Mrs. Perez stared at me, her eyes in shock, while the word hung in the air. Death.
“Yes, yes, of course.”
I looked at my notepad.
“Did she answer your text last night?”
Mrs. Perez scrolled back in her messages. “No. I guess…” She paused. “She didn’t. But I didn’t ask her a question, only said good night, sleep tight. It wasn’t that strange, I thought.”
“And this morning?” Tom asked. “Didn’t you notice that she wasn’t in her room?”
Mrs. Perez looked up at us, then shook her head. “I… I mean no. She usually gets up at the crack of dawn to go to school. She runs track and they practice at six a.m., before it gets hot out. I just assumed that she had already left.”
Mrs. Perez stared blankly into the air. “I was wondering why she didn’t answer last night, but I just thought she was being a teenager, you know?” She was talking faster now, and I could almost feel the panic building in her body. Her breathing grew heavier, and she clasped her chest as if she was in pain, but I knew it was just the realization settling in.
I nodded. Yes, I knew a little too well what it was like having teenagers.
“So, what exactly are you telling me?” Mrs. Perez asked with a light whimper.
I reached across the table and touched her hand gently. “We will need you to come with us to identify the body.”
Tom leaned forward. “Do you have anyone, a relative or a close friend, we can call and who can go with you?”
She seemed so lost, it broke my heart. A tear escaped her eye, and she wiped it away, but more came and it was soon hard for her to stop them. Her hands were shaking, and her breathing had become ragged.
“It’s okay to cry,” I said.
She sniffled and wiped her cheeks, then looked briefly toward the ceiling while biting the tears back.
“I have a sister. She works downtown at Café Surfnista. She can go with me.”
“Okay, give me her number and I will call her and have her meet us,” Tom said. “You shouldn’t be doing this alone.”
Mrs. Perez nodded. Her eyes were filling, but she was obviously fighting her tears. I don’t think I would have been able to stop them if I were in her situation.
“And then maybe you’ll want to call your husband,” Tom said.
“We can call him for you, if you prefer,” I said.
She shook her head. “N-no. I will do it.”
She breathed heavily to calm herself down, then looked up at me. They had taught us that it was okay to show emotion when doing death notifications, but I knew that if I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to stop.
“What happened to her?” Mrs. Perez asked.
“She was found in the retention pond. We don’t really know a lot right now, but the autopsy will—”
“Autopsy… so you think she was killed?” she said with a small gasp.
“We don’t know that as of right now, but yes, we do suspect foul play,” Tom said.
“We will know more after the autopsy,” I repeated.
Mrs. Perez shook her head slowly. “I just don’t… I can’t… are you sure she’s not in school? She always goes to school. Maybe you got the wrong—”
I shook my head. “We called them. She didn’t show up today.”
“So, she was dead already yesterday? I don’t understand.”
“We don’t know when time of death occurred yet, but we will know more soon. For now, I just need you to come with us to the morgue.”
TENBILLIE ANN
I was back at the police station, writing my report, when the Chief came to my desk. It was late in the afternoon, and Tom and I had just come back. I was exhausted. Mrs. Perez had identified her daughter at the morgue, and that wasn’t easy to watch. There were crisis counselors there who then took care of her, while we went back to open up the case. But to be honest, I wasn’t feeling great.
“I need your help,” he said.
“Sure, boss, what’s up?”
He sat at the corner of my desk. “It’s a little delicate.”
“Okay?”
“There’s a woman. She came in a couple of hours ago to report her child missing. I haven’t had the time to talk to her myself, but Steele talked to her earlier.”
Now he had my full attention. “A missing child?”
“Yes, but the problem is that… well, we think she’s a little”—he made circles by his temple—“a little crazy.”
