The Fort (Aric Davis)

to call the mother, give her a heads-up on the possibility of really bad news, and then when you verify the size of our corpse, I’ll let her know we’re waiting on dental.”
    “How long do you think dental will take? I know normally it’s only a few days, but is it even possible when the teeth are that bad?”
    “Doesn’t matter, dental’s going to come up positive,” said Jefferson. “The press is going to report this kid is dead, so is the TV news. It’s going to be all over. Even if dental does come back negative, it won’t be worth a shit. The guy from the coroner’s office, the new whiz kid they got, he says the perp stabbed her to death, then meticulously—his word—pulped out her fucking teeth before burning her. We won’t get within a mile of conclusive with the girl’s damn teeth.
    “Back to those fucking kids. This is some malicious, deliberate shit, and those little assholes need to know that playtime is over. Then it’s time to kick in some doors and find this fucker.”
    “I’m on it,” said Van Endel, standing. He was walking out the door when Jefferson called after him, “Don’t fuck this up. This girl isn’t some whore. She’s one of us.” Van Endel wanted to shout back at Jefferson and tell him that response was precisely why they were nowhere on the Riverside case. If the prostitute murders had been treated with this sort of priority, it could have been solved long ago. There was no point. Van Endel let the door chase him out, and then his eyes were on Dr. Martinez. He crossed the room quickly to her.
    “Well?” said Dr. Martinez in a hushed voice. “What was so damn important?”
    “They got a body,” said Van Endel, his voice just as quiet.
    “Oh, my God,” she said, the color draining from her face. “Where, in the woods? I feel so terrible; if only we could have done more, or had a little bit more time. Fucking shit, seriou—”
    “Doc, you need to calm down right now,” said Van Endel, grabbing her arm. “They found her at the drive-in, and she’s a burned-up wreck, and been there two days or so. Those kids didn’t see shit in those woods except for maybe some squirrels.”
    “I can’t believe this,” said Dr. Martinez. “They were acting scared and a little unsure of themselves, but I thought with time and some hard work we were going to get somewhere. Are they sure it’s her?”
    “Pretty damn sure,” said Van Endel. “I have to tell these kids to get the fuck out, and then I’m going to the drive-in, and then the morgue. Want to come?”
    “Wouldn’t miss it,” said Martinez, her face a stone.

26
    The door opened, and both Scott’s and Beth’s heads snapped toward it. Van Endel walked in first. He looked furious. Dr. Martinez followed, not looking a whole lot happier. “There is a very good chance that Molly is deceased,” said Van Endel. “A body has been found.”
    “Oh, my God, how awful,” Scott’s mom said. “Her poor mother.”
    Van Endel was pacing the small room back and forth. “Agreed,” he said. “Her poor mother. But we have a problem. A big one. The medical examiner is pretty sure that the girl we found has been dead for a couple of days, likely the same day she was taken. The body’s pretty badly burned, but he’ll know exactly how long soon enough.”
    “That’s not possible!” Scott nearly shouted. “We just saw her, and she was alive. It’s been like two or three hours, tops, and most of that was spent waiting to talk to you!”
    “Young man,” said Van Endel, “I am going to say this one time, and one time only. Calm down. Right now. My boss has it in his head that you kids are lying, and I’m starting to agree with him. As I said, we still need to verify details, but it seems highly likely that the body recovered is Molly, and if that’s the case—”
    “Mom, this is crazy! We saw Molly, and if someone would just lis—”
    “Scott,” his mom said, “you need to shut your mouth, OK?” Scott couldn’t believe it, but it was happening. She wasn’t even looking at him. “Detective, Doctor, I’m so sorry. I’m not sure what he was thinking, but we’ll get to the bottom of it. I’m so sorry we wasted your time. I honestly don’t know what else to say to you.”
    “I get that. I’m not the only cop that’s been working a lot of unpaid overtime on this one. We really wanted to bring Molly home safely, and this prank, if that’s what it is, is just a slap in the face.”
    “I