Agency

In Which Alternative Theories are Explored, then Rejected

the same day, later still

They stood together, man and wife, at the precipice of the sizeable hole in the ground next to their house. Man held a large flashlight, beam pointed down into the dirt. Woman held a Gauloise in shaking fingers. While she had kept her cool in front of the police, now that they'd gone and the human remains had not, she was feeling very creeped out indeed.

Berry let the beam roam around the sides and bottom of the hole, which was no more than 2 feet deep. It took him a fair amount of time to locate the thing in question. When he did, he didn't think he could say with any degree of certainty that what they didn't have here might not, in actuality, just be an old bit of clay pipe.

"It could just be an old clay pipe," he said out loud.

"It's white."

"Well, it's not really white. It's got dirt all over it. How can they even tell what it is? Why didn't they dig it all the way out so we'd know what the hell it is?"

"Berry, the police looked at it. It was still daylight. It was clearly a long bone. If you'd have been here, you would have seen it. It's just too dark now."

Berry made a face he felt confident that his wife wouldn't see and shrugged.

"Just saying, seems like a lot of hoopla about something that could be nothing. I mean, who leaves a bone in the ground in a nice neighbourhood like this?"

He knew he was being obtuse, but the idea that a body part was out here rotting away while they'd been having summer BBQs right above it was just generally disturbing. He wanted to deny it and somehow stop it from being true.

"Do you think..." Berenice's voice trembled in a very un-Berenice like way. "Do you think someone sneaked back here while we were sleeping and buried a body? I mean, someone on the street? Or... a neighbour? Or..." her voice trailed off.

Berry could feel her taking a split second to analyze the possibility that her husband might have murdered someone and buried them. The possibility that the entire yard could, in fact, be littered with bones the way you hear about in those crime documentaries. He seemed perfectly normal, a little on the quiet side, then the police dug up the remains of at least 13 victims in his cellar.

She shook that idea off as quickly as it had come. Whatever his faults, Berry wasn't a body burier. Besides, the hole they were peering into had been under the existing deck until a few days ago. Which meant whatever they were looking at had been put there before they'd arrived. That, at least, was a relief.

"It must be at least ten years old," she calculated. "At least. Because it was under the deck, and the deck was here when we bought the house."

Berry scanned around in the dark again, wondering what else might lie hidden. "Why were they digging in this spot anyway? I thought they were levelling the ground. This is a hole."

"I don't know Berry!" she replied, exasperated by his questions. "I'm not a landscaper, am I? Maybe this is where the new deck supports were going to go. Maybe they were trying to expose the foundation to see if it needs waterproofing. I told you they might need to. The bricks were cracked."

"I'll bet they were going to tell you that either way. Scammers." Jim was standing in the warmth of the kitchen with his fourth cup of tea, observing them through the open window.

Berry whispered, "Why is Dad here, anyway?"

Berenice shrugged. "He was in the living room when I got home. Used the key, I guess. I didn't know he was coming. Is he staying?"

"He must be. It's nearly midnight." Berry checked his phone to confirm. "We should all get to bed. I have a brutal day tomorrow."

Berenice sighed and turned toward the kitchen door. "He can stay in the new guestroom. I'll show him. You go to bed."