Page 14 of Lone Star Rescue

“I have a program to measure the bones from the images,” Ollie went on while Rafe and she studied the three photos.

All gruesome, all reminders that once this had been a living, breathing person. And then there was the red jacket. Clearly visible in all the shots, and she could see that the skeletal arms were actually still inside the sleeves.

“I fed all the photos into the program,” Ollie explained, and now he did turn his desktop screen for them to see. “I used the three dozen that the CSIs took because sometimes camera angles can distort size. In fact, that could have happened on these. You need to know that. This could be a wild goose speculation.”

“Speculate,” Bree insisted.

Ollie didn’t waste any time doing that. “Tessa was five four. That’s right, isn’t it?” he asked Rafe.

Rafe nodded. He wasn’t showing a lot of emotion in either his response or the way he was looking at the images of the bones. But this had to feel like a punch to the gut for him. Even if it wasn’t Tessa, it was still someone.

And she was dead.

“Well, I believe this woman is two inches taller than Tessa,” Ollie said.

Bree whipped her gaze back to the remains, but it was impossible for her to determine height just by eyeballing them. “But if she’s not Tessa, then why is she wearing that jacket?”

Ollie pointed his index finger in a you-got-it gesture. “Ah, that’s the mystery, isn’t it? It could be another coat, though that doesn’t seem likely.” He zoomed in on the embroidered cuffs. “That’s the same as Tessa’s, right?” Again, Ollie looked at Rafe for confirmation.

“It is. Tessa had it custom-made from a shop in San Antonio.” He dragged in a breath. “But it’s possible the shop liked the design so much they made others. But what are the odds that someone would buy that exact design and end up buried here in Tessa’s hometown?”

Bree was going with a nil on this. “Too much of a coincidence.”

“I agree,” Rafe was quick to say. “And that leaves us with the possibility that the woman’s killer put Tessa’s jacket on her. Or that the woman is actually Tessa, and the measurements are off.”

Bree didn’t know which to hope for. Either those bones belonged to her childhood friend, or that friend was somehow connected to the murder of this woman wearing the jacket.

“What about the second body?” Rafe muttered, going back into the prep room. “Is it possible that’s Tessa?”

Sweet heaven. Bree hadn’t even considered it, but she was right on Rafe’s heels when he went to have a look. However, what she saw had her stomach lurching. Because most of the woman’s face had been obliterated. Clearly, she was not cut out to be a medical examiner.

“Yeah,” Ollie said when Bree made a soft groan. He, too, had come into the prep room with them. “Not much left of her features to ID her. But yes, she would be the right height for Tessa. From my cursory exam, she has no birthmarks, no moles or scars.” He shifted to Rafe. “Does that fit with Tessa?”

Rafe wasn’t so quick to answer this time, and Bree figured he was pulling up some memories of Tessa when they’d been naked together. But Bree had her own memories that she could tap into.

“Tessa and I used to change together for swim class,” she volunteered. “And I don’t recall any kinds of blemishes on her skin. She was perfect.”

Rafe nodded, maybe agreeing on both counts of the no blemishes and the perfection. And Bree got smacked with the past. With that old feeling that she would never be perfect like Tessa, that she would never be good enough for Rafe to take notice of her.

But he was noticing her now.

Bree looked at him and saw he was staring at her. No, he was studying her. For what? To see if this was bothering her?

Well, of course, it was.

But it was bothering her on two levels, both professional and personal, and the personal had to take a hike. She really didn’t want to deal with old feelings of inadequacy and sexual frustration over her friend’s guy.

“Tessa’s prints aren’t in the system,” Ollie said, breaking the silence that had settled between them. “No criminal records. But if Wade has her prints somewhere, perhaps on some old item of hers, then maybe you can get those for a comparison.”

Bree was already taking out her phone to text Wade, though she wished she could tap someone else for this. Wade was no doubt going through hell and back right now, and a request for his daughter’s prints weren’t going to make things easier. Still, it had to be done.

Within seconds after she sent the text, she got a response. “Wade kept all of Tessa’s things,” she let Ollie and Rafe know.

Since she didn’t have an available deputy, she messaged Wade back to let him know she’d be at his house soon to gather the prints. Even if Wade was still at the hospital, he had a housekeeper who could let her in. She showed her text to Rafe so he’d know they needed to do that before returning to the station.

“Thanks for this,” Bree told Ollie, and she tipped her head to the body. “And for the info about the bones. If you manage to get a more accurate time or cause of death, let me know.”

Ollie assured her that he would, and Rafe and she headed out. As she’d done outside the police station, she had a cautious look around. There on Main Street, she hadn’t seen anyone or anything out of the ordinary.

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