Chapter 27

Nero – The Following Thursday

Nero slowedto a stop so he could fully appreciate the fa?ade of the Cooper Springs police station. Andre Dear had agreed to speak with him today—on his day off—and Nero's list of questions was long and tucked inside his backpack.

The station, designed in the 1950s, was hardly bigger than the library. Nero suspected it had been remodeled again in the seventies so that the building now looked like the bastard child of Walter Gropius and Frank Gehry.

Unfortunate.

Inside, Nick Waugh sat behind a metal desk that also looked like it came from the 1950s. He didn't smile, but he also didn't tell Nero to take a hike. About par for Nick.

"I have an appointment with Chief Dear," Nero told him.

Nick pressed a button somewhere before saying, "Chief, your visitor has arrived. Have a seat," Nick said to Nero.

The only chair was a spindly looking thing not meant for the likes of Nero.

"I'll stand, thanks."

"Suit yourself."

Nick returned his attention to the computer screen, leaving Nero to his own thoughts. Quickly, he ran through what he wanted to ask Chief Dear. Nero hoped there might be some new news about what had happened in the forest. Or about Elizabeth Harlow.

"Nero, good to see you safe and sound," Dear said as he approached Nero, holding his hand out. "Especially after last weekend. How's Forrest?"

"As if Lani hasn't kept you updated. He's healing fine though. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me, Chief."

"It's my pleasure. Come back this way. Also, you can call me Andre when I'm not on the clock."

Following Dear down a long hallway, Nero wondered if the chief was ever not on the clock. He also noted the plaques on the closed doors they passed, one of which read Evidence Room. He hoped he got the chance to see what was inside. That was why he was here, after all—to dig into the unsolved cases of Cooper Springs.

Dear's office was at the end of the hall and near an exit door. It was about a five on the scale of tidy to messy. Nero had definitely seen worse. Secretly, he didn't trust people whose offices were Martha Stewart levels of tidy.

"Have a seat. Let me clear off that chair for you."

Dear moved a stack of files and found a spot for them on the corner of his desk.

"Thanks for meeting with me," Nero said, setting his backpack down on the floor as he sat.

"You're the talk of the town right now," Dear said. "I feel like I'm talking to a celebrity."

Nero snorted. "I think maybe celebrity is a bit over the top." Although to be honest, he appreciated Andre's acceptance of his interference. All he'd done was find a body.

"Nah, you coming here ultimately ended up with us solving four separate murder cases."

Dear stepped behind his desk and sat down, scooting forward to lean his elbows on the surface.

Nero unzipped the top of his pack and retrieved his tablet so he could take notes. He may have figured out a fifth murder too, but he didn't want to get Dear's hopes up.

"It wasn't all me. Rufus figured it out before anyone."

Dear frowned. "He did, but it would've been better if he'd come to us before charging up into the wilderness alone."

"I think he didn't want to believe it himself until he confirmed Dina Paulson was still alive and living up there. He didn't want it to be possible."

"He's lucky to be alive. You all are."

"I suppose that's true." Nero didn't feel like he'd been in danger—more that he'd been a catalyst that had been a long time coming.

"Anyway, you said you had some questions about the Kaylee Fernsby case?"

"I do. Do you mind if I take notes?"

They rehashed the disappearance of Kaylee Fernsby and subsequent discovery of her body.

"There's just so little in the file. Why?" Nero asked.

"Sloppy work all around," Dear agreed.

"Were the clothes she was wearing when she was recovered tested for semen or anything else? There's no indication in the report I read."

"Likely not," Dear said. "The budget probably wouldn't have covered it and DNA evidence was just coming into use back then anyway."

"If the clothing is still in evidence, would you be willing to send it to a lab?"

"That's been a long time." Andre ran a hand through his silver hair before crossing his arms. "Most likely anything left is degraded."

"It doesn't hurt to try."

Andre spread his hands. "I have the same problem as my incompetent predecessor. No money. Especially not for a cold case."

"What if I knew a lab that would do it as a charity?"

Andre's eyebrows drew together. "I've heard about labs that do this work, but isn't there a waiting list?"

"There is, but I have an in. A close friend of mine, Lindsay Horton, runs a lab and is invested in these cases. We've worked together before. She works out of San Francisco, so getting her the sample would be fairly easy. At least we wouldn't have to drive it across country like the last time she and I did this."

"I'm not going to say no, but before I say yes, why this case? Why Cooper Springs? There are thousands of cold cases, Janes, Johns and Jays. Missing persons from across the United States."

"Like I said before, I no longer think Donny was brought here. But I've been here for a while now, and I feel tied to the town. I want to know what happened to Kaylee, the third lost girl of Cooper Springs. Initially, I thought they were connected, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Her family deserves closure just as much as Morgan's and Sarah's did."

Andre nodded, biting his lip.

"My gut is telling me that this is our chance to find out who killed Kaylee. Will we actually find any DNA that leads to an arrest? Maybe not. It's been a long time. But it would be good to have closure."

Nero moved to the next item on his list. "And what about Ms. Harlow's death? Has she been tied to Dina at all?"

Dear sat back, recrossing his arms over his chest. His eyes were narrowed and his gaze intense. Nero shifted in his seat, glad he wasn't being interrogated.

"At the moment, there is nothing to link the Harlow case with Morgan Blass and Sarah Turner. They were decades apart. But the fact that Ms. Harlow lived in Zenith and we now know that Dale Lockwood used that trail on occasion certainly raises questions. Questions we may never know the answers to."

A bland answer if there ever was one.

"She was killed around the same time Blair Cruz disappeared, correct? And Blair's remains haven't been found yet. What if Ms. Harlow saw something she shouldn't have? What if she saw Lockwood in Zenith or even abducting Blair?" Nero theorized.

"It's possible, even probable. But we don't have any proof. And with Lockwood dead and Dina Paulson heavily medicated and dying herself, I don't know if we ever will recover Ms. Cruz's remains. The story will have to be put together by the forensic team sometime in the future."

"If there's anything I can do to help," Nero offered.

Lips pressed into a thin line, Dear rose to his feet. He pulled a heavy set of keys out of the top drawer. "I want to show you the evidence room. Leave your bag here, it will be secure."

The police chief moved around his desk and headed into the hallway, Nero right on his heels. Dear stopped at the evidence room door and, after flipping through the keys, inserted one into the door's lock. The lock protested but turned. Dear pushed the door open and motioned Nero inside.

"This is the glory of our evidence room. The West Coast Forensics team looked around in here, but they didn't find anything pertaining to the remains that were found. They collected DNA from Morgan's mother and Sarah's brother and used those samples to compare to the remaining DNA, but they didn't have time to organize the rest of this and see if there were clues to the other cold cases."

Nero peered over his shoulder. Wooden shelves were stacked with aging cardboard boxes. Some sat on top of other boxes, and some were crumpled and sagging.

"I'm trying to get a grant to bring an expert in to get this into some semblance of order. I don't know if it ever was set up correctly." Dear sighed.

"How far back does it go? How many years?"

Dear shook his head, staring at the shelves. "All the way to 1925, when Cooper Springs set up its own police force."

Nero sympathized. He'd been in evidence rooms in small, underfunded police stations before, and the state of this one wasn't surprising.

"If you can find what you're looking for, I'm willing to have it sent to your lab."

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. Nick can help you."

"Are you certain about that? I think he'd rather have me gone." Nick Waugh had warmed up a bit to Nero, but not enough to spend hours with him in a small room.

"I'm sure. I'll have a chat with him. He'll come around. Nick's a good person."

Nero's gaze took in the piles of boxes, overwhelmed by the remnants of the lives they held within them.

"It's a shame," Dear said, echoing his thoughts. "I'm not a superstitious guy, but this room is full of ghosts."