Page 12 of Lone Star Rescue

Clearly, he was going to have to add to this and spell out that he didn’t have authorization to send it to the county lab. Nor had he wanted to do that since it would have taken days or even weeks to process.

There was also the issue of the chain of custody on the handkerchief. The bottom line—it wouldn’t have been admissible if needed in court, but then if admissibility had truly played into this, Bree or one of her deputies would have had to take the sample or at least supervise that being done.

Bree drew in a long breath and squeezed her eyes shut a moment. “Wade had thrown the handkerchief away?” she clarified.

Rafe nodded. That technically absolved him of any wrongdoing. Technically. Trash was considered fair game for cops and other investigators.

“I’ll tell Wade about sending it for DNA analysis once he’s had a little while to absorb all of this,” Rafe added.

Bree would have no doubt had plenty to say about that, but her phone rang. She glanced at it and muttered something he didn’t catch.

“It’s Ollie,” she relayed, and this time, she put the call on speaker.

Apparently, she’d accepted that they’d be working together and that he needed to be privy to whatever could help with the investigation.

“Ollie,” she answered and immediately added, “You’re on speaker. Rafe is here and listening in.”

“Are you two okay?” Ollie asked after a short pause.

“Fine. Some bruises, that’s all,” Bree explained. “And you?”

“Some bruises and a few butterfly bandages on some cuts.” He paused again. “I’m at my office, and I figured you were, too. Are you ready to talk business, or would you rather wait—”

“Business,” she interrupted. “Do you have something?”

“Yes. Two things actually. I just did an initial exam of the body recovered from the crime scene. Female. Mid to late thirties. Blonde hair, blue eyes. I don’t recognize her, but then there was a lot of damage to her face from the explosion.”

“Did she die in the blast?” Rafe quickly asked.

“No. Full rigor mortis had set in, so I’m guessing she’d been dead anywhere from eight to twenty-three hours. I’ll be able to narrow that down more with some tests. Can’t give you cause of death either right now because I’ve got to figure out which of her injuries are post-mortem.”

“The CSIs haven’t found any indication she was killed at the site,” Bree offered. “Then again, it’s possible she was, and the explosion obliterated any potential evidence. There isn’t much left of the crime scene.”

“True, but both the CSIs and I took photos shortly after we arrived, and we have those. I’ve been looking at them,” Ollie muttered. “I’m going to put a big-assed question mark next to what I’m about to say because I could be wrong.”

“Wrong? About what?” Bree asked.

“The photos of the skeletal remains,” Ollie provided, and Rafe heard the man take in a deep breath. “I’m not sure these remains are Tessa’s.”

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Chapter Four

“What?” Bree couldn’t get that out fast enough, and she mentally repeated what Ollie had just said to make sure she’d heard him right.

She had.

Rafe was clearly doing some silent questioning as well. His forehead was bunched up, and his eyes had gone intense.

“Why do you think the remains aren’t Tessa’s?” Rafe asked when Ollie didn’t add anything else.

“It’s all speculation at this point…look, why don’t the two of you come over to the morgue, and I’ll show you what I mean? That’ll be better than trying to explain it to you over the phone. That way, you can have a look at the pictures for yourself and can decide if you’re seeing the same thing I am.”

“We’re on the way,” Bree said, grabbing her keys and already heading out of her office door. “See you in about five minutes,” she added to Ollie.

Maybe less than that since the morgue was in the back part of the hospital, and it was only about a quarter of a mile away from the police station. Normally, Bree would have walked that short distance, but she didn’t want to be stopped by anyone along the way to be asked about the investigation and the explosion. She didn’t have enough answers yet to have to deal with that.

Rafe was right behind her as she passed through the squad room. “We’re on our way to see the medical examiner,” she told Deputy Millie Hernadez.

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