Alone (Bone Secrets, #4)(23)

He’d dragged her to the dragon boat practices one year when she’d been running herself ragged at work. She’d weakly protested, not wanting to hurt the kind man’s feelings, but he’d overruled her. It’d been exactly what she needed. She’d always been a work-out-at-home type of exerciser. She had an elliptical and a treadmill and ran outside when weather permitted. But getting her out on the river in a boat with nineteen other excited rowers had created an addiction.

“Hey, how was the water today?” Jeremy’s voice sounded behind her.

Victoria hit the automatic close button on her X5 and faced the man, studying him for signs of worsening health. Jeremy hadn’t rowed at all this season. He’d struggled with bronchitis and pneumonia, and she hated to see him as a shell of the vigorous man he’d been six months before. His face was thinner, his movements slower, but his eyes sparkled with life. It was that life that had drawn her to him. He shared it with everyone.

He looks a little better.

Jeremy was usually so spirited; it killed her to see him struggle. She’d never known a grandfather, but she wished she’d had one like Jeremy. He shared his positive energy; he didn’t suck it out of others. Victoria had spent too much time with people who left her drained. Jeremy did the opposite.

“Clear and cold,” she answered.

His eyes lit up. “In other words, perfect.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Fabulous. I’m going to try to get out there next week.”

Victoria shook her head. “No. That’s too soon. I don’t want to see you relapse.”

Gray eyebrows narrowed in a playful glare. “You’re not my doctor. And I really am feeling better. Was out running errands all day yesterday and even took in a concert the evening before.”

Victoria smiled. “Good! I’m glad to see you’re coming around. Everyone misses you on the water.”

“Ah, they just want someone who does all the work for them. You’ve been busy, I see. Those girls were all over the television yesterday, and you’re all over the paper today.”

“What?” Victoria froze.

“Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration.” He held up the newspaper. “You’re on the front page of the metro section.”

Victoria tried not to snatch the paper from his hand. She hated publicity. And the thought of herself in the paper was making her stomach spin. She unfolded the paper and stared at an old photo of herself. It was from a lecture she’d given a few years back at Portland State University. She breathed a small sigh of relief. The Oregonian had used the photo before. That meant they didn’t have anything fresh from the current investigation. The headline read BONE LADY TACKLES OLD MYSTERY.

Not the Bone Lady moniker again.

Surely the papers could come up with a better name. She skimmed the article. It stated that she was taking a fresh look at the old bones from the original circle of women and briefly rehashed the story. She glanced at the byline. Not Michael Brody. Brody wrote better articles than this; this article said nothing. Brody wrote in-depth investigative articles. She wondered if he was examining the case for the paper. He was a close friend of Lacey Campbell’s, and had crossed paths with Victoria a few times. He knew how to push her buttons in a highly irritating way and seemed to enjoy it.

“So you’re looking into that old case, eh?”

She looked up. Jeremy studied her closely, and she wondered what her face had revealed. Irritation? Annoyance?

“Yes. I’m hoping to find something that will indicate who those unidentified three women were.”

“I remember when that happened. I always thought it was odd that no one stepped forward.”

She looked at him with new interest. “You lived in the city back then?”

“Sure. Lived right downtown. It was a different era, you know. Men like me did our best to stay out of the limelight, but we knew where to go to socialize with others like us.”

Victoria studied his face. They’d had a few conversations about what it was like to be a gay man in today’s society, but Jeremy rarely talked about the old days. Her heart winced in sympathy for the hidden life he’d led.

“We used to talk about that case a lot. Who would murder a bunch of women? Rumors swirled about white slaves and prostitution rings. I always thought it seemed like it had a personal touch. Like someone had arranged them in that circle, you know, put them on display for others to see.”

“But why weren’t all of them claimed?”

“Maybe folks were too scared to do so. It had that cult-like feeling about it, you know? Something about them being found in a pattern and dressed the same.”

Victoria shook her head. Could a cult have hid underground for that many decades in the city?

“I see all the recent girls have been identified.” Jeremy nodded at the paper still in Victoria’s hands. She handed it back to him, gladly closing the paper on her own photo. “All local girls, but different schools, eh?”

Victoria nodded. “You know Trinity, right? The girl who ended up in the hospital is a close friend of hers.”

“Ah, she’s a good one, that girl. How’s Trinity holding up?”

“She was relieved Brooke lived, but now is terrified she’ll die. She spent most of yesterday believing she’d already died.”