Forgotten in Death(62)

DeWinter slid an arm around the girl’s shoulders. “I don’t think you’ve met my daughter, Miranda. Her school has a professional day today, and her sitter—”

“Who I don’t need.”

“Her sitter had to cancel.”

“I like coming here. There’s so much happening.”

“Why don’t you go see what’s happening with Elsie? She’s working on the sketch and holo of the adult victim.”

“You want me out of the way while you talk to Lieutenant Dallas.”

“Yes.” DeWinter bent down, kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “Yes, I do.”

Miranda tilted her face up. “Can I get a fizzy?”

“Fine. Use my code. And don’t wander off downstairs.”

The girl rolled her eyes again. “It was nice meeting you,” she told Eve. “I’d like to talk to you about the Red Horse investigation when I’ve finished the book. A lot of people think, and say, there isn’t real evil in the world. But there is. I have to decide if I want to work on the science end or the investigative end of stopping evil, and the misguided, and the ones that fall into other areas.”

She went back for her tablet, tucked it under her arm. “Did it take you long to learn how to use your service weapon?”

“Miranda.”

“All right, all right, I was just wondering. I’m going.”

Eve frowned after the girl as she left. “How old is she?”

DeWinter just laughed. “She still wrestles with the dog and bargains for ice cream. But her mind? She’s scary smart, and sometimes it exhausts my brain trying to keep up with hers.”

“You talk about cases with her?”

“She offers interesting perspectives. I can’t shut what I do away from her, so we talk, and I explain. Often that sparks something, shows me another approach.” DeWinter’s eyes turned cool. “You don’t approve?”

Eve lifted a hand for peace. “I don’t know anything about kids. She threw me off, that’s all. Maybe part of that’s because she had the same take I do about the clones. About the Avrils and the rest.”

“She wants a happy ending for them. Or at least a just one. I’d imagine you’d hope for the just as well.”

“Hope’s not enough.”

DeWinter nodded as they shifted to the tables. “But it should factor in, shouldn’t it? Especially when you’re still a child. I can tell you these remains were weeks away from full term, from the chance to be a child. My analysis puts him at thirty-two weeks. Viable, and just over six pounds, and seventeen inches. I found no defects or indications of medical issues. He died inside his mother, cut off from oxygen and nutrition.”

“Forty weeks is full term, right?” She knew that from Mavis. “So eight weeks to go.”

“Which would have made him premature, but again, viable. He would have lived outside the womb.”

“What about the woman?”

“I’ve only gotten started. Elsie has taken measurements, done a 3D replica of the skull, and is working on the reproduction. I can tell you she was between twenty and twenty-five at TOD. Five feet, six inches in height. We were able to extract DNA, but have just begun an analysis and a search.”

“If she went in that hole when the building was going up, that’s a long shot on the search.”

“We can analyze the DNA, and will. Her injuries, the breaks, the dislocation of the shoulder are consistent with a fall. The damage to the ribs is consistent with gunshot wounds. They recovered three thirty-two-caliber bullets.”

“Yeah, I got that report.”

“She wore a size seven shoe, narrow. You likely saw that report, and the report that the ring size was a five. It’s consistent again with the remains. A delicate build. If she gained normally, given the week of pregnancy, the weight of the fetus, she would have been between a hundred and forty to a hundred and forty-five pounds at TOD. Most likely a hundred and fifteen to a hundred and twenty pre-pregnancy.”

“A hair over average height, slim build, small-boned, narrow feet and fingers.”

“Long, slender fingers. A bit short-waisted, as she had long legs for her height. The bone structure of the skull? Delicate features. A narrow nose, strong but not prominent cheekbones, a heart-shaped face, wide eyes, well spaced. Her teeth are perfectly even, and while we’ll run tests, I found no visible signs of decay.”

It didn’t give her a name, Eve thought, but it gave her quite a bit.

“So she had dental work—perfectly straight—and good nutrition and hygiene.”

“We’ll run tests, but yes. I see healthy bones. Nothing to indicate she lived on the street, used illegals. Everything to indicate, at this point, she had good nutrition and good health care, good prenatal care.”

“That’s helpful.”

“I think she would have been very attractive. Early twenties, so on the young side for marriage—if the ring she wore is a wedding ring—and motherhood.”

“The jewelry looked like the real deal to me, and the shoe was leather. I’m waiting on those reports, but if they confirm, she had some income or someone who paid for that sort of thing.”

“I’ll be working on this today, and Elsie will continue with the reproduction.”