Once Buried

Tucker’s eyes widened.

Then Riley said, “We need to take this timer with us. It could be important evidence.”

Tucker shook his head slowly.

He said, “You’re forgetting the law of the beach.”

“What’s that?” Riley said.

“‘Finders keepers.’ Besides, if this really is a gift from the gods, I’d better not part with it. I don’t want to violate the will of the cosmos.”

Riley studied his expression. She could tell that he wasn’t crazy or delusional – although he might sometimes act like it. That was just part of the show.

No, this particular vagrant knew exactly what he was doing and saying.

He’s doing business, Riley thought.

Riley opened her wallet, took out a twenty-dollar bill, and offered it to him.

She said, “Maybe this will help sort things out with the cosmos.”

Tucker grinned ever so slightly.

“I don’t know,” he said. “The universe is getting pretty pricy these days.”

Riley felt like she was getting the hang of the man’s game, and also how she could play along.

She said, “It’s always expanding, huh?”

“Yeah, ever since the Big Bang,” Tucker said. He rubbed his fingers together and added, “And I hear it’s going through a new inflationary phase.”

Riley couldn’t help but admire the man’s shrewdness – and his creativity. She figured she’d better settle a deal with him before the conversation got too deep for her to make any sense out of.

She took another twenty-dollar bill out of her wallet.

Tucker snatched both twenties out of her hand.

“It’s yours,” he said. “Take good care of it. I’ve got a feeling there’s something really powerful about that thing.”

Riley found herself thinking that he was right about that – probably more right than he could know.

With a grin, Rags Tucker added, “I think you can handle it.”

Bill put on his gloves again and approached the timer to pick it up.

Riley told him, “Be careful, keep it as steady as you can. We don’t want to interfere with how fast it’s running.”

As Bill picked up the timer, Riley said to Tucker, “Thanks for your help. We might come back to ask more questions. I hope you’ll be available.”

Tucker shrugged and said, “I’ll be here.”

As they turned to go, Chief Belt asked Riley, “How much time do you think is left before all the sand runs into the bottom?”

Riley remembered that the ME had said both murders had taken place around six o’clock in the morning. Riley looked at her watch. It was now nearly eleven. She did a little math in her head.

Riley said to Belt, “The sand will run out in about nineteen hours.”

“What happens then?” Belt asked.

“Somebody dies,” Riley said.

Chapter Nine

Riley couldn’t get Rags Tucker’s words out of her mind.

“There’s a feeling of inevitability about it.”

She and her colleagues were making their way back along the beach toward the crime scene. Bill was carrying the sand timer, and Jenn and Chief Belt flanked him to help him keep the timer steady. They were trying to avoid affecting the flow of sand in the timer. And of course that falling sand was what Rags had been talking about.

Inevitability.

Even as she shuddered at the thought, she realized that was exactly the effect the killer had in mind.

He wanted them to feel a tightening knot of inevitability about his upcoming murder.

It was his way of psyching them out.

Riley knew that they mustn’t let themselves get too rattled, but she worried that it wasn’t going to be easy.

As she trudged through the sand, she took out her cell phone and called Brent Meredith.

When he answered, she said, “Sir, we’ve got a serious situation on her hands.”

“What is it?” Meredith asked.

“Our killer is going to strike every twenty-four hours.”

“Jesus,” Meredith said. “How do you know?”

Riley was on the verge of explaining everything to him, but thought better of it. It would be better if he could actually see both of the timers.

“We’re on our way back to the SUV,” Riley said. “As soon as we’re there, I’ll call you for a video conference.”

Riley ended the call just as they got back to the crime scene. Belt’s cops were still scrounging through the marsh grass searching for clues. The cops’ mouths dropped open at the sight of Bill carrying the enormous timer.

“What the hell’s that?” one of the cops asked.

“Evidence,” Belt said.