Alone (Bone Secrets, #4)(60)

“No, I haven’t looked yet today.” Mason waited as long as possible to open his email in the morning, because once he did, it seemed like he got nothing done. He liked to clean up yesterday’s leftovers before adding more pork to the pot.

“You really should scan through first thing in the morning,” Ray rebuked. “You might see something important.” It was a regular argument that Mason chalked up to organizational differences. “It was sent to both of us.”

“Well, then I didn’t need to see it first thing, right? You’re on it.” Logic. “And if it was really important and something I needed to know right away, she would have called.” More logic.

Ray gave him the evil eye. “An arsonist hit Victoria Peres’s house last night.”

Shock spiked Mason’s spine. “What? Anyone hurt?”

“No. She wasn’t home.” Ray studied his screen. “Victoria says a skeletal female skull was found inside the home not far from the rock that broke the window. Someone threw in both items before a Molotov cocktail–type device to start the fire. Damage to the home was minimal.”

“She think that’s one of her missing skulls?”

“She wants to find out. Naturally, they didn’t let her walk off with it last night. Do you have anything from the Portland Fire Department? I don’t yet. She says she told them to contact us.”

Mason opened his email, his guilt prickling because he’d missed Victoria’s message. He would have opened it ten minutes earlier. That wouldn’t have helped much. Christ. He’d received forty new emails overnight. This was why he preferred not to look. “I don’t see anything.”

“I’ll reach out to them and get that skull on her table. I think she had X-rays. She should be able to tell if it’s one of the missing.”

“Why in the hell was it thrown in her house?” Mason asked, mentally adding an arson element to his odd case.

Mason clicked on Victoria’s email. Not surprisingly, it read like a report. Facts stated in chronological order. Some questions at the end. She and Seth Rutledge discovered the fire after midnight? What was the medical examiner doing with Dr. Peres at that time of night? Mason smiled.

“What’s so funny?” Ray asked.

“Nothin’. Just wondering what Seth Rutledge was doing over there at that time of night.”

“Christ. Get your head out of the gutter. She’s a nice lady.” Ray sounded doubtful. “Nice lady” was a term rarely used to describe the Bone Lady.

“Well, she and that medical examiner have a past. I don’t know exactly what, but he’s looking to get the fires going again, I believe.” He chuckled at his pun.

Ray snorted. “Lame.”

“But the skulls were stolen. Why give one back?”

“Maybe the thief didn’t need that one.”

“Why?” Mason pressed.

Ray struggled to theorize and threw up his hands. “Beats me. Maybe someone else was returning it. But why do it along with arson?”

Mason shook his head. “We still need to talk to Trinity about the shooting last night. This is another reason to get the girl in here ASAP. One boy says the shooter got riled because he saw Trinity Viders.”

“Well, at least we know the shooter didn’t set that fire. He was still in holding at that time.”

“Maybe he has friends.” More teenagers.





No doubt Leo’s message with the skull had made its point. The woman was as vulnerable as the rest of the world. The location of her home was not a secret. Her profession was not untouchable. Her safety was not a given. She should be feeling rattled. He could ruin her career and destroy whatever she held precious.

Adrenaline surged in Leo’s bloodstream. The nicotine from his cigarette pulsed through his veins. He was unstoppable.

Old Cesare often shoved the woman’s success in his face. For a man who seemed to believe women were best kept barefoot and pregnant, he had a bit of an obsession with the success of Victoria Peres. He took pride in the woman’s achievements as if they were his own, but in the same breath tore her down, claiming she was a misfit and a disgrace.

Considering the identity of her mother, he understood Cesare’s point.

He’d decided it was time for Victoria Peres to learn about her mother and had put the wheels in motion yesterday. Her present bone investigation had been entangled, her home security compromised. What would discovering the truth about her roots do to her psyche?

Two people knew the truth about Victoria’s mother: himself and Cesare. Cesare believed only he held the knowledge. But the man shouldn’t keep written records. The man had a lot to learn about living a secret life. He’d been sloppy. His hiding places weak. Cesare had managed to fool his congregation for years, but Leo had easily discovered the truth. If you’re going to hide an alternative life, don’t leave dead women in your shed.

He blew a lungful of smoke into the air. The ceiling of the tiny bedroom grew fainter through the gray-blue haze. He set his cigarette in the ashtray and tucked his hands under his head as he rested on the bed. Last night had gone as planned. He’d hoped the fire would have burned more of the home, but he’d made his point. She wasn’t safe.

The first time he’d found a body in the shed, he’d nearly wet himself. She’d had long dark hair. The feature was a fetish of Cesare’s, and he decided to adopt it as one of his own. He’d been snooping, noticing the man often made trips to the shed at all times of the night. His father kept the door padlocked, but he had watched to see where Cesare kept the key. One early morning, he’d decided to look for himself.