Page 15 of Twice Missing
Noah's mind raced, piecing together the scenario. "So she was knocked out, someone drove her out across the ice, and she came to as the icy water flooded in through the windows."
"Possibly," Adelaide replied.
"Anything else you managed to get off her?" McKenzie asked.
Adelaide shook her head. "No. Too much decomposition. I was lucky to even be able to determine that. Surprising how well her body remained intact. Reminds me of?—"
"The Lady of the Lake," Noah finished, recalling the well-known case of a woman discovered thirty years after her death, 105 feet below High Peaks Lake near Pulpit Rock. Her body had been well preserved due to the cold temperature and mineral content in the water.
"What about the bracelet?" Noah asked, remembering the only piece of evidence they'd found with the body that stood out beside her wedding ring.
"Ah, yes," Adelaide said, retrieving an evidence bag. "If there was DNA from someone else, it's long gone."
"You make sense of the wording?"
Adelaide shook her head. "No, but I'm sure Gabriel Ironwood could tell you."
Noah's jaw tightened. "I'd like to think that I could find out without speaking to him."
"Still not on good terms?" Adelaide asked, her tone softening.
"He works for Ashford," Noah replied, his voice clipped.
Adelaide nodded in understanding. "I know. Still, at bare minimum, I would run it by the family. If they don’t recognize it, it might have a bearing on the case, in which case Gabriel might be able to offer insight into it.”
"She knows her stuff," McKenzie chimed in. "I told you, Noah. End of the day."
"What is he talking about?" Adelaide asked, confusion evident in her voice.
"Don't mind him, he's hopped up on sugar," Noah explained with a smirk.
"It was four in my coffee. That's all," McKenzie defended.
"Four?" Adelaide echoed, incredulous. "That will rot your teeth."
"That's what I told him." Noah laughed. "Anyway, thanks again, Adelaide. We appreciate your help."
6
The fluorescent lights of the Franklin County Sheriff's Department hummed overhead, casting a harsh glow on the scattered papers before Noah and McKenzie. The small village of Malone, New York, lay quiet outside, a blanket of snow muffling the world beyond the station walls. With Christmas just a week away, the festive spirit seemed at odds with the grim task at hand.
Noah rubbed his eyes, fatigue setting in as he flipped through another file. The musty smell of old paper filled his nostrils, a clear indication of the age of the case they were revisiting. Half an hour earlier, a deputy had needed to dig into the archives to find the files, muttering about the monumental task of digitizing decades of paperwork.
"There's barely anything here," McKenzie grumbled, tossing down another statement before taking a long swig of coffee. The bitterness of the drink matched his tone.
Noah nodded in agreement. The box before them wasa disappointment, filled with minimal statements from family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Search areas covered, dead-end leads, scant evidence obtained, and inconclusive interviews made up the bulk of the paperwork. Polygraph test results for several people, including Emily's husband, Nathan Carter, caught Noah's eye.
"The results were inconclusive for Nathan Carter," Noah said, his brow furrowing. "A second examination was suggested, but the husband wouldn't agree to it."
McKenzie leaned back in his chair, the metal creaking under his weight. "Doesn't mean he had anything to do with her disappearance."
Their discussion was interrupted as Deputy Lopez entered the room, his presence a reminder of the current department's distance from the original investigation. McKenzie wasn't far wrong — Franklin County Sheriff's Department was far smaller than Adirondack County. The majority of their staff were correctional officers, the rest were four deputies. They had no active road patrol so State Police and the local village PD handled the rest.
Noah held up a stack of papers, frustration evident in his voice. "I noticed some pages were missing from the reports.”
Lopez shrugged, his expression a mix of resignation and defensiveness. "It's very possible. But whatever we do have is in there."
"It was stapled," Noah pressed. "Pages are missing."
