The Girl With No Name

Chapter Forty-Three

They stayed at the scene for a few hours, watching as the Lenore Sheriff’s Office ERT processed the scene with an enthusiasm Josie normally only saw in rookies. Josie watched them closely, cataloguing their movements in her mind to keep her thoughts away from Luke’s bloody sneaker, the zip ties and the hammer. The question is he still alive whispered over and over again in the back of her brain. Fear kept rising from deep within her like a heavy cloth trying to smother her, dragging her down and making it hard to breathe. She had to be strong, focused.

Phillips reported that the vehicle behind the church was registered to a New Jersey man named Buck Romeo. They found his body in the trunk, two stab wounds to his chest. Josie wondered if this was the man Luke had stabbed when they came for him.

When all the bodies had been photographed, assessed by the coroner and loaded into ambulances, Josie, Noah and their officers thanked the deputies and said their goodbyes. Noah and Josie drove together in a department-issued Ford Edge. Noah was silent. Josie knew he was angry; she could feel it coming off him like waves of heat, but her mind was too cluttered and exhausted to draw him out. There was no need to—after about twenty minutes, he spoke without being prompted.

“You broke protocol,” he said. “You broke formation and ran ahead. You could have been killed.”

She nearly said, Who cares?—her mind had gone to such a dark place. Then he said, “You could have gotten someone else killed.”

She stared out the window, watching the rural roads turn to more populated areas as they approached Denton. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“You’re too close,” he added. “No one benefits when you’re out of control. Someone has to say it.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

He made a noise of frustration deep in his throat. “The question is what are you going to do?”

He wouldn’t go over her head. Noah would never rat her out and give the mayor what she wanted. He was too loyal, they had been through too much together. But Josie knew he was right, she was too close and her connections to both cases were making her a liability. She’d had a handle on her emotions until the sight of those legs at the front of the church threw her. Josie shook her head, trying to rid herself of the memory and keep herself collected.

“I’m going to bring Misty’s baby and Luke home,” she said quietly.

“Boss—”

“I know, I know. With every hour that passes, the chances of them being alive when we find them get slimmer and slimmer. I can’t control that, but I also can’t stop looking. You know that.”

“I know that you need to take a step back.”

Josie stared at him. He drove with one hand on the wheel while the other tapped out a steady rhythm on his thigh. “And do what?” she asked. “Sit at home worrying and waiting? I can’t. I physically can’t.”

“I know you can’t,” Noah replied. “I’m not suggesting that. I’m just saying that maybe next time you’re not the first one through the door.”

Josie didn’t respond. Her phone chirped, as if on cue, and she pulled up a series of texts from Deputy Phillips. “Found ID on your guys.” Followed by photos of two New Jersey driver’s licenses. One man was from Atlantic City and the other was from Absecon, which Josie knew from having studied a map of New Jersey after Kavolis was found in Luke’s yard, was near Atlantic City. Another photo followed, this time of a matchbook which read Oasis Grande Casino Resort. “Guessing these guys worked for Dunn like you thought.”

Josie texted back, “Thanks. We will confirm. Appreciate your help.”

She sent a text to Gretchen asking her where Dunn and his security detail were.

“What’s up?” Noah asked.

“We’re going to see Eric Dunn.”

“Boss, I don’t think that’s—”

Gretchen’s reply came back within seconds. “I didn’t ask what you thought,” Josie said. “He’s at the Flats. Let’s go.”