No Time for Goodbye

by Marion Myles

  With the decision made, she rushed through her morning bathroom routine, throwing on a pair of jeans and a tee and feeding the dogs before booting up her computer. She started a search for lakes in the area, quickly discarding two before hitting on one that looked similar to what she’d seen in the vision.

  Crawford Lake. The same one where the Mancini cottage was located. She wasn’t sure how far into the woods to estimate for the gravesite, but there was only one section that didn’t have a road immediately along the shoreline. Moving her mouse over that portion of trees, she zoomed in but couldn’t find anything else to aid in the search.

  “Who wants to go for a ride?” she asked the dogs.

  They must have sensed the excitement in her tone because the entire pack rushed over to the table, rubbing and banging against one another while they vied for her attention. She grabbed a couple of water bottles from the fridge. As an afterthought, she picked an apple from the fruit bowl. Then she and the dogs piled into her Escape and hit the road.

  Mia tried not to speed, but adrenaline was making everything around her seem slow and syrupy. Part of her was terrified she wouldn’t be able to find the spot, and another part of her dreaded discovering the burial place. How would Molly and Frank react?

  And what about the killer, she suddenly wondered? How would he take the unearthing of his heinous crime? A chill hit her square in the chest making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Mac leaned around the seat and licked her cheek.

  “I know, buddy, but we have to try and find her,” Mia said.

  She passed by the Mancini cottage, noting the family car in the driveway along with two others. But of course, it had only been yesterday she was there. Between the…thing…with Roman and the vision, time seemed distorted, and it felt like days ago she’d attended the barbeque.

  Driving carefully now since the road was narrow and full of twists and turns, she made her way around the lake to the far side. A tiny parking area, empty of cars, marked the entrance to the national forest.

  Hopping out and opening the back door, she called the dogs, not bothering with leashes. It was early yet, and the path at the entrance looked unused. She doubted there would be much pedestrian traffic. Layla yipped with delight and raced ahead bringing Tucker with her while Mac and Fifi kept pace with Mia.

  She walked for hours. With the vision firmly in her mind, she’d thought it was going to be so easy. She could see the formation of trees around the grave and the slight downhill approach to the site. The reality, though, was that all the trees looked familiar, and there were plenty of downward slopes. None of them seemed right.

  When she pushed through a thicket of leaves and realized she’d reached the lake, yet again, she exhaled and sank to the ground. Fifi, looking quite bedraggled with twigs and burrs and various other debris caught in her fluffy coat, crawled into Mia’s lap and sighed.

  Maybe this was a fool’s errand, she thought, carefully freeing the trapped hair from around a particularly entrenched burr behind the little dog’s ear. Should she call someone now or give up and go home? Sooner or later she’d surely get another flash of Anita’s final resting spot, and maybe when it happened again, there’d be enough detail to actually lead her to the place.

  She was tired and the dogs, while still apparently game enough, had started sending questioning looks her way as though wondering if their pack leader had lost her mind.

  “I probably have lost my mind,” she muttered, rubbing Fifi’s back until the dog writhed in ecstasy. “Come on, let’s find our way out of here and go home. I’m hungry enough to eat bark off a tree.”

  She had a general sense of where the road was but wasn’t sure how far along the entrance to the trail lay. Deciding to shoot for the middle of the area, she pushed her tired legs up a rise. Ducking under a branch, she crested the hill.

  Mac whined and pressed against her thigh. Mia stumbled and was forced to reach out and steady herself against the nearest tree trunk. Her body tingled. Tiny sparks of electricity raced up and down her spine. Details from her vision flashed into sharp focus in her mind. She knew this tree. Running her hand up, she found the carvings. Hearts enclosing initials.

  Spinning, she surveyed the ground beyond. It was barely more than a clearing, but she knew now. This was the place she’d seen. It was mostly free of trees and covered with a blanket of brilliantly green ferns. Treading gently, she walked several feet to the left and knelt down, her dogs gathering around her. She was a hundred percent certain…knew it deep in her bones. Anita was buried right beneath her.

  Bowing her head, tears poured from her eyes, dripping off her chin and falling to the earth below.

  * * *

  Roman walked back to the police station after being out on a call with Kevin. He dug a quarter out of his pocket.

  “Heads, I take the paperwork. Tails, you do it,” he said.

  Kevin crossed his arms over his chest. “Nope, I did it last time. You’re up, buddy boy.”

  “You did it last time because you lost the flip.”

  “Okay fine, but I’m going with heads,” Kevin said.

  Roman tossed the coin and watched it fall to Kevin’s desk before raising his fist. “Heads it is, you shouldn’t have switched. Loser, loser,” he chanted in Kevin’s face

  “You can be such a jackass sometimes, but at least you’ve finally found something to smile about.”

  “We’re cops. We don’t smile.”

  “Yeah, sure, but while you weren’t smiling, you were grumpy as hell.”

  Roman rubbed his hand across his head. “I didn’t have the best night.”

  “Anything you want to talk about?”

  He gave Kevin a withering look. “We’re cops, and we’re guys. We don’t talk.”

  Checking his watch Roman realized he was off duty as of right now. He went to his office to collect keys and wallet. When the phone rang, he snatched it up. “Mancini,” he said automatically.

  “It’s Mia. I need you to come meet me.”

  Though his heart clutched, his voice stayed calm. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

  He heard her drag in a breath. “It’s Anita. I’ve found her grave. I’m in the Crawford Lake National Forest. I can bring you to the exact spot.”

  * * *

  He found her sitting in her car with the seat tipped back and the two smallest dogs sprawled across her. The Doberman and golden lab mix popped up from the back seat when he approached, one full of distrust and the other wagging an enthusiastic greeting. He pulled open Mia’s door while she pushed the little dogs to the passenger seat.

  “What’s the story?” he asked. “I’m assuming it was another vision or something?”

  “Yes, in a dream this time. I’ll show you,” she said, sliding out. “Come on, guys, let’s go.”

  He followed her down the path at the edge of the parking lot. The dogs trooped along with her, occasionally darting away and then back. For the most part, they all walked quietly, almost somberly. The trek made Roman’s stomach clench.

  Soon Mia steered him deeper into the forest, weaving and dodging branches, all the while keeping her silence. Bits of leaves were stuck in her hair. The bottoms of her jeans and shoes were covered with a layer of dirt. The dogs, too, were also looking very grubby.

  By the time they had been walking for several minutes, he was at the point of asking some of the questions swirling around in his mind, but he noticed her shoulders stiffen and saw the Doberman press in against her leg and tip his head up at her.

  “We’re almost there,” she said, glancing back at him briefly.

  She stopped beside a huge oak tree, her hand resting on the trunk and turning, pointed at the ground ten feet away.

  “Are you positive?” Roman asked. “How did you even find this place?”

  Saying nothing, she took his hand and placed it on the tree until he felt the carved letters. He gasped and stared at it in wonder.

  “We used to come here when we wer
e in high school,” he said. “It’s called Sweetheart’s Clearing. If you were a guy and you’d been going out with a girl for a bit, you brought her here and carved your initials on the tree. When she got all gooey over it, you had a decent chance of getting lucky.”

  Stepping around her, he circled the tree. “There.” He pointed to a large heart with RM plus PN in the center. “I brought Penny Norris out here as soon as I got my driver’s license. We dated in eleventh grade, and I wanted her more than my next breath. Man, I’d forgotten all about this place.”

  He walked around the enormous tree, stopping when he came back to where Mia stood.

  “I saw this tree in my vision,” she said. “I’ve been searching the forest since early this morning. Maybe I should have called you first, but I wanted to be sure.”

  “If you’d called me, I could have saved you most of that walking.” He turned and looked across to the patch of ferns. “You really think someone buried Anita here?”

  “Yes, I do,” she said simply. “She’s right here. I’m sure of it.”

  She walked over and knelt down by the far edge of the area. He stared across at her and noted the dogs were arranged around as though in support. Her head was bowed, and Mac licked her hand. She looked exhausted, but more than that, she appeared sad and defeated.

  “I believe you,” he said.

  * * *

  They didn’t start digging until two days later. Roman decided to independently contact a GPR company before bringing the Dalton police into the mix. After the last time at Carlton Park and all the expense, he wanted to have unassailable proof there was something worth investigating before talking to his boss.

  He called Mia when he got the report from the company.

  “The ground-penetrating radar found evidence of skeletal remains,” he told her. “My lieutenant is taking over the investigation. They’re going to send a team out at first light.”

  “That’s good,” she said. “Except why were you taken off the case?”

  “I’m not off entirely…just not in charge. We want this to be strictly by the book. If this really is Anita, it could be said I don’t have enough objectivity, but you can bet I’ll be there every step of the way. I’ll call you when we know more.” He paused and sighed. “I’d like to say thanks, but I guess it’s a weird thing to thank someone for.”

  “That’s okay, I know what you mean. I’m really sorry about Anita,” she said softly.

  Because each layer of soil had to be excavated with care and screened for forensic evidence, it took until the next afternoon before they reached the bones. They unearthed a ring he immediately recognized as the one his parents had given to Anita for her sixteenth birthday along with ragged pieces of fabric that matched the color of the clothing she’d been wearing the night she’d disappeared. There was also a second ring that Roman had never seen before. A square-cut emerald on a gold band. No sign of the silver heart bracelet anywhere. When the dirt was gently brushed away from the intact skeleton, Roman knew he was staring down at his sister.

  Despite how calmly he’d explained it to Mia and his family, he’d been furious when Lieutenant Schmidt had taken over. Now, he understood entirely. He kept his face blank, his voice steady, but inside waves of emotion battered him mercilessly.

  He’d always imagined being the one to find her. That had been the driving force for entering the police academy in the first place. But now when faced with this reality, all he wanted to do was walk out of the forest, get in his car, and drive away without looking back. His mom and dad were going to be gutted because no matter what anyone said, Anita wasn’t really dead to them. Now she would be.

  “Mancini, take the bagged evidence to the station for processing. I’m sending Latterly to bring your family in. We need documented statements from them on everything we’ve found so far. Forensics will be running DNA, but you know it’ll take days to get it back. We should be able to do dental matching by tomorrow, so we could have a positive ID by then.”

  “Okay,” Roman said.

  Schmidt called after him. “We’ll be bringing Miss Reeves in tonight for questioning. You and Latterly can observe. I don’t want you contacting her before then, understood?”

  Roman nodded once before turning and striding away.

  Near the end of the day, when they were finished with the questions and paperwork, Kevin brought Roman’s parents to the office. Molly’s eyes were red-rimmed, and Frank had an ashen, haggard look to him.

  “You have to find who did this to our baby,” his mother said. Her voice was strong, and she looked him straight in the eye. “I want this person caught and punished and hopefully put to death. All my life, I’ve gone to church, tried to be a good person. If wanting this damns my soul, so be it, but we must have justice for Anita. For our baby girl.”

  His father put a hand on her arm, and she reached up and patted it once before stepping forward and squaring her shoulders. “You will do this, Roman, for our family and for everyone who loved Anita. Come, Frank. Let’s go home.”

  “I’m sorry, man,” Kevin said when they were gone. “Why don’t you take off? Go be with them.”

  “No, I’m gonna see it through. They’ve got Mia down in interview B. I might as well go observe.”

  Mia appeared small and defenseless sitting across from Lieutenant Schmidt and Cooper, another detective on the small police force. The two of them worked her hard, but she held strong, occasionally flicking her eyes to the one-way glass as though she knew Roman was standing there.

  “She’s tough,” Kevin commented.

  “Yeah. She is.”

  “Have you hit that yet?

  Roman clenched and unclenched his jaw and continued staring through the glass.

  “Come on, man. I’m your partner, and this is a murder investigation—of your sister—you know I have to ask.”

  “No, I haven’t hit that yet,” Roman said bitterly. “Any other questions about my sex life?”

  Kevin nodded once. “Nope, no questions and that’s good to hear. It’ll only make things stickier if you’re involved with Mia, and she turns out to be a suspect.”

  “She’s not.”

  “How’d she find the burial site?”

  Roman rubbed his hand across his eyes and sighed. “Okay, look. It’s not like I totally believe in all this woo-woo crap, but I’ve seen Mia do some pretty unbelievable things. She somehow knows stuff she shouldn’t.”

  “So you think it came to her in a vision?”

  “Maybe…shit, I don’t know. The whole thing is fucked to hell and back.”

  With a sigh, Roman turned back to the glass and sent up a quiet prayer of thanks that Kevin kept the silence.

  When at last the interrogation concluded, Schmidt and Cooper exited the room. A uniformed officer led Mia out to the processing area since she’d agreed to give a DNA sample. They came by where Roman and Kevin stood in the hallway.

  She stopped in front of Roman and reaching out, placed her hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”

  He smiled briefly before stepping back. Her hand fell away. “Thank you for coming in tonight. If you think of anything else pertinent to the case, please don’t hesitate to call the department.”

  “Yes, of course. I understand. I’m sorry about your sister.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The investigation into the murder of Anita Mancini was front and center in the town. Mia knew word had leaked about her finding the burial site because Brooke had called to pump her for information. She told her what she felt she could and left it at that. Not up to dealing with all the whispers and chattering in town, Mia kept to her own property.

  After working steadily through the day, finishing orders, and starting the process of setting up her greenhouse now that some of the equipment had started arriving, she settled in her sitting room, attempting to lose herself with Liam Neeson in Taken. She liked imagining what she would do in such a situation. It would be the perfect opportunity to use her abi
lities to not only free herself but make sure the bad guys faced justice.

  The driveway sensor pinged from the kitchen, and she bolted up from the couch…the dogs with her step for step. Looking out, she saw headlights approaching slowly. Who would come to her place at this time of night? It was almost ten o’clock for Pete’s sake.

  She paused the DVD and keeping to the wall, peeked through the curtains and out to the parking area. Her muscles released when she recognized Roman’s car. She hadn’t spoken to him since she’d seen him outside the interview room at the police station.

  It wasn’t hard to figure out why he’d been so stiff and formal with her. She was the one who’d found the remains of a murder victim, so she’d naturally be a person of interest. At least at first. Not only that, it wasn’t great for one of the investigating officers to have a personal relationship with her and especially when that officer was the brother of the victim.

  “Shush, no barking,” she ordered the milling dogs. “You guys, stay in.”

  She pushed through the front door and shut it firmly behind her before the dogs could weasel out. Mac, deeply aggrieved, howled in protest. “Hey, none of that,” she said through the closed door. With a grumble of a growl, he went silent.

  Outside, a car door slammed. She crossed the sunroom, and Roman met her at the base of the stairs. The security lights had activated, and he was fully lit.

  “I shouldn’t have come,” he said. “I didn’t realize how late it was until I turned onto your driveway and well, I was already here by then.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  His hand came up to his face, rubbing back and forth across his eyes. He let it fall away then shrugged and with a sigh said wearily, “I honestly don’t know.”

  He looked shattered, she realized. There was a day’s growth of stubble, and his hair was sticking out at odd angles from where he must have been running his hands through it. His eyes were heavily shadowed, but what tugged at her heart the most was the bone-weary posture.