Chapter 34
"Yes. It seems he went up to the apartment when the kidnapper was and got shot. We found blood in the apartment and his body was discovered with a bullet through his heart. With your ID of his picture we can finally let his wife know what happened to him all those years ago, and that he died a hero! Thank you, Mr. Rollins."
"I'm glad I could help, little lady. You tell his wife for me that I am sorry I never knew his name or she would have known about him sooner."
"I will tell her, and thank you again, Mr. Rollins," Mac took her leave of the elderly man and got back into Woody's car.
Seeing the flowers again she decided to give him a call and find out if he wanted her to deliver them or wait for him. He told her to go ahead and take them since he would easily be tied up until lunch time. Mac said she would be glad to and asked if there was anything else she could do. Woody told her 'no' and they hung up.
It took a bit of searching to find Magnolia's grave even with the directions her sister had given them, and when Mac walked around to the front of the headstone, she was very surprised. There was already a large bouquet of fresh flowers on the grave. She recognized them as one of the more beautiful varieties of clematis' that she had seen when the florist had done the internet search.
The flowers had clearly been placed there that morning, but Petunia had said they had no other family. Mac could only think of one other person that could have a reason to put that kind of flowers on this grave. Her son! If he was still alive and remembered his mother's birthday, he could have done this. If Mac was right, that also meant she had only missed meeting up with him by a very short time! Maybe if she had stopped here before going to see Rollins!
When she and Woody were together again she would have him do a search in Boston for Clematis Orly. It would be amazing if they could tie up another loose end of their cases!
Woody was late to lunch at the bar, but that gave Mac a chance to chat with Max for a bit, as well as meet his fiancée who had dropped by for lunch with him.
They had just left her table when Woody came dragging in. Mac quietly asked him how he was doing and got a low groan in response. Mac called the waiter over and ordered a glass of tomato juice with two raw eggs, a healthy shot of Tabasco sauce and some black pepper in it. When it arrived she pushed it towards Woody and told him to drink up!
After the first swallow he was ready to quit, but Mac insisted that he needed to finish it if he wanted to feel better. Disgusted he did as he was told and by the time the food they ordered arrived, he admitted that he did feel better. He also added that he would never again drink that much in one night.
Mac was secretly glad to hear that and then changed the subject to the news about what she had found at the cemetery.
Woody was intrigued with the thought that their young kidnap victim might still be alive and putting flowers on his mother's grave. He came up with the same thought that Mac had about looking for Clematis Orly in Boston. They finished lunch quickly and headed back to the precinct.
On his desk was the results of the blood test they'd had done on the carpet padding the day before. The blood types matched. It wasn't conclusive proof like a DNA match would be, but it was the best they could do with evidence that old. Even before they had the report however Woody and Mac had been convinced that they pieced the clues together.
To be continued…