“My apologies, ma’am,” Nessa heard the younger cop say. He did a poor impression of sorry, but at least the words had been said.
“You can go now,” the older man dismissed him.
“Hello, Franklin,” Nessa said as the other cop slunk away.
“Nessa.” He didn’t seem at all surprised to see her in such surroundings. “I was wondering if you were still here after all these years. I always figured we might meet again someday.”
She’d known it, too. “What are you doing all the way out on the island?”
“Moved here about six months ago. Couldn’t bear to stay in the city after Aiesha died.”
Nessa reached out and laid a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry to hear that she’s gone.” Nessa had met his wife once, long ago, at her own husband’s funeral. Aiesha had kept Nessa’s girls entertained that day with stories about her childhood in Kenya. If Nessa had stayed in the city, they might have been friends.
“Death comes for all of us. Aiesha was sick for a year. She had time to get ready. The poor girl you found this morning—” He looked past Nessa to where Jo and Harriett were watching the crime scene team assemble by the side of the road. “Those the two ladies who were with you?”
“Jo! Harriett!” Nessa called out and waved them both over. “Franklin Rees, this is Jo Levison and Harriett Osborne.”
“Ms. Levison, Ms. Osborne,” he said, shaking their hands. “I’m a detective with the Mattauk PD. I used to work with Nessa’s husband back in the day. I’ll be covering this case going forward.”
Nessa noticed Harriett giving Franklin an appreciative once-over. Given the circumstances, it couldn’t have been less appropriate. But Nessa wasn’t blind, either. Franklin looked good.
“What can you tell us about the girl we found, Detective Rees?” Jo wasted no time.
“Not much at the moment,” Franklin said. “She appears to have been out here for quite a while.”
“Given the weather, I’d say no more than two weeks, give or take a day,” Harriett said.
“How did you reach that conclusion?” Franklin asked. There was no challenge in the question. He sounded genuinely curious.
“I noticed the blowfly larvae had stopped feeding and the houseflies had arrived.”
“Oh my God.” Jo looked queasy.
Franklin nodded respectfully. “Well, we’ll find out if your hypothesis is correct when we get the lab results back.”
“It’s correct,” Harriett assured him.
“Has anyone reported a girl missing in the past two weeks?” Jo asked.
“No one locally,” Franklin said. “But we’ll certainly check all the databases.”
“When you locate her family, I’d like to speak with her mother,” Nessa told him. On that night back in South Carolina, she’d waited in the hall of the dead girl’s house while her grandmother spoke with the family. When her grandmother emerged, she’d looked much older and frailer than she had going in. That was the part of the job that would kill her, she told Nessa. But it was also the most important.
“If we locate the mother, I’ll pass along your request.” Franklin was trying to let her down easy, as though she were innocent of the ways of this world. “But don’t get your hopes up. We find Jane Does like this from time to time. Most are sex workers with drug problems and many have fled abusive homes. Even when we manage to ID the victims, their families often don’t want to be involved.”
Nessa looked past Franklin. The girl had come to stand behind him. She was listening to everything he said. She wasn’t going to go away. Not this one.