Page 134 of The Bone Code

“Crotchety old biddy.”

“But not daft.”

As Ryan drove, I started thinking out loud, summarizing what we knew and, more important, what we didn’t.

“In 2000, Melanie Chalmers is using the alias Mélanie Chalamet. She and her children are living, if not off the grid, at least in its outer reaches. Other than Sorg, maybe Eisenberg, they have no family or close friends.”

“Which explains why no one reports them missing,” Ryan said. “And why they turn up in none of our searches.”

“Who do you suppose this Christopher is?”

“First time that name’s come up.”

“What got Murray so steamed that he visited Melanie at home to argue about Christopher?”

Ryan offered no speculation.

I returned to my timeline.

“Melanie disappears in 2002. People believe she’s left Canada,but she hasn’t. She and her daughter Ella have been murdered, their bodies stuffed into a polypropylene bin. Lena enters foster care. In 2006, the bin washes ashore in Saint-Anicet.”

Questions bubbled in my brain like lotto balls.

“Why did Melanie relocate to Quebec? Where did she come from? Vermont? Who got her the job at InovoVax?”

“I’ll look into all of that.”

“According to Sorg and Eisenberg, there were bad feelings between Melanie and Murray.”

“Maybe over this dude Christopher?”

“Whoever the hell he is. Funny Eisenberg didn’t mention him.”

“I’ll request employee records at InovoVax going back to 2000.”

“I’m sure Murray will hop right on that.”

“If he stonewalls, I’ll have Claudel get a subpoena.”

I picked up the narrative.

“In 2015, when Lena turns sixteen and accesses her records, she tracks Sorg and demands information about her mother and sister. Sorg tells her about InovoVax, Murray, and Christopher and gives her videotapes. Lena goes to Murray, but he refuses to help her. Why?”

“Because he’s an arrogant tool, or because there’s stuff he doesn’t want her to know?”

“Around this same time, Lena tells Harmony Boatwright that she’s made a breakthrough in her search. She goes to Charleston, and Harmony joins her there.”

“Why Charleston?”

“I don’t know.”

I’d asked myself that question a million times. What linked Montreal and Charleston?

“Lena and Harmony are shot in the head, the same MO as with Melanie and Ella,” I continued. “This year, during the hurricane, their bodies wash ashore.”

Sudden thought. I twisted toward Ryan.

“All four victims were dumped in medical-waste containers. Such containers would be common at a place like InovoVax.”