Page 40 of Our Daughter's Bones

“Anyway, Agent St. Clair—Daniel—is correct,” Sully intercepted. “The semen belongs to Quinn Jones, her ex-boyfriend. He told us that Erica had broken up with him four days before she disappeared.”

Mackenzie flipped open her file and fished out the photograph she had discovered in Abby’s locker. She glanced at the torn picture that had Abby and Erica smiling—and the thick arm around Erica’s waist.

That must be Quinn.

“Quinn Jones! Nathaniel Jones’s boy,” Peck said.

“Yes, sir,” Jenna grinned. “Starting quarterback for the Sharks too.”

Murphy cackled. “The boy’s a hero. It’s in his blood!”

“I’m sorry, but who is Nathaniel Jones?” Daniel asked.

“One of Lakemore’s heroes. Former football player. He was the star quarterback twenty years ago,” Peck said. “He led us to our first Olympic Championship win in over seven years and brought a lot of sponsors and business to town. His first year at USC, the Seahawks were already trading draft picks so they could bring him home, but he got injured. It was a dark day.”

“What a tragedy,” Murphy shook his head. “Watching that man on the field was a vision. His quarterback sneaks were as good as Brady’s. I never missed a game!”

“Did Quinn mention why Erica broke up with him?” Mackenzie asked, irritated at the change of topic.

“He told Bruce Stephens that Erica had heard stories of him hitting on other girls and accused him of being unfaithful,” Nick read from his file. “Quinn denied everything, but Erica still left him. He was considered a suspect, but he volunteered to provide his DNA sample, and he had an alibi. He was at home. His parents confirmed it.”

“Erica’s phone was never found,” Sully continued. “She didn’t pack a suitcase, no cash or expensive belongings were missing from the house, and her debit card was at home. That made it immediately unlikely that she’d run away.”

“Did her cell phone provider give any information on when the phone was last active?” Daniel asked.

“It was turned off at 1:43 a.m. within a three-mile radius around her house. The carrier doesn’t have the best technology for triangulation,” Nick said. “She kept her GPS turned off.”

“1:43 a.m. That’s the approximate time of abduction or death. Any calls or texts?”

Nick shook his head. “Her provider doesn’t save the contents of messages, and Erica used a third-party app to make calls, so they don’t have that information. We’ll need to crack into the phone. But she was messaging Quinn around midnight and her last text was to Abigail Correia at 12:38 a.m.”

“Did Abigail say what it was about?” Mackenzie asked.

“Homework. But Abby was asleep by then. She saw it the next morning.”

“Five days ago, Erica’s body was discovered in the woods behind Hidden Lake—around a mile from her house,” Angela said. “If you look at the map, X marks the spot. The grave was shallow, as expected. The glacial till in the Pacific Northwest is hard, making digging a grave very difficult. The remains have been disturbed by coyotes and animal activity, which have made analysis hard. A lot of evidence has been lost. The wide pubic arch and short back sacrum indicate a female victim. The rounded maxilla indicates Mongoloid ancestry. The wisdom teeth had not erupted yet. The tibia plate was sealed but not the clavicle, which puts the age between sixteen and twenty-five. These markers made it highly likely that the victim is Erica Perez. We were able to salvage some DNA off the remains to compare to the samples provided by Samuel and Gabriella Perez to conclude that the victimisErica Perez. Based on the rate of decomposition, she died ten to twelve months ago. Insect activity narrows it down to the months of September and November. There were no signs that she was held captive—no micro fractures indicating she was bound, or other signs. It is safe to assume that she was killed almost immediately after being taken.”

“Hidden Lake isn’t that far from her house in Forest Hill. Wasn’t that area searched?” Peck asked.

“The Sheriff’s Office was dispatched there five days after Erica went missing but they didn’t find anything,” Nick said. “The rainstorm last week extended the lake’s perimeter, and the area ended up flooding, disturbing the soil.”

“But didn’t Detective Stephens get a cadaver dog?” Daniel asked.

“Two weeks later, he got one. It picked up the scent of a recently dead animal around fifty yards away from the site of burial.”

“So that masked the scent from Erica’s remains?” Peck asked, incredulous. “Those dogs can pick up a smell from fifteen feet underground! Why did we spend two grand on that?”

“Either the dog wasn’t well trained, or the handler was new. From Bruce’s reports, it seems to be the latter,” Nick said.

“What was the cause of death?” Daniel asked, flipping through the pages.

“Asphyxia. She was buried alive following craniocerebral trauma,” Angela answered, her voice level.

A phone trilled.

The clock ticked.

Troy walked past the conference room whistling.