Lost and Found: Sara Martin Series

by Danelle Helget

  “I can tell. She looks good on you,” I said leaning over and petting her head. “She’s so sweet.” I saw him smell her head, and I thought, he's perfect.

  I heard my phone, it was Joey. “Hey, the class is really small, so we'll be out early. I'm thinking we’ll be there about nine. How is she?”

  “She is doing amazing. She just woke up and a friend of mine stole her and is giving her a bottle right now,” I said, trying to sound like I wasn't crying earlier.

  “Oh, good. Thanks again for watching her. We'll see you about nine,” he said and disconnected.

  I went back over the the couch and sat by Derek, who was now gently burping her. I told him that we could go early, then sauntered into the kitchen and made some Iced-Tea. When it was ready, I brought Derek a glass.

  “Thank you. Would you like to hold the baby now?”

  “Yes, I’d like that very much.” I smiled and took her. Derek got up and went to the bathroom. When he got back, he took her away again. “Hey,” I said. “I'm the one who’s supposed to be baby sitting here.”

  “I know. I'm just helping out,” he said, with a wink and set her on his chest again. I looked at him and instantly thought that I wanted to marry him and make lots of babies with him. Then, I was reminded that I may already be pregnant. Gosh. I couldn't wait until the funeral was over and my marriage was over and the murder trial was over and I wasn't pregnant, and I could just be happy . . . and not cry everyday. I watched the game quietly next to Derek for a half hour then I stole the baby back. She, of course, didn't want to cuddle anymore. She wanted to stretch. Derek grabbed her blanket and laid it out on the floor. Faith came from out of nowhere and instantly laid on it.

  “Geez, where did she come from? I didn't know there was a kitten in the room with us.”

  “She's the other baby of the house. I think she want's some attention, too.” I said with a wink. We all ended up on the floor, Faith and Derek playing off to the side, and me and Marissa on the pink blanket. He looked over at me and smiled softly. I smiled back.

  Derek's phone rang, and he took the call in the hallway.

  He came back in and said, “The uniforms will meet us at the morgue at nine-forty-five.” I nodded and got up to fix my make-up, and touch up my hair. Then went to the bedroom to switch out my blouse for a cozy Twins sweatshirt.

  At five after nine, the buzzer hummed. I buzzed Joey and Kristin up. They both shoved past me and raced across the floor to the baby.

  “Miss her any?” I asked. I introduced them to Derek. They all shook hands and Derek told them how pretty their little girl was. They agreed and started to pack her up.

  Joey tried to hand me money. “No way. Put it in a college fund for her and call me anytime.” They loaded the stroller with all her stuff and left.

  Derek grabbed his jacket and asked, “Are you ready for this?”

  “No.”

  He walked up to me in the kitchen and put his arms around my waist. That sent heat through my body. He stood there looking at me. I got lost in his eyes. Then he took my face in his hands and kissed my forehead. “You can do this. You're a strong woman,” he said.

  I nodded, on the verge of tears, not convinced. He held my hand and said he'd drive and pulled me through the door.

  When we got to the morgue, about fifteen minutes later, there were three uniforms waiting, two of them looked familiar. We walked into the building, which was dark and quiet. Derek went first, flipping on lights. We all followed him down the hall to the back. We entered a cool, cement-block room painted bright, glossy white and had a wall of stainless steel vault drawers. I was a little taken back, it was just like in the movies. The drawers were big and had large, steel handles on them. I took a deep breath and suddenly felt faint. I must have looked faint too because one of the uniforms I recognized from the cabin reached out for me and called Derek’s name. I looked over at Derek and the room went from dim to dark.

  26

  Hey, sweetness,” Derek said in a soft, slow voice. “You fainted. Are you okay?”

  “Um, yeah,” I said trying to sit up on the floor. My heart beat was pounding so loud in my ears that I could barely hear him. “Geez, I'm sorry. It suddenly occurred to me that I was going to see a dead body, and I guess I lost it.”

  “It's okay. You don't have to do this,” Derek said, looking really concerned. “I didn't know you would be affected this much.”

  “No, it's okay. I can do it. Let’s get it over with quickly.” I stood up, with his help and took a deep breath.

  One of the cops handed me what looked like an air sickness bag and said, “Just in case,” with a wink.

  I took it, just in case, and thanked him. Derek nodded and pulled open a drawer. There was a skinny body on the table, covered with a white sheet. He pulled back the sheet, and I saw her face. I gasped. It was scratched up and her hair was really dirty and tangled and still had chunks of cement in it. The tone of her skin was a ghoulish, blue-gray. Her lips were dark blue. She looked horrible. I knew that it was her, but I had never seen her look so bad. It took me by surprise. I nodded and covered my mouth, instantly crying.

  “That's her,” I managed. “That's Lily.”

  Derek quickly pulled the sheet back over her and closed the drawer. Then he came over to me and asked if I was okay. I shook my head, crying. He walked me out the the car, helped me in the passengers seat and told me he'd be right back. He closed my door and went back into the building. I watched him through the window. He was talking to the three uniforms, and they were nodding occasionally. Then one of them smiled and said something to him, and he gave a half grin. Derek said a few sentences back and the other two smiled. One of them socked him in the arm as he turned away, flicking off the lights as they shuffled out of the room. I had a feeling that conversation had something to do with me. Derek was the last one out, he locked up the building and sat down in the car with me. The three uniforms got in the patrol car parked next to us and drove away.

  Derek patted my leg, “you did great. Thank you.”

  I just nodded.

  “What you did was hard,” he spoke softly, “and I can't imagine the emotions you must be juggling. But I want you to know, I'm proud of you. You're a real compassionate woman, Sara. And you saved her parents from having to see her like that. We'll finish the autopsy, and then they'll release her body to the caretaker at the funeral home. When she’s cleaned up and has make-up on, then we'll let her parents view her.”

  “When will you tell her parents?” I asked.

  “I need to do it right now. I can drop you off or you can come with, if you want.”

  He looked at me, and I just kept staring out the window. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at this point. I was still crying hard, and I didn't know if I wanted to be around for her parents reactions. I did want to be there for them though. It was so hard.

  “Okay, I'll go with you. Dang it, this sucks so bad. I don't know how you do it,” I said, through tears.

  “It's not easy. But you just have to. I don't usually know the victims, so it makes it a little easier, but in this case it's getting harder and harder every day.”

  I looked at him, and he continued talking while looking out the window, driving slowly. “I care about you, Sara. I don't know how or when this happened, but it has. And it's gotten hard for me to see you hurting.”

  Wow, I had no idea how to respond to that. I looked at him, and he gave me a quick glance, then back to the road. I sat there quietly thinking about how much my life had changed in such a short amount of time.

  “I care about you too,” I finally said. He looked at me, smiled, and put his hand on my leg.

  We drove in silence the rest of the way. When we pulled up to the house, it was pretty dark. There was a light on downstairs in the family room, so we knew at least one of them was up. When we parked, I saw Gerald come to the window and peek out from behind the curtain. Moments later the outside lights came on, and Gerald was standing with the fro
nt door open in his lounge wear. We walked up to the house, and Derek shook his hand.

  “Good evening sir. Sorry for coming so late.”

  Gerald looked at me and saw that I'd been crying. By the worried look on his face, I thought he already knew why we were there. He invited us in and motioned us to the lower level. He told us to have a seat and said that Debbie was in her pajamas and ran up to change quick. Derek and I sat on the couch, and Gerald sat on the adjacent love seat. We quietly waited for Debbie. Gerald looked so upset and lost in thought, staring across the room. I was trying hard to hold back my tears, but I knew what was coming, and I couldn't stand to see people in pain. This was going to be the worst day of both their lives.

  Debbie walked into the room and looked at everyone's faces. She looked horrified, like she, too, knew what was coming. She sat down slowly and cautiously on the edge of the chair next to the love seat. Gerald extended his hand to her, and she took it.

  “Okay, Detective Richards, we're ready,” Gerald said, slowly. He was staring at the floor, and I could see them both inhale deeply.

  Derek sat up and leaned forward with his arms bent on his knees. “There’s no easy way to do this, so I'm going to get straight to the point . . . we found Lily's body. I'm so sorry.” He left it at that for a moment.

  Debbie screamed a bone chilling “No!” and slid off her chair to her knees. She was bent over with her face in her hands and head to the floor. I instantly started crying harder. Gerald's shoulders shook as he sobbed. This was the worst experience of my life. Debbie crawled closer to Gerald and put her head in his lap, balling. He leaned over her, and they both cried hard. Derek sat there quietly looking at the floor. I looked up and saw a box of Kleenex on the end table across the room. I got up and grabbed about ten for me and then set the box on the floor next to Debbie's knees and sat down right there next to her. I put my hands on both their backs and told them how sorry I was. After a few minutes they calmed a little, sat up and grabbed for Kleenex.

  “Where did you find her? Who did this?” Gerald asked, looking like he'd gone from sad to pissed off. It made me a little nervous, but at the same time I understood completely. Debbie crawled back up in her chair, and I went back over to the couch.

  “We found her body at a construction site. She . . .” he hesitated, “she was buried in a cement foundation.” Derek continued, “I had a lead, and did an x-ray-scan of the specified area. The scan showed us enough that we had suspicion that it may be her body. We got a warrant to break up the cement, and we found her. I had Sara identify her this evening just before coming here.” Both of their mouths were hanging open in shock, their eyes filled with disgust.

  “Who did it? Why? What the hell happened to her?” Gerald demanded in an angry, deep voice.

  “Sir, we have Mark and Jake in custody, and they are our only suspects right now, but we haven't figured out all the details yet. We will be questioning them tonight, and, hopefully, we'll get a nice, easy confession. We have some work to do yet, but we’re close. There are holes all over this case that we need to fill in. I will be going to the station after I leave here to . . . hopefully close this up. We want to wait until a little later into the night to start questioning, as suspects are more willing to cooperate and confess if they are overly tired. I hope by morning we have all the information we need. As soon as we know what happened I will call you.”

  “Where is my baby now?” Debbie asked. Hearing her call Lily her baby made me start up all over again. It was so incredibly sad. “I want to see my baby!” she said with authority.

  “Debbie,” I said gently, “I can't begin to understand how you must feel. I know you want to see her and you can, but the police need to finish their autopsy to get any evidence they can to convict whoever did this. Then, after the caretaker makes her nice and pretty again you can see her. You don't want to see her right now,” I said shaking my head. “You know how Lily was. She wouldn't want anyone to see her without her make-up on.” I added, with a strained smile. Debbie wiped her nose and nodded.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski, I know this is a very difficult time for you, but I do need to make you aware that the press may get wind of this soon. We had a big operation out at the construction site today, my officers have been told to keep it quiet, but there were onlookers that we can't do anything about. If anyone tries to contact you do not tell them anything. Doing so could have negative effects on the investigation. If you have any trouble with them, let us know, and we can put an officer here. Screen all of your calls and only talk to me about the case. You can tell your families now but again, do not talk to the press. I will let you know when Lily will be released. It usually takes a few days.”

  Derek stood, so I did too. “We’ll leave you two alone, but I promise to be in touch as soon as I know more. In the meantime, let me know if you need anything. Again, I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “I'm sorry, too,” I said. I gave them both a hug. “We’ll let ourselves out.”

  At the car Derek opened the door for me, and I angled in. He sat down in his seat and took a deep breath, staring out the front windshield. “You never get used to this.”

  I put my hand on his leg and leaned over to put my head on his shoulder. I had been so focused on me and my issues that I never thought he might be upset having to tell her parents, too. Derek didn't really know them, but I guess it's not 'just a job' when you have to tell parents that their child is dead.

  He turned the key and I picked my head up. “Well, sweetness, I’ll bring you home, and then I have to go back to the office and probably pull an all-nighter.”

  “Okay,” I said sadly. I wished he could come in for a while, but I wanted him to get this case closed too. We drove in silence until we got to my lot.

  “Do you want me to walk you in?

  I shook my head, said, “No, I'll be fine,” and exited the car. “Will you call me if you find anything out? Even if it's the middle of the night.” I asked, leaning into the open car door.

  “You got it, but promise me that you’ll get some sleep,” he said, tipping his head to the the side and giving me a closed, tight-lipped smile. I nodded and forced a small smile and shut the door.

  I opened my apartment door, and Faith came bounding down the hall. I picked her up and mentally thanked Kat and my mom for her. I didn't know what I'd do without her some days. She started purring and climbed up to my neck. I gave her a kiss, set her on the floor and then prepped myself for bed. Bringing a cold washcloth with me, I climbed into bed and placed it on my swollen eyes and fell asleep.

  In the morning, I was surprised that I had been able to sleep. I hadn't gotten a call in the middle of the night, so what did that mean? I checked my phone. Seven, and no missed calls. I ran into the bathroom and peed on a stick. I waited three minutes, took a deep breath and looked at it.

  27

  One line. Not pregnant! Thank you, Lord! Geez, that was scary. I felt like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, until I remembered what Kat said about it taking a while to show up. That I could still be pregnant but the test can't pick it up yet.

  I prayed to my King that he would send me a period now and the baby later in life. He didn't answer me back, but I promised myself I wouldn’t panic and take it morning by morning until my period or two lines came. What else could I do?

  Now what? I had nothing planned today, and no idea what to do with myself. It was Monday, but I didn't have the focus to take on a work assignment right now, so I wasn't going into work. I turned on the TV, but I couldn't watch anything because my brain kept going back and forth between Derek, Lily, her parents, Jake, Mark, Blake . . . Jared. My life was exhausting yet I had nothing to do. Ugh. I decided to call Derek, maybe that would put my mind at ease a little.

  “Good morning,” I said when he picked up. He sounded really tired or mad maybe.

  “Hi, sorry I haven't called yet, but I haven't had a second to myself all night.”

  “You've been there all ni
ght?”

  “Yes, I'm on my way out right now, I get an eight-hour break. What are you doing?”

  “Nothing, I'm totally bored and my mind is totally busy. It sucks. Have you learned anything?”

  “I have. I can stop over in a few and update you if you want, I should be leaving here in fifteen minutes,” he said.

  “Sure. Are you hungry?” I asked.

  “Yeah, starving.”

  “I'll have something ready for you . . . wait, do you want breakfast or supper?”

  “Breakfast, thanks, sweetness. I'll see ya in a few,” he said and disconnected.

  Yay, I had something to do, and it just happened to be make breakfast for a hot cop. I did a little, happy dance into the kitchen. The little dance was kinda fun, so I went back into the living room and turned on the radio. I danced back into the kitchen to start breakfast. Quiche it was. I put it in the oven, then went to change into clothes and did a quick hair and makeup routine. The shower would have to wait. I spritzed on some body spray to cover for now. Twenty minutes later, I checked the quiche, it smelled really good. I got the toaster out and put in four slices of honey wheat bread as I heard the buzzer and pushed down the toaster to start.

  “Wow, it smells great in here,” Derek said as he entered. He put a hand on my hip and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for cooking, sweetness.”

  “No problem. Like I said, I was so bored.” I took the quiche out of the oven just as the toaster popped. I told Derek to sit at the table, and I put the butter, apple jelly, and orange juice out for him. We dished up and ate. I felt sick to my stomach and wondered if it was because of stress or a baby. Now that I thought of it, I'd felt sick a lot lately. After we finished eating and Derek helped me pick up the kitchen, we sat on the couch. I was so nervous, it was as if he were my dad and I'd crashed the family car. I couldn't stand it.

  “Okay, tell me already!” I anxiously demanded.