“Wait. Look at this,” Katie said.
“What’s up?” McGaven’s attention immediately focused on the flyer she passed him of a little girl. “She’s seven years old. Maybe.”
“I think she’s wearing the bracelet.” She pointed at a spot on the flyer. “Take a look. See what you think.”
McGaven took the magnifying glass, turned the flyer upward, and slowly moved it over the photocopy of thephotograph. “I don’t know… It could be a shadow… but there’s a dot that could be the half-heart charm. But is there anything else? Mention of her mom?”
“No. But look at the date. This month makes her missing for twenty years. Her name is Misty Collins,” she paused. “Misty Collins,” she said again wanting to give her a presence.
“Wait a minute,” said McGaven. “In the notes, it says that her uncle, Ian Griffin, reported her missing.”
“That seems strange. If she’s the girl in the grave, why isn’t there a mention of the other person? It’s most likely her mother or another family member,” said Katie.
“Maybe it isn’t her.”
Katie skimmed the report, which was low on information. “It says that Misty Collins was last seen in the yard and that she disappeared. Hmmm?” Katie stared at the word “disappeared.” “It also said that friends and family were contacted, but they hadn’t seen the girl.”
“What did it say about the location and any other family members, like her parents?”
“It doesn’t say, which is odd.”
“No other notes or updates?”
“No.” Katie looked through the rest of the small files. “It seems incomplete.” She turned over the official form and in the lower-right corner there was some writing. “It says, ‘tried to contact I. Griffin for more info 10/17, 11/5.’”
“Who was the investigating officer?” said McGaven.
“It says G. Ventura.”
“Never heard of him.”
“He must have retired.”
McGaven picked up his cell phone and made a call. “Hey, I’m looking for information about a previous officer, G. Ventura.” He waited. “Okay, thanks.”
Katie raised an eyebrow.
“It seems he retired eighteen years ago,” said McGaven.
“Is he still in the area?”
“Yes. Denise said his last known address is the retirement home off Broadway and Main Street.”
“I’m going to read through the rest of this stuff, but I think?—”
“We need to visit Mr. Ventura.” McGaven smiled. It quite often happened that the detectives finished each other’s sentences.
“But first, while everything is still current at the crime scene, we need to take care of the drone work and Cisco’s search.”
“Yep.”
Katie looked at her watch. “And we need to meet Detective Rogers at the site.”
“Yeah, but I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Well, Rogers is kinda…”
