Page 39 of Fallen Creed

“I don’t know how soon I can do any of this.”

“I’ll check back with you in an hour,” she said as she left the room, digging her phone out of her coat pocket and trying to find a quiet corner.

A quick glance told her it wasn’t Ryder. It was Agent Alonzo.

“Hey, Anthony. I was just talking about you.”

“Stop. You’ll make me blush.”

“I have another assignment for you.”

“Well, this was quite a mishmash you already sent me,” he told her.

“Mishmash? Is that your word of the day?”

“Very funny,” he said.

A fashionable computer nerd, he never seemed to mind a good ribbing. Besides, she had usually plied him with enough designer coffees that automatically moved her requests to the top of his busy list.

“It’s such a gorgeous fall day, I’ll let you have that one,” he said.

“Oh, please don’t tell me it’s sunny and sixty degrees.”

“Seventy-two degrees,” he bragged.

“We’re in the middle of a blizzard here.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Alonzo told her, and she could practically hear him grinning. “Haven’t you noticed, O’Dell, that severe weather seems to find you? Seriously, you need to start wearing some crystals or carrying sage.”

“I don’t believe in good luck,” Maggie said.

“I’m not talking about a lucky charm. You need something stronger to ward off all that evil crap that seems to follow you.”

She wished there was such a thing, but right now, she knew he had information for her. “What have you found in the mishmash?”

“Ganza’s still working on the blood samples, but he pulled some decent fingerprints off the hairbrush. Let me get this straight. This woman is missing, not dead. Correct?”

“She’s missing right now.” Maggie unzipped her coat and found a secluded corner at the back of the store. Prints and DNA wouldn’t mean a thing if neither was entered into one of their databases. “I’m guessing she’s been missing from somewhere else for longer. That’s why I suggested you check CODIS.”

CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System for missing persons, was specifically designed to collect and assemble data, not only from the missing but also from unidentified human remains. Sometimes family members submitted their own DNA in the hopes it would help find their loved one. Maggie and Pakula had used it before to identify children who had been trafficked. Last year, they’d found two little girls, so damaged they couldn’t tell their rescuers who they were.

“She’s not in CODIS,” Alonzo said.

“I figured it was a long shot.”

“But I did find her.”

“If you don’t have her DNA, and she’s not in the database, how did you find her?”

“She was arrested for shoplifting last January. Charges were dropped. But it was enough to put her fingerprints into the system. And her fingerprints showed up at a crime scene back in February. No charges, but she’s considered a person of interest. How sure are you that this hairbrush belonged to your missing person?”

“I took it from her personal bathroom.”

“The prints we pulled belong to someone named Emma Hobbs. Not Libby Holmes. She’s seventeen years old. Lived in Richmond, Virginia, until about eight months ago. I’m still gathering information and checking records.

“Police weren’t able to question her. She sort of just disappeared. No new charges on her credit card. Nothing on her Venmo, which had been active. Parents are divorced. Neither filed a missing person’s report. I haven’t had time to explore the intricacies of her dysfunctional family. Weirdest thing is, she graduated from high school early. With honors. Sounds like a smart kid.”

“What was the crime scene?” Maggie asked.