What She Found (Tracy Crosswhite #9)(46)

“I want you to concentrate on cases with DNA evidence. We owe it to the loved ones of those victims to resolve cases that have a scientific possibility of resolution. Unless you have some new evidence justifying reopening the Lisa Childress file and dragging the family through her disappearance again, shut it down and prioritize your cases, as Nunzio did. Am I making myself clear?”

“You are,” Tracy said.

Weber seemed to gather herself. “Good work today. I hope to do another of these press conferences soon. They’re important for the public and the city council to hear, and they’re important to our bottom line.”

Tracy returned to her office and heard her desk phone ringing.

She checked and confirmed it was an outside line. The receptionist advised the caller was Anita Childress. Tracy took the call.

“Anita?”

“What’s going on, Detective?”

“You saw the press conference?”

“What press conference?”

“What are you talking about?” Tracy asked.

“I just got off the phone with my father. Camera crews are parked outside the gate to their house in Medina, and he is receiving calls about you specifically reopening my mother’s cold case. He said it was like reliving a nightmare. Are you telling me you held a press conference?”

“No. The conference was about a completely unrelated case, but a television reporter asked about your mother’s case.”

“How did she find out about it?”

“I don’t know, Anita. I’m sorry. I had nothing to do with this.”

“I thought we would have a resolution before this went public. I thought it would exonerate my father.”

Now was not the time to remind Childress that Tracy had warned her that reopening the case might impact her father. She also decided against telling Childress that Weber had just ordered her to shut down the investigation unless she found some new evidence.

“I’m not sure I can drag my father through this again,” Childress said, sounding emotional. “It’s not fair to him.”

“Again, Anita, I’m sorry. I can try to find out how this happened.”

“I’m going to have to rethink this,” Childress said. “I’m going to need the weekend to decide whether I want to go forward.”

“Does your father need any help?”

“No. The Medina police are out there, and he said their presence is just making it worse. He’s going to leave home for a few days and go to their house on Whidbey Island. I’ll call you Monday.”

Tracy exhaled a long sigh. She couldn’t help but think that someone had leaked the information on purpose to complicate the pursuit. She couldn’t help but think it also meant she was on the right path, and that path was scaring some people—enough to try to intimidate her and Anita Childress.

And that just made Tracy all the more determined to pursue the case.

Chief Weber told her to shut down the file unless she had new evidence. That gave Tracy the weekend. She looked at her computer and pulled up the leads the detective had culled for her from the tip line.





C H A P T E R 1 8

Tracy organized the half dozen most promising leads. She made phone calls, reaching five of the six people, and asked them a series of questions to determine how much they knew about Lisa Childress, her disappearance, and what new information they thought they possessed. Two of the five seemed worth further investigation. As she considered the information and debated how she might use it, her desk phone rang. Another outside caller.

“Detective Crosswhite, I’m returning your call about a tip I left regarding a picture of a woman on Facebook.”

“Yes. You must be—”

“Olga Holley.”

“Thanks for calling me back. I’d like to hear what you know, Ms. Holley.”

“Well, just what I said on the message. The woman in the photograph, the younger photograph, looks an awful lot like a young woman who once did my bookkeeping.”

“Your bookkeeping?” That did not seem likely.

“Yes. Back in 1996 and ’97 when my husband and I lived in Escondido.”

“Where is Escondido?” Tracy asked.

“Southern California. About thirty-five minutes north of San Diego. She had a different name—the woman had a different name than the Facebook post, but she sure looked like the woman in that picture. My husband thought so as well. We used the tax firm for several years while we lived there.”

“What was the woman’s name?”

“I actually looked,” Holley said. “That’s how much the woman resembles the woman on Facebook. I don’t have the returns anymore, but I found a letter. Her name was Melissa Childs.”

Melissa Childs. Huh, Tracy thought.

Holley provided Tracy the name of the tax company. “She met with us to go over our documents for the accountant who filed our returns.”

“Did she sign anything?”

“I don’t think so. The accountant would have signed our returns and, as I said, we didn’t keep them this long. I was surprised I found the letter.”

“Anything about her that you remember? Anything specific?”

“Nice lady. Quiet. Didn’t say a lot. Not unfriendly but reserved.