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The mayor pulled out a chair for his wife, placing her next to the sheriff. He rounded the table to take the seat next to D.D., where she noticed he could look the sheriff in the eye.
“I take it the rumors are true; you found another body yesterday,” the mayor drawled at last.
D.D. sipped her coffee, let the sheriff do the talking.
“Yes, sir. We found additional remains, not far from the original site.”
“Oh my goodness.” Martha covered her mouth with her hand, glanced at her husband with concern.
Mayor Howard sighed heavily. “Another girl? That’s terrible. Simply terrible.”
“How do you know it’s a girl?” D.D. asked.
“Isn’t it always?” He eyed her guilelessly.
D.D. couldn’t figure him out.
“Where are you from, dear?” he asked her now.
“Boston.”
“But you’re here, part of some taskforce, searching through my woods. Now how did that come to pass? A Boston detective on a Southern taskforce?”
“I have relevant experience,” D.D. said blithely. She was saved from further reply by the mayor’s wife.
“Was this new body... also a skeleton?” She whispered the final word, as if it was something shocking and terrible. Maybe it was and D.D. had just been doing this too long.
“We’re still conducting our investigation, ma’am. The forensic anthropologist is on-site as we speak.”
“Oh dear. All this sad, sordid business. Right here. In our own backyard.” Martha eyed her husband in distress. “And just in time for fall hiking season. Oh dear, oh dear.”
“Have you learned anything more about the first girl?” the mayor asked Sheriff Smithers.
“Only that she’d been there for quite some time.”
“How long have you been mayor?” D.D. spoke up.
“The past ten years,” Howard replied evenly.
“And before that?”
“My daddy. The Counsels have a long history of service to this town.”
“Do you hire a lot of young girls?” D.D. glanced at their “niece,” who still stood unmoving next to the wall.
“Of course,” Martha huffed out. “Especially for the busy summer season. As you can tell, our town is small. During boom seasons, we must bring in outside workers. But all of our employees are legal, if that’s what you’re asking, and we have the paperwork to prove it.”
D.D. nodded thoughtfully. What the Counsels said made sense. On the one hand, Niche was a quaint small town where the full-time residents probably did know one another by name. On the other hand, for significant portions of the year, the workforce was transient and the area flooded with tourists. Getting a bead on all those people, going back fifteen years, would not be easy.
Which brought her to the locals, as good a starting point as any. She rose abruptly. “Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
“I’ll show you—”
“No need. I’m sure your niece knows the way.” Before anyone could blink she had the girl by the elbow and was guiding her away from the wall and out of the room. The girl stumbled slightly and D.D. forced herself to slow down, walk calmly. Just another woman in search of a toilet.
She could feel the girl’s arms tremble beneath her fingers, but the girl didn’t—couldn’t?—say a word.
Out of curiosity, D.D. removed her hand once they’d left the room and waited to see what the girl would do. The girl didn’t make a run for it. Instead, she turned left, entered the hallway behind the staircase, then a moment later limped to a door marked Ladies.
