spoke before she could say anything else. “We didn’t find Miriama at the dump. We found her on the beach.”
She just stared at him. “On the beach? Then… the police cars by the dump…”
“Something else. Miriama was in the sea.”
Matilda’s eyes flicked to Anahera. “Ana?”
“It’s true,” Anahera confirmed softly, going to kneel beside the older woman. “I found her. I made sure Miriama was safe until Will could get there.”
“I want to see her.”
Anahera shook her head. “No, Auntie. Remember her as she was. Remember her laughing.”
Matilda’s shoulders began to shake, her tea slopping out of the mug. Taking the mug, Anahera put it carefully aside, then enfolded the older woman in her arms. As Matilda sobbed, Anahera met Will’s gaze. Her own gaze was dry, but that made her rage and sorrow no less furious.
Waiting until the crashing wave of Matilda’s grief had passed and before a new wave could hit, Will said, “I know you’ll want to go to her so she isn’t alone.” To sit with their dead, ensure they had loved ones nearby, it was a deeply rooted part of Matilda’s culture. “The liaison officer will be here soon and he’ll organize everything for you.”
Will could’ve offered to take her, but not only was she exhausted by grief, it’d be better for her if she arrived after the autopsy was complete; she could sit in a room near Miriama without being confronted by the ugly reality of what had been done to the young woman she’d raised. More, she shouldn’t be making the heartbreaking journey without a support system. “You have friends, family who can come with you?”
Matilda nodded jerkily. “You make sure your people treat my baby well until I reach her.”
“They will.” Ankita was a woman who respected her patients, for all that they’d already taken their last breath. “And I’ll get justice for Miriama. I promise you that, Matilda. No one will forget your girl.” It was the first time he’d made a promise since the day of the fire that had ended Alfie Hart’s short life. And it tore the scars inside him wide open.
51
The next notification was even harder.
Dr. Dominic de Souza refused to believe Will.
“No. It’s not her.”
“Dominic—”
“No!” The other man came at Will, punching and shoving while Will tried to keep him contained without doing harm.
“It’s not her! It’s not my Miriama!” His glasses flew off in the struggle, to land on the beige carpet without a sound. “It’s not!”
Eventually his words began to tremble, began to turn into questions that pleaded for Will to give the right answer. “It’s not her? It’s not Miriama?”
“I’m sorry, Dominic.”
The young doctor collapsed into his arms. “She was so beautiful. So lovely. I thought she’d be mine forever.”
Nikau responded quickly to Will’s call asking him to stay with Dominic.
“Thanks, Nik. I appreciate this.”
The other man shook his head. “No need. This is fucked up. You mind if I get the doc drunk?”
Looking at where Dominic sat blank-faced in his clinic chair, mindlessly straightening the bent arm of his glasses, Will said, “He could probably use a drink or five.” Then maybe he’d sleep, forget for a minute.
Tomorrow was soon enough to face the truth.
Dominic wasn’t the only one who slowed him down. The team dealing with the skeletal remains needed to talk to him about any missing person cases in the region. Will could’ve brushed them off, but he knew Miriama’s autopsy would take time. There was no point in him riding Ankita’s tail.
He met Robert and the others at the dump. The forensic and police teams were only partially into their painstaking search of the area. Will would bet his badge that there was nothing to find, that the skeleton had been left in this location because it was a way to further dehumanize the victim and cause exactly the kind of pain he’d seen in Matilda when she’d thought someone had thrown Miriama’s body in the dump.
“Thanks for this, Will.” Robert took out his notebook, his lanky partner beside him. “Look, to be blunt, we need your help. We don’t understand the area or the politics of this town—and I don’t want to waste time running down information you probably have in your head.”
Will could tell the other man was uneasy about asking, when Will had been pulled off the case, but Will had no desire to play games. “Here’s what I know.”
The older cop tapped his pen against his notebook when Will finished telling him about the missing hikers.