Page 116 of Finding Our Reality

“It most certainly does. And your armpit sweat probably speeds up the rotting process.”

“Okay, I’m in.”

Ry’s voice makes me jerk, and I loudly drop the bar on the table. I toss it across the room, ringing the trash can. “What does it say?”

He holds up a finger. I watch as his eyes flicker back and forth. It’s like watching a typewriter. He mumbles to himself while scrolling through the screens. Scrolling back to the top of the page, he clears his throat and starts. “Okay, here we go. Tape: Carrie, you, and Unknown Female (1). Envelope body: Carrie, you, and Unknown Female (1). Envelope flap: Carrie and Unknown Female (1). All six pictures: Carrie and Unknown Female (1). Pregnancy test: Carrie. And trace amounts of DNA in the urine are a match for Carrie as well.” He sighs, “No hits. Unknown Female (1) is not in any system.”

I shake my head back and forth. It’s not enough. I need more. This was supposed to give us answers. Thiswasn’tsupposed to give me ‘Unknown Female (1)’. I hold out my hands, and Ry slides the open laptop across the table. I read and re-read the words. Over and over and over.

Marcum reaches out, squeezing my shoulder. “Ella?”

I bite my lip, refusing to cry. Instead, I shift in my seat, squaring my shoulders and stiffening my spine. “This is what I paid for? This bullshit? This lab is supposed to be the best.” I slap the offensive computer away from me. “We’re never gonna find out what happened to her. This was pointless! The evidence died with that piece of crap, Trey!”

Ry sits back, folding his arms across his chest. I can see it in his eyes. He’s not going to coddle me on this one. He’s not going to let me play the woe-is-me card. “Lulu, this isn’t your first investigation. You do this for a living, it’s your job. One, I might add, that you’re damn good at. You knew the likelihood of having a hit come back on the DNA was not very probable unlessthe offender was in the system. We know more now than we did. And that always equates to good news in this world.”

He leans forward, staring deeply into my eyes. He enunciates each word slowly, like I’m hard of hearing. “Now. Tell me what you see.”

My lips flatten into a small line. “I see the death of this case, Ry. That’s what I see. Dead. Just like my sister.”

His growl is angry, demon possessed. “So, help me, Lulu, if you don’t tell me what you see, I’m gonna flip my shit.”

“Fine!” I close my eyes and rub my temples, thinking. “Well, there’s no doubt now; Carrie was pregnant. It’s safe to assume she was pregnant at the time she went missing. It’s safe to assume she kept it a secret. At least, she didn’t show anyone else the pregnancy test. Someone else would’ve picked it up to look at it. The only DNA on it was hers.”

I blow a raspberry, thinking. “The pictures all came from the same person, a female. If anyone else was involved in sending those pictures to Carrie, they kept their distance. They didn’t touch anything. A female? I believe what Christina said. I don’t think she stayed at the trailer that night to take the pictures. If the only people who knew about the rape pictures were the people present that night, then that means our camera person was a female.” I tick through the list on my fingers, “Carrie, rapist, Trey, and Unknown Female (1).”

My fingers leave my temple and tap against the table. “If we still operate on the theory that the rapist and supplier are one in the same, then we have Unknown Female (1) in the mix. She sent the photos to Carrie. Why?”

I try to think of all the reasons someone would send the pictures to my sister. “Jealousy? Maybe the supplier was her boyfriend. But if the pictures were meant to be a threat, a ‘stay away from my man’ warning, you’d think there would be a note in the envelope saying just as much. There wasn’t a note.Carrie kept everything else, I can’t imagine she threw away a threatening letter.

“So, if not for jealousy, then maybe… empathy? Unknown Female felt sorry for Carrie. She didn’t like keeping this secret from her. She wanted her to know the truth. Why? Either Unknown Female had been a victim of sexual assault herself, or Unknown Female actually knew my sister.”

My eyes fly open. “She knew Carrie. Before that night, she knew her. Knew her well enough to feel bad for her. The envelope wasn’t addressed. Unknown Female knew where we lived. She dropped it off. Or she put it on Carrie’s car. Or put it somewhere where Carrie would specifically find it. None of the normal people from Trash’s parties knew that much about Carrie. This was someone else.”

Anger beats against my heart like a drum. “Someone who knew my sister showed up that night and watched her get raped.”

Marcum whispers a curse word. Ry’s eyes leave mine, and he winks at Marcum. Standing up from the table, he kisses the top of my head on his way out. “I told you she was good. That’s My Lulu.”

***

Will leans across the bar, handing a drink to the guy behind me. “Well, I guess it was wishful thinking to believe the DNA report would give all the answers, just like that.” He snaps his fingers.

Ridge takes a deep pull from his beer. “Still doesn’t make it easy.” He nudges me with his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Ella.”

“Thanks.” I lean forward, sipping on my cocktail.

“You made us watch all those crime documentaries after Carrie went missing. I guess we all got our hopes up, that this would be one of the stories that had an immediate ending. DNA test, bad guy, jail. Boom.” Ridge slaps his hand on the bar.

I shake my head. “We just have to keep digging.”

I catch Cullen nodding to the door, and I spin on my barstool. Ry stalks across the room. It’s a good thing I’m sitting because he’s making me weak in the knees. His gray T-shirt is sticking to his sculpted chest, courtesy of the mid-July heat. He just came from the station, so he’s still wearing cargo pants and boots. Cargo pants, might I add, that are the perfect fit across the rounded globes of his ass. Lifting his arm, he raises and repositions the ballcap on his head. He smirks when he sees me watching him. It’s a teasing smirk that only lifts one side of his luscious mouth.

Right before he’s about to reach me, a small brunette spins around and accidentally bumps into him. She’s thrown off balance, so he reaches around, grabbing her upper arms to steady her. Once she’s back on stable feet, she looks up to thank him. “Than— Oh.” She’s immediately struck mute by the gorgeous man standing in front of her.

She flips her hair and quickly recovers. Obviously, hair flipping is where she gathers her strength.

“Thank you. I’m such a klutz.” She places a hand in the middle of his firm stomach. “Buy you a drink?”

Ry looks over her head, studying my reaction. Growling, I spin back around on my barstool. Will, Cullen, and Ridge are all laughing.

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