Mariah Stewart - Last Words

“Did she get to know anyone in town, do you know?” Mia asked.

“I wouldn’t know, but really, I doubt it. She’s only been here since the middle of May, and like I said, she kept herself pretty busy.” Elise leaned against the doorjamb. “What happened to her?”

“We’re not really sure,” Beck told her, looking beyond her to the bedroom. “I guess you share a room, right? The cottage is pretty small, so I’m guessing there’s only one bedroom. Would you mind if we took a quick look around?”

Elise’s eyes darted from Beck to Mia, then back again.

“What are you looking for?” she asked.

“Anything that might help us to know Holly a little better,” Mia replied.

Elise shrugged. “I guess it would be okay. All her stuff is on the left side of the room. The right side is mine.”

Elise stepped aside to permit them to enter the bedroom, but stayed in the doorway, slumping against the molding to watch. When Mia took a plastic bag from her purse and slipped a comb into it, Elise straightened up.

“You’re taking her hair for DNA, aren’t you?” The young woman’s eyes widened. “You think she’s dead? You think she’s the girl in the plastic wrap?”

“We really don’t know,” Mia said calmly. “But we do need her DNA, yes, hopefully to rule her out.”

“I watch TV, I know about these things.” Elise’s words came in an excited rush.

“Look, Elise, let’s not jump the gun, okay? Right now, we’re just-”

“You’re looking for evidence.” It sounded like an accusation.

“We’re looking for whatever will help us find out where Holly is and what happened to her.” Once again Mia’s voice soothed. “If we knew anything for certain, I promise I’d tell you. Right now, all we know for sure is that Holly left Colorado over a week ago and hasn’t arrived here yet. Let’s just leave it at that for now, all right?”

“But there’s that girl they found in the car-”

“She hasn’t been identified yet,” Mia told her, then turned back to the room. “We’ll just be another minute, then you can have your room to yourself.”

She went past Beck to the stack of magazines that sat on the floor next to Holly’s bed. She knelt down and skimmed through the pile, which consisted mostly of food magazines, with one or two fashion magazines and the local newspaper open to the classified ads. A paperback mystery lay half under the bed.

“Any idea what she was looking for in the want ads?” Mia asked, skimming the ads. The page listed everything from ads for bait- Night crawlers our specialty! -to real estate to pets to livestock and boats.

“No.” Elise shook her head.

“Mind if we take this photo?” Beck held up the picture Elise had handed him earlier.

“Sure.” She shrugged.

“Was I supposed to ask you if you have a warrant?” Elise asked out of the blue. “They do that on TV all the time.”

“We had your permission to look around, as well as the permission of the owner,” Mia told her as she checked the paperback for a sticker with the name of the store in which it was purchased, but there was none.

She could have added that if a person is deceased, no warrant is necessary, but didn’t want to upset the roommate any more than she already was.

“If you’re finished, I have to get ready for work now,” Elise told them.

“We’re done, thanks. We appreciate your cooperation.” Beck started out of the room, then paused. “You mind if we take the newspaper?”

Elise shrugged. “Go ahead. It’s probably a couple of weeks old by now anyway.”

“Thanks, Elise.” Mia walked toward the door.

“Okay.” Elise nodded as Beck and Mia left the small sitting room and stepped outside. “I hope you find Holly.”

Mia nodded solemnly. She didn’t think the time was right to tell Elise that Holly might already have been found.

Beck was dialing his phone even before Mia turned the key in the ignition.

“Lisa. Beck.” He rested the phone on his shoulder while he strapped into the seat belt. “We have a lead on the vic that was found in my car. We think she’s Holly Sheridan, age twenty-five, summer employee out at Sinclair’s Cove. I want to give everyone the rundown at the same time, so get Duncan, Hal, and Sue in the conference room now. I should be back in about five minutes and I want to get this investigation moving as quickly as possible…”

Mia followed the lane to the main road, then turned left to drive back into St. Dennis.

“We’ll have two meetings when we get back,” Beck told her after he hung up from his call. “We’ll meet with my staff, as you just heard, then with the mayor.”

He waved to a woman passing by on a bicycle.

“I guess it’ll be three meetings,” he said as almost an afterthought.

“Who’s the third?” Mia slowed to make the turn onto Kelly’s Point Road.

“The ME.”

“Great. I want to get that tape sent out to our lab as quickly as possible. We have a tech, Jojo Kessler, who is just a genius. If anyone can make sense of the garble, she can. And I can get her to move quickly on it, too.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Jojo has a huge crush on my brother.” She smiled.

“Your brother’s in the FBI, too?”

“Actually, they all are.”

“How many are there?”

“Three.” She made a face. “Actually, two now.”

“What happened to the other one?”

“He died.”

“I’m sorry,” Beck told her.

“Don’t be.” She turned off the engine and opened the door. “No one else is.”

She got out of the car, leaving Beck seated in the front seat, momentarily stunned. By the time he followed her from the car, she’d already gone through the front door and into the building.

Beck ignored the three news vans and the reporters gathered at the door.

“No questions at this time.” He held up a hand as he passed.

“Then when?” someone asked.

“Has the body that was left in your car been identified? Is it Mindy Kenneher?”

“The only thing I can tell you right now is that it is not Mindy Kenneher.”

The reporters began to swarm.

“That’s all for now. I have a meeting and I’m already late. But as soon as I know something definite, I’ll let you all know.”

“You do know something definite, Chief,” Jenna Smith said. “You definitely know the woman that you found in the back of your car is dead, and you know she definitely was killed by the same person who killed Colleen Preston.”

Beck paused, the door partially open. “You’re right, Jenna. I do know those two things. But nothing else has been confirmed.” He walked through the door and let it close behind him.

“The phone’s been ringing off the hook,” Garland told Beck as he approached the desk. “It seems everyone in town has a friend on the EMT squad.”

“What are you telling people?” Beck stopped for a moment.

“I’m telling them you’ve been out of the office all morning and that you’ll have a statement later.”

“Good. And now that I’m back?”

“You’re in a meeting and can’t be disturbed.”

Beck slapped Garland on the back then walked away. “Those people up in Boston sure did teach you right.”

Mia was waiting inside his office when he came in. Amazing how fast she could move in those shoes …

“I’m going to grab something from the kitchen to drink. Can I get you something?” he asked.

“Anything cold would be fine, thanks,” she told him.

“Then we’ll head on in to the conference room and I’ll introduce you to my officers.” His voice trailed behind him. In a moment he was back, a can of Diet Pepsi in each hand. “This okay?” he held one up.