Chapter 10 #2
“Sure. Come on over. We’re almost done with dinner, but we can make you a plate.”
“No thanks,” he cleared his throat, “I’ve already eat with Tracy and the baby. This is just a quick visit.”
Duval nodded, and spoke into the phone. “We’re around back, the outside lights are on and-”
“I found my way easily”
Duval turned to see West walking around the house with a large envelope in one hand. West ended the call on his phone with the other.
He looked over at Finola and Patricia. “I’m sorry, ladies.”
Finola waved at him. “No worries, West. You’re always welcome.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Katie got up from her place on the picnic bench and reached for Ciela.
Noelle’s little girl went easily into Katie’s arms putting her head down on Katie’s shoulder.
Katie looked at Noelle with a soft smile. “I’ll put her down in my room. She can stay here as long as you need.”
Noelle smiled at his sister and whispered her thanks.
As soon as the screen door closed behind her, West approached the table.
He greeted everyone in turned and opened the clasp on the envelope. “We’ve had a hit on the image we put into the media.”
Duval’s eyes widened at that. “Already?”
West nodded and pulled out the thin stack of papers.
Duval saw his mother reach for the picture on the top of the stack. “Can I show this to Patricia?”
West agreed. “It’s public now.”
His mother handed the drawing to Patricia and she studied it with a slight frown on her face.
Patricia sighed, shaking her head. "She was young.”
Duval saw Patricia turn to look at her daughter. “How did you come up with her age?”
“I looked at her teeth for normal growth and wear and tear. The forensic team gave me their assessment. We were on the same page.”
Patricia nodded at her daughter, pride shining in her eyes.
“We’re all impressed by Noelle’s talent.”
Duval saw West nod and his boss handed him the next paper.
“We’ve gotten over three hundred calls and tips but we found one that we feel is likely the right identification.”
Duval’s eyes widened at that. “Already?”
West shook his head, seemingly confused. “It shocked us, too. The family has been looking for their daughter for decades. They kept every photo they had of hers.”
The next paper on the stack was actually a photocopy of a photo. West took it out and reached across the table to put it into Noelle’s hands.
Duval watched as Noelle took the photo and brought it down before her as she sat back down on the bench.
Her mother handed her the drawing that she’d made and Noelle looked between the two images.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
Duval watched the way Noelle’s whole expression changed as she looked from the drawing she’d created from the skull they’d found to the picture of the young woman who’d disappeared years before.
Her complexion paled and she set both images down on the top of the picnic table.
Duval sat down beside her and put his hand on back, gently rubbing along her shoulders. “Noelle? You… you okay?”
She sat in silence for a moment and then nodded. “I think so.”
West gave her an encouraging smile. “They’ve already provided medical records for her, but she didn’t have a lot of them. The family at the time was close to the poverty line, but they never gave up,” he told her. “They always kept hope in their hearts that she’d come home.”
Noelle nodded. “I hope… I hope it is her. Not that I want their loved one to be dead, but if it will bring them a measure of peace…”
Duval swore he felt the beat of her heart in his chest.
Crazy?
Very likely so, but he couldn’t escape the feeling.
He moved closer and put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her against his side. He couldn’t protect her from the thoughts in her head or the feeling in her heart, but he could keep her warm.
When she shook a little, he leaned closer and used his free hand to reach over and take her hand in his.
He lifted it and brought it closer to his face, pressing it against his cheek. “You don’t have to talk or say anything.”
She sat silent beside him and West continued to talk.
“They said that she’d just started a new job when she’d disappeared. She switched jobs to earn more money. A job close to the college she wanted to attend in the fall.
“The job she started was at the Coolidge Family Market.”
Duval narrowed his eyes at that bit of information. “I don’t know that store.”
“It closed when you were a child.”
He turned to see Patricia looking at West. “I shopped there when I was newly married. They closed a few years after I started shopping there. We had to find a new market.”
His mother snapped her fingers. “I remember where that was! Now it’s… They demolished it and a couple of other stores around it.”
Patricia smiled. “Yes! I remember how upset everyone was when they did that.”
“They were but then it became one of those big stores with cheaper prices like…”
“Like Walmart or Target,” Patricia sighed. The prices might have been better, but the people working there were not nearly as knowledgeable. “What a loss to the community.”
Duval saw West taking notes on his phone.
When their comments quieted, West added in more details.
“She was working at the cash register and had been there for a little more than a month before she suddenly just didn’t come home.”
He turned to another paper in the stack and gave them more information.
“There were some rumors that the family told me about. The Coolidge family had two sons running the market together. They were both trying to prove themselves hoping that their father would name them as the majority partner in control of their markets. There were,” he looked down at the paper, “three of them. One in the heart of San Antonio and two more in other neighborhoods.”
“Homes Mart.” Finola tapped her knuckles on the picnic table top. “That’s the name of the market that came up after Coolidge Market closed.”
Patricia nodded in agreement. “Kind of halfway between Walmart and Target.”
“That’s a good comparison,” Finola lifted a hand to her head and rubbed at her temples. “Thinking this much makes my old head ache.”
“Ma!”
His mother shrugged at him. “It’s true. I’m getting old, McCrae.”
He frowned, waiting for what must be the other shoe to drop.
“If only I had some grand children as lovely as Ciela….”
“Oh boy.”
Patricia chuckled softly, but Noelle didn’t seem like she’d heard his mother’s words.
A moment later, Noelle’s mother leaned to the side on the bench and took out her phone from her back pocket.
“You know…” She moved her fingers over the screen of her phone.
“I remember a few years ago when I went to my High School reunion one of my old classmates said that he’d worked at Coolidge Market back in the day.
” Her gaze was fixed on her phone for a moment and then her expression brightened. “Ah! I have his number.”
West leaned in. “Do you think I could have his number? I’d love to send someone out to talk to him.”
Patricia hesitated for a second. “Can I call him first and ask? I… I feel like I should ask him first.”
West nodded. “If he’ll come in voluntarily that would be best.”
Duval heard West’s tone harden. “But to solve this case, I wouldn’t mind getting a supoena.”
Patricia looked a little uncomfortable. “I… I’m sure he’ll say yes. I’m just not sure what he’d be able to tell you. I’d just want him to know that I’m giving you the number before you call him.”
“That’s fair.”
Noelle’s mother relaxed a little and Duval was happy to see it.
He knew how determined West was to solve the case.
So was he.
But Patricia wasn’t a law enforcement officer. And she didn’t know West as well as he did.
She stood up and stepped away from the picnic table. “I’m… I’m going to call him right now.”
“Thank you.” West settled onto the end of the bench seat.
Katie came outside and greeted West warmly. She looked at Noelle, smiling. “Ciela is out like a light. I don’t think she’ll wake up until tomorrow morning she’s sleeping so well.”
Duval turned to look at Noelle and saw her smiling, her face lighter than it had been since West had started to talk about the missing woman.
“She’s either up and down or out like a light.”
Duval heard Patricia’s voice before he saw her. “If she’s sleeping that soundly now, she’s going to be a bear to get back to sleep later.” Patricia sat down and took a pen out of her purse. She looked up at West, gesturing at the paper in front of her. “Can I write down his number for you?”
West nodded. “Please.”
Patricia spoke as she wrote. “Eduardo Rodriguez. You can call him Eduardo or Edward. He answers to both. And…” she handed the paper back to West, “here. He’s happy to help you with the case.”
West thanked her. “I know I might have sounded like a hardass-”