The Silence That Speaks (29 page)

“That’s a question we might or might not be able to answer.”
Patrick took a deep swallow of coffee, continuing to share his thoughts with
Casey in a calm, straightforward manner. “I know you want to go back and solve
it all—catch the killer, assign names to all his victims and provide closure for
all the families involved. Maybe we can make that happen. I don’t know. What I
do know is that the best way to increase our odds is to fulfill our
obligation.”

Follow the case that’s been handed to us.
Find Jan Olson’s body.

“That’s how it was with me, remember? Start with the present,
step back into the past. This process is going to take you down some dark
alleys. You’re going to lose a lot of sleep and relive some painful memories.
But you need this. Otherwise, you would have squashed the case the minute I
brought it to the team. You knew it was too close to home, that you probably
should refer it out. But you didn’t. You’re the president of Forensic Instincts.
You made the call for us to take on the case—and you made it without missing a
beat.”

“You’re right,” Casey conceded. “I couldn’t have lived with
myself if I didn’t see this through. For many reasons. Daniel Olson is dying.
And if his theory is correct, if his daughter really did suffer the same fate as
Holly, then she was raped, killed and dumped...somewhere. No father should have
to die with those kinds of unanswered questions, and without his daughter’s body
being found. Plus, if the offender really was the same bastard who did that to
Holly, then I have twice the motivation to solve this.”

“Agreed.” Patrick reached over and scooped up Casey’s notes.
“So let’s review your interview with Daniel Olson. Then we’ll go over all the
newspaper articles you compiled. I got a glimpse of them. You dug up everything,
not only about Jan’s disappearance, but about the disappearances of all young
women who lived in Manhattan during a five-year time span.”

“I’m going to give the whole pile of them to Ryan and have him
set up a database. But I know it’s a stretch. Most of those young women probably
just packed up and moved.”

“Well, it’s up to us to figure that out. So let’s go. If
anything rings a bell or recalls a memory that in any way relates to Holly,
we’ll zero in on it. Go with your gut. No one has better instincts than you
do.”

Casey smiled. “You’d make a great life coach.”

“Not really. I’ve just been where you are. It took me
thirty-two years to get my answers. Maybe we can come up with yours in half that
time. Let’s figure out what happened to Jan Olson. And let’s find her.”

Copyright © 2013 by Rainbow Connection Enterprises, Inc.

ISBN-13: 9781460346785

The Silence That Speaks

Copyright © 2015 by Rainbow Connection Enterprises, Inc.

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