The Bone Field by Debra Bokur (top e book reader txt) 📕

“No, I don’t think he minded. After he went missing, there was an investigation, but nothing ever turned up. There was no sign that he had ever left the island. Then, when I heard about the bodies . . .”

Again he fell silent, as though not wanting to put his thought into words.

Walter spoke quietly. “When did you lose your wife?”

“Ten years ago. An accumulation of grief, I imagine. Some people would find that improbable, but I believe it’s true. One day, she reached her limit of dealing with the sorrow she’d held on to for so long. Then she was gone.”

Inside, Kali’s own grief stirred in response. She acknowledged it, then pushed it away. The acute sense of loss that she held constantly at bay subsided, its sharp edges buried, for now, by the loss experienced by a stranger. She watched his face, focusing on his reactions.

“I’m very sorry,” she said. “I don’t have children of my own, so I can only imagine the toll such a loss would take. Have you thought of anything over the years—anything, however small, that you haven’t already shared with the police—that you’d like to tell us now? Any reason that someone may have wished to cause your son-in-law harm?”

Bill shook his head. “No, nothing I haven’t already shared with the authorities. The police initially thought it might have been a case of misadventure—that he’d drowned and the currents had pulled him out to sea, or that he’d fallen off a cliff into some deep ravine while out hiking. He used to go to that beach up at Polihua, where the undercurrent is so notoriously powerful. Be he was never found.”

She looked over at Walter, who nodded imperceptibly. She pulled her phone out of her bag and opened the image of the anchor sent to her by Tomas, then passed the phone to Bill.

“Can you tell me if you’ve ever seen anything like this before?”

He took the phone, squinting slightly as he studied the photo. Kali watched his face as he turned the phone slightly, looking at it from another angle. There seemed to be surprise in his expression, but he quickly recovered his composure. Kali felt the energy in the room shift.

“There was a church here for a while,” he said, his voice guarded. “They came around to people’s houses. Witnessing, I think they call it.” He looked up, but he didn’t meet her eyes. “They all lived together.”

“Do you mean it was a commune?” Kali asked.

He hesitated. “If you like. Commune, cult. Difficult to say. They talked a lot about the Bible, and they passed out brochures. I think they may have used this symbol in their outreach.”

She watched him. He seemed suddenly restless. He turned his head slightly, and his gaze suggested that he was looking far away into some other place or memory.

“Do you recall their name?”

Bill said nothing. After a moment, he looked up, as though startled from his reverie to find other people in the same room.

“No. I don’t think so.”

Kali rose to her feet. As Walter stood up beside her, Bill also stood and led the way to the front door. He turned to Kali, his voice hesitant. “Can you perhaps share anything with me about what you’ve found out there on the old farm?”

“Not at this time, no.” She watched as his eyes clouded over. “But I promise you we’re doing everything we can.”

“If you’re willing,” said Walter, “it would be very helpful if you could help us locate someone from your son-in-law’s family who could provide a DNA sample, or any existing dental or medical records.”

Bill nodded. “Of course. I would be happy to do that.” He faltered, looking at Kali. “It would be good to know, one way or the other. You understand?”

“I do,” she said. She reached into her bag, removing her wallet and offering him a card. “Officer Alva will be in touch with you later today or tomorrow morning about locating a DNA sample, so please gather any contact information you have on family members of your son-in-law. And please feel free to call me directly at any time. We’ll speak again, as soon as I have something definitive to share with you.”

He stood next to the door, opening it and stepping aside so that she and Walter could walk out. Kali took a few steps down the paved pathway, then stopped and turned back to him.

“I’m very sorry about your wife,” she said. “And your daughter. Whatever happened, I know it must have caused your family great pain.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

She reached the car and climbed inside, feeling the heat that had accumulated in the seat penetrate her shoulders and the backs of her legs in a molten burst, as familiar and comforting to her as Linda Bragden’s embroidered pillows and knickknacks were to Bill. She understood that the material things crowding every surface of his home provided an association for Bill to the family he had loved and lost. And, she considered, his home also bound him to a man who was likely not missed at all. She looked back at the closed front door.

Walter climbed in beside her and slammed the door.

“Loss or not, he’s hiding something,” she said.

“Yep,” said Walter. “No doubt about that.”

CHAPTER 11

Instead of heading immediately back to the pineapple field, Kali kept south on Highway 440, known locally as Manele Road. The presence of Lna‘ihale volcano was strong here, its long spine towering through cloud forest in a roughly north-south direction to her left, its slopes covered with densely growing ferns and thick groves of trees that were punctuated by majestic Cook pines. She knew that though the volcano’s last eruption was more than a million years ago and that it was usually referred to as extinct, it was, in actuality, merely dormant, and wondered if it would ever stir again during her lifetime.

“Now what?” asked Walter, as they passed the turnoff to the plantation and kept driving.

“Maybe nothing,” she