Page 62 of Forged in Steele

The commander looked past Jared. “Radar, get a box of booties from the vehicle.”

The younger officer spun and hurried back down the hallway.

The commander lifted his mic. “We have the woman. Any sign of the child?”

He didn’t move for a long moment then looked up. “Place is a bust. My team confirms no one in the kitchen or dining area.”

“I want the attic searched too,” Jared said. “If Reya did indeed take Luna—which the forensics bear out—it’s likely the person who killed Reya took Luna. But we have to consider that Luna didn’t survive either, and we need to change our focus on this property to a recovery effort until proven otherwise.”

Bristol came back to join them. She gasped before her eyes hardened into a look of resolve. “Looks like Reya might’ve used the blanket to stem her bleeding, but makes no sense to leave the blanket in the lot. Unless she wanted us to find it because she took the baby for someone else, and they stabbed her to take control of Luna.”

Jared gave her comment some thought. “Could be, I suppose, but she sure isn’t working for Holloway. At least, I can’t imagine her taking children from their mothers on a regular basis.”

“But she could be desperate for a child of her own and didn’t have the cash,” Bristol said. “I know before she got divorced, the couple spent everything they had to find their daughter and filed for bankruptcy. The only way they could keep the house was when people donated to a crowdfunding campaign. So she wouldn’t have any money to pay for an adoption. And with the murder unsolved, she wouldn’t likely qualify for traditional adoption either.”

Jared wasn’t surprised Bristol knew so much about the family as her agency handled the search for the baby. “It doesn’t explain why she was murdered, and if she did actually have Luna. Maybe she just found Luna’s blanket.”

“That would be odd, though, right? That she happened to be bleeding in the hospital lot and just happened to find this blanket.”

“Yeah, you’re right. If we don’t find Luna on the property, we have to assume Reya’s killer took her.”

Bristol nodded. “I noticed security cameras out front. That could help.”

“You need to get a computer expert out here to recover her computer and phone before you touch them,” the commander said.

“Then we need to act quick.” Jared dug out his phone to call Colin. He explained the situation and asked him to head this way. “Hurry. The video could hold the killer’s face and even show us if he took Luna.”

Bristol donned the paper booties and prepared to see the victim. It wasn’t Bristol’s first time at a murder scene, if Reya had indeed been murdered. Not even Bristol’s second time. Not with all the gun violence in the Portland Metro area of late. But it would be the first time when she’d been hoping the victim would have a missing baby or could give them information to find the child.

Jared stepped inside, and Bristol followed. Reya lay on her back on the floor, her lips blue, her face pale. Her arms and legs were at odd angles as if she were dumped on the carpet, but her right hand held a knife.

Jared squatted next to Reya. “Not a lot of blood here and no blood spatter.”

“She was killed elsewhere and brought here,” Bristol said.

Jared nodded. “Finding the blanket with her blood in the parking structure would suggest that too, but why kill her and then bring her home?”

“The knife in her hand could mean they tried to stage a suicide,” Bristol said. “Of course for that explanation to work, the person who killed her would have to be clueless about the lack of blood at the scene or that she ditched the blanket and we found it. And knives aren’t commonly used in suicides.”

Jared glanced around. “No note, but that’s not unheard of in a suicide.”

“And after all she’s been through, it wouldn’t be unexpected for her to take her life,” Bristol added. “I suppose she could’ve killed herself after taking Luna, but why?”

“Like you said, maybe the person who took Luna from Reya doesn’t know about the blanket left behind and didn’t think anyone would come looking for her. So they wouldn’t know we can tie Reya to Luna.”

“Seems more likely than suicide, but I’m going to check the office for a note.” Bristol spun and exited the room. The coppery smell of blood lingered in her nose. Reya might not have bled out in her bedroom, but blood soaked her clothing.

Bristol stepped into the smaller bedroom, and the walls covered with news clippings sank her optimism even more. Her emotions were so far underwater it would take a salvage diver to resurrect them. After five years as a deputy, she’d seen so much crime and horror, and lately, she had to work extra hard to compartmentalize everything to function in the unsettled world.

The uptick and boldness of crimes committed seemed to grow exponentially each day. More and more, stable neighborhood households were becoming the victims. Some areas were so bad, law enforcement could no longer respond in person. Reports were taken on the phone or online. Officers just couldn’t keep up. She had to admit to discouragement on the job at times and many of her fellow deputies felt the same way. Thankfully, she could move on to a family business, which she’d expected to be less disappointing.

Boy, had she been wrong.

She forced her eyes from the photos, but couldn’t quit wondering if Kelsey had been called in to recover this baby’s body. Although the state had a local forensic anthropologist, Kelsey was world-renowned for her skills, so she could’ve been. How did she mentally survive recovering a child and even worse an infant? Bristol didn’t want to think about such a task, much less do it.

She moved to the desk and flipped through papers. A flyer for August third for a missing children’s event at the state capital was stashed on the bottom. A few days away, and Reya was scheduled to speak. Another sign that she planned to be alive that day. But maybe she’d agreed to speak before her daughter had been located and everything had changed on that fateful day in June, and now she could no longer go on. Still didn’t explain taking Luna or the offsite stabbing.

Hoping for an answer, Bristol made a thorough search of the room, carefully looking at items but not disturbing them for the crime scene photos that the forensic expert would take. And she kept well away from the computer to keep from accidentally waking it up and altering the files. She didn’t want to be responsible for messing up such an important investigation.

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