Poison Ivy by Cynthia Riggs Read Free Book Online Page A

far side of the building.”
    They walked from where the vehicles were parked, stepping over stones that delineated the parking area, past tall, sweeping forsythia bushes showing a touch of autumn gold, under an arbor draped with vines heavy with ripening grapes, to the back of the house, now known as Woodbine Hall. They crossed a stretch of grass to the far side of the building, an area Victoria hadn’t been to before.
    A small crowd had gathered to watch Doc Jeffers work. The crowd included Toby the undertaker and his assistant, Tisbury police officers, two state troopers, and a few passersby that the Tisbury police were asking politely to keep their distance.
    Victoria was so intent on watching Doc Jeffers she didn’t even notice the magnificent vine that covered the side of the building.
    Casey looked up at it. “Guess that’s why Thackery calls the place Woodbine Hall.”
    Doc Jeffers was crouched over the remains the troopers had finished unearthing after Brownie’s discovery. The body had been covered with less than a foot of sandy soil, and the soil had then been topped with dead leaves from around the base of the vine, the accumulation of many years.
    â€œCan’t tell much from this,” Doc Jeffers said, waving a latex-gloved hand at the pile of clothes in the shallow trench. “It’s a man, that’s about it. At a guess, he was between forty and sixty.” The doctor stood up and snapped off his gloves. He was wearing leather trousers and motorcycle boots festooned with chains. A green scrub shirt exposed a V of white chest hair. “We’ll know more after the autopsy.” He looked around and spotted Smalley who was standing off to one side. “Toby can take him away now.”
    Toby, the undertaker, would transport the corpse off Island on the ferry for autopsy. There was not much left of the person to identify, except by dental records.
    The Steamship Authority would require a passenger ticket for the corpse, even one in this condition.
    *   *   *
    â€œWas the victim buried around the same time Professor Harlan Bliss was killed?” Victoria asked Doc Jeffers. “That was the man whose body was in the old garage.”
    Doc Jeffers tossed his used gloves into a red metal box marked H AZ M AT and latched the lid. “At a rough guess, I’d say this burial was a month or so earlier.”
    Casey had been crouched over with her hands on her knees, studying the remains. She straightened up. “Wonder why Brownie didn’t discover the body sooner?”
    â€œWalter keeps the dog in a fenced yard. It got out,” said Smalley. “Not much the forensics people can find after so long a time, but who knows.”
    â€œForensics has entomologists on staff who can date the burial pretty closely by examining insect activity,” said Doc Jeffers. “Larvae, eggs, that sort of thing.” He picked up the HazMat box and his black leather bag. “See you around.” A motorcycle started up a few minutes later.
    Casey and Victoria stood back a respectful distance while Toby and his assistant maneuvered the corpse into a body bag, zipped it up, and left. Victoria heard Toby mutter, “And I’m expected to pay for a passenger ticket on the goddamned ferry.”
    After the remains were taken away, Casey, Victoria, and Smalley stood together. No one spoke.
    The neighbors who’d been standing around left.
    Victoria pondered on the two deaths, both on the Ivy Green campus, one a Cape Cod University professor, the other as yet unidentified. This second murder had to be related to the first. Actually, this was probably the first murder, considering the condition of the corpses.
    The troopers who’d dug up the ground to expose the corpse, Tim Eldredge and Ben Athearn, were sitting on the stone wall that marked the boundary of Ivy Green College campus. Tim was absently scratching his forearm.
    Casey glanced