Alone (Bone Secrets, #4)(66)

“It’s not too bad from here. I’ll give you some gas money.”

Again he hadn’t directly answered her question. Since she’d picked him up on the west end of Hillsboro, it meant they were on a straight shot to the coast.

“You think that’d be okay?” he asked.

“Of course,” Trinity said. He smiled at her, and she felt her breath catch. His anger was gone. Why had she been so scared for that split second? And he seemed to want to spend the day with her. She wasn’t going to let that pass by. Katy hadn’t asked how long she’d be gone when she left this morning. Katy trusted her with her old second car.

He stood and flung the backpack that he’d refused to leave in the car over his shoulder. Odd clanking sounded in the bag. Jason reached behind him to pat the sides of the bag, checking for openings. His fingers found an open zipper and yanked it closed, covering Trinity’s brief view of a camera’s lens cap.





Victoria sat silently in Seth’s passenger seat. Possibilities raced through her mind. She’d envisioned knocking on the door and falling into her happy mother’s arms, as her mother sobbed about the baby who’d been taken from her. She’d thought of driving by and never going back. What if the address was fake? What if it was a prank? What if the woman hated her?

She was nauseous.

Seth squeezed her hand. He’d held her hand the entire time in the car, making her worry as he merged onto the freeway. “We’ll just take a look. Maybe knock on the door. Don’t get your hopes up about anything,” he reminded her.

Victoria nodded. He’d said the same thing a half-dozen times. He was as nervous as she was.

“You’re sighing,” Seth stated.

“I know. I can’t help it. I swear every nerve I have is on edge.”

“Lack of sleep and the possibility of seeing your birth mother will do that to anyone.”

The GPS announced they’d arrived at their destination. Seth parked across the street at the curb and turned off the car.

Victoria studied the small home. They were in an old neighborhood in southeast Portland. The lots were close together and the homes looked incredibly tiny. And run-down. Even she could tell the home needed a new roof. A chain-link fence bordered the yard, keeping trespassers from stepping foot in the straggly grass.

Her heart sank. This was no childhood dream home.

The home’s door opened and a woman stepped out. Victoria held her breath. The woman headed for the mailbox unit on their side of the street, letters in her hand. She was tall and too thin, and a cigarette dangled from her side of the mouth. Her black hair was heavily streaked with gray. Victoria heard Seth draw in a breath.

“Holy cow,” he breathed.

Victoria could see it. The woman’s carriage was identical to hers. She put her hand on the car handle and pulled, before she could talk herself out of it. She stepped out of the car, ignoring Seth’s whispers to stop. She moved toward the woman, a light drizzle of rain dusting her face.

“Excuse me,” she said to the woman as she locked her mail slot with a key.

The woman turned, eyeing her suspiciously. “Yes?”

She had brown eyes like Victoria, but her face was heavily lined. An obvious smoker. Michael had said the woman was in her fifties; this woman appeared to be in her late sixties. Life had beaten her down. “Are you Isabel Favero?”

The woman stared. “Who wants to know?”

Victoria’s mind blanked. What should she say? Your possible daughter? She couldn’t speak. Seth appeared beside her and greeted the woman.

“I’m Seth Rutledge. I’m a pathologist at the medical examiner’s office. You must have seen from the news that we’re dealing with the recent murders of those teen girls and reevaluating the remains from the old killings decades before, right?” He took Victoria’s hand again.

“What about it?” Isabel said rudely. She crossed one arm over her chest and fiddled with her cigarette.

“We’ve managed to identify one of the older sets of remains,” Seth said quickly. “Are you familiar with the name Lucia Cavallo? She used to live in your house.”

Victoria froze. Apparently Seth could think fast on his feet. Isabel eyed Seth. “What’s that have to do with me?”

He gave a charming grin. “Nothing, of course. Our research showed the home is in your name now, but we wanted to just get a feel for the woman’s past. It helps to see things sometimes, you know. Like where she lived.”

Victoria wanted to melt into the sidewalk. What kind of bullshit was Seth feeding her?

Isabel pointed her cigarette at Seth. “You can’t look in my house,” she snapped.

Seth held up both his hands. “I wouldn’t dream of asking. I just wanted to let you know why we were in front of your house. Some people are instantly suspicious.”

“You got ID?” She glared at both of them.

Seth pulled out his wallet, and Victoria did the same. The women peered at their identification from the medical examiner’s offices. She took a good look at Victoria’s picture and then her face and handed it back. Victoria held her gaze for a split second, searching for any kind of recognition in the woman’s eyes. She saw nothing. Isabel spent longer with Seth’s.

“This is from California.”