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Getting a little anxious due to the time—they were down to a mere twenty minutes before they were to report to the sheriff’s office—he skirted Francesca on his way to the bathroom. “The teeth? Why didn’t Pelusi call me?”
“He tried to about an hour ago. When you didn’t pick up, he called me, thinking you might be here.”
Ernie Pelusi was the street cop assigned the task of going from dentist to dentist, looking for the man who’d performed the cosmetic dentistry they’d noticed on one of the victims. Jonah had taken to him immediately. Ernie reminded him of one of the guys he worked with at Department 6—Roderick Guerrero. “I had my phone off. Trying to grab a few hours’ sleep.”
“You mean you don’t work twenty-four hours every day?” she teased.
Relieved to have some privacy, he closed the bathroom door and leaned against it. “Not every day. So what about the veneers?”
“A dentist by the name of Greg Johnson recognized his own work. He said the woman for whom he created those veneers was Bianca Andersen, age thirty-three.”
“If she was reported missing she’s not on any list I’ve seen.”
“As far as I know, she wasn’t reported.”
“Why not?”
“No idea. But Ernie’s got her dental file.”
Which would have her name and address. “Do we have any idea how long she’s been missing?”
“From the condition of her jaw, I’d guess over a year.”
But now that he knew her name, chances were good he could learn more.
At the prospect of having even a few answers to their many questions, a surge of hope filled Jonah. He’d solve this case and head back to California, leaving Francesca better off—safer—than she would’ve been without him. Maybe that couldn’t make up for his mistake, but at least he wouldn’t be doing any more damage. “We’re going to get this guy.”
“We don’t have any choice,” she said. “This kind of killer won’t quit on his own. You and I both know that.”
CHAPTER 12
After summoning her courage, Francesca followed Jonah into the sheriff’s station. On the ride over, he’d told her about the Pour House card at Dead Mule Canyon, and Bianca Andersen and her veneers, which had done nothing to settle her nerves. It was bad enough thinking Butch was responsible for what she’d seen outside the gift shop in Skull Valley. Assuming he was the reason there’d been seven corpses buried in Dead Mule Canyon was simply…overwhelming, especially when Jonah kept warning her not to let Butch get her alone.
“Where the hell have you been?” Finch wanted to know as soon as he saw them striding down the corridor toward him. “I’ve been calling.”
Francesca checked her new phone. Neither county investigator had bothered to try her, but she didn’t mention it. Jonah responded. “We can still make it by ten.”
“Only if we hurry.” Finch waved at Francesca. “Get her wired up.”
“You got everything else ready?” Jonah asked, leaning on the partition.
Finch had his hand on his phone. “I’m making sure of that this very second.”
Hunsacker came out of his cubicle a few feet away, carrying a handful of wires, which he handed Jonah, along with some duct tape. “It’s harder to conceal a wire when you’re not wearing a jacket,” he said to her.
She glanced from him to Finch to Jonah. “You’re kidding, right? I wear a jacket in the middle of the summer and I might as well announce on a blare horn—‘I’m doing this to hide a wire!’”
He shrugged. “Just sayin’. I mean, you’re pretty thin. Any bump is gonna stand out.”
Compared to Hunsacker, everyone was thin. “Then maybe you should go in and wear the wire,” she said.
His lazy-dog eyes narrowed. “Funny. Almost as funny as sending us to the salvage yard in search of a dummy. Little did we know we were dealing with two dummies.”
She smiled sweetly. “And yet the woman I was looking for shows up dead on a street corner and now we’re heading right back. Who’s going to have the last laugh, Investigator?”
“Maybe Butch is.” He lowered his voice. “If he kills you today.”
“Cut it out,” Jonah growled.
