“Click that.” Luke pointed at the screen. “Let’s see how far back the list goes.”
Claire clicked on the date tab, reversing the order of names.
He let out a low whistle. “Nineteen fifty-two. That’s a lot of names.”
“Yeah.” I blew out a breath, my shoulders deflating as a bit of hopelessness set in. “Without more to go on, I don’t know how we’ll narrow it down. I mean, there’s also the possibility the woman isn’t even from Alaska. What if she was reported missing in the lower forty-eight? Or in Canada?” I slumped back in my chair and crossed my arms. So much for helping the search along.
“Let’s at least narrow it down to women and see how many people we get.” Claire’s hands moved over the keyboard again.
Since there was no way to search by gender alone, she set the number of results to one hundred, then clicked on the tab to sort by male and female.
“Looks like just shy of two hundred.” She glanced up.
“That’s still a lot.”
“Yeah, but there are over a dozen, from the looks of it, that were reported in the Juneau area.” Luke gestured to the screen, which showed the investigating agency.
Claire stood, walking over to her tote bag, which sat on a barstool at the island, and removed a legal pad and a pen. “Let’s write down those names, then search them. Maybe one of them will pop up in a news article with local ties.”
I sat up, feeling some hope returning. But only a little. It was such a long shot. Sitting around doing nothing, though, wasn’t an option. We needed to find the woman’s identity so I could get my renovation back on track. Logically, I knew Ozzie was all over this case. Not just because of my relationship to his girlfriend, Claire, but because that’s just the type of person he was. He wanted answers as much as I did and wouldn’t rest until he got them.
But more eyes were always better.
I took the notepad and pen from Claire. “All right, start reading.”
Settling back into her seat, Claire scrolled, and we soon had a list of seventeen names.
“How long does it take a body to fully skeletonize?” Luke asked.
A quick frown formed on my face, and I shot him a look. “Why?”
“I was just thinking that we might be able to take some of the more recent names off the list. The body didn’t have any flesh left on it, remember?”
“Oh. Right.” I glanced at the notepad in front of me, then at Claire. “Can you?—”
“Already on it,” she said, reading my mind. With a few taps on the keyboard, she’d run another search on decay.
“Hmm…” She leaned forward and propped her chin on her hand. “This says it varies widely. A few weeks to a few years, depending on conditions. But…” she scrolled, “I would say in controlled conditions, like in the wall, we could knock a year or so off the list.”
My nose wrinkled. “That’s not as much as I was hoping for.”
“Me, either,” Claire replied.
I glanced at the list. Only one name fit the bill. I crossed her off.
“I would say cross off any within five years,” Luke said.
With a curious frown, I looked his way. “Why?”
“The state of the wall. The paint wasn’t pristine where it was patched, and there was dust everywhere that didn’t look like it had been disturbed recently. All the fluid from the body had dried up too. That all takes time.” He lifted a shoulder. “I’ve been through a lot of buildings for renovations. Whoever she is, I would wager she’s been in that wall for at least five years. Plus, The Cozy Cup has been in business about that long.” He turnedto me. “You or one of your regulars would have noticed the store being closed to let the place air out as she decayed.”
“Unless it happened after he closed the store down,” I said. “That was a year or so ago.”
Luke tipped his head. “I still think it’s likely been longer than a year, just based on the way the wall looks.”
Claire nodded once. “Good enough for me.” She looked my way. “So, how many does that take off our list, then, Mina?” She nodded toward the notepad.
I ran a finger down the sheet. “Four more.”
