12th of Never

the line said he was Sergeant Cosmo Rinker of the White Pine County, Nevada, sheriff ‘s department.
    He said, “Sergeant, we’ve got two DBs out here, and you might be looking for them.”
    “How’s that?” I said.
    “Well,” Rinker said, “what happened was, this UFO group saw a bright light on the horizon a couple of weeks ago, thought it was a close encounter of the little green kind. But when they got to it, turns out to be a vehicle completely consumed by fire.”
    I wondered what an incinerated vehicle had to do with us. But the sergeant had hooked me, and the man liked to tell the story his way.
    “After the highway patrol called us, we got to see what was inside this burned-up Escalade. It was the cremains of two bodies in the rear cargo area, both of them female.”
    We were missing two female bodies, which was an inexcusable tragedy, an embarrassment to San Francisco law enforcement, and a very bad blow to a very good friend of mine.
    “I’m listening, Sergeant. Please go on.”
    “Sure, sure; I’m getting there. One of the females had a bullet that went into her head and out the other side. The other female also had a gunshot to the head, but the bullet was fragmented and forensically worthless. But our lab did get a hit on the dental work of that first female and that’s why I called you.”
    “What’s the victim’s name?”
    “She’s this Faye Farmer you’re looking for, got stolen from your ME’s office. We can’t ID the other victim.”
    Rinker was still talking as I typed an instant message to Richie. FAYE FARMER FOUND. I sent it to his computer. He typed back !!!!!?????
    I said, “Sergeant Rinker, where are the two bodies now?”
    “They’re at the ME’s office in Las Vegas. But I think you should come see us here in Ely pretty soon. I think maybe we’ve got a lead on the doer.”
    “Put the coffee on, Sergeant. We’ll be right there,” I said.

Chapter 112
    IT TOOK FOUR hours for Conklin, Claire, and me to get to McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. Then it was a four-hour drive in a rental car to a speck of a place fifty miles north of nowhere on a small track of road leading out into the desert.
    The White Pine County sheriff ‘s barracks were sided in white aluminum, with a line of small windows facing the road and a sign on the front reading public safety building .
    We parked, stepped out into the blazing sun, and shielded our eyes with our hands so that we could view the distant blue hills at the farthest edge of the scrub and the endless open sky above us.
    Moments later we went through the glass doors, identified ourselves to the desk officer, then waited in the dark reception room until a lanky man in a tan uniform opened an interior door.
    “Good to see you all,” he said. “Come on back.”
    Rinker’s office was lit with an overhead fluorescent fixture. File cabinets flanked his door, and his hat hung from a rack of antlers directly behind his chair. There was a framed picture of the Three Stooges in police uniforms and a dozen plaques on the walls.
    We took seats around Rinker’s desk, and after introductions were made, the sergeant opened a file on his computer and turned the monitor around.
    “Can everyone see?”
    We looked at photos of the torched Escalade from all sides, including a close-up of what looked like a red Frisbee in the backseat. That red disk had once been a plastic five-gallon gas container, and was likely the fire’s point of origin.
    Next Rinker showed us images of the interior of the cargo section at the back of the burned car. Along with the jack and the remains of the spare tire were two corpses, charred to the point of being what firefighters call crispy critters.
    Rinker said, “Our ME removed the bodies. Usually, when you take the bodies out, there will be carpet or something under them—clothes, maybe—that didn’t burn. But this fire burned long and hot. All we got was ash and a few pieces of metal you can see in this picture here.
    “Now, these are the reports from the ME.”
    He handed the records to Claire, who skimmed the forms, knowing just what she was looking for.
    “‘Jane Doe 91, cause of death, bullet to the head,’” she said. “‘Manner of death, homicide.’ May I see that photo of the artifacts again?”
    Rinker pulled it up and Claire scrutinized the scorched litter until she saw what she was looking for.
    “That buckle looks like it came from a gun belt. I’m just speculating, but until proven