DECKER WON THE email-and-text bet, but Rina wasn’t far behind. The ride to Ida Decker’s house was silent except for the constant tapping noise elicited from the phones as they pecked at the keyboards. It was a pleasure to be chauffeured by a car service rather than rent a vehicle. Decker could relax instead of battling traffic.

Rina said, “Oh my Lord!”

“You’re reading Gabe’s emails?”

“I am. Poor Terry.” Rina shook her head. “Her daughter is with her, but her son is gone. Gabe thinks that Devek kidnapped him.”

“Why just his son and not his daughter?”

“It sounds like Juleen escaped when they broke into her apartment.”

Decker shook his head. “Jeez. Someone really did a number on Terry.”

“Shocking.”

“I still think of her as an innocent little sixteen-year-old girl. She was so pretty and so bright back then!”

“When I saw her three weeks ago, she was gorgeous and bright. Just dumb when it comes to men.”

“Looks like Donatti got his claws back into her. Can you call Gabe? I’ve got a bunch of stuff from Tyler to go through.” Then Decker said, “It’s Pauline Corbett.”

Rina looked up from her phone. “The body in the woods is Pauline?”

“Yes.”

“How was she identified?”

“I think a sister identified her remotely from a tattoo. I’ll check that out. Tyler said that Forensics took her DNA to the lab, and they should have confirmation in a couple of weeks. Since the email was written ten days ago, the results should be in very soon.”

“One mystery solved,” Rina said.

“It only brings about more questions.” Decker thought about his latest victim and how she was related to his unsolved Missing Persons case.

The events started months ago, when Bertram Lanz had disappeared from a field trip in the woods. He had gotten separated from his fellow residents from his board and care facility, Loving Care. Lanz came from a rich family in Germany, and a kidnapping for ransom had been tossed around as a possibility. But when no note was forthcoming and Bertram’s parents never called back, the kidnapping scenario seemed remote.

Then clues popped up, namely a vanishing act by a former nurse named Elsie Schulung, who had worked at Loving Care. Everyone at the facility said Elsie and Lanz were close. Elsie and Pauline Corbett had been lovers. Now Corbett was dead, Schulung was missing, and Lanz had yet to be located. The general thought was that Schulung and Lanz, along with Bertram’s girlfriend, Kathrine, had defected to Lanz’s hometown in Germany.

But now, who knew?

“I’ve got calls in to the station, but no one has returned my messages,” Decker said. “I don’t know whether that’s a good or bad sign.”

“Have they connected with Lanz’s family in Germany?”

“If they have, no one’s told me.” A sigh. “If only.”