Page 89 of The Lady on Esplanade

“Good to see you, Sarah,” Bernie said with a smile.“And here we are again, working together to solve a mystery.Just like in a Nancy Drew book.”

“Or Hardy Boys,” Sarah amended.“Since you’re a guy.”

He chuckled.“Maybe we should write our own series.”

Sarah nodded, but I noticed that her gaze kept drifting over his shoulder.Even Mardi’s attention seemed focused on something behind Bernie.I turned to look but saw nothing except empty air.

“What happened to your leg?”he asked.

“Oh, just a minor accident.I’ll be fine in no time.The doctor just wants me to stay off of the ankle for a bit, until it’s better.”

I could feel Sarah’s eyes boring into the side of my face but I ignored her.“So, what do you have?”I indicated the manila folder in Bernie’s lap.

He handed it to me.“I don’t know if you’ll be able to decipher any of this, but I thought you might like to have it anyway.If your dad ever decides to write a book about the murders at the house on Esplanade, he’ll be wanting this.It’s the DNA tests they did on the stains your construction guys found under the rug in the upstairs room.”

“Thank you.”I flipped through the pages of what looked like hieroglyphics and technical jargon before closing the folder.I’d give it to Beau to see if any of it would make sense to him.“I didn’t realize you were a fan of my dad’s books.”

“Jaxson got me started—he’s a true fan.I’m pretty new to the club, but I have to say that a lot of the old cases you’ve been working on would be perfect subjects for his future books.I think having an old and crusty retired police detective as a character could add a lot of flavor, too.”

I grinned.“I’ll let him know.Would you mind summarizing what you learned about the bloodstains?I’m afraid my line of work doesn’t include crime-scene analysis, and I doubt watching a lot of true crime counts.”

He grinned.“Bottom line, the stains are human blood.Unfortunately, the sample is too old and degraded to extract any viable DNA.A cleaning agent such as bleach might have been used at some point, which would make DNA collection nearly impossible.”

I leaned against the back of the bench.I had hoped, for Sarah’s sake—and my own—that we’d get the answers needed to set free the spirits of the little boy and the woman who’d been protecting him.I especially wanted to send the dark spirit back to where it came from.Of course, the bloodstains might not be related to any of the spirits, but, as my dad had drilled into me over and over, there was no such thing as coincidence.

“That’s disappointing.I’d really hoped this would lead us somewhere.”

“Now, hang on.I’m not done yet.I said the bloodstains weren’t able to give us any information.However, it’s usual in cases of violent death—as this appears to be, with such a large blood spill—for there to be other sources of DNA.”

“Like saliva,” Sarah said.“And hair.”

“Bingo.Good job, young lady.”

Sarah smiled proudly.“Thank you.Nola and I have been bingeingCold Case Fileson Netflix.”

“Your hard work is showing.”He winked at her.“They were able to retrieve hair samples from the cracks in the wooden floor beneath the stain.The strands were contaminated with blood, so it appears that the hair could have come from the victim.We can also use the process of elimination to identify the source by getting hair samples from people who were known to be in the house.So, Sarah, what part of the hair might contain DNA?”

“The roots,” we said in unison.

“He wasn’t asking you,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, sorry.I got carried away.”

“You are both right,” Bernie said magnanimously.“But the hair samples we retrieved didn’t have roots attached.In the absence of DNA, what else might hair found at a crime scene tell us about the victim?”

Sarah thought for a moment.“Well, the color and length could be used for victim identification.And if it’s curly or straight.”

Uncle Bernie nodded.“Correct.Go on.”

“It could tell us the person’s race.Or if the person colored their hair,” I said.

“All correct.”He looked at us expectantly.“What else?”

Sarah’s eyes narrowed.“They could tell if it wasn’t human, right?Like, if it came from a doll.Or a dog.”

“Or…”

There was a long silence.“A wig!”Sarah and I shouted at the same time.