“Could you describe it?” Ota asked.
“Silver chain. Red-enamel pendant in the shape of a woman in high heels, arms at her side.”
Ota nodded. “Sounds similar to the one we found.”
The body on the slab didn’t look like Julie Larimore, even remotely. Gray, chalky, distended; the only way Lucas could keep from reacting violently was to force himself to forget this thing he was looking at had once been a person.
He looked up at Ota’s unsmiling face, his hopeful eyes. “I don’t know.”
“Perhaps if you take a little time.”
“I have. Can’t you go with dental records or DNA?”
“We’re working on that. Positive ID from you can help expedite the process.”
“Was she—” He forced his gaze down at the corpse again. “Did someone kill her?”
“That’s a tough one. We may never know.”
They walked out into the fresh air. What was he going to tell Bobby W? He needed to offer him some hope or the old man would cave in, the way he had after his son’s death. Maybe worse. Lucas had never seen him more vulnerable.
“When are you making this public?” he asked.
“We’re scheduling a news conference for tonight,” Ota said. “We’re going to say we’re trying to make a DNA match between the body and Julie Larimore, but that it could take weeks.”
“But it’s Julie, right?”
Ota gave him a blank look that said it all. “We’ll see.”
“And you don’t have any idea how she died?”
Ota stopped at the glass door. “Unless there’s a bullet or something that damages the bone, cause of death is pretty difficult, even after a short time in the water. Whoever did this probably chose that way for a reason.”
“So, we may never know?”
Ota shrugged and put out his hands in a noncommittal gesture. “We’ll do our best. That’s all I can say.”
Rikki
I get the call from Lucas that afternoon.
“I’m on my way to Los Olivos,” I say. “Roberta Matlock’s found Julie’s photo.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
His voice is strangled and tight, like that of a stranger’s.
“No need for that,” I say. “We can get together and compare notes as soon as I leave there.”
“I said, I’ll meet you,” he repeats, harsher this time. “I’ve got to do something. I can’t just stay here.”
“Okay, then. The road’s ending. I need to get off the phone.”
“Rikki?”
“What is it?”
“I wasn’t sure when I saw her, what was left of her. But now, the more I think about it, I believe the body they found really is Julie Larimore.”
