Below the Bones (Widow's Island #5) - Kendra Elliot Page 0,18
If that doesn’t turn up anything, I’ll expand the search area again.”
She typed on her keyboard. “Here’s the official medical examiner’s report on the first set of remains. He’s identified her as Nayla Reynolds from Wenatchee, Washington. Twenty-eight. She vanished while taking her five-year-old to the park. The child was yelling for her mother when other parents stepped in to calm her down and help.” Tessa shook her head. “That’s probably going to stick with that little girl for the rest of her life.”
“That’s a farther distance than I expected,” said Cate. “That’s got to be two hundred miles away. He had to be motivated to bring her that far.”
“Jeff drugged his victims to make it easier, remember?” Mike asked.
“That’s right. Did the tox screen turn up anything?” she asked Tessa.
“No. He’s running some additional screenings that look for other compounds, but they take a few days.”
“Was she married?” asked Cate.
“Divorced. The ex was the first person they investigated when Nayla didn’t turn up. Solid alibi. He was getting a three-hour root canal.”
“Not fun,” said Cate. “But excellent alibi.” Mike nodded in agreement.
“They investigated some old boyfriends and old coworkers—she hadn’t worked since she had her daughter. But no solid leads. This happened on September fifth, three years ago.”
“Is Kurt searching by disappearance date too?” Cate asked. “Is he looking for people who vanished on the fifth?”
“He is.”
“Here are her dental records. Top ones are recent; bottom ones are from her dentist. The dentist took these films three months before she disappeared. The ME pointed out how the three fillings in her molars are identical. You can lay one image on top of the other, and even the shape of the teeth will be identical.”
“Okay,” said Cate. “Who’s next?”
Tessa clicked her keys. “Tianna DeLeon. Age thirty-two, from Everett.”
“That’s quite a bit closer to us than Wenatchee.”
“Her car was found at Sea-Tac six days after she disappeared. She went missing on March fifth of the same year.”
“How?” asked Mike.
“Not sure. Her husband came home from work and found their twins crying in their cribs. Dirty diapers. Hungry.”
“Security-system cameras? Neighbors?” asked Cate.
“No cameras. Neighbors’ cameras caught nothing.”
“Vanished into thin air,” said Cate. “Theories?”
“Nothing with any meat to it. Someone could have knocked on the door or grabbed her when she was outside. They’d speculated for a long time that she’d left. She had postpartum depression, and the twins were hard for her.”
“Husband cleared, of course,” said Mike.
“Yes. At work all day among a dozen other people. His work computer shows he was actively on it for a good portion of every hour.”
“Big brother is watching,” Cate commented. “What about cell phones for both women?”
“Left behind,” answered Tessa. “Again this woman seemed to vanish into the mist. Few leads. No suspects.”
Cate thought about the mist that often hovered in Bishop State Park.
She did end up in the mist.
“And the dental records?” she asked.
“Tianna’s x-rays were five years old,” said Tessa as she opened new images. “Look here.” She pointed at a tooth that was practically lying on its side in the rear of the mouth. “It’s a wisdom tooth, and it matches the position of this one from the medical examiner films.”
“But there’s a filling here that doesn’t match the old films,” Cate said, eyeing a white blob on an upper tooth.
“That’s a crown. The odontologist explained that it likely replaced this silver filling on the old x-rays.”
“But he’s not certain?” asked Mike.
“Correct. But he is certain that these three other fillings are identical, and he specifically pointed out the shape of this premolar. He says it’s very unusual. I’m sure there are other things, but these were the clinchers for him.”
“Do you have the medical examiner films for the unidentified vic?” asked Cate, not sure why she’d asked, since she was no tooth expert.
“I do.” A new image appeared.
“Is she missing teeth?” Mike asked. “Is that what all the gaps are?”
“Yes. The odontologist said she would be easy to match up to her dental records, and he wonders if she rarely got dental care . . . hence the missing teeth.”
“Is she older?” Cate asked.
“No. He’s estimating twenty to thirty-five at the most.”
“Okay,” said Mike. “We’ve got something to work with here. Time to find some commonalities between the women. Do you have photos of them?”
Tessa pulled up several photos. “Nayla on the left, and Tianna on the right.”
“Both blonde and attractive,” said Tessa. “I wonder if the hair color is important. Jeff Lamb liked blondes too.”
“Is Kurt searching specifically for missing