“Everything looks good,” said the EMT.
All Katie wanted to do was join John and find out who the woman was. She couldn’t help but thinkthat if trailer #12 hadn’t taken a header into the water, they probably wouldn’t have discovered the body.
McGaven had minor cuts and bruises—and had also changed into dry clothes John had brought. The EMTs had bandaged the wound on his face and suggested he have his ribs looked at.
John emerged, carrying some evidence bags. He had a heavy workload already and things were obviously weighing on his mind. Katie wanted to help but had been given strict instructions to not do anything at the moment.
She thought it was strange her uncle didn’t show up, but he could have been tied up. She had McGaven call and leave a message for him. She wished she could shake the feeling that something was wrong—terribly wrong.
Climbing into the back of the ambulance, John sat across from Katie. “How are you doing?”
“I’m absolutely fine.”
“And you hate sitting on the sidelines.”
“Of course.” Katie noticed something was bothering John—more than just the usual forensics and police work. “What is it?”
“I have to tell you something.”
That sounded ominous. Katie remained quiet and held her breath.
He held a bag containing the expensive purse. “There was a driver’s license in the purse and it matches the victim.”
“Okay…”
“Her name is Sydney Butler.”
“What?” It couldn’t be the same woman her uncle was dating. Katie had told John about Sydney, so he would have recognized the name, but it couldn’t be her.
“She also had the sheriff’s business card on her,” he said.
Katie knew then it had tobe the same woman.
“There were also business cards with her name, saying she was a commercial real estate broker.”
Katie could barely breathe. “I… can’t believe this…. Was there a cell phone?”
“No cell, just some personal items.”
“But…”
John touched her arm and then held her hand. “I know what you’re going to ask next. And no, we haven’t been able to contact the sheriff. The last time anyone saw him was on Friday.”
“He left me a message yesterday that he and Sydney were on a road trip—to where I don’t know—and would be back later in the evening. We were supposed to have lunch…” Katie couldn’t complete her sentence. “If Sydney was found here dead, then what happened to my uncle?”
“We can’t jump to conclusions—” he began.
“How could we not?” She began pulling out her IV. “Get this out.”
The EMT came to her aid and carefully removed it.
Katie stood up and hugged John. “I can’t have anything happen to him. The entire area has to be searched… just in case…”
“It’s okay. We don’t have all the facts yet. McGaven and Hamilton are going to begin working on it. Apparently, your uncle put in for a couple of PTO days and he’s supposed to be back tomorrow. But in the meantime…”
Katie shed her blanket and jumped down from the ambulance.
“Katie, wait,” said John as he caught her. “Try to relax. We’ll let you know everything as we go. We don’t know for sure if he’s missing—he took two days of personal time. There’s probably a logical explanation.”
