Page 41 of Our Daughter's Bones

Papers grazed against each other.

The air was brittle enough to snap. Mackenzie’s stomach rolled and tossed as they all sat in knee-deep silence. She knew the crime had been brutal; crime always was. But “buried alive” had the effect of a needle jamming into an open, raw wound.

“There was a fracture on her parietal bone, implying a blow to the head. Based on the fragmentation pattern and force, it was enough to knock her out,” Becky chipped in. “We believe she was unconscious and then buried.”

“It’s possible that the perpetrator assumed that she was dead when he buried her,” Mackenzie pointed out. “Erica gets into a fight with someone. Things escalate. He hits her on the head, and when she collapses, he gets scared and buries her. We might be looking at manslaughter.”

Daniel scratched his jaw, deep in thought. “It also explains why she didn’t fight her way out of a shallow grave. Any signs of sexual assault?”

“Inconclusive. There is one odd thing. She has an avulsion fracture on the superior aspect of the distal phalanx on her ring finger,” Angela said.

“Her nail was ripped off,” Nick translated.

“It could indicate a struggle,” Peck said. “Let’s keep this fact hidden from everyone outside this room.”

“Agreed. It could help us nail the perpetrator later. No pun intended,” Sully blurted. “Did you find anything out of place on her remains?”

“Not really,” Becky said. “Trace amounts of blue-and-pink fabric on her body. The material was cotton. They came from the clothes she was wearing that night.”

“Same color as her pajamas?”

“Gabriella said that Erica had multiple pairs of pajamas,” Nick chimed in. “She doesn’t know which ones Erica was wearing that night.”

“We also found a thin strap of leather around her left wrist.” Becky showed a picture of Erica wearing a band around her wrist. It was formed of two strips of leather connected by two beads with her initials engraved on them. “We think it’s part of this item.”

“Did you run a tox screen? Anything there?” Peck asked.

“We sent samples from bone and some tissue we were able to salvage to the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory,” Angela explained. “No traces of any drugs. Though I should point out that drug detection and measurement is challenging in human remains with respect to sampling and deposition gradient.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “You got all this in just five days? Crime labs have so much backlog usually, the turnaround time is ridiculous.”

“It can take up to thirty days, but the Perez case gets immediate priority over all the other cases.” Becky gave him a meaningful look.

Daniel nodded gingerly. Samuel Perez ran Lakemore and had important friends all over Washington. Mayor Rathbone was just one of them.

“Alright,” Peck cleared his throat. “Thanks Becky, Angela, and Nick. And where are we on the disappearance of Abigail Correia?”

Twenty-Three

Mackenzie passed along copies of the file to everyone at the table and filled them in on the details about the money missing from Hannah’s account, placebo prescription pills, statements about Abby’s unusual behavior, the man in the brown jacket, and—the kicker—Erica’s missing phone.

“There was a possibility that Abby had ditched her phone and taken the money and took off. But we have confirmed that the phone she left in the washroom at the gas station belongs to Erica Perez. Clint is working on retrieving any deleted files,” Sully said.

Daniel frowned. “I doubt that this girl would run away. Her grades are perfect. She’s on track to full scholarship at UW. She wasn’t involved with the wrong crowd. Any luck on finding the man she was talking to at the gas station?”

“Clint couldn’t get any hits on any major retailers with that logo, but he’s going to render the image and run it again. He’s been busy breaking into Erica’s phone,” Mackenzie said.

“Yeah, okay. Do we know anything else about him?”

“He made a call almost immediately after Abby walked away. Zooming in, we could only make out that the handset was an iPhone. We are assuming he is a Caucasian man based on the color of his hand. And he has a mark on his hand that could be used to identify him.”

“Whoever this man is didn’t come forward. That alone makes me suspicious.”

“Someone switched out her pills,” Nick sat back on his chair and wrapped his fingers behind his head. “Someone who had access to her house. But her mother said that she rarely had anyone over. Could it be this guy?”

Mackenzie nodded. “It’s possible that someone snuck in while Hannah was at work. She works odd shifts at Remington’s. If this man went after her, then what’s up with dropping off the money and the phone at the gas station?”

“We’re treating these pieces of evidence as linked,” Peck offered. “What if they aren’t?”