"Polly look," Aria cooed. She picked the six-year-old up, showing her Oscar, the zoo's bull elephant inside the enclosure.
She marveled at him. "He's so big."
Aria agreed. Oscar was her favorite. She had fond memories of him, watching the enormous elephant parade around in holiday garb every Christmas until the 90s; Aria was twenty-eight.
"Auntie Aria," Moria called. The seven-year-old ran to her side. "Can I have a snow cone?"
Polly squirmed in her arms. "I want a snow cone too."
"Of course," Aria laughed. She put down Polly and took her hand, glancing around the facility. "We'll stop at a kiosk if I see one."
Kathy, their mother, crossed her arm as she stood beside Aria.
"Let's ignore what I have to say," she grunted. "I'm only their mother."
Aria laughed. "It's me who's suffering. I can't say no to those cute faces."
She and Kathy led the girls from the elephant enclosure and through the facility. Much had changed; stores and kiosks, but the footpath remained the same. In no time, they found a vendor selling snow cones, and Kathy took them to get one as Aria reserved a bench.
Aria took her coat off and tied the sleeves around her waist. The temperature was relatively warm for May; she assumed the summer was going to be unbearable.
Pulling her hair over one shoulder, she waited for Kathy and the girls to finish up. Once they did, Aria grinned in cheer as Moria and Polly chatted about the animals that they had seen.
"I swear," Kathy remarked. "You'd think that Polly was yours."
Aria snorted. "How so?"
"She looks and acts like you," she answered back.
Aria wasn't sure. As opposed to her, Polly loved to be like one of the girls; dress up, and play with dolls. No one could ever get a dress on Aria when she was her age.
Moira was more like her, a tomboy at heart.
Aria grinned. "They share your likeness."
"It's not too late to have kids of your own, you know?"
Her heart skipped a beat. Aria dismissed the statement with a snort. She wanted kids, but she had just gotten married a short time ago, and Albert didn't seem interested in them. It was a lost cause in her mind.
"I have two gorgeous nieces," she stated with a grim smile. "They are all I need."
Kathy frowned in pity. "Don't ever say never."
A sudden ring interrupted their awkward heart-to-heart. Aria realized it was her phone and took the Nokia from her pocket, glancing at the name across the screen. It was work.
Aria excused herself and answered the call.
"Hey, Elena. Is everything okay?"
The woman hummed. "So far. I called to ask you a question."
"I was scared for a moment," Aria admitted.
She thought the hospital was calling her in on her day off.
"What did you need to ask me?"
Elena hummed. "Did you get ahold of Martin Webster's son Thursday morning?"
"No," he never answered. "Why do you ask? Did he ever call?"
Aria was sure he'd call back.
"Not that I know of," Elena mentioned. "But I heard from Ethan that no one claimed Mr. Webster, so his remains are set to be cremated."
Aria thought that was strange. As far as she knew, he and his son had a decent relationship. She saw no reason for him to ignore her call. Perhaps he didn't receive it.
"If you don't mind, can you call him?"
There was a pause, then the soft noise of keys clicking on her end.
"Mr. Webster has his son as an emergency contact, right?"
Aria hummed in agreement.
"His number isn't on the computer," Elena mentioned. "Are you sure that's where you saw it?"
She was sure.
Where did it go?
Elena hummed. "I'm not sure. Maybe someone deleted it on accident."
Aria doubted it. Who the hell would do that? And why? There was something strange going on.
A red flag went up.
"Can you do me a favor?"
Perhaps it was nothing, but Aria had to know.
"Of course," Elena answered back.
The blond sighed. "The two found outside the city; the woman found in Cedar and the John Doe. Were they cremated? Can you look through the previous week's paper for me?"
"No need to look," Elena mentioned with a laugh. "I know the John Doe was, Kathy told me. But the Arklay County Sheriff's Department oversaw the murder in Cedar, so I don't know what became of her body."
There was a moment of silence, then Elena asked.
"Do you have a theory about these murders? I'm not sure why you are asking these questions."
Did she have a theory? Aria wasn't sure. None of it made sense to her.
"I'm just curious," she remarked.
Hearing her name, Aria turned to see Moira and Polly waving her down. Kathy gave her a look of concern, but she answered it with a smile.
"Thank you for informing me about Mr. Webster. I have to go now; my nieces are waiting," she mentioned.
Elena apologized. "See you Monday."
"Bye, Elena."
Aria ended the call and shoved her cell phone back into her pocket, rejoining her family.
Perhaps she was wrong, but something seemed off about the murders. She didn't know what, though.
Aria returned home early in the afternoon, parking her car next to the Toyota Celica her husband owned, pleased that he was home.
She went inside, locking the door behind her, and took off her shoes.
"I'm home," Aria announced.
As she went into the kitchen, she found Albert on the phone and squeaked in guilt. He seemed too deep in the conversation to acknowledge her outburst but gave her a nod and disappeared into the living room.
Aria ignored it and got into the fridge for a bottle of water.
It was close to dinner time, so she made a quick decision on what to make and took out the ingredients. She was craving porcupine meatballs, a dish her grandmother taught her, ever since Kathy mentioned making them the previous night for dinner.
Thank god I bought ground beef yesterday, Aria thought with a grin.
As she was cutting a green bell pepper, Albert came back into the room.
"Sorry about that," Aria mentioned. "I wasn't aware that you were on the phone."
He hummed. "The call was irrelevant."
"How was your day?"
She awaited his answer, looking at him in eagerness. He was gorgeous, dressed in a skin-tight turtleneck and slacks. For once, he wasn't wearing his sunglasses in the house.
"It was okay," Albert answered back.
He puckered a brow upon seeing her expression. "What?"
"I'm ogling is all," Aria teased.
It wasn't a crime to stare. Albert was an attractive man.
He grinned; how flattering.
Returning to dinner, Aria cut the remaining peppers and took the pieces over to the sink to rewash them. She stared out the window as she did so, noticing a family of four in their backyard enjoying the afternoon.
Her thoughts went dark.
"It's an insult," she remarked. "How the people around here can act like a man didn't die the other day and carry on with their lives in ignorance."
Albert hummed. "The world continues to turn no matter who dies."
"He was a kind man," she argued.
He didn't deserve to be murdered.
Remembering the conversation she had with Elena, she turned to look at her husband in bewilderment.
"Something strange happened at the hospital," Aria mentioned.
Albert puckered a brow.
She took his expression as a sign to continue.
"A coworker of mine called me about Martin Webster. He won't have a natural funeral because no one claimed his remains," she explained as she turned to cut off the sink. "The strange thing is his son never called the hospital, so my boss decided to move him to the crematorium."
Albert sighed. "Those things happen."
"Yes, but the number disappeared from Mr. Webster's record, and I called his son personally. It doesn't add up," Aria explained.
"And you believe someone deliberately removed it. What is the reason?"
She sighed. Honestly, she wasn't sure what she believed.
"It's just strange," she remarked. "And Mr. Webster isn't the only one."
Albert narrowed his eyes. What was she implying? Coming up behind her, he rested his hand on her stomach and leaned down to kiss her neck.
Aria sighed. "There is something strange going on. Why were the bodies cremated?"
"They were torn apart by a dog," he stated.
His breath on her ear made her shiver.
"Leave it alone, Aria. You have no business in this matter," Albert muttered.
Her shoulders tensed.
"These murders have been brutal on me," she mentioned.
Albert leaned down to kiss her neck again, grinning as she sighed.
"Let me help you relax."
Aria smiled in enjoyment. "But I'm making dinner, darling?"
"I'll order takeout," he insisted.
Aria took the bait.
Turning, she brought her arms around him.
"I'm yours," she uttered.
Of course, she was; his devoted wife.
She was no threat to him. But she needed to keep her nose out of the company's business, or else he'd have to put an end to this side game of make-believe.
And what a shame it would be. He rather liked Aria.