Forgotten in Death(102)

“I’ve got a handful of incidents on J.B.”

“Really?”

“Nothing recent yet, and nothing in New York. What I did was do a run through global media for, well, gossip, and when I hit, cross-checked. What we’ve got is mostly in Europe, and mostly two or three decades back. So far.”

“Such as?”

“Reckless driving, disorderly conduct, trespassing, creating a disturbance, an assault—assault with a martini. He tossed his martini in this guy’s face, and the skewer of olives hit the guy in the eye.”

“You’re not making this up?”

“Hand to God.” Peabody put one over her heart. “This one also led to a civil suit, settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. It’s all partying related. McNab’s giving workplace incidents a shot.”

“Huh. Good idea.”

“Yeah, he figured if Singer had a history of screwing around, he maybe screwed around in the office, or tried to. Maybe some sexual harassment. Nothing’s popped yet on anybody but J. B. Singer.”

“Keep at it.”

“The Elliots?”

“They’re going to be shaky for a while, but knowing their sister’s killer’s put away, knowing Wicker’s doing ten will go a long way to steadying them up.”

“That’s good.”

“I want any hits on the workplace incidents. One of them might have been our vic.”

She went back to her office, sat to contact DeWinter. Her comp signaled an incoming.

She studied the completed sketches of her unknown victim.

To Lieutenant Eve Dallas from Dr. Garnet DeWinter:

Attached is the completed reconstructed images of Jane Doe based on our analysis. Holo-imagery is available now in the lab, or can be sent to an authorized holo-portal on written request.

Also attached is my final report on the remains of Jane Doe and Baby Doe.

We will secure the remains until such time as the victim is identified and/or the disposition or transfer of said remains are authorized.



Eve updated her board with the sketches, the reports. She considered ordering the holo, but didn’t think she needed it.

“Damn good work,” she muttered and wondered if her go-to police artist, Yancy, ever talked shop with Elsie Kendrick.

She saw a young woman, a pretty—edging toward beautiful—face made up of delicate features. High forehead, long, wide eyes—dark eyes in a heart-shaped face. Defined but not prominent cheekbones, a small bow-shaped mouth.

Not quite petite, but small-boned, slender—in the full-body pre-pregnancy reproduction. Long fingers, long, narrow feet.

In pregnancy, the belly ballooned to accommodate a life that would never be.

She went back to her desk, programmed a global facial recognition search.

It would be harder, she thought, considering the search had to go back nearly four decades. But.

“We’ll find you.”

She tried another angle. Given her age, the victim could have come to New York to work or go to college. For that, she’d have needed a visa. Taking a leap of faith DeWinter hit on the country of origin, Eve started the process of searching for visas issued to females from 2020 through 2025 from Lebanon.

It took her under a minute to hit the bureaucratic wall.

She considered going to Whitney and asking him to cut through it, then decided to make use of a contact.

She hit on Agent Teasdale, formerly Homeland and now FBI—and, in Eve’s opinion, on track for the top slot there.

Ten minutes later, she had Teasdale on board and the assurance she’d have the information by morning.

Morning would have to do.

Had she been Muslim—had she been religious enough to go to a mosque? A couple of uniforms could show the sketches around—but then again, she had no guarantee the victim had lived in New York.

Still, another angle to work.

She walked out to the bullpen.

“Peabody, I sent you the completed sketches on the Jane Doe. Grab a couple uniforms, have them take copies around to mosques in the city. Look for older, longtime members who might have seen her.”

“It’s a line to tug,” Peabody agreed. “Is OT authorized?”

Frowning, Eve checked the time, saw it was nearly end of shift. And she weighed the benefits against the budget.

“Have them start in the morning. You can hook up with McNab—”

“Every chance I get.”

“Funny. You can put the searches on auto at home. I want to know when you get hits. Just put them together and send them to me. I’m running facial rec on the sketches, and I’ll do the same. Teasdale’s working on getting me data on work and education visas within our parameters.”

“Another good angle. We’ll keep them running on portables. We’re going by the house, doing another walk-through with our landlords, then grabbing some dinner together. We can skip the dinner part.”

“No, go ahead. Just keep it running.”

“Can do. Are you heading home, too?”

“I will be.”

“Got a second first, boss?”

She looked over at Baxter. “I have a few of them.”

He made an eye slide toward her office, added a little head nod.

“Let’s take it in my office so I can get my things.”