Chapter 19: The Lightning-Struck Tree

Warning: This page contains major spoilers for Chapter 19 of Michael Connelly's Ironwood. Do not read further if you wish to experience the discovery fresh.

Summary

Alone in his office at the sub station, Stilwell revisits the printed murder book on the missing-hikers case. He opens the binder at random and lands on the crime-scene photos from Candace Neary’s grave. Noting that her body was buried near a live oak, much as Angela Metier was buries beneath an ironwood, he wonders why those specific trees were chosen but finds no answer.

He texts Renée Ballard, asking her to keep sharing the newly completed autopsy reports and adds a wry line about going “Harry Bosch–style” on the case. Then he works through the binder methodically, re-reading summaries of interviews with Neary’s roommates, coworkers, and family—details he has already memorized. A topographic map offers no altitude correlation between the two graves: Metier was interred roughly a thousand feet higher.

Turning to the last section of the murder book, Stilwell studies photographs and videos taken during the massive grid searches of Griffith Park before foul play was suspected. Pausing a KCAL 9 News segment, he spots something in the background: a volunteer line combing a hillside while another news crew interviews a park ranger in front of a tree. The live oak behind the ranger has the same distinctive lightning-split trunk visible in the later excavation photos of Neary’s grave. Searchers had walked right past the burial site without recognizing it.

Stilwell reasons that the killer might have chosen a uniquely damaged tree as a landmark so he could return later. He scans the frozen frame again, seeking a clearer view of the ranger. When the man turns and points toward the search line, Stilwell halts the video and his breath catches at what he sees.