CHAPTER 1

You sure you’re ready to go back to work?” Zachary asked.

Kenzie looked up from her phone to meet his gaze, uncertain whether he was serious. With his anxiety, it was not outside of the realm of possibility that he was worried about whether she was ready to go back to work. He sometimes worried about things she thought trivial or obsessed over some issue that was adjacent to what she would have expected him to worry about, as if he were trying to avoid the real problem.

But when she looked into his face, she saw the humor in his eyes and knew he was teasing. He knew very well how difficult it had been for her to relax and enjoy being away from the Medical Examiner’s Office for the past week. Not that it was a vacation that she was supposed to enjoy. It was a suspension, not a reward for doing a great job on the autopsy of Joseph Howard. But she had tried to treat it like it was a break she had planned, taking the opportunity to give the house a deep clean and get to some projects she had been putting off.

Zachary would probably be happy to have her out from underfoot. He was used to being able to work alone during the day. Sometimes he was on the phone or out talking to clients or subjects face to face, but much of the work he did was from the computer, and he didn’t like having to move from one place to another because Kenzie was vacuuming or distracting him with some other job. While he was capable of hyperfocusing on a file or task, he had been anxious about Kenzie’s suspension and how she was feeling, so he was alert to every movement she made. Even across the house, she could sense him monitoring what she was doing, listening for anything that might indicate that she needed his help.

They had both been on top of each other too much, tiptoeing around in an effort not to bother each other, and then snapping at each other when it got to be too much. Couples stuff. Kenzie knew it wasn’t anything serious, and that things would go back to normal once she was back at work, but Zachary had already been through one failed marriage and was constantly worried that Kenzie was going to turn on him like Bridget had, unable to stand his shortcomings any longer.

“I’m pretty sure, yeah,” Kenzie agreed dryly.

“Anxious to get back to your patients?”

“Probably more anxious than they are for me to get back.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure they’ll open up to you once you get started.”

Kenzie groaned. That was a new one. “How long have you been saving that?”

He shrugged, suppressing a smile. “I figured I had to get some new material. The old stuff was a little cold and stiff.”

Kenzie shook her head. “Give me some of that coffee. I don’t think I can take you uncaffeinated this morning.”

He had a mug ready for her. Kenzie sat at the table, putting her phone away so they could visit undistracted. Zachary had made an effort to have breakfast on the table once she was out of the shower and dressed, and a glance did not reveal anything he had missed. That told her that he had put a lot of effort into it because he usually would miss at least one essential element. Kenzie picked up her knife and the jar of marmalade and started to spread the marmalade on her buttered toast.

“What will your day be like today?” she asked him as he unwrapped his granola bar. She noticed he was wincing and tried to figure out what was bothering him.

“After I finish crying over you going back to work? I don’t know; the whole day is pretty much a write-off after that. I don’t know how I’ll be able to focus on anything else.”

He was still teasing, though. He might be a little anxious about her returning to work, but if he was, he wasn’t letting it seep into their conversation. Once Kenzie was gone, she was sure he would throw himself into his email or another task, and wouldn’t have another thought about her until she got home that night. Or maybe at lunch, if his growling stomach reminded him to take a break and eat. Sometimes he called her at lunch to touch base.

“Working on that missing teen?” Kenzie prompted.

“Yeah, that will probably be most of my day. With any luck, I’ll be able to get a good lead on her. Maybe get a chance to talk to her and encourage her to go back home.”

“Do you think so?”

“On a preliminary review, I think there’s a good chance. It’s the first time she’s run away. It was after a fight. Chances are, she’ll wake up and regret it and be looking for a way to return home without losing face. She’s probably on a friend’s couch.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad, then. She’s not an addict or off with a gang banger boyfriend, or a victim of trafficking?”

“I don’t think so. Not this time. There might be a boyfriend. That’s one thing that I’ll be trying to find out. But from what I’ve found so far, I don’t think she’s that mature.”

“Kids can surprise you.”

He nodded and munched on his granola bar. “I know that. I’m not saying the parents don’t think she was mature enough for a boyfriend. I’ve looked at her social media, friends, school stuff, and searched her bedroom. I don’t see any sign that she’s interested in having a serious boyfriend right now or anyone else romantic. I don’t think she’ll be able to stay away from school for long, even if she doesn’t want to go home. That’s where her friends are. She spends most of her free time on team sports. She’s going to be missing that connection.”

“That’s good.” Kenzie washed down a bite of toast with a swig of hot coffee. “It should be a happy ending, then.”

“Always nice to be able to bring a kid home. And get paid for it.”

Kenzie reached for her phone, then pulled back her hand. They had a pretty strict “no phones at the table” rule to help them focus on each other instead of the constant pull of technology.

“I’m guessing that won’t be the case for Elysse Allen,” she commented.

Zachary sighed and nodded. “I’m glad I wasn’t called on to investigate that one—way too much media attention. I wouldn’t be able to make a move without an entourage following me. I think she’s almost as popular as Brittany.”

Brittany Blake was a social media darling that they ended up stranded with in a mountain resort. She had rented one of the other cabins. Kenzie had known how popular Instagrammers and other social media moguls could be. Still, she hadn’t really understood the phenomenon until meeting Brittany, and after everything that had happened while they were there. It was astounding. And Zachary was right about Elysse Allen. If she hadn’t achieved Brittany-level fame before her disappearance, the report that she was missing had certainly catapulted her into internet fame now.

She was everywhere you looked. Or her face was, anyway. Kenzie could barely turn on her phone or computer without seeing Elysse’s face below a news item, on TV, in a social media feed, or in her inbox. Even without turning on a screen, she could see Elysse’s face on newspapers, billboards, and flyers everywhere she went. Vermont was a small state, and they had adopted Elysse Allen as their cause. Vermonters would not rest until she was found.

“We’ll leave that one to the police,” Kenzie agreed. “Let them take any flak for her not being found yet.”

Zachary was a private investigator and, while he sometimes crossed paths with the police, they preferred that he not have anything to do with any case they were actively investigating. So he ended up with smaller cases like the disappearance of the schoolgirl, which the police might have looked into but hadn’t found anything significant on. They would keep their eyes open, but had not found any evidence of foul play or that the girl was in any danger. As Zachary said, she was probably sleeping on a friend’s couch and would come home sooner or later. She had left voluntarily and would likely return in a day or two without incident. Not something the police wanted to put a lot of manpower into.

“Well…” Kenzie popped the last corner of toast into her mouth. “I guess I should probably be getting on my way.”

Zachary bounced out of his chair, leaving his granola bar half-eaten. “What do you want for lunch? I was going to make you something to take with you.”

Kenzie was notoriously bad for wanting to have something good and healthy for lunch, yet not making anything and then relying on the vending machine in the basement of the police station, full of stale sandwiches and unappetizing snacks. She glanced at the time displayed on the microwave.

“I really should be heading out soon.”

“We can get you something that’s quick.” Zachary turned toward the cupboard and fridge, pursing his lips thoughtfully. He had prepared a lunch for Kenzie once before, assembled out of his various packaged snacks. But she didn’t think that would do it for her this time. Zachary looked at her and raised one eyebrow. “Chicken and Stars?” he suggested.

It was a childhood favorite he had just recently reintroduced into his diet. But it wasn’t Kenzie’s favorite. She rolled her eyes. “Not Chicken and Stars.”

He put his hand over his heart. “I’m wounded that you don’t appreciate my culinary skills.”

“It’s not your culinary skills; it’s just what’s in the can.” Kenzie waved the issue of lunch aside. “We’ll get something for lunch next time. Today I’ll just grab something at work.”

Zachary wrinkled his nose.

“Not something at work,” Kenzie clarified. “Something near work. A sandwich shop or diner.”

“I don’t think you want to be eating out of the work refrigerator.”

Kenzie shook her head. “No. Not out of the big one,” she agreed. She put on her shoes and grabbed her purse. “See you tonight. Have a good day!”

“Okay.” He kissed her, held her for an instant longer than expected, and then released her. “You have a good day too. Don’t kill anybody.”

“All of my patients are already dead.”

“You hope.”

“They’d better be!”

CHAPTER 2

The only person watching the clock was Kenzie herself. There wasn’t anyone at the office making sure that she arrived at exactly the right time. She didn’t have to clock in and out. She just showed up and got a start on the work on her computer and desk. She tried to time her arrival so that she got there ahead of Dr. Wiltshire, so that she had time to review the emails, lab work, and any new remains that had been checked in overnight, and have everything organized by the time he got there.

Sometimes he foiled her by being there early, however. Kenzie knew she probably should have expected him to be there ahead of her on her first day back after the suspension. Some kind of procedure to acknowledge that she had been away for disciplinary reasons, but was now back after serving her time.

“Let’s have a quick meet,” Dr. Wiltshire offered as soon as he saw her walk up to her desk. “We’ll grab the boardroom. You’ll still be able to see if anyone comes to your desk.”

Kenzie’s desk was the public face of the morgue. At the reception area, she gave people forms to fill out when they had requests. She answered phones and emails. She redirected people when they took the wrong elevator down and were looking for the cafeteria. Even though she would never recommend that anyone eat at the cafeteria.

As long as she kept all of those things under control, and any other administrative duties, she could also join Dr. Wiltshire in autopsy, sometimes performing postmortems on her own as she grew more experienced and needed to call on him less. She was still supervised, but it wasn’t like she would get any complaints from the patients.

Kenzie smiled her acknowledgment and sighed as she put her purse into the desk drawer and locked it. She didn’t like going directly into a meeting without having checked her email or phone messages. She liked to know what was going on before she did anything else.

She followed Dr. Wiltshire into the boardroom. A box of donuts and a carafe of coffee were already on the table. Kenzie eyed the donuts. “I just had breakfast…”

“Well, you probably didn’t have very much. If you’re not hungry, you can wait until later. Have one for lunch.”

Kenzie remembered how she had told Zachary that she would get something healthy for lunch today. She really did need to be careful of baking. She liked sweets a little too much.

“Later,” she acknowledged. She would see how long she could hold out. Maybe she could get through the day without sampling the tasty pastries.

“Have a seat.” Dr. Wiltshire sat down himself. He looked at her over the rims of his rectangular glasses frames for a minute, then took them off. “Glad to have you back. Things just don’t run as smoothly here without you.”

“Thank you. I’m glad to be back too.”

“I’m sure you are. I hope you didn’t drive Zachary crazy during your ‘break.’”

“Well… yeah, I did.”

Dr. Wiltshire chuckled. “We’ll have to make sure he gets a break then, won’t we?”

“I am not going to say or do anything that will reflect poorly on this office,” Kenzie assured him. “I’m sorry for everything that happened, and it won’t happen again.”

“I’m sure it won’t. We have to remember that the eyes of the public are on us. They expect us to act with the proper decorum and not to say or do anything that would worry people or make them distrust our findings.”

“Yes.”

Dr. Wiltshire nodded. “I’m sure I don’t need to belabor the point.”

Kenzie put her hand on the table, readying herself to stand up and return to her desk.

“Have you been watching the developments on the Elysse Allen case?” Dr. Wiltshire asked.

“Well… trying not to, actually. But it’s everywhere. I wonder what her family thinks of all of the publicity. I suppose they like it, because the more people know what happened to Elysse, the better the chances of finding her.”

“Yeah, they don’t seem to shun the limelight.”

Kenzie nodded her agreement. They definitely did not avoid any opportunities to talk to the media. It seemed like someone in her family was always talking to the reporters, trying to keep everyone not just informed, but engaged, almost frantic. A bunch of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off wouldn’t help the investigators much. They needed to be able to do their jobs.

“Well, in case you haven’t seen everything that’s been on the news lately, they’re bringing in dogs to join the search and rescue team today.”

“That’s a good idea. I’m surprised they haven’t had any in earlier.”

“They have had several scent dogs in to check out the various places she might have been and to see if they could get a trackable trail on her.”

“Oh.” Kenzie raised her brows. “What’s going on now, then?”

“They’re bringing in cadaver dogs.”

“To see whether she died and is buried somewhere close by?”

Dr. Wiltshire nodded gravely. “Yes. The search has been ongoing for several days, and the police are not very optimistic about being able to find her alive. If she is in the wilderness, lost, injured, or detained by some third party, she’s running out of time. Or has already run out of time. It’s time to switch the focus of the search from search and rescue to recovery.”

“Oh, dear. Her poor family.” Kenzie had known that it would be coming. They couldn’t keep a rescue mission going on forever. They needed to be realistic and accept that she was probably gone. It had probably been too late when they started looking for her. By the time her boyfriend had decided that enough time had passed and he needed to file a report with the police. If Kenzie understood the headlines correctly, he had waited until she had been missing for several days before getting the police on to it.

Was it any wonder he was the prime suspect?

“They will have to accept reality sooner or later,” Dr. Wiltshire said.

Kenzie nodded and again prepared to stand. Talking about stories in the news was small talk, and she needed to get back to work and make sure everything was whipped back into shape.

“I’m telling you this,” Dr. Wiltshire said slowly, “because the prime search area is just a few miles away.”

Kenzie’s heart beat harder as she processed this. “In Roxboro?”

“Within our jurisdiction.”

“So if they find her remains, she might be brought here.”

“She will be.”

Kenzie tried to think of all the consequences of such a case. Media and politicians calling her. Psychics. Who knew who else? Maybe people trying to sneak in to get a picture of the remains themselves.

They would need to place Elysse’s examination at the top of the list. There was no way the public would let anyone else ahead of their darling. Dr. Wiltshire should do the post on it, or at least lead. Kenzie would have to be careful how much information about the postmortem she said to anyone.

“This will be quite the media circus,” Dr. Wiltshire said, nodding his agreement with what he read in her face. “We must be very careful every step of the way.”

“I won’t say anything to the reporters.”

“Or to anyone. Not someone riding the elevator that you think is a law enforcement officer. Not someone who invites you over for a drink. An old friend who touches base and wants to know what you’ve been doing lately.”

“No. I understand.”

“Good. At the moment,” Dr. Wiltshire pushed himself up from the table, “we know nothing. We have no statement to make. We are just waiting to see what happens.”

“There isn’t any guarantee that they’ll even find anything.”

“No. They could be wrong. She could be absolutely fine.”

But it wasn’t very likely. More than likely, Elysse Allen was dead.