by Elle Gray
She made her way through the long hallways of the lab with a sense of purpose. She had a good feeling about what she was about to discover. When she made it to the Trace Evidence Unit, she found their resident Evidence Analyst, Joanna Chu, examining something under a microscope.
“Come in, Olivia, come in,” she said without looking up. Her dark hair was scraped back in a ponytail that was so tight it looked painful. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”
“I hope you have some good news for me,” Olivia said wearily, trying not to touch anything. She didn’t want to contaminate anything.
“Well, I’m not sure I can tell you anything of too much interest... but I don’t know the case you’re working on. We’ll see.”
A minute of silence passed before Joanna stood up straight and crossed the room, beckoning for Olivia to follow her. She watched as Joanna changed her plastic gloves and then lifted out the familiar plastic folder containing the evidence.
“No fingerprints anywhere, I’m afraid,” Joanna started. “So if you’re looking for that, then I have to disappoint you. But there might be a few things of interest. I’ll start with the hair. I ran the DNA but we don’t have any kind of match in our system. It’s female. I wasn’t able to extract much more information from it because there are no hair follicles to work with. So in other words, someone cut this hair off deliberately, not at the root. But judging by the band tying the hair together, it’s pretty old. The band is a little grubby, like someone has been handling it a lot. My guess is someone took it out a lot and stroked the hair. I don’t know why else someone would have it, to be honest. But as I said, I wasn’t able to lift a fingerprint from anything in the wallet or the wallet itself, so I’m just speculating.”
Olivia nodded. “Okay... well, I guess that could be useful. If this belongs to the kidnapper I’m investigating, perhaps it’s a keepsake from a victim.”
Joanna shrugged. “Maybe. But to me, this whole wallet just looks like some kind of time capsule. What makes you think it’s connected to a case?”
“I don’t know... it’s just a feeling.”
Joanna raised her perfect, thin eyebrow as though to say ‘you’re wasting my precious time over a feeling?’ Even so, she turned back to the plastic folder, lifting the doll carefully out as though she was concerned that it might fall apart.
“I tried my best with the doll. I really thought I’d be able to get something from it, but the material is coarse, which makes it harder for me to lift any fingerprints from it. I checked for any manufacturer on the doll too, but I think it’s obvious it’s handmade, which means I can’t check where it came from. But the toy is pretty old, I’d say fifty or sixty years old. It’s obviously well-loved, or maybe just a bit beat up, but if someone was keeping it with hair and teeth that it might have been passed on through several generations. I don’t know, but it seems like a strange thing to keep in a tree, right?”
“I mean, anything is a strange thing to keep in a tree,” Olivia pointed out. “What about the teeth?”
“The teeth were definitely the most useful thing I looked at,” Joanna said, pointing at the pouch inside the wallet. “As I’m sure you figured out, they were baby teeth, but the interesting thing is that they’re pretty old. I think they’re in the region of twenty years old, and there’s no sign to suggest that they were extracted, so they likely just fell out naturally like with any child. And I ran their DNA and confirmed they’re from the same person as the hair. So if this is related to your case, perhaps you’re looking for someone who is now a twenty-year-old, or someone who has a twenty-year-old daughter…”
Olivia pondered on that for a moment. She thought about what all of the items could mean if they were related to the case. The items were very personal things to keep, but she knew that many killers often kept mementos from their murder victims. She wondered if perhaps she was looking at the baby teeth of one of the victims of the kidnappings—or possibly another victim from long ago. If the teeth were twenty years old, then none of the three girls were old enough for the teeth to belong to them. In any case, she’d provided the lab with DNA samples for all three victims and it hadn’t been a match—meaning there was possibly a fourth victim out there. But certainly, she would have heard about it by now if another blonde teenage girl from the area had gone missing in the last few years.
So what else might be a possibility? Did the kidnapper have a daughter? That would make a lot of sense. Perhaps the kidnapper was preying on children similar to their daughter. She thought about the age of the girls. If the teeth were twenty years old, but the girls were at least five years younger, what did that tell her?
“Maybe the kidnapper lost their child,” she mused aloud. “Five years ago, maybe, to account for the age gap in the teeth and the children who are going missing. They’re searching for someone to replace their daughter, to make it seem like they still have them. Their daughter was a teenager when she died... so they’re looking for a young girl, around fourteen or fifteen, who can pick up where their daughter left off.”
Joanna wrinkled her nose. “That seems pretty dark.”
“Something pretty dark has to happen to you to make you want to kidnap a child, right? Maybe I need to be looking for someone in the area who has lost a daughter,” Olivia continued. Joanna put the wallet down and folded her arms.
“Okay, so you’ve got a theory. But do you have anything to prove it? Anything to link this to the case you’re working at all? Because if not, I don’t know how much further you can push this. There’s only so far you can go on a hunch, Olivia.”
Olivia didn’t respond. She knew that Joanna was right, but she was getting desperate. She’d already heard from Maggie on her way to Quantico that nothing of use had been found in the house, just as they expected. She knew that the girls Brock was interviewing wouldn’t be much help since they didn’t actually witness anything from the previous night. She needed a breakthrough in the lab. She was convinced it was the one thing that was going to save the case. But it wasn’t looking hopeful anymore.
“I don’t have anything to connect the evidence to the case yet,” Olivia admitted quietly. “But I’ll find something.”
Joanna looked at Olivia with pity in her eyes. “Is this the hill you want to die on, Olivia? A scruffy old doll and some ancient baby teeth? There must be something else you can work with.”
“You’d think so,” Olivia said, laughing without humor. “But we’re struggling. That’s why I really need this to be useful. The kidnapper might not have taken these things from one of their victims, but if these things do belong to them... then it could tell us a lot. We might be able to build some kind of idea of the person we’re looking for.”
“Look, I know how dedicated you guys can get to your cases, but I just don’t think you could catch a perp with something from this in a million years. If there’s no evidence, there’s no evidence. It’s like trying to catch a ghost.”
“I’m not giving up,” Olivia replied firmly. “Not yet, at least. Is there anything else at all you can tell me? What about the plastic envelope itself? Can you tell how long it was out in the forest for?”
“I’m not a magician, Olivia,” Joanna sighed impatiently. “It doesn’t look very weather-worn, but it was inside a tree, for goodness’ sake.”
“But there must be—”
“Olivia, I like you a lot, I really do, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. You can come back to me any time if you find something connected to the case, but I’ve spent enough time on this already. I have to analyze evidence from an actual murder scene today. I can’t help you with this.”
Olivia nodded, feeling like her heart was an anchor dragging her down to unknown depths. Joanna held out the plastic folder and Olivia donned gloves to take it off her. Joanna had a pitying look on her face again.
“I’m sorry, Olivia. I’m a little stressed today. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine. You’re not the only one,” Olivi
a mumbled as she headed for the door. “Thanks for your help, Joanna.”
She was gone before Joanna could say anything further. She couldn’t believe she’d hit yet another wall. If Joanna was telling her as an outsider that her case was about to crumble, then maybe she should just believe that. But she didn’t want to believe that this was it. She kept tossing her theory around in her head about the parent who’d lost a child. Did she have any evidence to back up the theory? Possibly not. But she also had nothing else. No new leads, no way to get new information. Maybe she’d just have to accept that she was going to have to work on theories instead of hard facts.
On the drive back to Belle Grove, an idea popped into her head. She decided to try calling Paxton’s friend in the Seattle FBI field office, Blake Wilder. Paxton had recommended her highly, and though she hadn’t yet had any evidence to give Olivia, it was nice to make contact with other agents across the country.
She pulled up Blake’s number and called. But Blake didn’t greet her—she was met at first by the sound of chattering conversation and laughter in the background.
“Hello?” Olivia asked.
“—what I’ve been saying!”
“I can’t believe—”
“—oh my god, shut up, Rick! Wilder here.”
“Hi, Blake. This is Olivia Knight, I’m with the Bureau down in rural Virginia. Paxton’s, ah…” she paused, “…friend. We’ve been talking about the Amelia Barnes case?”
“Hi, Olivia. Yeah, I’ve been looking into it, but unfortunately, I haven’t found really anything to give you,” Blake said. “It’s kind of ridiculous, honestly.”
Olivia let out a deep sigh. “We’ve got two more cases down here in identical circumstances. Kidnapped fifteen-year-old blonde girls with no evidence to be found. I still can’t understand why the first victim was from Seattle.”
“I really wish I could help, but your guess is as good as mine right now,” Blake offered. “I searched the crime scene myself and couldn’t find a thing.”
“Thank you. This case is just driving me up the wall.”
“Believe me, I get it,” Blake said. “I’ve had a few of those impossible cases myself. The only advice I can really give is to trust your instincts. You made it through the Academy for a reason, you made it this far for a reason. It may take some time, but you’ll figure it out.”
“Thanks, Blake.”
“Anytime. Good luck on this one.”
The clamor of voices called Blake back to her team, and they said quick goodbyes and hung up. Yet another dead end. The lost daughter theory was starting to look better and better.
As she got closer to town, she wondered what to tell Brock. She wanted to give him good news, but she wasn’t sure how he’d react to her baseless theories. Still, it was better than telling him nothing at all. She decided that she’d bounce ideas off him and see if he agreed with her ideas. They had very little else they could do without any evidence, anyway.
After going back and forth for several minutes, she decided just to call him. He picked up right away and she put him on speakerphone.
“Hey, Knight.”
“Brock. Did you find anything useful?”
“Not really. The kids from the sleepover were pretty incoherent. None of them heard Hayleigh in the night, or the sound of any doors opening or closing. In fact, it seems like they just slept through the whole thing.”
“Great,” Olivia muttered. She suddenly felt very tired. But she couldn’t allow herself to lose momentum. She chewed her lip for a moment, pondering how much to tell Brock, before deciding to dive in at the deep end.
“I’ve got a theory. Some of the stuff that Joanna told me at the lab got me thinking. I was thinking I’d run it by you and see what you think.”
“You have a lead?”
“Don’t get too excited. I don’t know whether I’m just clutching at straws again. But I thought I’d share my thoughts with you anyway.”
“Well, I for one can’t wait to hear what you’ve got to say. Let’s go to that diner in town. I could use a burger.”
Olivia pulled into the parking lot of the one diner in town. She had yet to visit there, finding that it was mostly filled to the brim with regulars and teenagers too young to go to the bar. But it was the middle of the day and when she walked inside, the lunchtime rush had been replaced by just Brock. He was sitting at a booth alone, looking a little lost. Olivia slid into the booth opposite him.
“Not much atmosphere, huh?” he murmured to her, looking around him. A waitress in a bright red apron came over to tend to them, clearly having overheard.
“It’s all these disappearances,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Parents are scared to let their kids out, even in broad daylight. The sooner they catch the person doing this, the sooner we can all go back to our lives.”
Olivia didn’t mention that they were the ones supposed to be catching the culprit. Brock scanned the menu.
“Can I get a triple cheese and bacon burger with sweet potato fries? Actually, scrap that, can I have both types of fries? And a strawberry milkshake? Thanks.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She took a quick look at the menu, but she was so pumped that she could barely read the plastic sheet. “Um... just a black coffee and some mozzarella sticks, please.”
“Oh, make that two portions,” Brock added, leaning back in his chair. As the waitress left the table, Olivia stared at him. He frowned.
“What? It’s brain food.”
“You’ll never eat all that.”
“Just watch me,” Brock grinned, puffing out his chest seemingly in pride. “Besides, you’re the one who needs to do all the talking. I’ll just stuff my face while you tell me what went down.”
Olivia began to explain what she’d discovered at the lab with Joanna, trying not to miss any details. She paused when the waitress brought over their food in record time, and then continued to say her thoughts as Brock ate. He was halfway through the burger and fries when she finished talking.
“Let me get this straight,” he managed through a mouthful of what looked like half the burger in one colossal bite. He swallowed it and washed it out with a slurp of his milkshake. “You think that the kidnapper has lost something precious to them, so they’re trying to replace it with the next best thing, pretending like their life hasn’t gone down the pan. And you got all of that... from some old teeth?”
Olivia nodded anxiously. She couldn’t tell whether he thought she was crazy or not. But after a moment, he smiled at her.
“I think that’s genius. And I also think it’s all we’ve got. Let’s see if we can find anything to strengthen the theory. Maybe you’re on to something, Olivia.”
“What if I’m not?” Olivia asked quietly. Brock shrugged.
“Well, what do we have to lose?”
Eighteen
Olivia and Brock were just finishing up at the diner when Olivia got a call from Jonathan James. Her phone buzzed on the table in front of her, his name lighting up the middle of the screen. Brock raised his eyebrow at the phone.
“Let me guess, he wants you back on Sophia’s case. You think he’ll apologize for taking you off it?”
“Not a chance,” Olivia commented as she picked up the phone. “Knight.”
“Knight,” Jonathan started in his blunt manner. “I need you to continue looking at Sophia’s case alongside Amelia’s. Now that a third girl has gone missing, we can certainly establish a pattern.”
“We certainly can,” Olivia replied coolly, feeling a little irritated. They’d lost days on the case because of his decisions. She understood why he’d taken them off the case, but it didn’t make it any less frustrating for her.
“You and Tanner are doing a good job. Keep it up and report to me if you find anything of interest. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.”
The call ended as quickly as it had started. Olivia glanced up at Brock, who was slurping up the last of his milkshake with
a knowing smirk.
“Was I right?”
“Pretty spot on, actually.”
Brock rolled his eyes. “I knew it. Jonathan is a nightmare. He always wants to do everything by the book. He has no imagination. Imagine if you tried to tell him the theory you’ve come up with today... he’d stamp it out in no time.”
“Well, imagination can be dangerous in this job,” Olivia pointed out. “We’re looking for hard evidence and facts, not a good story to tell ourselves. But you’re right, he doesn’t have an open mind. He likes things done a certain way.”
“I like my steak medium-rare, but if I have a steak in front of me, I eat it no matter what. Steak is steak, theories are theories. You might be onto something with your theory, but he’ll never support it because it’s not done how he’s used to it.”
“How can you even think about steak after the meal you just ate? I’m already bursting at the seams just looking at you.”
“I told you, it’s brain food. And now, I’m ready to solve this case. Let’s go.”
Brock and Olivia paid their bill and headed out to Olivia’s car. She drummed her fingers on the window of the driver’s side.
“I was thinking the other night... Amelia walked a pretty long way to get to the cabin, most likely. She was on her last legs by the time she arrived, so it looks like she really wore herself out. Which makes sense, considering she’s not from this area. I’m wondering if we should check out the neighboring towns, see if anyone there has seen or heard anything that might be useful? If there aren’t any buildings out in the forest, it might be a good bet.”
“Good thinking. Let’s go and check it out.”
Brock continued to complain about Jonathan the entire drive over to Pine Woods. She half-listened as they drove along the road connecting the two towns, the forest thick and dark the entire way. The further out of Belle Grove they got, the thicker the trees seemed to converge, casting shadows in their midst. It seemed crazy to Olivia that Amelia had made it through on her own. The trees stretched for miles in every direction and were so wild, Olivia wouldn’t be surprised if a grown adult could get lost forever in the trees.