Page 52 of The Whisper Place
Have update on the 10-55. Call this number tomorrow.
It was from Laredo, the officer assigned to investigate the body we’d discovered in the reserve. I hit the button to call immediately. He picked up on the second ring.
“I said tomorrow.”
“We’re both working now.”
He was walking somewhere. The connection cut in and out. “I don’t have an ID, but the ME said decomp was advanced.”
“Are we talking months?” It had been almost three since Valerie had murdered her husband.
“Years. ME estimates between seven and ten. It’s an adult female.”
Jonah and I looked at each other. The body didn’t belong to Ted Kramer.
“Any leads on the ID?”
“Since you were out on a casual hike in the area, I’d ask you the same thing,” Laredo said, which meant he wasn’t getting any promising hits in the missing persons database.
“It doesn’t fit the timeline of our missing woman. She’s only been gone a few weeks.” I asked him to keep us updated, which he seemed less inclined to do now that we didn’t have any information to offer. The call started cutting out as he rattled off the usual “active and ongoing case” disclosure, which I could recite in my sleep. Then the line went dead.
Jonah swore. “So there’s another body in those woods.”
“At least one.” The Wolf River Bluffs Forest Preserve had a few hiking trails, but no camping facilities, shelters, or other visitor amenities that would make it a popular hiking destination. It wasn’t near any major highways or tourist areas. All those factors could make it an ideal dumping ground. The woman buried out there seven to ten years ago was probably completely unrelated to the Kate Campbell case. It was only by chance, and the dumb luck of that tree falling over to expose her grave, that we found her at all.
Jonah disagreed. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
“Who is she then? Laredo’s clearly having no luck ID’ing her or he wouldn’t be taking my calls at ten-thirty at night.”
Jonah grabbed his laptop, but didn’t make much headway. The phone hotspot was at one bar and every page he tried loading kept timing out. Cell service in rural Iowa was patchy at best. Hepworth’s security lights activated again, this time from two deer running. This stakeout sucked.
The phone rang again with the Illinois area code.
“Laredo?”
“Uh, no.” The voice on the other end was higher, younger. “I think I missed some calls from you.” The connection glitched, coming back in time for me to hear, “I’m Theo Kramer.”
Ted’s son, who lived in Chicago. I put the call on speaker as Jonah shut his laptop and sat up straighter.
“Thanks for getting back to us.”
“Yeah. Uh, I’m sorry to call so late. I guess I figured I’d be leaving a message.” He laughed awkwardly.
“This is perfect timing. My partner’s here, too.” Briefly, I outlined the reason we’d reached out. He seemed surprised to hear we were looking for Kate Campbell.
“I don’t know if I can really help. I haven’t seen Kate in years. Not since Valerie left my father. That was maybe 2015?”
“Did you keep in touch via phone? Social media?”
“No.” He paused. “I don’t think they would’ve wanted to.”
“Why not?” Jonah asked.
Theo seemed to be shuffling the phone around. That, or the connection kept glitching. “They got out. Away from him. Once you get away from him, you don’t really want any rem—” The connection shorted again.
“Goddamnit.” I got out of the car and stalked up the nearest hill, looking for a better signal. Jonah followed. “Can you hear me, Theo?”
After trying a few different spots, the call cleared up. Theo was still there. I apologized and shifted the conversation to his father. “What’s he like?”
