Page 154 of Cold, Cold Bones

Silence as he and I shared the same thought. Olivia had been gone for more than seventy-two hours. We both knew what that meant.

“She’s still alive,” I said with more conviction than I felt.

“Yeah.”

“What happened at the trailer?”

“When a uniform let loose with a megaphone, a guy fired out looking like he’d just junked his jeans.”

“The scruffy gorilla.”

“Yeah.”

“Not Kramden.”

“No. He showed ID as Earl Franklin Quail. The kid with him was Erla June, Quail’s ten-year-old daughter.”

“What were they doing at a construction site on a Saturday night?”

“Quail’s the project foreman. He’s divorced and this is his visitation weekend. Erla June wanted to see where daddy works. Quail figured what the hell.”

“Another dead end.”

“Sadly…” A pause, then, “Henry just reported in. Her team’s been working a wooded area surrounding a pond off Green Rae Road. No joy for them, either, and she sounds like hell. I think she’s about to be ordered 10-10.”

“Tell hermercy bucketsfor the call, but I’m swell on my own.”

“If our paths cross, I’ll thank her for you.”

Another moment of empty air passed between us. I heard Ryan’s breath on the receiver, night sounds behind it.

“Sanchez. Kwalwasser. Boldonado. Hunt. Soto. Lakin. We have five bodies and a missing kid and absolutely no physical evidence,” I said. “No prints. No tire tracks. No hairs or fibers. No body fluids. No skin cells. No touch DNA. No paint smears or glass particles at the hit-and-run scene or on Soto.”

“What’s your point?”

“Isn’t theabsenceof evidence evidence in itself?”

“Meaning?”

“Could Kramden—”

“Or whoever.”

“Or whoever have experience with decontamination procedures? Maybe he worked at a lab or a hospital? Or he’s knowledgeable about cleanup? Maybe he was employed by one of those disaster rehab services?”

“Not bad, Brennan. I’ll tell Skinny. He can have his team work that angle.”

It took thirty minutes and several calls west to an earlier time zone before Ryan phoned back. Officer Chan had surfaced an interesting fact.

“Calvin Winkard—back in the day he didn’t go by Winky—served most of his time with the Phoenix PD as a member of its crime scene unit.” I could read Ryan now. He sounded amped.

“No shit,” I said.

“Winky probably swabbed plenty of that.”

“Hilarious. What else?”

“Mangiorotti green-lighted Slidell to issue a second BOLO, thisone for Winky. So far, no sightings. We’re heading to Roof Above now to check the guy’s tent and ask around at the shelter.”