Chapter 12

I never spoke a word to anyone as we prepared to leave, not wanting to get involved in any conversations. Santos arranged everything and had booked the jet to take us to Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport. Sat on the jet for the short flight my mind was plagued with memories of Steph. Meeting her for the first time at that diner and the numerous times that I'd been with her. The expressions on her face, a face that was so open to her thoughts and emotions. The sound of her voice when she was happy or sad, worried or even annoyed. The feel of her close to me, the smoothness of her skin and the taste of her. I would never be able to rid my thoughts of her.

It was as we were driving through the winding roads amidst the trees with the mountains casting a backdrop against the clear blue sky that it suddenly occurred to me that Steph would have hated being here. Yeah, she'd appreciate the beaty of her surroundings, but I was sure that the isolation and even the idea of trekking along the trails would drive her crazy. Is that what Morelli had intended, for her to be totally isolated with just him for company? This area hadn't been one that had come up on Morelli's computer so why did he choose here? It was then that I realized that I knew nothing about what had happened or when it might have happened. Could they have died weeks ago, just after they left Trenton and we were only just finding out now?

"What do we know?"

I asked Santos as I turned to look at him. Maybe he was surprised to hear me talking and it took a few moments before he responded, keeping his eyes on the road as he drove.

"Some hikers came across the wreckage. The sheriff thinks that the accident could have happened nearly three weeks ago, but it was nearly a week before he was aware of it. It looked as though the car had maybe been travelling too fast and came off the road, careering over the edge before landing"

I'd always thought that Morelli was too good a driver for that to have happened. Hell, he was a cop, used to travelling at speed and keeping control of the vehicle.

"They, err found glass in the wreckage. It was the remnants from bottles of bourbon, so the sheriff thinks that maybe Morelli had been drinking"

I knew that Morelli liked his bourbon but surely, he would have had the sense not to drive if he was drunk. That was assuming that it was Morelli driving the car.

"Car?"

"That was the weird part. The sheriff still can't work out where it came from. The vin numbers were too damaged, and he can't track it back to a rental agency so as yet we don't know where the car came from"

I couldn't see Morelli stealing a car, but it was possible that he'd bought one through a second hand dealer paying with cash. Then again where the hell had Morelli got the money from? As the road began its slow descent into a valley, I spied the beginnings of buildings knowing from how I was feeling tense that we were almost there.

Santos followed the directions from the sat nav, travelling past buildings that looked to make up the small town and we were soon pulling into a large parking area in front of a two story building. It looked new with red brick construction on the lower floor and wood above. Parking up in front I was hesitating to get out of the car. I wasn't sure whether this had been a good idea. I understood what Steph saw in using denial because out here it was possible to deny to myself that she was dead. As soon as we stepped into that building reality would be difficult to ignore.

It was a modern looking set up, so maybe the sheriff's department had only just moved here. Santos was the one to approach the older woman behind a reception desk and we were soon being shown into an office. I assumed that the man who greeted us was the sheriff based on the grey uniform that he was wearing, his looks typifying a man who had spent his life here, working up to the position that he held now. He was grey haired and totally unfit with a gut being held in with the belt at his waist. I suppose living here wouldn't require him to be chasing after criminals.

"Sheriff Watson. Pleased that you're here to help us out. Getting anything from the lab can take weeks"

I extended my hand and felt the firm grip of a man in charge.

"Carlos Manoso. It must be frustrating having to rely on that"

Trying to be polite, but also realizing the limitations of living in such an isolated place like this.

"Doesn't happen very often. Most folk who die around here are locals or tourists but usually from accidents where their id is easier to come by"

I looked at Ram hoping that he could get started on the DNA comparison quickly because all of a sudden, I just knew that it hadn't been Steph in that car.

"If you have those DNA results then Ram can do the comparison against the ones that we hold"

I watched as Watson turned and walked to his computer on his desk and as Ram went and stood behind him.

"How long Ram?"

"Maybe 30 minutes"

30 minutes was a long time to stand around and wait and I had the urge to see the body for myself.

"Could I see the body?"

Not knowing if it was here in the building or being stored elsewhere. The sheriff seemed to hesitate, and he was looking at Santos as though he would have an answer.

"Sheriff?"

He sighed before looking back at me and hopefully seeing that I wasn't going to be talked out of it. Did I want him to talk me out of it? I wasn't sure, but maybe having some closure would help, after all that was why I had insisted on coming.

"It aint pretty. Are you sure, because if you knew her well then it might be better to remember her as you last saw her. Memories of what you'll see won't go away that easily"

I knew that. I'd seen enough bodies in my past. Memories from the past that still plagued me occasionally as though they were haunting me.

"I'm sure"

I know Santos was hesitant. I was pretty sure that he knew what I was thinking, he had enough ghosts that followed him as well. As the sheriff moved out of the office, I followed surprised that Santos was behind me.

"You don't need to come"

I told him, he didn't need to remember Steph like this, but I did. I wasn't there for her when she'd needed me so maybe I deserved to suffer. Santos never replied, he just continued to follow as we left the sheriff's office. It seemed we were being taken to one end of the building where the sheriff unlocked a door into what seemed to be a medical area.

"This was included in the new build. It sure helps the doc when she can use here instead of us having to take folk to her practice"

The room looked new with glass fronted units holding various bottles and equipment. There was a metal table sat to one side which I assumed was where any bodies would be placed. The drain pipes evident as they wound down to the floor.

Another door opening had me looking away from the table, away from the image of Steph laid out on it, her hair falling onto the table surrounding that beautiful face and full lips. Skin as white as alabaster covering her soft curves.

The sheriff was waiting by the open door which led into a bare painted space. The only item in the room was a metal gurney but my attention was on the three stainless steel doors, set into the wall. Behind those doors would be Morelli and the woman who had been with him. I was aware of Santos nodding his head and the sigh that escaped from Watson. I held my breath as he pulled the handle down and released the door, and as he carefully slid a shelf out from the depths. There in front of me was the outline of a body, covered in the white of a sheet laying over it. I felt Santos stood next to me as I tentatively took hold of one corner of the sheet and lowered it, uncovering the head to the shoulders.

I didn't see the blackened charred remains, I didn't notice the lack of hair.

"It isn't her"

Came from me, words that had a feeling of relief roll through me, emotions that nearly had my legs turning to jelly. Looking up I could see Watson looking at me. Okay maybe he thought I was so delusional that I was refusing to accept that it was Steph.

"Lad, there aint much to make you so sure"

Did he sound apologetic, sound sympathetic toward me? Yes, he did, but I knew that it wasn't Steph, I could feel that it wasn't her, something inside of me acknowledged that, though using that as an explanation to the sheriff wouldn't be enough to convince him. I looked more closely at shapes offered from the head and cheek bones, the way the teeth were arranged and the jaw.

"The shape of the jaw and cheekbones are different"

I knew those so well, ingrained in me from when I would caress her face, and as I glanced down to where the feet were it seemed there was another feature that looked wrong to me.

"This woman is shorter, Steph was taller with long legs"

Remembering how she would wrap them around me. I looked up to see Santos watching me. He actually looked pale, I'm sure with the thought that this was Steph. It was only me that was grasping onto that hope, but it was all that I had.

"Heat can change the shape of someones features"

Was all Watson said as he tried to bring some logic to the situation. I didn't agree with him, even though I knew what he was saying could be right. The thought that then came to me was whether or not this woman laid in front of me could be Lainey.

I didn't need to see anymore so I gently pulled the sheet back to cover the head. As I turned to walk out of the room, I heard the drawer sliding back and the clunk as the door closed behind me. I hadn't realized how cold I was feeling until we were walking back along the corridor. I was keen now to have that confirmation from Ram so very sure of what his answer would be.

As soon as we walked back into the sheriff's office, I could see that the worry and tension had fallen away from Ram's face. As he looked up at us entering, he was smiling.

"It isn't Steph, the DNA aren't a match. I also accessed the autopsy report and there are also discrepancies there as well"

I felt the tension in the room evaporate on hearing that confirmation, my heart felt the heaviness roll away from me as the feeling of relief took over, but the earlier thought came to me.

"Lainey?"

Not knowing if Ram had enough information with him to say.

"Not her either. I brought her DNA results with us"

Watson was struggling with that piece of information, no doubt because he now had the body of an unidentified woman.

"I checked the reports from Morelli's DNA profile with what was sent up from Trenton. It's definitely Morelli"

There were again more questions than answers but the most important answer for me was that the dead woman wasn't Steph, in its place came another worry though, where the hell was she? Leaving that building and leaving the sheriff behind with his dilemma felt so much better than when I'd arrived. The heaviness had left my body, though not the worry. I felt more energized to carry on the search for Steph. I was again silent in the car though this time it was because I was planning on what to do next, where to go next. Ideas for that to happen played around in my thoughts until I had the outline for my next moves. If I upset people with them, I didn't give a shit.

It was when we were back in the jet and flying back home that I started to put those ideas into action.

"I'll call Eddie and let him know. He hadn't approached anyone about Morelli's death because he wanted to be sure if it was Steph first"

Looking up from my laptop over to Santos, I could understand Eddie for keeping it quiet. A few more days wouldn't have made that much difference, Morelli was dead and had been for a while. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Okay there was a mutual respect for the work that we each did, but beyond that I didn't really like him. Maybe it was how he had treated Steph, I mean what else would it have been?

I wondered if Steph knew and how she would have felt about the news. She'd be devastated because that was who she was and hadn't they been friends for years, growing up together? That had always bothered me, the pattern of his behavior evident even then. A boy who had basically abused her as a child and then as a man taken advantage of her. Steph had told me snippets of their history, but it had always mystified me when she would always go back to him, begging the question of why she would do that.

At least Eddie had spared her family from the grief that would have come from having to tell them that there was the possibility that she had been with Morelli. I wasn't so sure that her grandmother would have survived from that piece of information. Would they be any less upset knowing that they had no idea where she was? Probably not but at least they'd have hope to hang on to.

"I'm going to go through the autopsy reports for both victims and sheriff Watson's report"

That Ram had lifted reports from the sheriff's computer didn't surprise me. I said nothing, not wanting to join in with the two men's declaration of what they were going to be doing. They would just have to be curious. Once into my laptop I used the remote connection that allowed me to access my files at Rangeman and looked at the searches that I'd saved to the cloud on men named Joseph Thomson. There were a lot, but I remembered Lapira saying that it was an older man who had sought him out, asking about Lainey. I estimated that the man that I knew as Markovic would be in his late forties or early fifties and I knew when he had arrived in the country. Putting those filters into the search reduced the possibilities and adding scientist brought it down to a manageable number. I was sure that Markovic wouldn't be able to stay away from his work, if nothing else he was described as dedicated to his job. Physicist reduced the number to seven. I discounted one because he was black American and then sent the photos of the other six to Hector.

"Ask Lapira if the older man who asked about Lainey is one of these"

In my mind I was pretty sure which one was Markovic. He looked older with greying short hair although the glasses that he was wearing in the photo detracted from the features around his eyes. I was almost certain, but would wait until Hector got back to me, after all the man who spoke to him could well have given him a false name. I had an hour to put in before we landed so went and sat next to Ram, curious as to what he'd found out.

"What was the cause of death for Morelli?"

I could have asked to read the report myself but was sure that Ram would give explanations in his summary.

"Blunt force trauma to the head. From the position that the body was found in, the conclusion was that he hit the windscreen first before the explosion engulfed the car"

"The woman?"

"More supposition really. Bleeding out was the conclusion, from lacerations from flying debris. Large pieces of metal were still embedded in the chest and abdomen, though animals had done a lot of damage"

I suppose all I could hope for both of them was that their end came without pain or knowledge of what was about to happen. Being burnt to death or ripped apart by predators wouldn't have been a very pleasant ending.

"Anything else on the woman?"

Because who she was or why she was with Morelli was puzzling me.

"The doctor was very good. A shame that we hadn't had her autopsy report sooner, because from it we would definitely have known that it wasn't Steph. This woman had given birth and from the dental X rays she deducted that she would have had problems with tooth decay, and she noted that any fillings were crude"

That to me was saying that the woman wasn't raised in the States, more likely a poorer country. Why that was an interesting piece of information eluded me for the moment, and somehow I was sure that Sheriff Watson would have problems in finding the identity of the woman.

Tank was there to meet us when we pulled into the Rangeman garage. From the look on his face, I would say that he was relieved but the fact that he kept up with me as I took the stairs up to five had me thinking that he wanted to talk to me. Once in my office and with the door closed, I stood and waited.

"Santos messaged me with the news, so I just wanted to say how relieved I was. I felt like shit after you'd left, the idea that something had happened to her"

"Tank, something has probably happened to her. Everyone just assumed that she was with Morelli, but she wasn't. So, where the hell is she?"

"She'd have come back home if she could, wouldn't she?"

I nodded my head as that statement sank in for me as well.

"I spoke with Eddie, he said a thank you for dealing with it. He reckons the shit could really hit when news gets out about Morelli, that people will be asking a lot of questions about what happened and where Steph fits into it"

I had no doubt about that and to be honest I didn't give a shit what they thought. I'd been out of the country when they'd supposedly left town so wasn't going to be answering any questions.

"If anyone calls here deny any knowledge of knowing anything other than the rumors that were put out after they left"

I wasn't going to get embroiled with the outcry that was sure to happen, I needed to somehow work out where Steph had gone and follow her trail. Thinking about that I knew that I hadn't had a reply from Hector. I'd expected one sooner on the faces that I'd sent to him for Lapira to look at. I quickly messaged him to respond whilst Tank remained where he was. What else did Tank have to say now?

"I've postponed any new client meetings and have a draft letter to send out to any enquiries that we're currently busy and will get back to them. Miguel should have tied up all new installs in the next couple of days and Brown and I agreed the men's reviews could wait a few weeks. Finding Steph is our top priority"

"Thanks"

Was all I could say. At last, we were all on the same page and if I'd understood what Tank had just told me then we would have the manpower to cover all bases.

"What do you want me to do?"

I needed to talk with Lapira and see what Brown had found out at the medical office.

"Set up a meeting for 1800hrs"

I said as a message came to my phone. Seeing as it was from Hector, I focused on reading it, aware that Tank had left the office. I was almost disappointed at what I read. "On my way" because it meant waiting for Hector to get here. I was starting to get impatient, but I didn't have long to wait, maybe 15 minutes before Hector was knocking on my door. I was hoping that the fact that he needed to talk with me implied that he had something important to say. Once he was sat down, he immediately began to tell me what he'd found out.

"Lapira identified the third photo that you sent. No doubt from him at all"

I rechecked the order of the photos that I'd sent not sure if knowing that it was in fact Markovic was good news or not.