end down the steep, rocky embankment before landing upside down in the lake. However, investigation showed that there were no skid marks. They also discovered that his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Ava Tucker, had broken the news to him that very day that she was pregnant.
The unwanted pregnancy would kill his academic career at West Point. He would be expected to quit school and marry her. He chose instead to take his own life. The investigators closed the case as a suicide.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. O’Reilly,” Cameron said.
“Can’t you at least take another look at it?” the elderly woman asked with tears filling her eyes.
Her heart breaking, Cameron tried to think of something, anything, to give the old woman some comfort.
Ring!
Cameron grabbed her phone and yelled into it. “I’m asleep!”
In one movement, Irving flew over the coffee table and out of the room.
“Sorry, Cam,” Jan Martin-MacMillan responded. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Josh asked me to check in on you to see how you were feeling.”
Cameron sat up on the sofa. “I’ve been better. Hey, has Tad finished the autopsy on Michael Gardner?”
“Josh will find that out before I do.”
“Men!”
“Tell me about it,” Jan replied. “He did tell me off the record that the dental records were a match. It is Mike.”
Cameron was now fully awake. “You knew Mike.”
“Grew up with him just like Josh,” Jan said. “We all grew up here within a few blocks of each other.”
“Did you hear anything about him being adopted?”
Jan was silent.
“Are you still there?” Cameron asked.
“I don’t know how much truth there is to it,” Jan said. “You know how small towns are. There’s always speculation and rumors, especially when something like this happens—or when something like Mike disappearing on duty happens.”
“What did you hear?”
“Mike’s aunt was Ava Tucker.”
Ava Tucker! My dream! Or was it a dream? No, memory. There was an old woman—back when I was first promoted to homicide and—
“Cameron, are you okay?” Jan Martin was calling to her through the phone line. “Are you still there?”
Blinking, Cameron rubbed her aching head. “What did you say, Jan? Something about Ava Tucker.”
“Well, we were all little kids—Mike, Josh, and me,” Jan said. “I do remember her though. She had quite a reputation. I heard that a man actually killed himself because she had broken his heart. Gorgeous. I used to look at her with her perfect figure and she wore the shortest mini-skirts and high heels. Red hair. She reminded me of Ann Margaret. She dropped out of high school. Never graduated. Went away. Then, she came back into town, and I do remember hearing rumors that she was Mike’s birth mother—but I never saw or heard anything that proved it.”
“What happened to Ava Tucker?” Cameron asked.
“I …” Jan’s voice trailed off. “I don’t really know. I can search through the archives at the newspaper to find out. Why? Do you think it’s a clue?”
“Maybe,” Cameron replied.
Before she could hang up, Jan stopped her. “I almost forgot why I was calling,” she said. “Want to go to lunch?”
“Is there ice cream involved?”
“Yes, Cricksters,” Jan said. “Every other Monday, the ladies in our neighborhood get together for lunch. Some stay-at-home mothers and a few elderly ladies who don’t get out much. There’s about a dozen of us. Since none of them had a chance to meet you, and Josh asked me to keep an eye on you, I thought I’d invite you to come along. I’ll drive.”
“Buy me ice cream and I’ll follow you anywhere.”
Chapter Six
The official medical examiner’s office was down the river in Weirton. However, Dr. Tad MacMillan usually performed his autopsies in the morgue located in the basement of the hospital in East Liverpool, Ohio, directly across the river from his home, and where he was a doctor on staff.
Not a popular place to visit, the morgue was
The unwanted pregnancy would kill his academic career at West Point. He would be expected to quit school and marry her. He chose instead to take his own life. The investigators closed the case as a suicide.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. O’Reilly,” Cameron said.
“Can’t you at least take another look at it?” the elderly woman asked with tears filling her eyes.
Her heart breaking, Cameron tried to think of something, anything, to give the old woman some comfort.
Ring!
Cameron grabbed her phone and yelled into it. “I’m asleep!”
In one movement, Irving flew over the coffee table and out of the room.
“Sorry, Cam,” Jan Martin-MacMillan responded. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Josh asked me to check in on you to see how you were feeling.”
Cameron sat up on the sofa. “I’ve been better. Hey, has Tad finished the autopsy on Michael Gardner?”
“Josh will find that out before I do.”
“Men!”
“Tell me about it,” Jan replied. “He did tell me off the record that the dental records were a match. It is Mike.”
Cameron was now fully awake. “You knew Mike.”
“Grew up with him just like Josh,” Jan said. “We all grew up here within a few blocks of each other.”
“Did you hear anything about him being adopted?”
Jan was silent.
“Are you still there?” Cameron asked.
“I don’t know how much truth there is to it,” Jan said. “You know how small towns are. There’s always speculation and rumors, especially when something like this happens—or when something like Mike disappearing on duty happens.”
“What did you hear?”
“Mike’s aunt was Ava Tucker.”
Ava Tucker! My dream! Or was it a dream? No, memory. There was an old woman—back when I was first promoted to homicide and—
“Cameron, are you okay?” Jan Martin was calling to her through the phone line. “Are you still there?”
Blinking, Cameron rubbed her aching head. “What did you say, Jan? Something about Ava Tucker.”
“Well, we were all little kids—Mike, Josh, and me,” Jan said. “I do remember her though. She had quite a reputation. I heard that a man actually killed himself because she had broken his heart. Gorgeous. I used to look at her with her perfect figure and she wore the shortest mini-skirts and high heels. Red hair. She reminded me of Ann Margaret. She dropped out of high school. Never graduated. Went away. Then, she came back into town, and I do remember hearing rumors that she was Mike’s birth mother—but I never saw or heard anything that proved it.”
“What happened to Ava Tucker?” Cameron asked.
“I …” Jan’s voice trailed off. “I don’t really know. I can search through the archives at the newspaper to find out. Why? Do you think it’s a clue?”
“Maybe,” Cameron replied.
Before she could hang up, Jan stopped her. “I almost forgot why I was calling,” she said. “Want to go to lunch?”
“Is there ice cream involved?”
“Yes, Cricksters,” Jan said. “Every other Monday, the ladies in our neighborhood get together for lunch. Some stay-at-home mothers and a few elderly ladies who don’t get out much. There’s about a dozen of us. Since none of them had a chance to meet you, and Josh asked me to keep an eye on you, I thought I’d invite you to come along. I’ll drive.”
“Buy me ice cream and I’ll follow you anywhere.”
Chapter Six
The official medical examiner’s office was down the river in Weirton. However, Dr. Tad MacMillan usually performed his autopsies in the morgue located in the basement of the hospital in East Liverpool, Ohio, directly across the river from his home, and where he was a doctor on staff.
Not a popular place to visit, the morgue was
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