Page 35 of Cougar Point

They got back in the car and Lucas drove them into Bellingham.

Ten minutes later, they pulled up outside the coroner’s office. Longbow’s SUV was parked outside. As Lucas pulled into the next bay, the driver’s door opened and the sheriff stepped out.

The three of them got out of Lucas’s car, and Lucas made brief introductions. He knew Longbow was no great fan of other cops on his patch, even those with good reason, but he disguised it well.

“Good to welcome you both to Whatcom County,” he said. “I hope your trip is worthwhile.”

The coroner showed them into the chiller room and pulled out the drawer that was Olivia Greenwood’s temporary resting place. He pulled back the sheet that was covering her enough to expose her head and shoulders and stood back. Lucassuppressed a shiver and hunched his own shoulders, longing for the relative warmth of the office.

The two Ohio cops took their time looking at the body, then exchanged a glance.

“Husband’ll do the official ID later today, but that’s her,” Mac said.

“Okay, that’s out of the way,” Lucas said. “So perhaps you can help us out with why your kidnap victim ended up in a creek all the way out here.”

“That’s what we’re going to work out,” Mac said.

Lucas exchanged a glance with Longbow across the body. The sheriff got the message and cleared his throat.

“And is that going to be ‘we we’, or ‘you we’, Detective?”

“This is CPD’s case,” Anderson said. She had been crouched to examine some dirt under the corpse’s fingernails but straightened up to look Longbow in the eye. “Victim is from Cincinnati, she was abducted in Cincinnati, maybe even killed in Cincinnati for all we know.”

Lucas doubted the latter piece of speculation, but he ignored that in favor of his strongest hand. “…and the body was dumped right here, in Whatcom County Sheriff’s Department jurisdiction.”

Mac held a hand up to stop his partner from answering. “I don’t think we need to get into a pissing contest here. From what I’ve seen, this is either going to be straightforward or it’s a mess. Either way, we all have to pitch in on this. We have work to do here and back home. We can waste a bunch of time fighting over who gets the credit—if there is any—or we can cut to the chase and get working.”

There was a silence. The four of them standing on opposite sides of a cold body. Finally, Longbow broke the silence.

“Sounds fair to me. Sergeant Lucas and I will help you out however we can here, but we want to be kept in the loop.” Heheld up a finger. “Don’t go Big City Cop and jerk us around on this, Detective MacDonald.”

“Likewise,” Mac said. “If we can skip the part where the locals bitch about their turf, I’ll be a lot happier.”

Anderson said nothing, but Lucas noticed she had the air of a long-suffering spouse waiting for her husband to finish dickering over a hotel bill.

There was a knock on the door. The receptionist appeared, head tilted, lowering her voice like she was interrupting a small group of mourners in the waiting room of a crematorium.

“Mr. Greenwood is here to identify the body.”

TWENTY-SIX

Ronnie made espressos when Rebecca and Jack joined us in the kitchen, and now we all sit around the table. I need something stronger but I need a clear head more. Rebecca tells Jack about the call.

I ask, “Who else knows we’re trying to find your wife, Jack?”

“You went to the resort and spoke to several people. I’ve only talked about this with Sergeant Lucas and now you. I didn’t even tell the private investigator about Vicki. But maybeshecould have kept it quiet.”

I ignore the dig. “What did the caller say, Rebecca? Exactly.”

“They said, ‘Stop your detective friends from meddling or what happens to your mom will be your doing.’ I demanded to talk to Mom and they said they would send us proof. What does that mean? Are they going to hurt Mom?” Rebecca’s face is a mask of terror. “Did I do something wrong?”

She’s challenged them and there’s no telling how they will respond. I say to keep things calm, “It just means they’re serious. They didn’t mention a ransom or the note found at the resort?”

I say, “They just want us to stop what we’re doing.” I notice Jack looks away. “Your dad says the note is from your mom’s brother.”

Ronnie says, “I told Rebecca about Uncle Vinnie. She remembers the name.”

Rebecca says, “Mom hasn’t had any contact with our uncle that I know of. But she’s never talked much about her family.”

---