When Michael arrived home much later that evening, he had a pressure bandage wrapped around his head.
"My God, Michael. What happened?"
Michael removed his coat and hung it up in the closet. "I got clocked from behind while I was at the Silver Lake crime scene. I took a trip to the ER for some stitches on my way home."
"What? What do you mean, you got clocked from behind?"
"Someone hit me when my back was turned. I was knocked out for a bit but I'm fine."
"Michael, you should have called me," Tess said and went to him, her hands on his chest. "I could have come and picked you up at the ER."
"I'm really fine," he said and pulled her into his arms. "No ill effects. All my fingers and toes work and my eyesight’s back to normal. The doc in the ER said I might have a headache but there's nothing permanent."
"You should have let me come and meet you there," she said and hugged him. "I thought this job with the DA's office as an investigator would be safer than as a field agent with the FBI."
"I was stupid," he said. "If I'd taken someone with me, I would have been fine. Or at least, the guy might not have approached us. Or," he said and laughed sardonically. "We might have had a gunfight, if he wanted that evidence so badly."
"What evidence? Who attacked you?"
"The guy who claimed to be the reporter for the Daily." Michael had a guilty expression on his face.
"I knew it," Tess said and they went over to the sofa and sat beside each other, Michael's arm around Tess. "He was no reporter. He was someone involved in the case, right? Someone who was there the night it happened?"
"Could be. I poked around looking for something we might have missed. Found a memory card. Looks like it might be readable. He took it after he knocked me out."
"Do you suppose he knew it was there and was coming to get it?"
"I have no idea. He might have just lucked into me finding it and wanted to take it to make sure he wasn't on it. He didn't seem interested in the other evidence."
"What other evidence?"
Then, Michael hesitated as if he didn't want to tell her.
"What?" she said and pushed his shoulder. "Tell me."
He made a face of pain, his eyes squinting. "A bloody woman's sweater which was partially burned in the fire pit."
"Oh, God," Tess said and a jolt of adrenalin went through her. "Not Rachel's?"
"Can't say yet but the forensic unit has it and will run tests to see if they can get a profile and match it to someone."
Tess leaned her head against Michael's shoulder, a sense of dread filling her at the prospect that Rachel was also dead. Had Mickey killed everyone?
"Do you think Mickey killed Rachel and Sadie, too?"
"I have no idea. We're going to present the evidence to him and see what he says. He's already confessed to killing the two men, but now, we have evidence of a woman's bloody sweater and an attempt to get rid of the evidence. Who knows what they did manage to burn? We'll see whose blood it is and go on from there."
Tess covered her eyes. "Oh, I hope it's not Rachel's or Sadie's. What will Craig do? He'll be sick to learn that Rachel and Sadie were at the crime scene where two men were murdered."
"Yeah. Craig has no alibi either but there's no evidence that puts him at the crime scene. As far as we're concerned, he's no longer a suspect."
They sat for the rest of the evening, talking about the case, not really feeling like doing anything else.
The next day, Michael went into work, despite the knock on his head. He had a mild headache, but nothing more and when Tess pressed him to stay home, he refused.
"I have to go in and find out what's developed since I was in yesterday. The Chief is holding a press conference to update the public on Mickey's arrest."
"Okay, but if you start feeling unwell, make sure to go right to the hospital."
"I don't have a concussion," he insisted. "The ER Doc said I was lucky. I just got knocked out. No lasting damage besides the hair that had to be shaved around the injury. And my pride, of course."
Tess shook her head in disapproval but gave him a kiss and watched him leave.
She spent the day working on her article covering the double murder at the Silver Lake cabin and the ties to the disappearance of Rachel and Sadie. The connections weren't yet clear, but the police chief was holding a news conference on Monday to update the press and public about recent developments.
She turned on the television before supper after Michael called to tell her that Mickey was being processed and would be taken to a cell to await trial. Following his transfer, the Police Chief would hold a brief press conference.
The camera focused on the door to the police station, which showed the back of the building and a waiting van that would take Mickey to the King County Jail where he would await a preliminary hearing. Mickey walked with his head up and his back straight. He held his hands out in front of his body, and they were obviously cuffed. A jacket had been thrown over them, but he didn't appear to be at all ashamed of being led away from the police station. Reporters yelled questions at him, but he didn't even look at the cameras. Instead, he quietly walked to the awaiting van and was helped inside by one of the officers.
The van drove off and the reporter described the scene, saying that Mickey seemed very composed.
She waited for the press conference to begin, wondering what the police would say about the case. The Chief came out and stood before the cameras. Behind him stood Detective Chambers and another official. The Chief gave an update on the case, and on the arrest of Mickey Howell for the double homicide. He noted that there was still no identification of the second John Doe, but he gave them assurances that police were working on identifying him. They would be turning to the ancestry database to see if they could locate a relative and learn his identity that way. The police chief did mention that there was an apparent blood relationship between the John Doe and the missing woman and her daughter, but didn't go into any further detail, despite repeated questions from the reporters gathered at the press conference. He did confirm that police believed that Rachel and Sadie were alive and in hiding but that they had to do more investigation of the matter before they could conclude either way, but he was hopeful.
Then, it was over, and the discussion turned to local news. Tess turned off the television and sat back, wondering what happened to Rachel and Sadie. She hoped the two were somewhere safe and hadn't met the same fate as Rachel's twin sister, buried in a shallow grave somewhere in the middle of the forest.
She called Craig.
His cell rang three times before he answered. As usual, his voice sounded subdued.
"Hey," she said, trying to sound hopeful. "How are you? Did you hear the news? They arrested Mickey and charged him with second degree murder. Michael thinks that Mickey's lawyer will accept a plea for manslaughter, considering the circumstances. And they think Rachel and Sadie are both alive and hiding out down south. Maybe Mexico."
"If she had told me why she wanted to leave, I would have gone, Tess," Craig said, his voice sounding dejected. "She wouldn't tell me. She just asked me to pick up everything and leave. I couldn't. Not without knowing why."
"Has she contacted you?" Tess asked.
"No," Craig said. "Not yet. I sent her messages through Facebook but there's been nothing so far. I thought she loved me. I thought she'd let me know she was okay, if she was. This not knowing is so hard."
"I know, I'm sorry, but Mickey said she was afraid that if anyone knew where she was, her life and Sadie's life would be in danger."
"But she could call me and tell me where she was. I'd leave as soon as I could. I keep sending that message to her but nothing. Maybe she doesn't have internet service very often or something."
"Maybe," Tess said, trying to be sympathetic.
She said goodbye and promised to have lunch with Craig in the coming week, to talk about the case. She ended the call and sat in silence for a moment. Maybe Rachel didn't care enough about Craig to let him know she was okay and invite him to join them. It was possible, although everyone thought the two were really happy together. They had been through such a traumatic event together, perhaps she was just trying to stay alive.
Hopefully, things would work out for Craig. Tess couldn't help but feel sad for him, all alone in the apartment that used to be shared with Rachel and Sadie.
Now he was all alone.