qualified forensic pathologist. He didn’t have any of this information at the time to help him in his determination.
There’s a new sheriff now, sitting right across from him, and he’s not afraid of past mistakes – he wasn’t there. He’s likely to want to fix them, to make his mark. Yancik needs to get out ahead of this.
He knows the sheriff can undertake his own investigation, but the coroner can also decide to call an inquest, even this many years after the death. He can call witnesses, listen to evidence.
‘Maybe I should call an inquest,’ Yancik says.
‘I think that’s a good idea,’ the sheriff agrees. ‘Hear what people have to say under oath.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
ERICA HAS BOOKED a hotel room in downtown Denver for the night. After her visit to the sheriff in Creemore, she drives back to Denver and checks in. She’s tired after a long day of travelling coming off a night working, but she has one more thing she has to do before she flies back to New York in the morning.
It’s not sentimentality that sends her to Washington Park, one of the nicest residential areas of Denver. This is where families with money live. Erica parks her car directly across from a beautifully remodelled brick home. She knows this house, although she’s never been inside. When she gave up her baby for adoption, the Mannings lived in another house, not quite as impressive as this one, in a less prosperous neighbourhood. She’s kept tabs on them over the years; they moved into this house when Devin was a toddler.
They’ve obviously done well for themselves. Erica is happy about that.
She sits in her rental car and waits. She’d got a convertible for a reason; fortunately, it’s a nice day and she’s got the top down. It doesn’t look like anybody’s home – there’s no car in the driveway – but it’s nearly dinnertime, and she hopes to see someone soon.
After almost an hour, a shiny white SUV pulls into the driveway. She watches Cheryl Manning get out of the driver’s side while Devin jumps out of the passenger side and sprints to the front door. It’s not the boy who holds Erica’s interest; she barely gives him a passing glance. No, she stares at Cheryl, willing her to look over at her. She’s rewarded – Cheryl glances up towards the street as she closes the car door, and freezes. She stares at Erica sitting in the open convertible. She gets a good look, while Devin calls to her impatiently to hurry up.
Erica waves casually at Cheryl, starts the car and drives away.
Cheryl feels like she can’t breathe. There’s no doubt this time. That was Erica Voss, Devin’s birth mother. Sitting outside their house, wanting to be seen.
‘Mom,’ Devin calls again, sounding frustrated.
‘I’m coming,’ she says, so flustered that she’s dropped her keys into the depths of her large handbag and has to search for them again as she walks to the front door. She finally finds them and puts the key in the lock. Her hands are unsteady.
‘Are you all right?’ her son asks, looking at her curiously.
‘I’m fine,’ she says, smiling at him.
‘You look weird,’ he says.
She turns away from him and heads for the kitchen. ‘Shall we order a pizza tonight?’ she says with false cheerfulness. ‘Dad’ll be late.’
‘Sure.’ He heads up to his room, leaving her alone in the kitchen with her disturbing thoughts.
Cheryl lets herself collapse into one of the kitchen chairs. Her heart is beating furiously. So she wasn’t wrong. It probably was Erica that she’d seen at the park not that long ago, with a camera around her neck. Gary thought she’d imagined it, had soothed away her nerves.
Why? Why is she here, after all this time?
Her first thought is that Erica needs money. Soon she’ll be dropping by, like she did before, putting them in an uncomfortable position, giving them a choice. What will it be this time? And what will they do? Gary won’t like it, not one bit. But really, what can she do to them? She’s already given up all her legal rights to Devin.
Then her thoughts turn darker. What if it isn’t money she wants? What if she wants a bigger role in Devin’s life? They have an open adoption; Erica had terminated all parental rights, and then had said she wanted no contact after all. But what if she’s changed her mind about the contact part? She knows who they are and where they live. They