Duo said flatly.

He drove for a moment or two in silence, and then visibly shook off the somber mood. "Hey, Quat, what d'you want for supper tonight? We could grill up the steaks over a fire, or try catching some fish, if you're up for that."

"Oh, fish sounds nice," Quatre said quickly, jumping on the topic like a drowning man on a life raft. "But I didn't pack any of our gear."

"I brought the fold-up fishing pole," Duo assured him. "And some of that fake, canned bait that always works. We can probably make camp and catch a couple of brook trout in time for dinner, if we make good time hiking in."

"Hm. Then it's a good thing I have those Boy Scout tendencies," Quatre joked back. "I wore my best hiking boots and brought plenty of energy bars."

"Figuring we'd need to live on granola and bottled water again?" Duo teased, referring to one of their earliest camping trips, when each had assumed the other packed food, and they'd literally had to scrounge for berries and munch on snack bars the whole time.

"I like to have all my bases covered." Quatre rubbed his flat stomach. "I like regular meals, you know."

"Don't we all?"

It didn't take long to reach the old logging road where they planned to park. Duo had been shown the location years before by an old conservation officer, who'd enjoyed sharing his knowledge of the wilderness with a curious and eager hiker.

"I figure we can take the hiking path as far as Eagle Ridge, and then grab a game trail heading out towards the summit," Duo told his roommate, as they bounced along the familiar, rutted track.

"We're camping up high?"

"Yeah. This time of year there won't be any thunderstorms. So I thought we could enjoy the view."

"View?" Quatre pondered for a moment. "Did you bring binoculars?"

"I always do. Why?"

"We could try to spot the police cars, and figure out where the skeleton was found."

"We already know, more or less."

"We know where the staging area was," Quatre corrected him. "But the actual crime scene could be a couple of miles into the woods. Did you see all the gear they were carrying--like they expected to stay out there a couple of days?"

"Crime scene?" Duo rolled his eyes. "Are we back on that subject again?"

"Well don't you find it kind of interesting--in a creepy sort of way?"

"No."

"You're not at all curious?"

"Sure I am," shrugged his friend. "But not enough to let it ruin my weekend. Besides, whatever the lab guys discover--it'll be all over town by next week."

"Yes, but--"

"Quat. Stop. I really want to just have a good time out in the fresh air this weekend. And if you keep going on about the skeleton, I won't. Just--let the dead rest for now, hm?"

The blonde sighed, and nodded, realizing that it was something Duo didn't wish to dwell on right then. "So," he said brightly, once again trying to salvage the mood. "What do mountain lion tracks look like, anyway?"

TBC...

 

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