Chapter 9 - The Empty Casket
The heavy silence that followed Olivia’s hysterical question was broken only by the distant wail of a police siren fading down the coastal highway. Agent Miller lowered his comm-link, his expression grim and devoid of any bureaucratic pretense. The case had transformed from a routine property dispute into a federal homicide investigation with international financial ties and desecration of a grave site.
“Captain Vance,”
Miller said softly, stepping closer to Elena.
“We need to head down to the municipal cemetery right now. The local judge just signed the emergency exhumation order.”
Elena snapped out of her momentary shock, her military discipline kicking in like armor. She slid her phone back into her uniform pocket, squared her shoulders, and nodded firmly.
“Let’s move,”
Elena commanded.
“I want every inch of that plot excavated before Arthur’s legal team can file an injunction.”
Olivia scrambled to her feet, her light blue button-down shirt wrinkled and stained with dust from the floor. She rushed toward Elena, desperation making her reckless, grabbing blindly at the sleeve of Elena’s dark blue uniform.
“Take me with you!”
Olivia pleaded, her voice cracking.
“I need to know… I need to know what kind of monster my uncle really is!”
Elena looked down at Olivia’s hand resting on her sleeve, then slowly raised her eyes to meet her cousin’s frantic gaze. There was no warmth in Elena’s expression, only a chilling, resolute determination.
“You stayed in this house knowing I was locked out of my own home, Olivia,”
Elena said coldly, gently shaking her hand loose.
“You reap what you sow. Stay here with the federal deputies and wait for questioning.”
Without another word, Elena turned on her heel and strode toward the front double doors, her boots striking the hardwood floor with rhythmic precision. Agent Miller followed close behind, his hand resting on his briefcase as they stepped out into the blinding coastal sunlight.
The drive to the coastal municipal cemetery took less than ten minutes, but every second ticked by like an eternity in Elena’s mind. When their black federal SUV pulled through the wrought-iron gates of the graveyard, they found a grim scene already unfolding. Two heavy-duty backhoes stood parked beside a freshly cordoned-off plot, their massive steel buckets poised over a patch of freshly turned earth covered in expensive floral wreaths that Arthur had undoubtedly ordered to maintain appearances.
A county coroner in a crisp white jumpsuit stood waiting by the edge of the grave, holding a heavy metal clipboard. As Elena and Agent Miller stepped out of the vehicle, the coroner hurried over, his face pale beneath the harsh afternoon sun.
“Agent Miller, Captain Vance,”
the coroner greeted them briskly.
“We’ve secured the site. The cemetery groundskeeper just signed off on the vault registration numbers. But there’s a major discrepancy.”
Elena’s heart hammered against her ribs, though her face remained an unreadable mask of military calm.
“What kind of discrepancy?”
Elena demanded, her voice cutting through the wind off the ocean.
The coroner swallowed hard, handing his metal clipboard over to Agent Miller.
“According to the vault registration and the cemetery weight logs from the day of the funeral, the casket lowered into this plot weighed less than sixty pounds.”
Agent Miller stared at the clipboard, his eyes widening in sudden, stunned disbelief.
“Sixty pounds?”
Miller repeated, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper.
“A standard mahogany burial vault with reinforced lining weighs over three hundred pounds empty.”
Elena looked past the coroner toward the gaping hole in the earth, her breath catching in her throat as the horrifying truth crystallized in her mind.
“It wasn’t a body in that casket,”
Elena whispered, her fists clenching at her sides as she stared into the empty grave.
May you like
“Where is my mother?”
---
