They usually ask the next of kin to make the arrangements.”
Bitter laughter erupted from the receiver. “I am not the next of kin.”
Josie said, “I’m afraid you are, Mr. Urban.”
“This kid of Vera’s didn’t have a father?” he asked.
“There’s none listed on the birth certificate,” Gretchen said.
He laughed again. “Yeah, that sounds exactly right. Well, you’ve got your work cut out for you, don’t you? Find her father because I’m not paying for her funeral.”
With that, he hung up.
Josie looked at Gretchen. “I have a feeling Vera was lucky that he stopped speaking to her all those years ago.”
Shaking her head, Gretchen said, “I think you’re right.” She jotted down some notes in her notebook. “Well, that doesn’t get us anywhere at all.”
“We’ve got to find someone who knew Vera,” Josie said. “Maybe old co-workers or friends?”
Gretchen suggested, “Maybe Beverly’s friends would know where her mother worked or who her friends were.”
“Worth a try,” Josie said.
Chief Chitwood’s voice boomed across the room. “Detectives,” he said, striding out of his office. Ignoring Amber, he asked, “What have you got for me?”
They briefed him and he listened, the creases in his craggy face deepening with each detail. When they finished, he said, “Let’s have a press conference.”
Amber’s head shot up from her tablet. “Chief,” she said. “Are you sure that’s a good idea this early on in the investigation?”
“Watts,” he barked. “It’s ultimately my decision when to have press conferences. If I tell my detectives to notify the press of what’s going on, that’s what they’ll do.”
Amber said, “This is a cold case, sir. There’s no urgency—”
Chitwood cut her off, pointing a finger in her direction. “You don’t think putting a murderer behind bars is urgent, Watts?”
Amber put a hand up. “That’s not what I said. I only meant to say that it might be prudent to get more information before we take this public.”
Josie cleared her throat. “Chief,” she said. “I think what Miss Watts is getting at is that once we make the details of the case public, anyone who might know something about Beverly Urban’s murder and the whereabouts of her mother may disappear or withhold information they might otherwise have told us. This Alice person—what if she runs once we release Beverly’s name to the public?”
One of his bushy eyebrows kinked, a rogue gray hair like steel wool jutting out. “Quinn, in my office. Now.”
With a sigh, Josie followed him inside his office, closing the door behind her. He paced in front of his desk, keeping his voice low. She expected him to reprimand her for disagreeing with him in front of the new press liaison but instead he said, “Listen, Quinn, I need these protestors over at Quail Hollow off my back. I have to give the public something else to gnaw on. What better than this? A murder case. For the love of all that’s holy, I can’t even speak freely in my own stationhouse anymore.”
“Sir, I wasn’t suggesting that we don’t do a press conference, just that we limit what we tell the press. If this Alice woman is a real lead, I don’t want to lose her. You can work out what to release and what to hold back. Just don’t release Beverly’s name yet. Make Amber do the conference. That’s why she’s here, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “I need something to keep her busy until this Quail Hollow thing is resolved. If the Mayor thinks sending a spy is going to stop me from bringing the full force of the law down on her and her cronies, she’s got another think coming.”
Josie said, “Release some vague details today. We found the body of a seventeen-year-old girl under the house on Hempstead. We’re working to identify her and determine how long she may have been buried there. The medical examiner has confirmed that the manner of death was homicide. Tomorrow, we send Amber out there with a little more.”
His head bobbed along with her words. “Yeah,” he said. “I can give her a tip line to handle. Ask people to call in. Good work, Quinn. You take Palmer—get those warrants signed and run down some leads. Now, get out of my office and send Miss Watts in here. I’ll settle this with her. Then I’ve got to go handle some more of this Quail Hollow horseshit before a riot breaks out.”
Josie went back to her desk and told Amber that the Chief wanted to see her. She stood up, smoothed her skirt, plastered a smile