bringing her to life. And then he took in her smile. He would recognize those teeth anywhere.
Ben was saying, ‘Kate was very bright. A bright, beautiful . . . good girl.’
Lockwood said, ‘All of that is very clear to us, Mr Alston. I hope you understand that.’
Linda had more to say. ‘Mr Houston, how did she end up out here?’
Scott knew from Steelie’s phone message that if he said nothing else to the Alstons, he had to answer this question. He had been going over it with Eric the night before at the hotel, each trying to put the known facts into more palatable terms, and failing. Eric had finally said, ‘It won’t be the words you use, it’ll be the way you say them.’
Scott glanced at Lockwood, who was looking back at him while reclined in his chair, his mouth obscured by his fingers, which were interlocked in a steeple. As Scott turned to the Alstons he played in his mind the visit to Spicer in the holding cell the evening before.
The words that Scott would use to tell the Alstons this story were censored by his law enforcement training, which protected the future prosecution of Wayne Spicer and were informed by his sense of what the Alstons’ image should be of their daughter’s last moments. He tried to soften the edge of every word.
‘Mrs Alston, the person who abducted your daughter was wearing a replica of a police officer’s uniform when he approached her sitting in her broken-down car on the shoulder of the Hollywood Freeway. It was by showing her what looked like a real police badge that he was able to get her to leave her own vehicle. He’s kept her body with him since that time.’
Scott suddenly realized that although Ben Alston had remained motionless, tears were streaming down his face. He did not wipe them away but kept one hand gripped around his wife’s shoulder and the other on her arm.
Linda Alston smiled, her eyes bright and fixed somewhere behind Scott. ‘Kate always minded people in authority.’ She patted Ben’s knee as she wiped her eyes quickly with a tissue she pulled from under her watchstrap. ‘She did what I would have done.’ Her voice caught on the last word and her hand flew to her mouth, the tissue only half covering the pain hidden behind it. A muffled, ‘Oh, God’ escaped and she collapsed against her husband, who tilted his face down into her hair. The photo of Kate smiled back at them from where it lay in Linda’s lap.
Scott felt as though the Alstons were radiating a sorrow so raw that it was palpable. He found himself swallowing several times and looked back at Lockwood, who nodded at him slowly. Scott realized he’d just passed some kind of test and knew he’d underestimated Cliff Lockwood. He needed to leave. He returned Lockwood’s nod and walked out, not stopping until he was beyond the front doors of the Medical Examiner’s Office. Immediately, he was assaulted by midday heat and a blare of nearby ambulance sirens. The morgue was next to the hospital, not the police station and its yellow holding cells. He had lied to Wayne Spicer on that point.
Dr Bodell interrupted the story she was telling Jayne and Steelie to introduce two colleagues who were emerging from the autopsy suite. One of the men said, ‘I understand you had a role in this freezer case?’ He nodded back to the suite, where a technician was rolling Kate Alston’s bagged body on a trolley back to the refrigerated storage room, now that her parents had finished their viewing.
‘It looks like the full dental profile we managed to get added to the misper file helped with the ID,’ Jayne said.
Steelie gestured at Bodell. ‘If it wasn’t for the dental worksheet Liz made for us last year, we wouldn’t have even known how to code half the synthetic restorations for NCIC.’
Dr Bodell turned to her colleague. ‘They’re too modest.’
He smiled faintly, assessing Steelie. ‘Well, it’s good to meet you.’ He looked at Dr Bodell. ‘Lunch, Elizabeth?’
She nodded and said, ‘I’ll catch up with you, Hal.’ She motioned for Steelie and Jayne to head for the rear exit doors.
When the three of them reached the bay where two body recovery vans were parked, Steelie leaned into Dr Bodell and whispered, ‘Is there something we should know,
Dr Bodell smiled but ushered her on. ‘Go on around front. Your clients will be needing you. Jayne, come back to visit again soon. You needn’t bring Steelie and her innuendos.’
As Jayne and Steelie rounded the building, Steelie said, ‘That makes me sound like I’m part of a band. Steelie and The Innuendos. But what would we play?’
‘Something heavy-handed,’ Jayne said as they took up a position under the mesquite trees casting dappled shade at the front of the building. Only their reflection was visible in the tinted double doors that led into this side of the structure, where relatives of the dead came and went. The reflection showed someone emerging from a car behind them and then a voice called out their names. They turned around to see Scott next to a Suburban one row back in the parking lot.
Going toward him, Jayne said, ‘Scott? What are you doing here?’
His mouth was a grim line. ‘The Alston case.’ He looked at Steelie. ‘I got your message. They’re in there with the MI now.’
‘Thanks for arranging that,’ Steelie replied.
‘I didn’t do anything.’ His tone was sharp. He wiped a hand over his face. ‘Sorry. Are you escorting them?’
Jayne nodded.
‘Good. Well, I’ve got to get on the road. Eric’s already in LA.’ He gave a lopsided smile. ‘It’s nice to see you guys.’
As he turned away, Steelie nudged Jayne while calling after Scott. ‘Um, Scott? Do you mind taking Jayne with you?’
He turned back and looked at Jayne. ‘No. Why?’
‘Because I . . .’ Jayne looked questioningly at Steelie.
‘Because of the turbulence,’ Steelie said. ‘It was a bad flight out and you said you’d prefer to drive back if you could.’ She turned to Scott. ‘She was ready to get a rental car, so this would be perfect.’
Scott appeared to accept the explanation and went to move something from the passenger seat of his vehicle.
Steelie murmured to Jayne, ‘He needs back-up, Jayne, if only to keep awake. I’ll stay with Ben and Linda.’
Jayne nodded and Steelie gave her a quick hug in parting.
It took seven and a half hours of driving for the essence of the meeting with the Alstons to percolate through Scott’s consciousness and then it hit him hard.
It happened in stages. The first stage made him feel like he couldn’t breathe. As he gulped air, he hyperventilated. That was the second stage. The third stage made him think he was having a heart attack. His hands tingled where they gripped the steering wheel and his chest was tight. He felt there was a direct electrical current between his heart and his hands.
He veered wildly from the right lane on to the shoulder, spraying loose gravel before steering into the upcoming exit lane, and that’s when he became aware of Jayne calling out his name. He automatically read the exit sign as he passed under it:
On the exit ramp, he pulled sharply on to the shoulder and put the transmission into park. He didn’t turn off the engine because he felt like his breathing was getting easier, even though it was made up of deep breaths he couldn’t control. Jayne was gripping the dash and he sensed she was staring at him but he was calming slightly, sure now that he wasn’t having a heart attack. He closed his eyes in relief and that’s when he saw her: Kate Alston. Preserved in the cold stillness of the freezer. Smiling at him from the autopsy table. Living in her parents’ photograph. Her parents. Their devastation.
The sob was dry but shocked him into opening his eyes. He slammed the palms of his hands against the steering wheel and then gripped it tightly. He squeezed his eyes shut and, immediately, the same physical sensations tore through him, followed by an image of Kate Alston’s teeth, disembodied, ruthlessly exposed. He didn’t realize Jayne had opened a door until hot desert air filled the cabin with the musky scent of creosote. He opened his eyes again and saw the back of Jayne’s head, her familiar wavy hair just in front of him as she reached under his arms to turn off the engine. He couldn’t speak.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘You need to get out of there.’
