Tess spent the afternoon either preparing for a difficult interview or recovering from it afterward. The interview itself only took five minutes. That was as long as Tracy’s mother could manage talking about her missing daughter, thirteen-year old Tracy, who ran away from home and was considered missing for the past six months. At that point, when Tess asked her to describe Tracy the week she ran away and then was declared missing, Mrs. Kemp broke into tears and asked Tess to leave.
Tess didn't argue. Instead, she left her business card on the coffee table and went out the door, Mrs. Kemp's oldest son Alex escorting her down the stairs.
"I'm sorry, but my mom is still pretty upset about it," Alex said. A boy of sixteen with a thick head of fair hair and freckles, he seemed especially polite. "When they found that girl's body, my mom was so afraid it was Tracy. She hasn't slept since and has been sick about it. If it wasn't her, that means that she might still be out there."
"Would you be willing to talk to me?" Tess asked, thankful that the young man was trying to be helpful. "We could speak in my car."
Alex glanced back into the living room and then nodded, closing the door behind him and following Tess to her vehicle. Once they were inside, Tess turned on the pocket recorder and placed it on the car's console beside her.
"You don't mind if I record our conversation?"
He shook his head. "Go ahead. The government's listening to everything we say, so what do I care?"
Tess didn't respond. She didn't believe that the government was listening to everything, although she was pretty sure some of the big tech companies were -- more for marketing purposes than anything nefarious.
"So, tell me about your sister. What was Tracy like?"
He shrugged, now seemingly less willing to talk. "She was in trouble a lot."
"What do you mean, trouble?"
"She was grounded a lot. She was pretty upset when her dad left. She and her mother were always fighting
"What happened the night she ran away?"
"The previous weekend, she'd stayed out later than her curfew and had been drinking and smoking pot with her friends. She got in a lot of trouble as a result, had her social media taken away and she was grounded for the week. On that Friday, she didn't come home after school. We figured she'd gone to stay at her friend Karla's for the evening and would be home by curfew. I had on my earphones and was playing Fortnight, and none of us knew that she didn't come home. When we got up in the morning, she was still gone. We assumed she'd decided to stay at Karla's. My mom texted her and she said she was going to stay at Karla's for the weekend and would go to school with her on Monday, so we thought she'd be fine. I guess she never made it to Karla's. On the following Monday, when she hadn't shown up for school, the principal called. My mom called Karla's mom and that's when we knew she was missing."
"When was the last time anyone saw her?"
"At school on Friday. She told a friend she met a guy who worked as a photographer for a modeling agency and might get a contract to do a photoshoot for this children's catalog."
"Did she say the man's name or the agency?"
Alex shook his head. "No. People laughed at her. Told her she was stupid. She was pretty, but she was really skinny. No one would ever think she would be a model. Police told us she was probably abducted on Friday on her way home."
"So it's been six months," Tess said.
Alex nodded. "They caught her on a 7-11 security video up in Bellingham a few days later, but nothing else. Her cell phone was never used again after that Saturday."
Tess nodded, remembering the reports she'd read about Tracy's disappearance. The mention of a modeling contract suggested Tracy had been taken by someone intent on selling her into the child sex trade. These men and women who picked up runaways or abducted children used drugs or violence to control them. If the Jane Doe was Tracy, maybe she couldn't be controlled and that got her killed.
"If you can think of anything else that might be of help, give me a call, okay?" Tess handed Alex her business card.
"Okay," he said and gave her a faint smile. "I hope it's not her, but I'm afraid it is."
"The DNA results should be back soon, so we'll know one way or another. I'm so sorry, Alex. This must be really hard for you and your family."
Alex nodded and got out of the car. He turned and waved at Tess and she waved back before driving off.
As she drove away, her vision blurred from tears. She'd had some difficult interviews before, but this was one of the hardest. She worked mostly cold cases or cases that had just been closed, so finding a body and this period of waiting was the hardest for families, hoping their child was not the one. These family members were waiting in real time to find out if their daughter and sister was dead -- murdered by a pedophile after suffering unknown trauma. It was torture for everyone involved. Tess still hadn't developed a thick skin, despite working in the field for a number of years.
She wasn't sure she ever would.
Tess spent the rest of the day in the newsroom, working on her article. When the time rolled around to meet Michael, she popped into Kate's office and let her know how the article was going. Then, she drove to Frank's, arriving a few minutes early, and decided to use the time to catch up on her social media. Frank's was a local restaurant and bar that was frequented by police and other law enforcement types. It was modeled on a famous bar in Chicago, with brick walls and brass fixtures, dozens of images of old Seattle at the turn of the 20th Century on the walls. It was always packed with patrons because the beer was cheap, and the food was good.
She'd ordered them both a beer and some nachos, and had been too hungry to wait for him, digging into the pile of food. Luckily, he was on time, and so his beer was still nice and cold and the nachos still hot.
"Couldn't wait for me, I see," he said and leaned down to kiss her before he took his chair.
"I ate my lunch early, so I was hungry," she said with a grin. "You snooze, you lose."
Michael smiled and removed his jacket before sitting down. Once he was seated, he stretched his arms out and then settled into his chair.
"Cheers," Tess said and raised her bottle of beer. Michael took his and they clinked bottle necks before taking a drink.
She told him about her visit to Tracy’s mother and how poorly the interview with her went, but how useful it was to speak to Tracy's brother.
"DNA should be back tomorrow on the Jane Doe, so we'll know if it's her. But I’m pretty sure it is."
Tess heaved a heavy sigh. "I know it's some girl, and so some poor family is going to be sad, but I hope it's not Tracy. That family seems to have so many other problems."
Michael leaned across the table and kissed her. "Whatever the case, it's out of our hands."
"So, what's new in the world of crime fighting?" she asked, watching Michael take another long sip from his beer. "You look like you need a drink."
Michael nodded and leaned forward. "Between you and me, this has been a monumental day."
"In what way?" she asked, intrigued by his conspiratorial tone. "Can you tell me or is it privileged info?"
"Off the record?"
"Of course."
He hesitated. "Mickey didn't do it."
A shock went through Tess. She frowned and took another sip of her beer, passing this new fact over in her mind to see how it sat.
"Seriously?"
Michael nodded. "Afraid so. Our nice open and shut case just got opened again. We thought we had a suspect with a pretty solid confession and evidence of his presence at the cabin during the murders. A bloody footprint that matches a very unique style of footwear is usually good enough to put a suspect at a location. Sure, we don’t know who the hell John Doe is, and we’re working hard to uncover all of Sutton's connections to Rachel and Mickey, but still. That confession went a long way to solidifying Mickey as our suspect. Now, not so much."
"I'm sorry," Tess said and reached out to squeeze Michael's hand. "I know you were probably thinking it was going to be straight forward. What's your next step?"
They continued to discuss the case and the implications of the new evidence, and finally, Michael finished his food and wiped his hands. He checked his cell when he received a notification of an incoming text.
"This is me," he said and stood, pulling out a twenty from his wallet. "I'll be home later. Maybe much later."
"I'll be writing, so I may still be up when you get home. I guess this means we won’t be going to Redding anytime soon."
“Unfortunately, not until we have a few more answers on the Silver Lake case and the Jane Doe.”
He bent down and kissed Tess goodbye and then was gone.
Tess paid the bill and went out to the street, enjoying the break in the weather. She took a short walk down the street to a nearby Starbucks to pick up a coffee. She'd need it to focus her mind on her latest article for Kate.