Audra had never questioned why Cordero had believed her. He was a friend in the midst of a storm of suspicion and had convinced everyone that Audra was telling the truth. Even so, the case was labeled an unexplained phenomenon. Without a culprit, suspect, or clue to go on, no one in the family had been given any peace or closure.
As Ethan pulled his truck onto the smoldering lot that had just one day prior held the sheriff's station, she pushed back the fear of having to face her friend, mentor and boss after she'd failed to answer his call when he needed her. But, as she looked at the smoky ruin, she felt that there was something very strange about his connection to Abigail Stevens, then his interest in her sister, and how they now turned out to be related.
The volunteer fire department was just pulling in their gear, resting and drinking water. Audra noticed the fire inspector walking around the rubble scratching his head. She got out of Ethan's truck with Renee Stevens' photo albums and shoebox. She walked up to the team gathered near Cordero who leaned against the hood of his rental car in front of the team. Yolanda looked grave and took the chance to give Audra a warning glance about the dark mood that Cordero was obviously in. Audra placed the photo albums and shoebox on the ground at her feet and listened.
"Thanks for joining us," Cordero said. "What did you learn from Renee Stevens?"
"Well, Abigail was pregnant as we already knew and gave the baby up for adoption. She was also a prostitute for a short time before marrying an Indian that was apparently in the Navy and perished during Desert Storm. We know that he wasn't the father of either one of Abigail's children and Renee suspects an old high school teacher by the name of Mr. Hawthorn to be responsible for her first pregnancy."
"Good information," Cordero said. "First thing we'll have to do is start from scratch and reinvestigate Abigail Stevens' murder. With the destruction of our equipment we'll have to do things the old fashioned way for a few days."
A muted groan escaped a few of the guys.
"Listen people," Cordero snapped, "an entire family has been systematically murdered. I know that this sucks but this is our responsibility. We owe it to that family to bring whoever killed them to justice."
Audra felt her lips tighten.
"For the time being we'll work out of the B&B in town. Wheeler, I want you to skip your trip to the bank and go directly to the hospital; find every record they have on Abigail Stevens. Do that investigation right and I'm certain everything else will fall into place. Cooper, go to the bank and get whatever information Ms. Annie may still have on Abigail's account."
"About that," Audra piped up. "Renee told us that her account was never closed. Abigail put her sister's name on the account and money has transferred into it every month, even after Abigail's death. She didn't know where from."
Cordero looked pensive for a moment.
"Neil, you stay here and wait for the fire inspector's report. Once you've got it, call me and let me know what he says."
Eric's electric blue eyes were set and serious as he nodded.
"Kane, since you were the only one attached to your laptop enough to take it to lunch with you, go with Eagles. Head back to the B&B and set up a new command post. Rent them out completely if you can. Set up a temporary secure line through your laptop until our new equipment comes in.
"Cooper, if you have time after the bank, go to Town Hall and find any records related to Abigail Stevens; birth, marriage, death, taxes, everything."
"Yes, sir."
Audra looked at Thomas whose usually smooth and cocky grin was gone. As he looked back at her she understood that being in the field was finally becoming real. Unlike the office, it was dangerous.
"I'm headed back to New York in order to sign for the requisition of new equipment. I'll be back in the morning and I expect a full report from everyone by eight o'clock," Cordero informed them.
Audra felt a little on edge that Cordero would be leaving.
"Get back to work," he shouted. He made eye contact with Audra. She was stunned to see a look of disappointment run over his face before he turned to get into his car. She was struck and more than a little offended by the feeling of harsh judgment. The fact that Abigail Stevens' murder was his case in the first place came up as her knee-jerk defensive response. She couldn't hold back the impulse to run up to him as he reached his car door.
"What was your relationship to Abigail?" she blurted out. The tone of her question was unmistakable and it wasn't missed by anyone on the team. She turned and took note that her impulsive questioning of Cordero was now center stage.
"Excuse me?" Cordero took a moment to absorb the accusation in her tone.
"You're from here, correct? You would have been in school with her at the same time, right?" Audra reasoned. "The uninvestigated case was yours, wasn't it? There's no evidence of that now," she said, pointing to the rubble. "But then, you left less than six months later."
Cordero nodded. "Yes, I knew her. But I didn't kill her. If you do your job you'll discover that." He opened his door. Audra put her hand on the door and closed it.
"Why the hell didn't you investigate this case twenty-five years ago?"
She heard Yolanda's gasp and realized she'd overstepped a major boundary. But this was too important to worry about her image or even her job.
"A day after you arrive in town, the only evidence tying you to that investigation goes up in smoke. If you had done your job back then, none of us would be here now. Everyone else would still be alive."
Cordero looked at the team as they witnessed the confrontation like a herd of deer in headlights. "Back to work," he shouted to them and they all dispersed, except Ethan. Cordero turned back to Audra. "I'm glad you're questioning this very strange coincidence. I trust you to uncover the truth that I couldn't all those years ago. But," he paused and looked at Ethan, "this guy almost cost you your career once. Are you going to let it happen again?"
Audra stepped back with the force of his gentle, friendly, and almost fatherly reminder only moments after her heated accusation.
"I'll be back in the morning. I expect a full report." He opened his car door again and got inside.
Audra stepped aside and watched him drive away. She looked at Ethan as Cordero's final words rang in her ears. She was once again struck by his admission of how much he had, in fact, disapproved of their affair.
As she walked back to Ethan, she remembered how they'd gotten caught. She'd been late, and then she was tired, and then she was late at work, and finally missed an important assignment deadline. Cordero probably knew even before she did.
"You can't work together anymore," Cordero had said bluntly. "I don't care which one of you leaves, but both of you can't stay. Let me know by the end of the week."
But, by the end of that day, Audra had begun to bleed. Ethan sent a message right away that he would go and, by the end of that week, she'd miscarried. The physical pain took her by surprise, doubling her over. When she'd gone to the hospital, it was Cordero she'd called, not Ethan. It was Cordero who'd taken her home and let her cry on his shoulder. Once Ethan left they'd never spoken of it again.
"I should go get my car," Audra said as she passed Ethan, noticing that the entire team was still milling around. "I'll ask Yolanda to take me back."
"Yeah," Ethan almost whispered. "I have this to deal with." He waved at his burned down station. "Call me if you… get a moment."
"I will," she promised before retrieving the photo albums and shoebox from the ground, turning on her heels, and heading to Yolanda's car.
"Wow." Yolanda laughed nervously as she pulled away from the smoking rubble and onto the road back to Bishop's for Audra's car. "You got some stone cold balls, girl."
"Do I?" Audra questioned.
"You do. Don't take it wrong if I don't sit next to you around him for a while."
"It's okay, we can be secret friends." Audra smiled through the twisting pain of stabbing Cordero in the back by making him a suspect, and then leaving Ethan behind.
"Meet me at the B&B when you're done at the hospital. We'll talk," Yolanda promised after they had rode in virtual silence all the way to her car.
"Sure thing," Audra said, but was certain that the last thing either of them wanted to do was rehash the earlier scene.
As she drove in her rental through the other side of town towards the hospital, Audra marveled at the comparison of two story homes that dotted the more affluent landscape and the trailer park that had been Abigail's home growing up. She thought about her sister, Kendra, and wondered what life would have been like here for her if she had grown up with Abigail as her poor teen mother. Kendra had been the polite and quiet type growing up. Audra thought Kendra would have been more like Renee than the girl Abigail was described as.
Audra noticed the high school just off of the main intersection and shook her head. The flashing billboard announced summer school, band camp, and football training schedules. She could sympathize with Abigail, having to travel from the trailer park through what must have seemed like rich opulence every day to get to school. A young child would want absolutely everything they knew they couldn't have and would have done almost anything to get it. It was human nature. All Audra wanted was to learn the truth of what happened to Abigail. She was ready to do anything to get it as well.
Audra followed signage for the hospital just half a mile outside of town. She was surprised to find such a large building with five floors and very modern window architecture. She parked close to the lobby and saw the sign indicating that the hospital was connected to the junior college.
She took a deep breath and put on her game face. She shuddered to think about the condition of the hospital's archived medical records and was certain that it would be an all day affair hunting through musty file boxes. She walked through the sliding hospital doors to find a very modern and stylish lobby entrance. The receptionist, who indeed looked like the gatekeeper of the shiny hospital, looked up as she entered.
"How may I help you?" She smiled as Audra flashed her badge.
"My name is Special Agent Audra Wheeler. I need to look through your hospital archives to find the records pertaining to a patient from about twenty-five years ago."
The receptionist smiled politely. "I will have to call the hospital administrator, but all of our archives were transferred over to digital imaging nearly five years ago."
"Really?" Audra was impressed.
"Yes. Just give me a moment and I'll call the administrator down for you."
Audra nodded and took a step back. She tried not to pace as she waited, taking the time to look over some of the artwork and signage in the front lobby. It was all very interesting, in a bland, beige, waiting room way.
"Detective Wheeler?"
Audra turned to find herself face-to-face with a woman that looked exactly like Kendra. Not almost, but identical.
"Oh," Audra exhaled.
"I'm Margret Shelley." She stuck her hand out and smiled.
"Agent Wheeler." Audra corrected as she regained her composure. "I need to, uhm, look through your archived medical files. You had a patient, Abigail Stevens, who died here more than twenty-five years ago."
"Yes." Margret nodded. "Walk with me." She turned, pausing long enough to allow Audra to step next to her. Audra could see the slight furrowing of Margaret's eyebrows. "That name sounds familiar. I sort of inherited the hospital admin job about five years ago," Margret started.
"Inherited?" Audra quizzed stepping onto the elevator.
"Yes, my family owns this hospital."
"Right," Audra said, remembering her conversation with Timothy Delluca, the HUD apartment manager. As the door to the elevator closed it felt as if the air were sucked out of it. Audra watched as Margaret pressed the button for the fifth floor. She wasn't sure what was happening as it became harder and harder for her to breathe.
"Don't get me wrong. I went to college, locally, for appearance sake, but then I went to Emory for my Master's in Business Administration." Margaret's voice began to sound muffled and distant. Audra placed a hand on the wall next to her for support and then another hand to her chest.
"Are you alright?" Margaret turned to Audra in alarm and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Finally, Audra was able to take a deep breath. The elevator doors opened and Audra stumbled onto the floor gasping for air.
"Agent Wheeler?"
Audra made the mistake of bending over and soon found herself blacking out.