The Girl With No Name

Chapter Twenty-Two

Josie fielded calls from Carrieann and Gretchen on her way back to the station. Carrieann didn’t recognize the woman they were holding, and she was heading to Luke’s house to try to clean things up. Josie couldn’t bring herself to tell her over the phone that they’d found a body on the property, so she told her that her evidence team would still be working there to try to uncover any evidence that might help them find Luke. “But they’ll be outside, probably out by the barn,” Josie added. “So don’t mind them. I’ll meet you back at my place later tonight.”

Gretchen called shortly after to let Josie know that she and the evidence response team had finished up at Luke’s house and would be heading back to the station soon. No more bodies had been found, and no additional evidence. If Kavolis had had a cell phone, it wasn’t buried with him and couldn’t be found anywhere on Luke’s property. The medical examiner had, however, found a .45 caliber slug in Mickey Kavolis’ brain. Josie didn’t know whether to be relieved or more confused—Luke didn’t own any .45 caliber pistols.

Josie told her to start looking into land records in the county to see if Dunn or his company owned any real estate. If Luke was still alive—and she wasn’t ready to entertain the notion that he wasn’t—then Dunn’s people might be holding him somewhere close. It was a long shot, but it was a lead she couldn’t ignore.

As Josie stepped through the doors of the station house, her desk sergeant Dan Lamay came around the partition separating the lobby from the rest of the building. Lamay was a rotund figure nearing retirement age who very likely needed a knee replacement. Josie had kept him on at the front desk because she knew his wife was battling cancer and he had a daughter in college.

“Boss,” he said. “We have some… problems.”

Just then Josie noticed a flash of blue in her periphery. She turned her head just in time to see Mayor Tara Charleston advancing on her with a finger pointed at Josie’s chest. She wore a smart navy-blue skirt suit and matching heels that clacked when she walked. A lot like Trinity’s, Josie thought fleetingly. Tara’s finger was then in her face, and her pale cheeks were red with fury. “How dare you!” she hissed at Josie.

Josie stood her ground, folding her arms across her chest and doing her best to look bored. “I’m sorry, Mayor Charleston. Did you have an issue you would like to discuss?”

For a split second, Josie thought the woman was going to slap her. She stood her ground; she would not be intimidated by Tara Charleston, not in her own station house. Tara seemed to realize this and regained some control of herself, lowering her hands onto her hips, glaring. “First, you send your officers to my husband’s place of employment to question him when I specifically instructed you not to. Then you sent armed policemen to my home on the pretense of searching for a burglar? Are you out of your mind? What are you trying to prove?”

Josie narrowed her eyes at the mayor. “First of all, you didn’t instruct me to do anything. You asked me to be discreet, which I have been. You do understand that there is a baby missing, don’t you? I have a responsibility to find that infant and bring him home to his mother—if she survives. Secondly, there was no pretense in sending officers to your home. We got a call from a neighbor.”

“Oh really? Which neighbor?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

Tara’s cheeks colored even more. “I am the mayor of this city,” she said, her voice shaking with anger.

“And I have two missing persons cases on my hands,” Josie retorted. “I don’t have time for… whatever this is.”

With that, she stepped around Tara and over toward Lamay, who had seen the whole exchange and was pulling a face like he had swallowed something sour. Over her shoulder, Josie heard Tara say, “You’d better watch yourself.”

Josie turned back. “What exactly does that mean, Mayor Charleston?”

“You know damn well what it means.”

“That you’ll fire me and put someone in my position who will do whatever you tell them? Good luck with that.”

Tara’s finger pointed at Josie’s face again. “I told you—”

Josie cut her off, advancing on her so that she had to lower her arm and take a step back or be barreled over by Josie. “And I told you that I have work to do. As long as you and your husband aren’t involved in anything criminal, we have no issue with one another. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a witness to speak with.”

She left Tara standing there open-mouthed and brushed past Lamay, summoning him as she went. He followed her into the suite of offices behind the lobby partition as her phone chirped, announcing a text message.

“Boss,” Lamay said as he followed her up the steps to her second-floor office.

The text was from Trinity. “Got that name for you. Eric Dunn’s girlfriend is Kim Conway. That’s all I could get.”

“Conway?” Josie muttered to herself.

“Boss,” Lamay said again as they reached the threshold to her office.

She was still staring at the text message. It couldn’t be a coincidence, but she didn’t remember Brady or his wife ever mentioning siblings. Brady had grown up in Denton, joined the state police, done a tour in Erie and then in Philadelphia before being transferred back to the Denton area. He had then moved to the smaller, quieter, more rural Bowersville. Josie knew all this because WYEP had reported it after his death: hometown boy turned domestic abuser; police officer turned murderer. Josie had gone to the funeral with Luke two weeks after the whole incident, had met Brady’s weeping mother, grandmother, and several other relatives but hadn’t met any sisters. She definitely hadn’t met a blond woman named Kim.

“I need to talk to our Jane Doe,” Josie told Lamay, finally pocketing her phone. “And next time the mayor is waiting in the lobby to attack me, drop me a text to warn me, would you?”

He grimaced. “I’m really sorry about that. She just got here a few minutes before you came. There’s something else.”

Josie fought the sigh that threatened to come out. “Something besides Mayor Monster lurking in the shadows?”

“Well, it’s about the Jane Doe. She’s gone.”