Page 69 of Night Hawk
“But I can.” Trent gave her a tight smile. “The remains are from a young girl, and they haven’t been in the wall long enough for it to be Lisa. We think we have an identity but we’re waiting on DNA to confirm.”
Clay smiled at Toni. “Good news, right?”
She nodded and let out a hissing breath, looking like she was deflating as her shoulders sank and she clutched her arms around her stomach.
The urge to hold her nearly had Clay crossing over to her, but the coffee finished, so he handed the mug to Trent. “Cream or sugar?”
“Black’s good.” Trent blew on the liquid and took a sip.
Clay started another cup brewing for himself. “What can you tell us about the graves at Rader’s place?”
Trent took a long sip of his mug. “Who said Dr. Dunbar found graves?”
“I stopped by to check on her. She had six markers and she was looking for bodies, so I put two and two together.”
Trent sighed.
“Look,” Clay said. “We’re sharing information with you. You can at least confirm the graves exist.”
“Okay, fine. Six graves were located on Rader’s property.”
“Has Kelsey begun to dig yet?” Clay asked.
Trent nodded. “And you should know, I banished your brother to the front of the property so don’t expect him to report any findings to you. I assigned a deputy to assist Kelsey.”
“Will you let us know if Lisa’s DNA is recovered?” Toni asked.
Trent nodded.
“How are you coming along with matching the photos from Rader’s garage?” Clay asked not only because he wanted to know, but for Toni’s sake, he wanted to move them away from discussing Lisa.
Trent set down his cup and rubbed his eyes. “I’ve got murder investigations for the high school and Rader. Not to mention Jason Rader’s beach house investigation. And my IT guy is stretched to the max. He’s just now starting a search on the photos. What about you?”
“Got an algorithm scraping the internet,” Erik called out from the family room, Pong’s alert expression matching Erik’s tone. “Should have something by end of day.”
“Good.” Trent took another sip of his coffee and stood. “Keep me updated on what you find.”
“You do the same.” Clay walked Trent to the door and stopped in the family room on the way back to look at his brothers. “Please tell me someone has located Nolan Wilshire.”
“I have,” Brendan said. “But you won’t like what I found.”
After a planning meeting with the team, Toni was back in the SUV with Clay, heading down a country road toward Nolan Wilshire’s secluded property. Brendan had discovered the guy had drawn a gun on the last law enforcement officer who’d visited him, and she was feeling way too vulnerable to handle a guy aiming a gun at her. The loss of her mother and father told her life was fleeting. Add to it the loss of a sister she’d never even met and probably never would. And then there was Clay. She now knew she didn’t want to lose him from her life too. But was she ready to commit to more than a passing interest?
Am I?
Irritated at the turn of her thoughts, she got out the church directory from her grandfather and started flipping through the pages, looking for anything to help with their questioning of Wilshire. The directory held names, addresses, and family photos. She paused at her grandparents’ picture and sucked in a deep breath.
“What is it?” Clay asked.
She tapped the photo. “My grandmother looks like my mom in the picture with Lisa.”
Clay nodded but didn’t say anything as he came to a stop at a red light.
She moved on. Turning past the names in alphabetical order and coming to a stop again when she saw a familiar name in the R section. “The Raders were members.”
She held out the photo of a much younger looking Fritz Rader with Jason and Ursula.
Clay glanced at it and got the car moving again. “She really was a striking woman.”
