Chapter 5
FIVE
“Uh-huh.” Katie was standing at the large wall in their office and had begun writing up and sticking on what they had so far with the case.
There were photos of the two construction workers; a map of the area; the contracts for the work including paperwork from the county; the names of the businesses involved in the project.
It wasn’t much, but Katie studied what they had.
She wanted to know who the three victims were.
Were they related? Random? She wondered if their deaths had resulted from something personal or something much darker.
McGaven looked at his partner. “I thought you would be happy about the drone.”
“I am.” Her eyes traced the architectural drawings of the large parcel of land and she visualized the buildings, training areas, and parking lot that would be built. It seemed plausible and well thought out.
“When do you want to bring Cisco out?” McGaven said.
“Soon.”
Just then, the door opened to a cheerful short-haired brunette. It was Denise, the records supervisor and also McGaven’s girlfriend.
“Hi, all.” She carried a stack of paperwork and a memory stick. “Detective Hamilton gives his regards.” She smiled.
“Great, thank you,” said McGaven.
“Thank you, Denise,” said Katie.
“Always a pleasure,” she said and blew a kiss to McGaven.
As soon as the door shut, Katie began laying out the paperwork. The detectives sat down to sort through the information.
“While we wait for DNA or dental identification on all three bodies, this will have to do,” she said. “It looks like Hamilton narrowed down possible victims.”
“And the winner is…?” McGaven said.
Katie made piles of paperwork that included photographs of missing individuals.
The flyers that had been used were grainy and it was difficult to see specific details.
She made a pile of anyone over the age of eighteen and another of young juveniles, whittling it down to several children.
Most of the copied photos weren’t good and had too many distracting things in and around the child.
She reached for a magnifying glass to study the photos more closely.
A detail in one of them caught her eye. Katie looked closely at the flyer of the little girl for a minute.
She appeared to be sitting on a tree swing with her hands gripped around the rope sides. Her smile was pure joy.
“Wait. Look at this,” Katie said.
“What’s up?” McGaven’s attention immediately focused on the flyer she passed him of a little girl. “She’s seven years old. Maybe.”
“I think she’s wearing the bracelet.” She pointed at a spot on the flyer. “Take a look. See what you think.”
McGaven took the magnifying glass, turned the flyer upward, and slowly moved it over the photocopy of the photograph. “I don’t know… It could be a shadow… but there’s a dot that could be the half-heart charm. But is there anything else? Mention of her mom?”
“No. But look at the date. This month makes her missing for twenty years. Her name is Misty Collins,” she paused. “Misty Collins,” she said again wanting to give her a presence.
“Wait a minute,” said McGaven. “In the notes, it says that her uncle, Ian Griffin, reported her missing.”
“That seems strange. If she’s the girl in the grave, why isn’t there a mention of the other person? It’s most likely her mother or another family member,” said Katie.
“Maybe it isn’t her.”
Katie skimmed the report, which was low on information. “It says that Misty Collins was last seen in the yard and that she disappeared. Hmmm?” Katie stared at the word “disappeared.” “It also said that friends and family were contacted, but they hadn’t seen the girl.”
“What did it say about the location and any other family members, like her parents?”
“It doesn’t say, which is odd.”
“No other notes or updates?”
“No.” Katie looked through the rest of the small files. “It seems incomplete.” She turned over the official form and in the lower-right corner there was some writing. “It says, ‘tried to contact I. Griffin for more info 10/17, 11/5.’”
“Who was the investigating officer?” said McGaven.
“It says G. Ventura.”
“Never heard of him.”
“He must have retired.”
McGaven picked up his cell phone and made a call. “Hey, I’m looking for information about a previous officer, G. Ventura.” He waited. “Okay, thanks.”
Katie raised an eyebrow.
“It seems he retired eighteen years ago,” said McGaven.
“Is he still in the area?”
“Yes. Denise said his last known address is the retirement home off Broadway and Main Street.”
“I’m going to read through the rest of this stuff, but I think—”
“We need to visit Mr. Ventura.” McGaven smiled. It quite often happened that the detectives finished each other’s sentences.
“But first, while everything is still current at the crime scene, we need to take care of the drone work and Cisco’s search.”
“Yep.”
Katie looked at her watch. “And we need to meet Detective Rogers at the site.”
“Yeah, but I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Well, Rogers is kinda…”
“Kinda what?’
“Have you ever met him?”
“I’ve seen him. He’s not friendly, but that doesn’t matter. We have a job to do.”