to.”
“Your call, Dr. Linton.” Amanda already had her head buried in her phone as she took the next flight of stairs.
Sara rubbed her eyes. She could feel her mascara clumping. On the way to the conference room, she dashed into the bathroom to make sure she looked presentable. The mirror told her that she barely passed the mark, but at least her mascara hadn’t turned her into a raccoon. Sara splashed water onto her face. There was nothing she could do about the smell in her clothes. There was nothing she could do about any of this but knuckle through. She tried to brace herself as she headed toward the conference room.
The Van Dornes both stood when Sara opened the door.
They had taken opposite sides of the long, wide conference table. Shay’s parents did not look the way Sara had expected. She had for some reason conjured the image of an older woman in a June Cleaver shirt dress and a suited man with a buzz cut.
Aimee Van Dorne was wearing a black silk blouse and black pencil skirt with heels. Her blonde-tipped hair was stylishly textured with a sweeping bang. Larry was in baggy jeans and a flannel work shirt. His hair was the color of dryer lint, longer than Sara’s, braided down the back. The divorced couple were the embodiment of city vs. country folk.
She said, “I’m Dr. Linton. I apologize for making you wait.”
They all shook hands, made introductions, and studiously ignored the nervous tension in the room. Sara had to sit at the head of the table so that she could address both of them at once. She reminded herself that the only thing she could do to make this slightly less painful was to get straight to the point.
She said, “I’m a medical examiner for the state. I know Caroline told you that we are considering re-opening your daughter’s case. The reason for that is, in the course of reviewing the coroner’s report regarding Shay’s accident, I found some inconsistencies that—”
“I knew it, Larry!” Aimee pointed her finger at her ex-husband. “I told you something wasn’t right about that accident. I told you!”
Larry had startled at the sound of Aimee’s voice.
Sara gave him a moment to recover before asking the woman, “Is there a reason you don’t agree with the coroner’s finding?”
“Several.” Aimee dove straight in. “Shay never went into the woods. Ever. And she was dressed for school. Why would she be out hiking when she had a class to teach? And why were her purse and phone locked in the trunk of her car? And then there was that creepy feeling she had. I know she dismissed it, but a mother knows when something is wrong with her daughter.”
Sara looked to Larry for confirmation.
He cleared his throat. “Shay was depressed.”
Aimee crossed her arms. “She wasn’t depressed. She was in transition. Every woman goes through a reckoning in their mid-thirties. I did it, my mother did it.”
Sara could tell this was a familiar argument. She asked Larry, “What was Shay depressed about?”
“Life?” He guessed. “Shay was getting older. Her job was becoming political. Things hadn’t worked out with Tyler.”
“Her ex,” Aimee explained. “They were together since college, but Shay didn’t want children and Tyler did, so they agreed it was best to split up. It wasn’t easy, but it was a decision they made together.”
Sara said, “From the police report, I gathered Shay was seeing someone new?”
“A trifle,” Aimee said. “He was just a side of fun.”
Larry countered, “They spent a lot of nights together.”
“That’s what you do when you’re having fun.” Aimee told Sara, “Shay was still in love with Tyler. I thought she would change her mind about babies, but she was stubborn.”
Larry said, “Wonder where she gets that?”
The observation could’ve sparked an argument, but it had the opposite effect. Aimee smiled. Larry smiled. Sara could tell there was still something between them. That something, she guessed, was their child.
Sara said, “There’s no easy way to ask this, but I’d like to re-examine Shay’s body.”
Neither parent had an immediate response. They looked at each other. They slowly turned back at Sara.
Larry was the first to speak. “How? Is there a machine?”
“Larry,” Aimee said. “The woman’s not talking about sonar. She wants to take Shay out of the ground.”
His dry lips parted in surprise.
“Officially, it’s called exhumation,” Sara said. “But yes, I am asking you if we can remove your daughter’s body from her grave.”
Larry stared down at his hands. They were gnarled