youâve already done. Youâve been the only one in my corner since the night I found Jenny. Maybe theyâll believe me and move on this after that driver was killed.â
âMaybe. Good-bye, Nalchek. Iâll get back to you.â She hung up.
She doubted if Nalchek would get anyone to push forward on a cold case when they didnât have proof of identity. It had been her experience that any excuse was good enough for manpower-strapped law-enforcement departments to file away the records in a bottom drawer and look the other way. But theyâd had a chance with that reconstruction, dammit. She defied anyone to look at that face and turn away.
I wonât let it matter, Jenny. I wonât let what he did make a difference.
Somehow, Iâll make it work.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
âYouâre very quiet,â Joe said as he pulled her closer in bed that night. âDepressed?â
âYes.â She stared into the darkness. âAnd angry. I canât let him get away with it, Joe.â
âI knew that was coming.â He paused. âWe have a chance. I found tracks of a vehicle near the road and sent the imprints to the lab. That may help, but what else are we going to do about it?â
âWe? Itâs my job.â
âNot with a killer out there.â
She would feel the same way about him. âAnd I donât know what Iâm going to do yet. Iâm trying to put something together. I feel as if the rugâs been jerked from beneath me.â She was silent. âI was so sure that I was doing the right thing sending the reconstruction back to Nalchek. I wanted desperately for Jenny to find her family. She seemed so ⦠lost.â
âLost?â
âWhen Bonnie first came back to me, she wasnât like Jenny. She was just the way she was when she was alive. Oh, she had things she didnât know, like about where she was, and a few lapses of memory about how she died. But she knew me, she knew what we were together.â
âAnd Jenny isnât like that?â
She shook her head. âShe doesnât remember her parents. She doesnât remember anything about who killed her. She has only fleeting memories about anything connected to her life. As for her afterlife, thatâs terribly vague. She only knows sheâs been waiting.â
âWaiting to know who killed her?â
âI donât know, Joe. Maybe waiting for her parents to bring her home? Though I think that things were starting to come back to her.â She paused. âThat last day I actually saw her.â
âWhat?â
âI saw her. Iâd said something about how happy I was that I knew what she looked like after I finished the reconstruction. And later I saw Jenny in her white dress and black, patent-leather shoes. She wanted to please me. She was so sad when I told her I was sending her away.â
âYou actually saw her? The way you see Bonnie?â
She nodded. âI was surprised, too. She said that sheâd thought she might be able to do it, so she tried. I think that she was exploring, stretchingâ¦â
âSince she was no longer lying in that grave, waiting,â he said bitterly.
âI donât believe thatâs what she meant.â
âYouâll have to forgive me. Your Jenny is a little out of my experience.â
âAnd mine.â She closed her eyes. âHold me tighter, Joe.â
His arms closed around her. âThere has to be some kind of cosmic justice for kids like Jenny. I donât believe God would saddle you with that responsibility. Sheâs kind of out of our jurisdiction.â
âHow do you know? Jenny was sent to me. Maybe thatâs a sign that Iâm the one who should help her. Oh, I know I did my best with that reconstruction. But it wasnât enough, was it? Sheâs back with that monster who killed her.â She shuddered at the thought.