Larkin spun the white petal between his fingers and said quietly, “I caught Larissa’s case just before being transferred to Cold Cases. I had other work piling up—robberies, assaults, the typical bullshit—but it didn’t sit right with me, this woman walking away from her life. But that’s how it was being treated. She was an adult. They were her children. Maybe she’d had a disagreement with Donald, and he wouldn’t fess up to a fight, and she was cooling off somewhere. That’s what everyone said. I couldn’t sleep the first two nights. I was physically sick from dread.”

Looking down, Larkin realized he’d smooshed the petal. He let the remnants fall to the ground. “She wasn’t anyone important, you understand. She wasn’t rich and famous. But she lived an honest life. She was raising two babies. And I knew that—” He paused, shook his head, and said, “I knew that someone had acted as judge, jury, and executioner. I worked unapproved overtime. Got dragged out on the floor for it. I did it again. Noah threw a shit fit. ‘She doesn’t want to be found. You’re more upset than her husband. A stranger’s well-being shouldn’t be more important than our anniversary.’”

“Huh.”

Larkin spun the silver wedding band on his finger. “It was our dating anniversary, not that it makes a difference…. Noah’s tirade led me to reconsider Donald as a person of interest. He acted the part well, but what he said with his face he failed to follow through in action. Donald wasn’t pounding down my door, wasn’t calling day and night, wasn’t scared out of his mind. He was hiding the person he knew—Larissa. We all do it, to an extent. Hide someone. Whether out of shame or safety, we hide who we know in certain situations.”

“He was hiding Larissa and the children.”

“Yes. They had vanished without any signs of a struggle and seemingly hadn’t gone with someone, so it must have been her choice. And if she chose to disappear, then it’s not a homicide. It’s not even a crime.”

Doyle nodded. “I get it. No struggle because she left with her husband. She trusted him, of course. He took her somewhere… out of the city? State?”

“Pine Barrens out in Jersey. Her and her daughters’ remains were found inside an oil drum July 2 of the same year. I had to tell the mother that Larissa had never walked away from her life. Her life was taken. Donald wanted to get a divorce and didn’t want to get saddled with child support payments.”

“God Almighty.”

“When the connection is deeply personal—those are the victims most cleverly hidden. And until today, I don’t think anyone knew John Doe was deceased.” Larkin looked away.