No one spoke. Just as Chet knew all the municipal employees, the entire town knew his story as well. Three years before, his fifteen-year-old, mentally ill daughter had run away. Chet had been unable to track her down for a year. He’d caught sight of her last winter, in New York City, but she’d evaded him. He’d stopped actively searching since her eighteenth birthday this past spring, when Chet had taken his vacation and spent two weeks trying to drown himself in Johnnie Walker.

Frank straightened the sheet, zipped the bag, and motioned for the attendants to roll onward. He paused and spoke in a low voice to Chet, “We’ll take care of her.”

Discomfort at the ME’s unusual display of emotion spread through the group in a wave of bodies shifting position.

“I’ll have her dental records sent over to your office,” Chet said.

The morgue crew loaded the body into the van and drove away.

“I’m going home. You’ll fill me in later?” Chet spoke to the grass at his feet.

“I will,” Brody answered. “I can stop by your place when I’m done here.” He didn’t want Chet to be alone while he waited for news.

“No need. I’ll be fine.” Chet’s jaw tightened. “I have work to do.” He turned away, then paused, his face nearly as gray as the corpse’s skin. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a body that could be hers.”

But it might be the last.

“Let me remind you that you can’t base an identification solely on very basic physical characteristics,” Brody said.

With slow steps, Chet walked back to his car. He drove off slowly, as if even his vehicle were weighted with despair.

Brody watched the sedan disappear, frustration and sadness filling him. Then he went to his car and brought up Teresa’s file on his laptop. The photo was several years old.

Stella leaned into his vehicle through the open driver’s door. “It’s possible, but I wouldn’t put money on it.”

“Hard to tell. I haven’t seen her for a long time.” If that body was Teresa, how would Chet survive? He’d given up actively searching for her, but there was still hope that someday she’d come home. And even if she didn’t, he knew she was out there somewhere, alive. What would he do if he learned she was gone for good?

“When will we know for sure?” Stella asked.

“Chet’s been through the identification process before. He doesn’t have Teresa’s fingerprints on file, so dental records will be compared when Frank x-rays the body in the morning. Hopefully, the X-rays won’t match, and Chet will have his answer before lunch.”

In the meantime, Brody was going to do everything in his power to identify the dead woman and prove she wasn’t Teresa.