Chapter 1 #2
She straightened and made eye contact with Massey. “We find that kid. No excuses. Let’s move.”
He bolted into action. but El allowed herself one more moment to take in the scene.
The wind had died down, and Lost Lake was quiet now, too quiet, as if holding its breath.
And in that stillness, the weight of the scene crushed El.
The lifeless mother, the missing child, and the invisible clock ticking relentlessly against them all.
El shivered. She would never look at the lake the same way again.
Please God, the woman has died, but let me find the child. Watch over her. Care for her before…
No. She couldn’t say it. Not even to God, who knew everything. She forced her attention away from the shadowy water. She had a job to do.
The witness was secure, the scene locked down. Now there was only one priority.
The child.
She pulled out her phone and dialed the office. “Mina. It’s El. We’re looking at a possible homicide. Possible missing child either in the water or the woods. Maybe abducted. I need search teams around the lake. Divers. ASAP. A K-9 unit, too.”
Mina exhaled hard. “I’ll handle it and keep you updated on their arrival times. Do we have an ID for the woman?”
“Not yet. ME’s en route and hopefully she’ll find something on the body. There’s a cell phone near the water. Might get a quick ID there. I’ll get it to our tech team as soon as possible.”
A pause. Too long.
“You should know,” Mina said. “Gabe Irving’s friend, Kenna James, and her four-year-old daughter, Lucy, went missing tonight. They were on their way to see him and should’ve arrived at the inn more than four hours ago, but they never showed.”
Gabe. How hard this must be for him.
They’d worked cases together before. Shared long hours, bad coffee, and an attraction between them they didn’t dare to explore. And now this?
“Is this a coincidence or do you have reason to believe the woman might be Kenna and the car seat her daughter’s?” El asked.
“It’s probably them. Gabe found a VW bus registered to Kenna in a ravine near the lake.”
“That’s bad.”
“Yeah. He’s on his way. If he can ID the body, we need that.” Mina’s tone said this wasn’t optional. “We’re dealing with two potential investigations here. You’ll need some help. I’ll pull Ulrich off his current case and get him out there too.”
A seasoned officer, Detective Burke Ulrich had joined their team when their department received a grant to work cold cases and he wanted to be close to Abby Day, a Lost Lake Locators team member.
El would appreciate his help. Investigating a murder and missing child simultaneously required everyone to work this investigation, and he made things happen.
“How do you want to handle forensics?” El asked.
“With a scene exposed to the elements and a missing child, we can’t wait for the state to send someone out. I’ll try to get Sierra Rice from the Veritas Center out here.”
The Veritas Center in Portland. Perfect. If they had the funds to pay for a nationally known private laboratory with experts in all areas of criminal forensics plus state-of-the-art equipment and techniques.
“We can afford that?” El asked.
“No way, but Nolan and his team have a connection to them, and he can hopefully get them to take this case pro bono.”
“What are the odds of that?”
“Their forensic anthropologist has a son and is sympathetic to cases involving children. She can be persuasive, but all the partners have to sign off on pro bono work.”
“Something to pray about then,” El said, surprising herself. She and God had been on a break since Victoria died during El’s rookie year. Not God’s fault. Hers for not being able to let go of the guilt. But this child deserved her every effort, and that included prayer.
“I’ll call as soon as I hear back,” Mina said. “Anything else you need right now?”
“I’ll let you know if something comes up.” She ended their call and strode through the squishy sand to the phone lying too near the lake for comfort.
She photographed it then lifted it. The screen remained dark and water dripped from the case.
Even if the phone still worked, protocol prohibited her from checking for recent calls or texts. It was up to the tech staff to recover information. She bagged and pocketed it.
Nearby, a pink-and-blue squeezable unicorn toy rested close to the water. Even a minor wave could drag it into the water. She also shot pictures of it then slipped it into an evidence bag.
On the dock, her flashlight beam revealed muddy drag marks and boot prints in two sizes.
A car seat sat near the edge. Why was it there?
Had the woman and child been brought there by boat? But if this woman was Gabe’s friend, the van was close enough to walk from. Why use a boat? Maybe they’d find answers when they examined the terrain around the ravine.
In any event, it could explain that the seat was used to keep the child strapped in for safety or to contain her movements. But where had the boat come from and who piloted it? Maybe the dog walker had seen something to clarify things.
She photographed the front of the seat, spotting a small pink sweatshirt tucked inside.
Perfect for a K-9 to pick up on the child’s scent and it would also contain DNA and fingerprints.
She bagged it carefully and eased around to the seat’s back.
A large sticker of Bluey. The sight of the cartoon character punched her in the chest.
A young child, missing. Her job, to find her.
She clenched her hands to keep her emotions in check and crossed the beach to the witness and his black-and-white dog. The dog came to its feet and wiggled.
“Okay to pet him or her?” she asked the man in his late sixties, she guessed.
“Her. Jinx and sure,” the man said, his voice deep and gravelly. “And I’m Curtis Williams.”
“Detective Lyons, with the Lost Lake Sheriff’s Department.” Taking off her gloves, she squatted by Jinx and ruffled her wet fur. “I know my deputy already took your statement, but can you tell me what happened here tonight?”
He frowned, his whisker-covered chin dropping. “Jinx and I were on our normal nightly walk. As a border collie, she needs a lot of exercise.”
Jinx lifted her head and looked at him as if he’d called her into duty. He gave her a hand signal, and she settled back down.
“We take this path every day at lunch and after dinner. Nothing out of the ordinary this afternoon, but tonight Jinx started barking the minute we hit the trail. I quickly saw something floating in the water. A woman. I charged in to drag her to shore. I can’t even begin to tell you…”
His voice broke, and he clamped the back of his neck. “What it was like to discover she was dead. Took me a minute or two to get my bearings and call 911. Stayed by her side until the deputy arrived. Not like I could do anything for her anymore, but she seemed like she needed me.”
“Did you see anyone else?”
“No, but I couldn’t miss that car seat. Please don’t tell me there’s a child involved in this. That would be so much worse.”
She couldn’t discuss anything with him. “What about any vehicles in the parking lot? Did you hear anything from up top?”
“No. Nothing. Not unusual for this time of year and especially at this time of night.”
“What about a boat or canoe?”
He shook his head. “Nothing there either.”
“No sound of a motor or no lights out in the lake?” she pressed.
“No. No.”
“And you didn’t touch anything besides the woman?”
“Like I said, I could barely keep it together to call 911, much less think to do anything but wait.”
She fished a business card out of her pocket and handed it to him. “If you think of anything else that might help, please call me immediately.”
He studied her card and looked up. “Does this mean I’m free to go?”
“Yes, thank you for your cooperation. I’ll escort you to the stairway.”
“Let me in.” From the parking lot above, a raw, desperate voice broke through the fog. “I might be able to identify the body!”
Gabe!
El’s chest tightened as he took on a linebacker stance, ready to bulldoze through Ewing, who stood his ground.
“El! Tell him to let me through. I know her! I might be able to identify the body.” Gabe’s tone had gone far beyond someone simply looking for a missing person to a personal loss deeper than she expected.
She had no doubt that if she didn’t intervene, he would break through Ewing’s defense.
“Hurry, El! I think I know who drowned.”
El wouldn’t correct him on the cause of death. No reason to traumatize him until she was certain. And she wouldn’t let him get close enough to see the welts on the woman’s neck for himself. Especially not if she wasn’t his friend, Kenna.
El reached the top of the stairway and caught the anguish on Gabe’s face. His strained expression changed things for her. This was no longer strictly professional. It was personal.
Having worked several investigations with the Lost Lake Locator team, she knew all six team members well. But Gabe? She’d had feelings for him for more than a year, and he felt the same. It didn’t matter. They would never act on it, each for their own reasons.
She lifted the crime scene tape and let Williams and Jinx pass under. “Please call me if you think of anything else.”
Williams gave a quick nod, glanced at Gabe with horror, and raced away, Jinx pulling at the leash to stay behind.
She turned to Gabe. “Mina told me about your potential connection. I’ll walk you down.”
He reached for the crime scene tape as if she’d given him clearance to barge through.
“Hold up.” El raised a hand. “I’ll let you take a look, but we need to do this by the book.”
He paced, exhaling hard. “You think I care about the book when that could be Kenna down there?”
“I know how you’re feeling. If it is her, we’ll find out together, but you have to stay with me. Don’t cross the line.”
He nodded, jaw clenched. “Fine.”
They descended toward the shore, grief radiating off him like heat.
And with every step, a single, icy thought tightened its grip.
If that woman was indeed Kenna, had Lucy followed her mother into the murky lake and lost her life too?