Still, the sheriff would likely call Rachel—or the ASAC—and complain about her and Nate. Fine. She would deal with the fallout later.

She checked her messages—nothing from Detective Reed—and Lucy grew irritated. The cop could be on a case, might not be able to call her, or could be avoiding her. Lucy wished she knew.

She tracked down Ash in the lab. He was talking to his assistant and motioned that he would just be a minute.

Lucy loved being in the crime lab. In some ways, she felt most comfortable here, working with tangibles, with facts, with evidence. She liked the morgue, too—learning how someone died, discovering trace evidence, caring for the dead as much as the living. She’d interned at the morgue in DC for eighteen months, thanks to her assistant pathologist certificate, and the current assistant ME helped her renew her certification by allowing her to assist with the occasional autopsy to give her the necessary hours.

Ash came over when he was done. “Sorry to keep you.”

“No worries, I came in without warning. I need a favor.”

“Anything. I was afraid you wanted something on the Albright case, and I don’t have anything new.”

“I have some news, but you can’t repeat it. We’re keeping it completely contained in the FBI right now.”

“Okay,” he said cautiously.

“We may have found Ricky Albright. We believe he’s alive and has been in hiding.”

Ash stared at her. “Are you sure?”

“Ninety percent. Nate’s checking it out. It can’t leave your lips. According to our witness who gave us the information, Ricky believes that a cop was involved in his parents’ murders. So until we know for certain we’re keeping everything in-house.”

Lucy had weighed telling Ash, but he was taking the case so personally and he had done the bulk of the forensics work on the bones—a painstaking and emotionally difficult chore—so she wanted to give him some hope.

“I won’t say a word. I hope to God you’re right.”

“I should know for certain by the end of the day.”

“Anything you want, you got. Name it.”

“Not if it’s going to get you in trouble, but I need information about the Victoria Mills homicide.”

“That’s not your case.”

“No. It’s not even an FBI investigation. But I have reason to believe the Albright murders and the Mills murder are connected. All I want is to look at the forensics.”

“Detective Reed is pretty good, have you talked to her?”

“I’ve been trying. She hasn’t responded to my calls.”

“Well, you can look, but without clearance you can’t take.”

“All I want is a look.”

Ash led her to his corner of the lab. He pulled over a second stool for her, and she sat. “It’s all on the computer. I could pull the physical files, but it would take longer.”