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“He’s not the one,” Settler said, her stomach clenching a bit. God, she hated this. “It’s your mother. We believe she is deceased. Her body was located in Las Vegas at a construction site.”
“What?” The color drained from Remmi’s face. “Are you sure? I mean, everyone thought Karen Upgarde was her and . . .”
“Dental records match,” Martinez broke in.
Settler said, “I’m sorry for your loss” and watched as the other woman’s knees threatened to give way. They probably would have, but Noah Scott quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“God, Remmi,” he said softly. “I’m sorry.”
Tears starred her eyes, and she blinked them back. “Me, too.” And then as if she thought the detectives would leave without telling her everything they knew, she sniffed, and said, “Please come in. And tell me . . . tell me how you know and what happened.”
* * *
Shell-shocked, Remmi walked on rubbery legs into the parlor and, with Noah, dropped onto Greta’s couch. The world seemed to spin and distort. She’d always thought Didi was alive, no matter what anyone said.
She was aware of people joining them in the room, but the voices came from a far distance, and all she could really concentrate on was the fact that her mother, the woman she’d wondered about for two decades, was gone.
A small part of her had still held onto a slim thread of expectation that she would see Didi Storm again, have a reunion of some kind.
No longer, if the detectives were right, and she believed Danielle Settler wouldn’t have delivered the devastating news if she weren’t 100 percent sure of her facts.
She blinked. Someone, Jade, was stuffing tissues into her hands, and she realized her tears had tracked down her cheeks. Noah was seated behind her, his arm around her. She was still wearing her jacket, and it was speckled from the raindrops that had splashed against it as they’d hurried from the car to the house to hear that her mother was dead.
A thousand memories of her childhood threatened to cripple her, but she wouldn’t think of them now. Not when she needed to hear the truth, to find out what had happened.
Noah whispered into her ear, his breath warm against her skin, “Hey, you okay?”
She nodded. She knew she was in shock, but that she would get over it. Today wasn’t that much different than yesterday, right? She wouldn’t see Didi again, but then she hadn’t for a long, long t
ime, and now, at least, some questions would be answered. “What happened?” she asked the detectives. Greta was insisting they take a chair before she asked Jade to get everyone some tea or coffee or maybe something “a little stronger.” “How do you know it’s my mother?” she asked.
The detectives explained about visiting Las Vegas, seeing the car, license plates, and body, that the female behind the wheel was wearing Didi’s clothes, had her ID, and that the dental records matched.
“There’s really no doubt,” Settler said from one of the wingback chairs.
“You said there was a baby carrier?” Remmi braced herself.
“Yeah, the kind that can be strapped in as a car seat, but we found no trace of a child or any other person in the car. The techs went over it with a fine-tooth comb. They searched the cargo hold and trunk, all of the interior. No trace of a baby, and no blood other than that in the area surrounding the driver.”
That, at least, was a relief. It didn’t appear Adam had died in that car. But it didn’t mean he’d survived, just that he hadn’t been killed at that time.
There was a chance he and his sister were alive.
Don’t get your hopes up.
Could she believe it? After all this time?
“Where was she found? Where was this construction site?”
“Outside of Las Vegas,” Settler answered. “A new development’s going in. The land was bought several years ago, but the company who held it about the time your mother disappeared was OH Industries, and the owner was Oliver Hedges. There wasn’t as much sprawl then, so the city wasn’t as close as it is now. You ever heard of OH Industries? Or Oliver Hedges?”
“No.” She was certain of that much, but her head was spinning. The thought of her mother dead in the car all this time . . . hard to believe. Was there any chance they were wrong? The expressions on the detectives’ faces and the raw evidence of the dental records suggested not, but Remmi wasn’t completely convinced. “I want to see her,” she said.
Greta said, “Oh, dear,” as she moved her wheelchair closer to the bar.
Settler said, “She’s . . . very decomposed.”
Martinez, standing near a window, added, “There’s nothing left but bones, really. A skeleton. Might be better to remember your mom the way she was.”
