“I wish it were as easy as you say. Then my life would be tolerable. But it isn’t, and all the happy thoughts and memories of the past will never change the images burned in my mind. I will try, though, I promise. When Liam is—” She had almost made a slip of the tongue and said “dead” but caught herself. “Brought to justice.” Yes, that sounded better. And she really hadn’t had time to plan, to plot what she would do when she located him, and there was no doubt in her mind that she would find him, no matter what she had to do. If she went back to prison, so be it. At least she would know her children and husband’s murderer would pay for the crime he had committed against them.
At that very moment, Sam’s cell phone started to ring. “Yes?” he said.
Tessa and Jill listened to his end of the conversation.
“That’s encouraging, Lee. I’ll tell this to Tess,” Sam said, then disconnected the call. “Lee spoke with Michael Chen. He’s agreed to look at Poppy’s drawings. If this packing guy has anything to add, he’s also said he would listen to what he had to say.”
“Listening and doing something about it are two different things,” Tessa said. “It doesn’t mean he’ll do anything yet.”
“He won’t have any choice if there’s new evidence that wasn’t presented at trial,” Sam said. “Evidence of value,” he added.
“Those drawings are vital. I’ll stake my professional reputation on it,” Jill said. “Make sure and tell Lee to say so to the DA,” Jill added. She then said her good-byes, as she had to get back to her office and catch up on paperwork.
Once she’d left, Tessa and Sam sat together quietly for a few moments before Tessa said, “Thank you, Sam. I appreciate all you and Lee are doing. I just hope it’s worth all the time and effort you have put into my case. No matter what the outcome.”
“You have thanked us more than enough. We need to get down to business, get this case resolved.”
Tessa was about to respond when a knock on the sliding glass doors interrupted her.
Chapter 16
“What did you find?” Tessa asked, after letting Harry inside. Her tone was doubtful.
“A bone,” Harry said. “I believe it’s the proximal phalange, the bone closest to the hand. Index finger from the looks of it. The pristine condition surprised me. Florida’s heat, though that’s not always a consideration with bones. But still, one has to take the elements into account.”
“Give me your unofficial report,” Sam said.
“In layman’s terms, I’d say the finger was sliced off. The bone is sharp, sliced clean where it shouldn’t be. There is no sign of a break. It belonged to a fairly young person. Most likely a male.”
“What does this mean?” Tessa asked Harry.
“We don’t know yet, but we’re working on it. We’ll extract DNA from that bone and possibly we can find out who it belonged to, decide if it’s relevant to your case.”
“What is that supposed to mean? You don’t think this is an important find?” Tessa asked.
“It’s very important,” Harry replied. “The only problem is matching the DNA. It could be some random find. A fisherman whacks off his finger cleaning a fish. The finger winds up in the soil, through who knows by what means, and we have found it. A drug dealer in a speedboat tosses out a finger he’s removed from a rat, and, hoping to hide all traces, it winds up here.”
“It’s a good find, Tess,” said Sam, “but only if we can match it to someone in your family, which we know isn’t going to happen since Lara has all of her fingers, and Harry said it was most likely from a male.”
“Why wasn’t this discovered before?” Tessa asked. “I don’t get it.”
“I don’t know, Tess,” Sam said. “As soon as Harry examines them, we’ll know how long they have been here. It’s more good news, Tess. A finger is one thing, but several bones, that’s a whole different ball game.”
“We have to have a match, right? I’d like to know where to start,” she said.
Sam seemed to consider her question. “Family first. I’m going to have Lee call Rachelle,” Sam told her. “Excuse me.”
“I have to head out as well,” Harry said, “and head back to the lab.”
Tessa waited a moment after both men had departed before she called Jill to fill her in on these latest developments.
“You think she knows more than she testified to during the trial?” Jill asked once Tessa had explained everything.
Tessa nodded. “Darned right I do. There is no way in hell she would sit idly by, waiting all these years, without knowledge of his whereabouts. He’s her only son. She’s well financed, he’s well financed. Enough to take care of him for the rest of his life. That old saying ‘money talks and bullshit walks’ would apply to the two of them. I never knew her well, but I did know, according
