Evie considered it, nodded. “I can finesse that since the core of it is fact.”
Ann offered an additional refinement. “You need to allow for the fact Grace’s parents might still be found, so maybe add ‘There are no other missing children from this area. The rest of the land is going to be swept as a precaution, but we don’t expect to find other child remains. We’re not sure who buried the Dayton girl on this land, but the location now suggests the crime has a local connection, and it will be investigated as such.’”
“Better,” Gabriel said. “I don’t mind destroying Arnett’s reputation after the fact, but I don’t want to put Grace out there in the center of everything. Knowing who did it and proving it are two different things. For now, Grace was preparing to sell the land, Josh was walking the farm with her, this looks like a convenient burial site for someone who knows the area, and we’ll be investigating it as a local crime.”
“Once the recovery of remains becomes public,” Paul suggested, “you should mention there’s a viable person of interest in the case, and the State Police in coordination with the FBI are reviewing those findings. This is a case you are pleased to have resolved for the sake of the Dayton family, but it is an old case, and given the current information, there’s no present concern for the community’s safety.”
“Good,” Gabriel agreed as Evie took notes.
“Once you have the sheriff’s statement,” Evie said, “I can have a variation of it issued from the State Police. The fact I’m in town looking at two cold cases, and the Dayton case happens to be one of them, is going to get noticed. I can pull a fair amount of attention away from Grace simply by talking about the new governor’s proposed task force and what I’m doing here. If it becomes necessary, throw me to the media wolves. I can handle it. They’ll latch on to the Florist case if I point them in the right direction. The recovered remains of a child is news, but new theories in the case of a missing deputy and his family would be bigger news if it’s handled properly.”
Gabriel smiled. “Let’s hope I don’t need to resort to ‘tossing you to the media wolves,’ Evie, but thank you. I’m going to take you up on that if I need a distraction away from Grace.”
“Evie does well in front of a camera,” Ann told them. “It’s part of her charm.” Ann laughed at the look Evie gave her. “Gabriel, the media will come to town because of this. We need to get Tom Lander’s photo distributed, get Karen somewhere out of sight so she isn’t on the B-roll of a reporter’s broadcast. If you shut down access to the farm and frontage road, some reporters are going to default to the most convenient place in town to interview people for comments, and that’s the Fast Café.”
“Good point. I’ve already suggested when Will gets free from here tonight that he should find Karen and tell her what’s going on. He’s feeling the weight of being the one to turn over that shovel of dirt, and he could use an hour with Karen to decompress. I’ll alert him about the media concerns.”
“I’ll coordinate with Will,” Paul offered, “make sure Tom Lander’s photo gets distributed widely, and get word out that Will wants to hear it if the guy shows up.”
“Thanks,” Gabriel said. “Paul, if you and Ann could also pick up where Caleb was working today on the Florist case, that would be useful. He has a lead on where Scott might have secured new IDs. If we can lock down the new names they had arranged to use, it could move Evie’s board a long way forward. Maybe movement on the Florist case can shift some of the media interest off the farm.”
“I’ll talk with your father,” Paul said. “I’m all for splitting the media’s attention with other news whenever you can do so.”
Evie looked around the group. Gabriel looked less grim just having a chance to talk out the plan for the next few hours. Once Grace heard the news, the worst of this evening would be over for him.
He glanced in her direction. “Anything else before we go?”
“You might ask your parents to invite Grace to stay with them should the media discover she’s at the campground,” Evie suggested. “I’d offer my place, but I’m going to get tracked down too easily. My sense is Grace isn’t going to wish to return to Chicago so long as Josh is making progress on locating her parents’ bodies.”
Gabriel nodded. “A good precaution. I’ll talk to my folks.” He looked a final time around the group. “I’ll tell Grace and leave it to you to help her through it. Evie and I will then go tell my deputies what’s happening.”
Ann said, “Let’s plan to meet for breakfast early tomorrow at the house, or Josh’s place, depending on how this evening goes. We’ll sort out how to handle the next few days then.”
Evie nodded, grateful that Ann and Paul would be here for the weekend. They all needed to get through these few days in as careful a sequence as possible, and Paul and Ann were both good at strategy. Evie followed Gabriel to his truck, glad she wasn’t the one in charge. She liked her job, but no one ever got used to having to break this kind of news.
Grace Arnett
Grace turned as she heard the front door of Josh’s home open and close, heard voices. Paul and Ann, Gabriel and Evie… She watched as the four of them came in together, saw the serious expressions, and pushed aside the comforter across her lap. She recognized the look on the sheriff’s face. “This isn’t going to be good,” she whispered to herself.
Rachel pushed pause on the movie. Grace had been watching a DVD chosen at random while Josh fussed in the kitchen over a dinner she wasn’t sure she could eat. They had stopped their search early today because Josh said the dogs needed a break, but she’d known it was more than that. The arrival of these four confirmed it.
“Grace, we’ve got difficult news.”
She simply nodded at Gabriel’s statement. Something related to her parents would have been that, but still positive. This wasn’t going to be.
Gabriel moved to sit on the coffee table facing her, and Grace idly wondered if the furniture was going to hold him. His hand came over and covered hers, and he felt cold to her, even though she still felt chilled from the day spent outside.
“Grace…” He waited until her eyes lifted from his hand covering hers. “Human remains were found at your uncle’s farm. Those of a child named Ashley Dayton. She went missing when she was six.”
She heard him, heard the words, and she felt… numb. Not surprised. Why should she be with news that the monster she already believed killed her parents had also killed a child? A child. Panic suddenly overcame the numbness. She felt her heart begin to race. How many children?
“Grace, are you okay?” She felt someone ease her head down. Josh, she realized, as the smell of his shirt got through her muddled senses. Wow. She had absorbed some shocks before and thought she knew every way her body could react, but this was a first. The world spun dizzily sideways as if she’d gotten slammed on her head. “How many children?” she whispered.
Gabriel’s hand on hers tightened. “She is the only one missing in this area… the only one we know of.”
Grace tried to nod. One was too many, but more? She carefully straightened to see if the room was still spinning. “Tell me the name again. How old she was.”
“Ashley Dayton. She was six, Grace.”
She felt something burning in her heart, an ache so intense it was like an ember bursting into flame. She knew what a six-year-old child looked like, and it didn’t take a leap to guess that Ashley was blue-eyed and blond. “I’m okay, Gabriel,” she said. Seeing his worried expression somehow forced a steadiness back into her voice. “Are her parents from around here?” she asked.