Page 63 of Bad Mother

Hmm.She set the bag down and picked up the third. Contained within was a silver coin. “A Susan B.Anthony,” Sienna said, lookingup at Ingrid, who gave a slight one-shoulder shrug. Sienna worried her lip. The only reason she was familiar with the coin was because Argus had pulled them from behind her ear during her childhood. He’d place them in her hand afterward as she grinned with delight, and later she’d hide them in her drawer behind her socks. They’d all gone missing one year. She didn’t know if it was her mom or dad who’d taken them, just that they’d likely been spent on a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of booze.

She’d saved the ones Argus gave her at Mirabelle’s trailer after that, and they’d never gone missing, though she’d left them behind the day she’d moved away.

Sienna considered the items contained in the evidence bags. She’d google Susan B.Anthony after this and see if there was something about the woman that might offer some clue. She had no idea what to make of the pair of dice or the coupon. Was there something about chicken wings that might lead somewhere?

“The place where he was left—was there anything around, specifically in the direction he was facing?”

Kat frowned at Sienna. “Why do you ask?”

Sienna opened the folder in front of her and took out the notes she’d been making right before she’d left work sick, the ones she’d talked about with Gavin that morning. She went over the items from each scene that related to the periodic table of elements. “I might not be looking at this right, or it could be mixed up or organized in some different way or combined with things we don’t yet have, but...”

“No, this is good,” Ingrid said. “Hold on.” She rifled through the report she had on the table next to the two items in evidence bags and then picked up her phone to do a search. “There’s a company in that direction that does mobile welding,” she said.

“Welding... what kind of welding?” Sienna asked.

Ingrid looked back to her phone and pressed something. “Iron gates and security fences are their specialty.”

“Iron.” She quickly pulled out her own phone and brought up the periodic table. “Iron’s symbol is Fe, atomic number twenty-six.”

Kat pulled the sheet of paper toward her that Sienna had written her notes on. “Okay, assuming this order is correct, we now haveVIOLFe, which makes no sense at all.”

“Unless,” Ingrid said, pushing one of the evidence bags forward, “this coupon from No Effs Sports Bar is an instruction.”

“No effs,” Kat repeated. “Well, shit. Okay.VIOLE.” She paused, tapping her pen. “It’s still not a word, but it’s headed in the direction of these others you’ve written down. And it eliminates a few.Violenceis my bet, considering his aptitude for it,” she said, raising her brows.

“Why spell outviolence, though? How does that direct us anywhere?”

“I don’t know. But let’s ask Xavier to print out a list of words that start withVIOLE. There might be a few that none of us are considering. We can then do a cross-check on street names.”

There was a knock on the door, and when Ingrid called, “Come in,” Xavier poked his head inside.

“Hey, your ears must have been burning. We have a short project for you,” Kat said.

“Yeah, no problem. I came to let you know I’m done going through the list of boys from Copper Canyon High School that didn’t show on picture day. There are only two, and I was able to dig up current photos. They’re obviously not from the time they attended Copper Canyon, but maybe they’ll help.”

“You’re kidding. How did you find photos?”

“I looked both men up online. One of them went to a trade school for a short time. I combed through their website and got lucky. This guy appeared in a photo for a community award the school won years ago and every year since. It’s obviously a big deal to them, and they have all the news photos on their site.” Xavier handed them the photo. “His name’s Oliver Finley.”

Sienna took the photograph. It was a printout, and the photo wasn’t great, but when she found the student identified as Oliver Finley, her eyes lingered. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t say why. “Where have I seen him?” she murmured aloud, passing the photo to Kat, who squinted at it for a moment too.

“I agree,” she said, frowning.

“The second man’s name is Sylvester Knox, and I found several photos of him,” Xavier went on. “He’s a lawyer now.” Sienna looked at the picture of the handsome Black man from a law firm website.

“He doesn’t fit the profile,” she said. “But we’ll go talk to him.” She reached her hand out toward Ingrid, who was looking at the first photo. “Can I see that again?”

Ingrid handed it to her, and she stared down at it. God, he did look mildly familiar, but she couldn’t place him. She released a puff of frustrated air. “Thank you, Xavier. You’re a star. Would you mind looking up their addresses for us?”

He pulled a piece of paper out of the folder he was holding. “One step ahead,” he said, smiling. “Although I was only able to find Sylvester Knox’s information. Oliver Finley’s might prove harder, but I’m on it.”

“Great,” she murmured. They gathered their things from the room and gave Xavier his next project. She and Kat were heading to their desks to strategize on what to look into first when one of the janitors came around the corner, wheeling a large garbage can. Sienna halted. “The janitor,” she said, stopping Kat and gripping her arm. She removed the printout she’d taken from Xavier and held it up to Kat. “Oliver,” she said.

Kat stared at it for a few moments. “Ollie.” Kat met her eyes. “He has a beard now, but... I think you’re right. Oh my God. Wait, you think...Ollieis our guy?”

“I have no idea,” Sienna said. “All I know is he looks a whole lot like a student who used to go to Copper Canyon High School and had Sheldon Biel as his science teacher. Where do we find him?”

“Hey!” Kat called to the janitor, who had reached the end of the hall. “Excuse me.”

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