Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
She stared at his pocket like she was going to leap across the table and reclaim the envelope.
And Harry felt that with her. He knew how precious they became when pictures and possessions were all you had left of someone you loved.
She got a handle on it, though she didn’t look him in the eye as she said, “I also talked to their dentist. Well, not to their actual dentist. He retired. But the practice is there. They think they might still have their records. I mean, they don’t. Not at the office. But they might have them in a storage unit, and they said they’d send someone to look. I’ve given permission to send them to the station if they have them. I don’t know if I actually needed to do that, but, I just…I don’t know…”
“Felt the need to do something,” he filled in for her.
“Yeah,” she mumbled. She took a visible breath and asked, “Will that make things go faster?”
“Depends on if Idaho has Rapid DNA, which has cut DNA identification time down by a lot. Though, usually a dental ID goes faster. I just didn’t expect after all this time—”
She cut him off. “I get it.”
“Dentists usually only keep records for six years after a patient’s last visit,” Harry said quietly. “If they can locate them, we can significantly speed this up.”
“Great,” she replied, though she definitely didn’t think it was great.
Heidi showed with their coffees, set them down, and again walked away.
“Otherwise, how are you hanging in there?” he asked.
“You have to ask?” she pointed to her eyes while still avoiding his. “I put cucumbers on them, and green tea bags when the cukes didn’t work, and finally a cold cloth. And I still look like I ran eyes wide open through a dust storm.”
“Crying is healing,” he said.
“Well, I should be healed by now,” she muttered, reaching for the cream and dropping some in her mug. She then slid it across the table toward him and finished, “But I’m not.”
One thing Harry learned losing Winnie, and giving death notices, and attending funerals of people he knew, and victims he didn’t, there was nothing anyone could say that made it better.
Nothing.
When you were stuck in grief, the only thing that helped even the slightest was knowing people were thinking of you and they gave a shit.
And he was doing that.
But fuck him, he wished he could do more.
“Though, you know, they were together,” she said softly, stirring her coffee. “If it’s them, that means they died together, and were buried together, and have been resting together ever since. And they’d want it like that.”
She lifted her cup, took a sip, put it down, and finally gave him her direct gaze, and it absolutely gutted him to see the depths of sorrow dug deep there.
“It doesn’t help a lot, but it helps a little,” she concluded.
“That’s good,” he murmured, sipping his own coffee.
“Also, if it’s them, knowing why they didn’t get in touch. Just…”—she shrugged—“knowing. You hear people talk about closure. You watch those true crime shows and the victims’ families and friends talking about getting answers, and how that helps. And now I can say I guess it does. I mean, we don’t know yet, not for sure. But I just…I just…”—she cleared her throat—“I just can’t help but think it’ll feel better because I know where they are and I’ll get them back. Not like I want, but they’ll be back with me.”
“That makes complete sense,” Harry said. “And if it’s them, we’ll get them back as soon as we can.”
Her lip quivered, as did her nostrils, but she sucked in a breath and got a lock on it.
Harry decided to move them out of this.
“Did you take off work today?”
Her head twitched like that was a surprise question, then she said, “No. I kinda make my own hours.”
“What do you do?”
“I’ve got a property management company.” Her lips tipped up just a tad. “That makes it sound fancy. It’s not fancy. I don’t have an office or anything. But I look after fourteen properties of people who have weekend or holiday places in and around MP. I rake the pine needles, make sure the appliances and furnace and water heater are running, the roof isn’t leaking, rodents aren’t getting in. I close them down for the winter, but head out regularly and have a look around to make sure all is good. And when they come, I go in and tidy them, turn on the furnace, stock them with groceries.” She gave him a slightly bigger smile. “I don’t do windows or toilets or hedge clippers. If they want a full clean, I work with my friend Kay’s cleaning business, and Jenna’s husband does landscaping, so if there’s anything like that, I contract out to Trey. But I will run a vacuum or dust and wipe down counters.”