Q Is for Quarry

doughnuts and then pulled up chairs. Stacey said, "I'll take the lead here unless someone objects."
    Con said, "Quit being coy and get on with it."
    "Okay then. Let's tally what we know. That'll show us where the gaps are. For now, you probably think we have a lot more gaps than we have facts in between, but let's see what we've got." He uncapped the black marker and wrote the name "Victim" at the top of one sheet and "Killer" at the top of the next. "We'll start with Jane Doe."
    I pulled a fresh pack of index cards from my shoulder bag, tore off the cellophane, and started taking notes.

Chapter 5
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    He printed rapidly and neatly, condensing the information in the file as we talked our way through. "What do we have first?" He lifted his marker and looked at us. Like any good instructor, he was going to I make sure we supplied most of the answers.
    Dolan said, "She's white. Age somewhere between twelve and eighteen."
    "Right. So that means a date of birth somewhere between 1951 and 1957." Stacey made the requisite note near the top of the paper.
    "What about the estimated date of death ?" I asked.
    I thought Dolan would consult the autopsy report, but he seemed to know it by heart. "Dr. Weisenburgh says the body'd been there anywhere from one to five days, so that'd be sometime between July 29 and August 2. He's retired now, but I had him go back over this and he remembered the girl."
    "All right." Stacey wrote the DOD on the paper under Jane Doe's date of birth. He went on writing, this time dictating to himself. Rapidly, we went through the basics: height, weight, eyes, hair color.
    Dolan said, "Report says blond, though it was probably a dye job. There was some suggestion of dark roots."
    I said, "She had buckteeth and lots of fillings, but no orthodontic work."
    Stacey's mouth pulled down. "Maybe we should stop and have a chat about that."
    Dolan shook his head. "They didn't do braces much when I was growing up. My family was big –thirteen kids – and we all had crooked teeth. Look here. Bottoms buckled up, but these top guys are good." He turned to me. "You have braces as a kid?"
    "Nope."
    "Nor did I," Stacey said. "Well. I'm glad we got that out of the way. So what's that tell us, the buckteeth?"
    "Well, I'd say most kids with a severe overbite have already seen an orthodontist by the time they're ten," Dolan said. "My niece has three kids, so I know they start early-sometimes do the work in two or three stages. If this gal was going to have braces, she should've been in 'em by the time she died."
    "Maybe her family didn't have the money," I suggested.
    "That could be. Anything else?"
    "Cavities like that, you're talking poor diet, too. Candy. Soda pop. Junk food," Dolan said, with a quick look at me. And then to Stacey, "Not to sound like a snoot, but kids from your basic middle-to upper-class families usually don't have rotten teeth like that."
    I said, "Think about the toothaches."
    Stacey said, "She did get' em fixed. Matter of fact, the forensic odontist thinks all the fillings went in about the same time, probably in the year or two before she died."
    I said, "That must have cost a bundle."
    "Think of all the novocaine shots," Dolan said. "You'd have to sit there for hours with that drill screaming in your head."
    "Knock it off. You're making my palms sweat. I'm phobic about dentists in case you haven't heard. Look at this," I said, showing him my palms.
    Stacey frowned. "They ever circulate a chart of her amalgam fillings?"
    Dolan said, "Not that I know. I've got a copy in here. Might come in handy if we think we got a match. We do have the maxilla and mandible."
    I looked over at him. "Her jaws? After eighteen years?"
    "We have all ten fingers, too."
    Stacey made a note on the paper. "Let's see if we can get the coroner's office to run another set of prints. Maybe we'll get a hit through NCIC."
    "I can't believe she'll show up, given her age at the time of death," Dolan said.
    "Unless she got arrested for shoplifting or prostitution," I said, ever the optimist.
    "Problem is, if she got arrested as a juvenile, her records would be sealed and probably purged by now," he said.
    I raised a hand. "You were talking about why she was never recognized; suppose she was from out of state, some place back East? I get the impression the news story didn't get nationwide attention."
    "Story probably didn't rate a mention beyond the county line," Dolan said.
    "Let's move on to her clothes. Any ideas there?"