Page 78 of Lost Cause
“Doesn’t it?” Kelsey chuckled. “But I assure you the drone works. If I didn’t have it, I could pass by a clandestine body and not realize it’s there. In fact, the drone doubles my chance of finding one.”
He wanted to know more. “So would an explanation of how it technically works be above my head?”
“I don’t know you well enough to say that.” She grinned.
He laughed as did Abby. It impressed him that a person who found and unearthed victims for a living could have a positive attitude on anything.
“But seriously,” she said. “When bodies decay, they release carbon and nitrogen that first kill plants, then fertilize the soil. The change alters light reflection, which near-infrared drones detect, and I confirm with ground-penetrating radar.”
“Wow!” Burke had to work hard not to shake his head. “Impressive.”
“I agree,” she said. “Not because it’s somethingIdo, but because researchers figured it all out for me. I can process not only this whole area today, but if we don’t find anything here, I can complete other areas of the property before the day is out.”
“Then we’ll step back and let you get to it.” For the first time in this investigation, Burke was filled with a solid hope. This one based on forensic science, which rarely let them down.
20
Although Kelsey’s process was faster than ground penetrating radar alone, Abby wanted the process to go even faster. After taking a few minutes to say hello to Coop, who was at the helicopter dealing with some sort of mechanical issue, she’d stood next to Burke for nearly an hour. The tension between them was even more pronounced after the kiss last night, and each moment Abby hoped Kelsey would call them over with a hit. No such luck, and she was running out of lichen area to search, but Abby wouldn’t lose hope.
At least Burke finally stepped away to make phone calls, one to ask his sheriff to apply for a warrant to search Dr. Shore’s house to look for the lichen.
The ferry horn sounded from below, cutting through the quiet and drawing Abby’s attention. Sam and her assistant should be arriving on this trip to finish processing the mansion’s interior. Once finished, they would head back to her lab and start sorting through all of the recovered fingerprints.
Unless Kelsey located a body. Then Sam’s full attention would be on the grave.
Gabe strode up the hill toward her. Burke was hot on Gabe’s heels. Gabe’s determined stride and the journal clutched in his hand seemed to indicate he’d located something of interest.
She went to meet them. “Did you find something?”
“He did,” Burke said. “But he wouldn’t share it unless you were with us.”
She wanted to smile over her teammate’s loyalty, despite Burke’s frustrated tone, but she didn’t want to irritate him more. “So spill, Gabe.”
“Read this.” He opened the journal and pointed to the bottom of the right-hand page.
She leaned closer, and Burke came to stand behind her, and together they studied the page.
“Whoa!” He jerked back. “Estelle reallywashaving an affair.”
“Not simply an affair,” Gabe said. “But one with Victor’s brother.”
Abby’s heart raced as she skimmed ahead in the reading. “And she was pregnant and planning to run.”
“She didn’t want Victor to know about the baby,” Burke said. “She was going off somewhere to have it on her own.”
“What I don’t get,” Gabe said. “If Vincent was the father, why go off on her own? Why not stay with him?”
“Doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t match what Sylvia said about Estelle needing money for the ‘finer things of life.’ Unless…” An idea hit Abby. “Unless she somehow embezzled money from Victor all along.”
“We need financial records from the day they got married until she disappeared,” Burke said.
Abby agreed, “We can ask Victor for them, but what’s the likelihood he’ll have the files readily available?”
Gabe shrugged. “We can hope records for part of their marriage are computerized, but accounting software was just introduced for home computers in the early eighties.”
“Victor an early adopter of computers? Not likely.” Burke scowled. “But if he uses an accountant, the accountant might’ve been.”
“We should definitely ask.” Abby jotted in her notepad to follow up.
