Blood and Bone | 1

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      I made a vow to myself in the car as we drove to the park Sara had told us about.

      I would do all I could to find who'd murdered her husband and put an end to them. She hadn't said it, but I could tell that her husband's death had destroyed her, from the way her voice cracked, and the way she kept on glancing at the picture of them on their wedding day on her mantle.

      Ordinarily, I wouldn't have been so driven to bring a killer to justice. I had already experienced such death in my life that I didn't know if I had room to carry the burden of any more. But now, I realized that this could be my way of avenging all of those souls I'd reaped. One life didn't equal theirs, but it was at least a start. I wouldn't let them die unremembered.

When I slipped out of the car, I realized that the park was very charming and someone obviously took very good care of it. There were trees cut in geometric shapes and there was a big river running through the park with a large bridge over it. Blossoming trees dropped their pink flowers on passerby.

But now there were almost no passerby. The entire park was pretty much empty, aside from a couple of people and a few park rangers that were patrolling on their shifts. I saw caution tape around an area of the park that was completely abandoned.

     As we walked through the gate, an old security guard that looked like he'd just stayed up two nights without going to sleep gave us a sad smile and said, "Hello. Come to walk in the park?" He had a very strong Spanish accent. I wondered how he knew we weren't natives, but I realized we had been speaking English in front of him.

      Kane coughed awkwardly and answered, "Uh, no. We're here to check out the scene of the crime on government buisness."

     The older man's eyes widened as he said to himself, "The things they put young people up to these days. Why, back in my day, the hardest job that was given to a child was to drive the cattle out to pasture out on the family's farm."

      "Or churning some butter," Jake muttered drily and Arlo laughed, but turned it into a coughing fit to cover it up.

      "Sir, we're with a United States government association. We've been sent to investigate the death of Robert Sandiguez," Finn said, in a very businesslike manner.

     "I am afraid I cannot let you go past that yellow tape over there," the security guard pointed at the sectioned-off place. "But you are free to walk around the park."

     "I take it back when I said that Hunt was actually being helpful," Riley decided quietly in front of me.

      Finn, always patient, told him in a calm voice, "Sir, we were sent here to investigate. We need to go past the yellow tape. Actually, are there any police officers here? They'd let us in."

     "Well, the police haven't been here for a few days, but I suppose if police know about it, you are free to look," cane his uneasy answer in slow, but sure, English. "If you need anything, just tell old Nelson here." He pointed to himself. "Gente loca," he muttered as we walked to the yellow caution tape like bees to honey.

      "We should split up," Jaxon suggested. "Even if we don't know exactly what to look for, we'll have a greater chance of finding it if we spread out."

     I spent the next forty minutes searching for things that were apparently very nonexistent. There were no pieces of clothing, used bullets, or footsteps anywhere. I found the others, who had encountered nothing as well.

      After our extremely unsuccessful effort, we decided to call it a day and just go back to the hotel and decide what to do next. Well, that was until Kane realized he had forgotten where he parked the car. So then we had to start combing the large parking lot, searching for the car. It really didn't help that it was extremely busy from all the cars of the people that were in the plaza and shops nearby.