“Did you find any physical evidence in the motel parking lot?”

“I can’t discuss that aspect of the case.”

“Rod, do you think Samantha Moore is dead?”

Noble took a moment, and tapped his finger on his file folder before he answered.

“We’ve found no evidence to suggest she’s deceased and until we do, this is a missing-person case.”

“Really?”

“Yes, this case is solvable, and we’re going to solve it.”

Wyatt then went back over a few more areas, checking statistics and timelines before thanking Noble and leaving.

On his way back to his office Noble got fresh coffee.

Taking a seat at his desk, he looked at Samantha Moore, meeting her eyes. Hang on. We’re going to find you.

His focus shifted to his file folders and his computer folders on the case.

All we need is a break. Just a solid break. It could come from the headlights, the DNA, a piece of evidence, something we overlooked. The answer could be right here in front of me.

Noble was yanked from his thoughts when his phone rang.

“Noble,” he answered.

“Rod Noble, Vermont State Police?”

The caller was male, sounded older.

“Yes.”

“This is George Houghton. My wife and I got a message to call you.”

“Can you give me a little more information, sir?”

“I believe you wanted to talk to us about the investigation in Spiritsburg where the missing girl was staying.”

CHAPTER 24

Waterbury, Vermont

Wendy Spruce was encouraged.

Continuing her analysis at her worktable in the Vermont Forensic Laboratory, she had developed a new DNA profile in the Samantha Moore case.

The results of Spruce’s examination were definitive. They showed that the new profile did not belong to Moore, but to a different subject whose DNA was in Moore’s blood at the scene.

This has to be the suspect.

Spruce was aware that often crime scene samples were somewhat degraded, which had an impact on the results.

Still, she was hopeful.

Spruce submitted the new profile to the state database of DNA samples of nearly 20,000 convicted Vermont criminals.

Who are you?

It took hours.

The results were negative.

I can’t believe it. No matches in Vermont.

Spruce took a long breath, and let it out slowly.

We may be down, but we’re not out.

Spruce kept working, and began the process for submitting her new profile—a forensic profile— to the Combined DNA Index System, the national DNA database managed by the FBI.

Known as CODIS, it was created to compare a submitted DNA record with profiles contained in the national database. It included profiles of convicted criminals, missing persons, and samples gathered at crime scenes, referred to as forensic profiles. In all, it held more nearly 15 million offender profiles—people who were known—and nearly one million forensic profiles—people who were unknown.