Until She Dies

Part 1 - Chapters 1 to 7

Ten years ago, Crystal sits behind the wheel on a hot summer night, following the taillights of her husband's truck down a dark rural road. She had watched Gage stumble out of a bar with a brunette woman, his fingers slipping inside the waistband of her shorts. Crystal killed her headlights before pulling out after them. She is drunk, vodka burning through her blood, and she knows she should not be driving, but the betrayal drowns out consequences.

The road narrows to gravel flanked by tall pines. Crystal keeps far enough back to stay out of his mirrors. There are no homes, no ranches, no street signs, and though she has lived in the area most of her life, she has never been on this road. Ahead, Gage's taillights brighten and he turns onto an old logging road. Every instinct tells her to go home, but she follows instead. The forest closes around her like a trap.

His truck stops. Crystal rolls forward until she can see his bumper through the trees. Both truck doors open. She hears Gage's persuasive tone and watches him take the woman's hand and lead her farther down the road. Crystal slips up to the passenger side and snatches the woman's purse off the seat. The driver's license shows a pretty woman five years younger than Crystal. She pockets the twenty-three dollars and creeps after the couple.

Then she sees the second truck. A third figure steps around a fender and shakes Gage's hand, then slaps the woman on the ass. The man is much taller than Gage, wide-shouldered, wearing the flat-brimmed cap every man in the area wears. Confidence oozes off him, and Gage seems to shrink beside him. Crystal knows her husband is a follower, never a leader, confident only when he is yelling at her. Sometimes there are slaps to her face and punches to her mouth, and she has stayed anyway, because when she got pregnant, Gage was the only way she would have a roof over her head and her baby's.

The words between the three of them grow heated. The tall man grabs the woman's arm and shakes her. Crystal looks to Gage, hoping he will intervene. He shoves his hands into his pockets and watches. The woman cries out as the man nearly yanks her to the ground, and Crystal steps out from the shadows. Then she freezes. The man has shoved a pistol under the woman's chin. He fires. The woman melts toward the ground. Gage lurches away, covering his head. The tall man looks down at the body, then raises his head and stares directly at Crystal.

She stumbles backward and runs. Footsteps pound behind her. A tree root trips her, and she goes down, clawing at the dirt. A hand slams onto her shoulder and another grabs her waist. She hits the ground with him on top of her, her arms yanked behind her back, her face driven into the dirt. She turns her head to breathe and screams for Gage. The man laughs and tells her Gage cannot help her. She thinks she is a dead woman.

The Hike

In the present, Deschutes County detective Noelle Marshall hikes an old Forest Service road in the Central Oregon national forest with her friend Rowan and Rowan's black German shepherd, Thor. Rowan is deep in wedding frustrations. Her fiancé, Evan Bolton, is a county detective who works with Noelle, and his strong-willed thirteen-year-old niece, Charlotte, refuses to wear the dress Rowan chose.

Rowan stops listening, her gaze fixed on her dog fifty yards ahead. Thor sits beside a pine, the ball ignored at his side, staring into the woods. Rowan says Thor is alerting. He has found human remains. Rowan is part of a nationally known private search and rescue duo. She rewards him with a rope toy, then gives him a hand signal. Thor races into the woods and stops within twenty yards, sitting and giving a soft chattery noise. Rowan's face goes grim.

Noelle asks if it is definitely human. It definitely is. They follow Thor to a subtle depression in the ground, about two feet long and a foot wide, the kind of ground collapse that forms after a body decays. Rowan sends Thor on again, and he zigzags twenty steps and sits. Then he does it again, several yards off, near a pine. Noelle's spine chills. She whispers a question: is Thor indicating someone has been buried in several different places, hacked to pieces? Or are there several bodies? Rowan says it might be a killer's dump site. She decides to call the county and get help.

Five Victims

Evan Bolton responds to the call and arrives with an Oregon State Police tech who brings a ground-penetrating radar machine. Evan also brings Abby, a county forensics tech in Tyvek coveralls, who will do a cautious preliminary dig. Thor watches the machine with curiosity while Rowan admits she is feeling déjà vu. Not long ago Thor alerted on a murder victim during a different hike, and Noelle and Evan responded to that call too. That case eventually turned out okay for Rowan, whose murdered older brother was discovered to be alive. Evan discreetly squeezes Rowan's hand. Noelle clocks it and thinks of Max, the FBI agent she has officially been with for four months.

The GPR operator confirms there is something in the shallow depression Thor first alerted on, and something to the left where the ground was recently disturbed. Thor alerted in five separate spots, all grouped within about twenty square yards. Rowan insists the remains are human. Evan says he still needs an opinion from a human, and Rowan tells him to call Dr. Peres. Abby begins shoveling shallow layers of leaves and dirt into buckets. Thor whines, and a strong stench of decomp hits Noelle, triggering her gag reflex. Abby calls the detectives over and says they will want the medical examiner instead of the forensic anthropologist. The remains have quite a way to go before becoming skeletal, and they are definitely human.

Both specialists are needed. Abby and the GPR operator find five sets of remains, some fully skeletal and some not. Noelle tells Rowan that both she and Thor were right. Rowan kisses Evan and leaves to take Thor home. Evan murmurs to Noelle that five bodies means someone has been busy. Noelle says they have a serial killer, someone who considers this place to be his. Evan points out that no agency in the state has linked any related disappearances, and Noelle answers that once they identify the bodies, they will figure out how they are related, which will point them at the suspect.

Dr. Victoria Peres, the forensic anthropologist, takes over the two fully skeletal sites, laying down the law and putting up more crime tape while her assistants create a grid. She warns the county deputies to stay out of her scene. The Ice Queen nickname has followed Dr. Peres for years. She is tall with rigid posture and long black hair in a perfect low ponytail, and her command of a scene is inflexible.

Dr. Joshua Ruiz, the medical examiner, handles the other three victims. Noelle has not met him before. He looks fresh out of undergrad and speaks so rapidly that she has to concentrate to keep up. The first uncovered body has dark hair and obvious breast implants under a pink tank top. Excitement bubbles up in Noelle, because implants carry serial numbers and could identify the victim quickly. This woman appears to be the most recently buried. Noelle steels her stomach and takes a brief look at each set of remains, thinking of five lost souls waiting for justice.

Dr. Ruiz examines the first body and reports an entry wound in the top of her head with no exit, which means they may have the bullet. Evan pulls off his gloves and joins Noelle, sharing her excitement about the implants. He tells her the lieutenant called and he asked to have her on the case, and the go-ahead came through. Noelle asks how fast they can get the serial numbers, and Evan winces, explaining that Dr. Ruiz did not care for his suggestion that an implant be removed on site and will do it once the body reaches the morgue. Noelle wonders aloud if all the victims will be women, and Evan says the odds are they will be. Then his gaze goes past her and lightens. The Eagle's Nest police chief, Truman Daly, approaches and touches the brim of his hat.

The Chief Arrives at the Scene

Chief Truman pulls up to the recovery site with his son Ollie. Eagle's Nest is the closest town, and the chief likes to know what's happening in his backyard. Ollie, who's nearly twenty, has a stoic face but his nostrils flare at the smell.

Truman asks about the victims. Five of them, and they appear to have been here different lengths of time. Truman offers Ollie's expertise. The young man has hiked and snowmobiled through most of the woods around here and knows the terrain better than any map.

Noelle asks about cabins or outbuildings. Ollie mentions an ancient building he found a few years back, about five miles away on private property. The FBI examined it thoroughly and took everything out. Noelle's mind goes to Max. Truman explains that Ollie has a bad habit of stumbling over dead bodies, and that particular discovery involved skeletal remains linked to an armored car heist. Something clicks for Noelle. She tells Evan he worked on that case, and Evan adds that Mercy, the chief's wife, did too.

Ollie describes the terrain. There's a cliff about a hundred yards past the crime scene

Part 2 - Chapters 8 to 11

The Search for Belle Beason

Max Rhodes drives to Sydney Beason’s home, gripping the steering wheel. A little girl is missing, her mother murdered and left in the woods with other victims. Noelle told him about the crime scene last night, not knowing a child was involved. This morning the case escalates: Belle Beason is nowhere to be found. No one reported her and her mother missing. No one noticed.

Max worked an FBI child disappearance case before. It didn’t end well. The two children were found dead in a neighbor’s basement. The neighbor killed himself as they closed in. It affected everyone for weeks. Belle’s picture is burned in his brain. Vivacious. Happy. Innocent. They have to find her.

Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick is heading to the ex-husband’s home for another interview. Noelle has returned to the victim’s home, and Max is meeting her there. The sheriff’s department has a forensics team searching the house. Deputies and Bend police are knocking on doors, interviewing neighbors, collecting security footage. The Portland FBI office is sending more agents. Five victims buried in the forest are tied to Belle’s disappearance. How? Could the gun found in one of the graves lead them to Belle? Did their killer take Belle?

He parks at the curb, lined with law enforcement vehicles. He spots Noelle’s 4Runner. Her new department Tahoe is in the shop for an engine issue. When she uses her own vehicle, she submits mileage only because Max reminds her. She does not care about using her Toyota for work. It is odd to be dating, and living with, someone who does not give money a second thought. Max knows exactly how much Noelle inherited when her husband was murdered, because he was one of the investigators. The death makes her a very rich woman. An astronomical sum. An intimidating sum. He has a stern talk with his ego to get over it. Noelle does not need to work. She is a detective because she enjoys her job. He loves that about her. He loves a lot of things about her. How she took in Emma and treated her like a daughter. How annoyed she becomes when Cornbread chooses Max’s lap over hers. How she softly snores. How she feels behind him on his motorcycle.

Noelle steps out of Sydney Beason’s townhome. Her expression is tight as she taps on her phone. Her platinum-blonde hair catches the sun. She is in one of her pantsuits, custom-made in Italy. She raises her head and meets his gaze. Warmth fills him. He gets out and goes up the walkway.

“Where’re we at?” he asks.

Noelle takes a deep breath. She needs everything possible on Sydney Beason. Phone records, friends, employment, bank accounts, credit cards. She wants this place torn apart to find something that will point them to where Belle could be. She wants all Sydney’s friends, family, and coworkers interviewed. Where is her vehicle? What does she do and where does she go every day? She wants all the security footage from the neighborhood reviewed. Her ex’s neighborhood too. She wants his background information. She wants to know every place he has gone for the last ten days. She wants all the same records for him.

Max stays silent, letting her unload.

She needs the other bodies identified, she continues. Then she needs their lives put under the microscope. She needs evidence from their graves. She raises her gaze to him. She needs to find out who did this.

“You’ll get there,” he says.

“Not fast enough. I need to grow ten more arms. Plus another brain. My current one is overloaded.”

He fights the urge to pull her into a hug. There are too many people around.

“They’re setting up a task force at the sheriff’s department,” she tells him. “We’ve got that big conference room, where it’ll be organized.”

“I heard,” says Max. “Our office is in contact with your lieutenant. All our resources are at your disposal.”

The FBI can process evidence faster, access more databases, and plow through barriers that slow down local investigators.

“I know. Thank you.”

“I’d like to look inside.”

She gives a short nod and leads him to the deputy, where he signs a log and the deputy reviews his ID. Inside, the home is very quiet. He hears voices upstairs and the occasional thump.

“No purse,” says Noelle, leading him to the kitchen. “No cell phone. Her minivan is gone too. It seems logical that Sydney must have been abducted somewhere else. Hard to imagine that whoever killed her paused to grab her purse.”

“Not impossible,” says Max.

“True.” Noelle sighs. “No sign of violence. Their beds are unmade, most of the food in the refrigerator is still fresh, toothbrushes are present. It appears they planned to return. She drove a silver Toyota Sienna minivan. We’re checking to see if her insurance had a tracker in it or if the car’s GPS system could be accessed by the manufacturer.”

Max nods. “I can speed up that process.” He sends a quick text. “You said the back door was unlocked?”

“Correct. And the front door was locked.”

He steps to the slider and studies the small yard. The gate is wide open, and he can see an alleyway behind the home. On the other side of the alley is the back of an identical row of townhomes. The fence provides privacy, but it is not 100 percent. Anyone could look in between the boards if they tried. Or see in the yard from the upper windows of the homes behind it.

“Sexual offenders,” he says quietly.

“We’re pulling records for anyone within five miles,” says Noelle. “To start.”

He wanders through the kitchen. A few dirty dishes in the sink. More in the dishwasher. Crumbs by the toaster. It looks like any normal kitchen. They go upstairs, and he halts at the lineup of Belle’s photos on the wall, immediately spotting the one being circulated. Clearly it is the most recent.

“Shit,” he mutters, studying one where baby Belle is propped up in a chair.

“Exactly.”

“Since she’s not with either set of grandparents,” he states, “let’s get a dog out here. See if we can track the girl. Maybe she’s in a hidey-hole somewhere. It happens.”

“I’ll call Rowan,” says Noelle, opening her phone. “It’s what she and Thor do best.”

Voices come from the bedroom at the far end of the landing, so Max goes into another bedroom as he waits for Noelle to finish her call. It is Sydney’s room. Nothing seems unusual. He slides open the nightstand drawer with one gloved finger.

“Diary? Notepad?” he asks as he hears Noelle enter.

“Are you joking?” says Noelle. “Everyone uses a phone app instead.”

“Just hoping.” He knows it is a long shot. Cell phones are a wealth of information. He glances in the bathroom and then follows Noelle out of the room.

They stop at a second bathroom with a tub and a Barbie shower curtain.

“Detective Marshall?” one of the forensic techs calls from down the hall. “Can you take a look in here?”

The techs are working in the spare bedroom. Noelle goes in and Max stops in the doorway. The bed’s comforter is folded back as if waiting for a guest.

“We’ve found several hairs in the bed near the pillows,” says one of the women. “They’re red. Well, a dark red.”

Sydney is a brunette.

“Not Sydney Beason’s hair?” asks Noelle. “Her hair is dark.”

“Not Ms. Beason’s. We’ve already taken some of her hair from the brush in her bathroom. This is different.”

Noelle peers at the sheets. “Wasn’t this bed made when you started?”

“Yes. We moved the comforter.”

Noelle straightens and looks at Max. “I don’t feel that Sydney is the type to not wash the sheets after she had a guest. The whole house is quite clean.”

“You think someone is staying here?” Max asks. “Currently?”

Noelle strides to the closet and yanks open the double doors. The side with shelves is stuffed with blankets, an old sewing machine, wrapping paper, and an assortment of boxes. The home’s junk closet. The other side is just as crammed but has clothing hanging and shoes arranged on the floor. Noelle frowns at the contents.

“When I glanced in here earlier, I assumed it was overflow from Sydney’s closet. But I think this is someone else’s clothing. It’s a little bit of everything, you know? Summer dresses, winter coats, jeans.” She picks up a shoe. “They’re the wrong size,” says Noelle. “These aren’t Sydney’s.” She looks over her shoulder at Max. “I noticed we wore the same size.”

She strides out of the bedroom and back to the bathroom with the Barbie shower curtain.

“Adult toothbrush next to the Cinderella child’s brush,” she mutters. She pulls aside the curtain. “Different brand razor than in Sydney’s shower, and a shampoo specifically for red hair.” She meets Max’s gaze. “Where is

Part 3 - Chapters 12 to 15

Noelle gets a license plate number for a bright-blue Jeep from a neighbor's video. She tells Max it has to be the guy the neighbor believes is Sydney's boyfriend, and they have his name and address. Max beats her to the front door. Ten minutes later they arrive at the address. Noelle spots the blue Jeep in the apartment complex parking lot and parks two spaces away. Max pulls in beside her. Hayden Hall is thirty-seven and works for a local plumbing company. According to Max, Merritt was right about the plumbing part. Noelle wonders if a repair job is how Sydney and Hayden met. Her interview with Shawn Nickerson did not provide much new information. He admitted up front that he and Merritt are living together. Shawn told her Merritt wants to keep it a secret, but he is ready to tell the world. He said maybe this fall she will be ready, with forced optimism. Noelle wonders how long he will put up with the secrecy.

At the apartment, Noelle and Max get out of their SUVs. Noelle spots Hayden's apartment number on a first-floor door of a three-story building. She says there it is. Max asks if she got any more information on the guy. Noelle says no criminal record, two old speeding tickets. She leads the way up the concrete walk. An apartment window faces them, but the blinds are drawn. Noelle rings the bell and steps to one side. Max does the same. A few seconds later the door opens. Noelle recognizes Hayden from his driver's license photo. He is as Sydney's neighbor described. Tall, average build, and still wearing a cap over his brown hair. He asks if he can help, frowning, looking from Noelle to Max. They present their IDs. Max says they would like to talk about Sydney Beason and asks if they can come in. Surprise and then concern flare in Hayden's eyes. He asks if she is okay, if something happened to her. Noelle thinks the reaction seems genuine. She says she is sorry to tell him, but Sydney has passed away. She watches him closely. Shock drains the color from his face. He blinks rapidly, his mouth opening and closing the smallest bit. He takes a half step back and grabs the doorframe. He asks if she is dead, what happened, if it was a car accident. Max repeats the request to come in. Still blinking, Hayden woodenly moves out of the way and shuts the door behind them.

The apartment is bright, the living area facing the west and catching the sun. The air-conditioning is set to an arctic chill, and Noelle is glad of her suit jacket. Hayden wears cargo shorts and a Britney Spears concert T-shirt with the sleeves cut off. He crosses his arms over his chest and digs his fingers into his biceps. He does not offer them a seat. He asks again what happened. Noelle says her body was found yesterday in the national forest. She says she is very sorry. She wonders how many more times she will have to tell people. It is emotionally exhausting. Confusion lights Hayden's gaze. He asks if it was suicide. Max says no, someone killed her and then buried her. Hayden says Jesus and abruptly drops into a seat on the sofa. He asks what the fuck, are they sure. His gaze pleads with Noelle. She says yes, she has been positively identified. Noelle keeps watching his reactions. Nothing is setting off alerts in her brain. Yet. Hayden asks who did that, why anyone would kill her. He lifts his cap and runs a hand through his hair. He says this is not happening. Max asks when he last saw her. Hayden says me, and then God, he thinks it has been about two weeks. He repeats the cap and hair grooming gestures. It was on a Friday. He asks what today is. He looks at both of them, waiting for an answer, his gaze rather blank. Max supplies Monday. Max asks when he last spoke with her. Hayden says he said Friday. His forehead wrinkles. He asks if he said Friday out loud. Noelle asks why so long. She thinks he is distraught and cannot think clearly. Hayden says she dumped him. He takes a deep breath. He says trust him, he remembers that Friday night. It shocked the hell out of him. He did not see it coming. She told him not to call her, and he has mostly respected that. It has been as hard as hell, but it was what she wanted. He wipes his eyes. Noelle exchanges a quick look with Max.

Noelle asks why she broke up with him and how long they had been together. Hayden presses a knuckle to his eye. He says four months. She said she needed to focus on Belle. He abruptly straightens, his eyes wide. He asks if anything happened to Belle, if she is okay. His gaze is frantic as it darts between them. Noelle says calmly that they do not know, they have not been able to locate her. Hayden says what, shoots to his feet, his hands in fists. He asks how they cannot know, what the hell. He paces across the room and back. He stops in front of Noelle. He whispers, asking if she is dead too. Noelle tells him to please sit back down. She does not like the way his arms twitch as if he needs to hit something. She says they are looking hard for Belle. They have law enforcement from every agency searching for that little girl right now. She asks if he knows anyone who would hurt her or Sydney. Hayden says hurt Belle, and looks away. He says it makes him sick to think of it. That little girl, he says softly. She is as precious as they come. He called her Blue Belle or Baby Belle sometimes. Even Jingle Belle. She loved that. He lifts his shirt hem to blot his eyes. He says she would giggle when he would pretend her name was Doorbell or Taco Bell. He did not realize how much he had become attached until he could not see her anymore. He sniffles. He says he does not know who would hurt Sydney either. Max asks if she spoke about having a problem with anyone, maybe something at work or with a neighbor. Hayden leans forward, then shoots to his feet again and runs from the room. He says he is going to be sick. A moment later they hear him vomiting into a toilet.

Noelle whispers, asking for thoughts. Max says it feels authentic. He shakes his head. But he is reserving judgment. It seems convenient that they just broke up. Noelle agrees. The same thought went through her mind. And the vomiting could be a stress reaction to being questioned by a detective and FBI agent. Guilt does that to people. The toilet flushes, and then water runs in the sink for a long time. Hayden finally returns, his cap now gone. He grips a blue hand towel, which he occasionally wipes his forehead with. He says sorry. Noelle says no apologies necessary. He has had a big shock. He sits heavily on the couch. He says yeah. He does not like the shit he is seeing in his head now. Maybe if they had not broken up, he could have. Noelle tells him not to play that game with himself. He will only drive himself nuts thinking about how some small action on his part could have changed it. He nods and slumps back on the sofa, his gaze on the floor again. He says he did call a few days after the breakup. Just once. It went straight to voicemail, so he figured she did not want to talk to him. Noelle asks what day that was. Hayden looks around the room as if lost. Then he leans to one side to grab his phone off an end table. He says let me look. He scrolls on his phone. He says Tuesday. Not last week, the Tuesday before that. He stares at his screen. He mumbles to himself that he cannot believe it has been that long. Noelle asks if he knows anyone who would do this, trying to get him back on track. He whispers no. Then he raises his head, a touch of hope in his eyes. He asks if they have talked to her ex-husband, maybe he has Belle. Max says they have talked with Trey. He has not seen Belle or Sydney since the weekend before last. Hayden blows out a breath. He says he knows their relationship is not great, but he does not think Trey would hurt Syd. He assumes they will investigate him thoroughly since the ex-husband is always looked at. His words trail off and he blinks. He has figured it out. He says oh shit. He looks at Noelle. He says he is the ex-boyfriend. Their focus is on him too. He buries his face in his hands but then sits up and uses the towel on his face. He says dig as hard as they can. Clear his name ASAP. He does not want to be harassed by the media or keyboard warriors hiding in their moms' basements. That shit can be brutal and ruin someone's life. His self-centered response rubs Noelle the wrong way. She says their focus is on finding Sydney's killer and finding Belle. This is about them. He says he knows, he knows. He will do whatever he can to help. He struggles to look Noelle in the eye. He says ask him anything.

Max asks if he knows Sydney's roommate. Hayden says Elise, sort of. They met a few times. She moved in about a month before Syd dumped him. Noelle asks if he

Part 4 - Chapters 16 to 19

The next morning Noelle lingers over coffee after Max leaves for work, a throbbing headache at the back of her head. She lowers the blinds and sits in silence until Emma appears. Emma knows about the headaches and memory loss and doesn't push. Noelle recites the U.S. presidents in order, a list she memorized after forgetting two-thirds of the names she learned in school. Cornbread sits on the kitchen island watching Emma eat, knowing she'll share a buttery bite when she finishes. Noelle enjoys watching the relationship between the cat and the young woman. The scene soothes her after a late task force meeting and a night spent wondering how they will find Belle Beason. The little girl's face haunts her.

Noelle clicks an email from the FBI. The gun found in one of the graves was registered to Crystal Chambers twelve years ago. Emma's mother. Two years before she vanished. Noelle fights to keep her expression blank as she watches Emma feed Cornbread the last bite. She doesn't want to upset Emma with partial information. She knows she has to have Crystal's dental records compared to the victim.

Crystal Chambers is on the list of people who vanished because Noelle put her there. Crystal's husband never reported her missing, which Noelle found suspicious. Crystal had drug and domestic assault charges, and she and Gage called the police on each other several times. But Crystal's criminal history became nearly nonexistent after Emma was born. Gage's did not. Noelle ran fruitless searches trying to find Emma's mother and personally picked up the woman's dental records weeks ago because she suspected they would be needed.

Gage Chambers is still Noelle's number one suspect for Crystal's disappearance. But Gage is dead—or so Emma has accepted, because a family friend told her so. That family friend was also murdered. Noelle needs more corroboration. If Gage is still alive, he and Noelle will have a discussion about Emma. What if the male remains are Gage's? Dr. Peres believes that person was buried within the last few months. Could Gage have ended up in one of these graves? Both him and Crystal, a decade apart?

"Emma," Noelle says before deciding to speak. She tells Emma the gun was registered to her mother. Emma's eyes widen. Noelle says she refuses to jump to conclusions and will have Crystal's dental records compared immediately. She asks if Emma recalls any guns her mother had. Emma says there were all types of guns around, but she associates them with her father more. Her face goes white. Noelle knows Emma is wondering if her father killed Crystal and left the gun in the grave. It crossed Noelle's mind too. She isn't ready to bring up the possibility that the male victim could be Emma's father.

"Did my father kill her?" Emma whispers. Noelle turns the girl to face her and says they know nothing, that Emma's brain will jump to the worst conclusion, and to wait for facts. Cornbread squawks and leaps from Emma's lap—she gripped him too hard. Noelle pulls Emma into a hug. "It'll be okay," she says, knowing it will never be okay. Emma has lost both her parents. Noelle decides she will get the forensic odontologist there today even if she has to drive to Portland to pick her up.

Max Rhodes and the Playground Posse

In his office, Max sits in silence after Noelle's call about Crystal Chambers's gun. He agreed she did the right thing telling Emma. Are those remains her mother's? And will it give them a lead on finding Belle Beason? There is a connection between the remains and the little girl's disappearance, but it isn't clear.

His phone rings. Darius Green from the FBI's computer lab has a Word doc with a list of women's phone numbers and addresses from Sydney Beason's computer, titled "Playground Posse." He's emailing it now. Max asks if there's anything indicating the last name of Sydney's roommate. Darius says nothing from or to someone who could be a roommate. Max asks about emails from her ex or boyfriend. Those are in there, but scans didn't pick up anything that resembled a threat. Max presses his lips together. The FBI is using AI to sort through emails, and he knows it could miss things. He wants human eyes on them, but speed is the priority.

The doc holds twenty-one names. Max forwards the list to Evan and asks him to assign it to someone on the task force. He wants each woman asked if she knew Sydney's roommate, if she knows where Belle could be, and if she knows of someone who threatened Sydney. His phone buzzes with an acknowledgment.

Max scans the rest of his emails. No sighting of the Toyota belonging to Sydney's roommate, Elise. No white Toyota Corollas stolen in northern California over the last few months. Expanding to the whole state and going back a year creates a list of twenty-six stolen cars. Nothing jumps out. He messages Evan, who texts back that he just did exactly that.

His brain runs down a familiar tangent. Is the roommate behind Sydney's death or all the deaths? Elise's vehicle was last seen leaving at the same time as Sydney's. Neither vehicle ever returned. Was Belle in one of those cars? Since they have Elise's car on video, it is unlikely Elise is one of the other recent victims buried in the forest. What if someone else was driving that white Toyota? Elise could still be one of the other bodies. Dr. Lockhart has the other two autopsies scheduled for today. Max wants Crystal Chambers's films looked at first.

Darby appears at his door. Last night Noelle asked if anyone recently released from prison had shot someone in the head. With a fifteen-year window, no one fits in Oregon, Washington, or Idaho. Extending to twenty years, there is one person in Washington. Max says fifteen years might be too long—the gun found in one of the older graves was last registered twelve years ago. Darby says then there is no one on her list. Max tells her to expand to other states. Darby asks skeptically if someone committed murder here, went to another state, ended up in prison, and came back for more victims after getting out. Max says to narrow it—start in Deschutes County with sentences for violent crimes, then slowly expand by location. Darby's look says he is making her search for a needle in a haystack.

Darby grins and says his grandmother is here. Max closes his eyes. Paulette brings food to the FBI office every Monday morning. She claims she is being neighborly, but he knows she is hunting for gossip. A message from Melissa pops up: "She's here." Max pushes out of his chair.

Paulette embraces him. She apologizes for missing yesterday, and Melissa said she was about to call in a welfare check. Translation: Max had not called to check on her. She mentions hearing about the bodies found in the forest. He does not bite. He asks what she brought. It's a summer salad with watermelon, mango, and cucumbers. She asks what Noelle packed him for lunch. Translation: he needs a woman to take care of him. He says he packs his own lunch. Paulette mentions seeing Daisy Swanson, Noelle's great-aunt, who was raving about a homemade pie Noelle made. Max knew about the pie. It was not homemade—it came from a Costco box. He says next time Noelle bakes, he'll have her make two. He grabs the salad bowl and excuses himself, throwing Paulette a small bone about identifying another victim or two today with dental records. She says she'll chat with Melissa for a bit longer. Max winces at the zinger about how much time he spent on her visit and escapes.

Darby is waiting. "Some sort of fruit thing," he says. He asks her to rescue Melissa in a minute. She calls him chicken. He says he loves his grandmother but she can be a little much. Darby says she's smart enough to live in a different state. Max mutters that he was in that situation once. Now he lives in the same state as his three sisters, mother, and grandmother. Even though he is estranged from two sisters and his mother due to a disagreement more than a decade ago, he knows he made the right decision. He likes being close to his family. Now he just needs to get the rest of them to speak to him.

Emma at the Medical Examiner's Building

Emma sits alone in her car outside the medical examiner's building. After Noelle told her about her mother's gun, Emma hasn't been able to think about anything else. She overheard Noelle's phone calls—the odontologist is in the area on vacation, and Noelle would be at the ME's office in a few hours to go over dental findings. Emma decided she had to be there.

Noelle's 4Runner pulls in. Emma gets out and follows her, imitating the confidence that rolls off the woman. Noelle reaches the door and goes inside. Emma follows about ten seconds behind. Inside, Noelle speaks to someone at the counter, then turns and meets Emma's gaze. Her eyes widen. A petite woman in a long lab coat enters the lobby. Noelle tells her to hang on and crosses to Emma. She says Emma shouldn't be here. Emma says she needs to know, she deserves to know. Noelle agrees and says she'll tell her everything, that Emma can wait in the lobby. Emma says she wants to be there. Noelle says this isn't something she