The Bones She Buried: A completely gripping, heart-stopping crime thriller(58)

“Did she ever mention anyone named Ivan?”

He raised a brow. “That actually sounds familiar.”

Josie said, “We believe they were school mates.”

He snapped his fingers. “I think that was the young man she asked me to hire!”

“She asked you to hire someone?”

“Decades ago. I think that was his name. It was an unusual name, and I do remember her telling me she had gone to school with him,” Sutton explained.

“How long ago was this?” Josie asked, feeling excitement spiral up from her stomach.

Sutton rubbed his chin as he thought about it. “I had just taken over from my dad. I know that because she asked me to hire him, not my father, which means I had to have taken over by then.”

“What did she want you to hire him to do?”

He shrugged. “As I recall, anything. She said he was in a bad way, but he was a good person and needed work.”

“Did you hire him?”

“I did, as a laborer, if memory serves.” He looked her in the eye. “Detective Quinn, you must understand this was quite a long time ago. My memory isn’t that good. I wouldn’t take this as gospel. This young man could have been named anything.”

But Josie was sure he was named Ivan.

“How long did he work here?” Josie asked.

“Oh it wasn’t that long, I don’t think. A few years, perhaps? I’ve had many employees, detective. I can’t remember them all.”

“Do your personnel records go back that far?” Josie asked hopefully.

He smiled. “They just might, but those records—if we still have them—would be at an off-site storage facility. I do maintain my own storage though so I can call over there and have my staff take a look. You know, the wonder of technology—I can even have them scan whatever they find and email it to you. Isn’t that miraculous?” he laughed.

Josie couldn’t help but smile. “It is, I suppose.”

“Oh, it is. You’re too young to remember a time before all this technology was at our fingertips. It is truly amazing.”

“Do you think I could have any personnel records you have going back to the time Ivan would have been hired? We’re trying to track down anyone Colette might have been close to so if there were employees who worked with her for a long time, we would want to track them down and speak to them.”

He stood and walked over to his desk. “Let me write this down, dear.” He picked up a pen and scribbled on a notepad. Then he opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a business card. Josie stood and walked over to take it from him. “My direct line is on there,” he said. “If you give me your card, I’ll pass your contact information to my staff and have them get you whatever you need. But you keep my card in case you have any issues.”

Josie fished her own card out of her jacket pocket and gave it to him. “I really appreciate this, Mr. Sutton.”

The skin around his eyes crinkled. “Of course, dear. Colette was a lovely person. I hope you’ll find her some justice.”





Thirty-Nine





Josie trudged into the great room at the station. All the adrenaline from her meeting with Zachary Sutton and the potential lead on Ivan had leeched away during the drive back. Three separate texts and one phone call to Noah to see how he was feeling went unanswered. She prayed that Chief Chitwood’s door was closed or that he was otherwise engaged, but she wasn’t that lucky; the moment her rear end hit her desk chair, Chitwood’s voice boomed across the room. “Quinn!”

She swiveled in her chair and looked at him standing in his office doorway, his trademark wispy white hair floating wildly around his balding head. “Sir?” she said.

Josie was prepared for a tirade about the attention the Colette Fraley-Beth Pratt case was drawing with the latest fire but all he said was, “How’s Fraley feeling? You talk to him this morning?”

Josie swiped a hand over her face. “Yeah,” she said. “I did. He was still a little dazed, had some pain, but he was okay.”

Chitwood nodded. “I stopped in during the night after he was out of surgery, but you were both asleep.”

It was exactly what Josie would have done when she was chief and two of her officers had narrowly escaped a fire, but didn’t seem in keeping with Chitwood’s abrasive personality. She wondered if perhaps he was warming up a little? He said, “You, Mettner and Palmer, in my office at four sharp to brief me on this catastrophe—and I expect some progress.”

“Maybe not,” Josie muttered under her breath as Chitwood’s office door slammed.

She had just found a current address for Brody Wolicki when Gretchen appeared beside her, depositing a paper coffee cup and a bag from Komorrah’s Koffee onto her desk.

Josie snatched up the bag and tore it open to find two cheese Danishes inside. She looked up at Gretchen who sat at her own desk, sipping from her coffee. With mock seriousness, Josie said, “I think we should get married.”

Gretchen laughed, drops of coffee spilling down her chin. She wiped them away with the sleeve of her jacket. “Noah might have something to say about that.”

Josie bit into a Danish and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”