Читать книгу Hidden in the Wall - Valerie Hansen - Страница 6

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

—Proverbs 17:17

Trevor Whittaker swung the boom of the backhoe and took more and more bites of earth. If he hadn’t been paying such close attention, he might have missed feeling a momentary stutter of the equipment. Concerned, he peered at the partially dug trench then climbed down to take a closer look.

Steff had left a spade leaning against the building, so he grabbed it instead of returning to his truck for his own tools. The blade had connected with something hard. It looked like…

Trevor’s breath caught. He dropped the shovel and fell to his knees, frantically clawing at the earth. With trembling fingers he brushed aside enough dirt to be certain his imagination wasn’t playing tricks on him.

He reeled back on his haunches, appalled. These weren’t water or electric lines he had unearthed, they were bones. Human bones!

Suddenly a shadow fell across the trench. Trevor leaped to his feet, blocked Steff’s view with his body and grasped her arms to control her. “Don’t look.”

She tried to twist free. “Why not? Let me go.”

“No. There’s…” He thought about trying to distract her instead of revealing his gruesome find, then realized she’d never accept anything but the truth. “There’s a skeleton in the trench,” he said hoarsely. “It’s a grave.”