Read Missings, The for Free Online

of the body. Flies were all over the interior where once a heart pumped blood and lungs drew in oxygen. Chase waved away the flies and saw the empty spaces, the remaining internal organs almost unrecognizable. He saw bite marks around an area where flesh had been ripped away.
    “Could wild animals have taken her heart and lungs?”
    “Nope. They were surgically removed. Even with all of the decomp, the cuts are clean.”
    Chase examined the victim’s face. It had been chewed to the point of obliteration but he couldn’t see any obvious contusions on either her face or her head.
    “Before you ask, other than the obvious, there are no other signs of trauma.”
    “You read my mind, Doc.”
    He observed the surroundings. No obvious blood pooled into the soil, no trampled ground to suggest a struggle. This was a dumpsite. Just like the other. Again, he didn’t have the advantage a crime scene could give him.
    Jax confirmed what he already knew. “Akila Copeland came to the scene but there was nothing much for her to find. She identified a few drag areas and that’s all. What we have is a body without any other clues.”
    “How long ago, do you think?” Chase asked. The wind shifted and he pulled out his handkerchief and put it over his nose. The pungent vinegar smell burned his sinuses. Even trying to use his mouth to breathe couldn’t keep the smell at bay. Pretty fast decomposition if this was Rachelle Benavides.
    “Based on the deco juice and skin slip, I’d say she’s been dead about a week. But with the missing organs and the fact that she wasn’t sewn up afterward, it could be five days.”
    The Benavides girl had only been missing a day. This young woman was someone other than Rachelle Benavides. He now had three DBs, all Hispanic. What the hell is going on?

Chapter Ten
    The Waters Home
    Thursday, September 20
    Bond put the finishing touches on the hurry-up dinner so Chase could get back to work. “It’s a lousy time to catch a new case, that’s all I’m saying.”
    “Like there’s ever a good time?” Chase grabbed her and pulled her to him, then gently brushed her hair out of her face. When he nuzzled her neck in the way guaranteed to make her knees weak, she pressed against him. In their twenty-plus years, it had never failed to work.
    “Funny.” Bond pushed him away and pointed to the kitchen table. “Sit. Eat.” She felt a warmth that stretched beyond her body’s response.
    “Girls!” She shouted up the stairs. “Come spend some time with your dad before he has to leave.”
    Seconds later Stephanie pounded down the stairs and flew past. Angela caught Bond looking in her direction and immediately slowed to a leisurely amble. Her oldest daughter looked like a younger version of Bond. Tall, long brown hair, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, she exuded all kinds of casual elegance. Stephanie had chopped her still white-blond hair off to a length which, with the right amount of goo, she could shape into spikes. Her personal expression of independence, she’d insisted on styling it all on her own. Clearly, the purple tights, lime green lederhosen, and hot pink and yellow striped blouse weren’t enough. Not for the first time, Bond shuddered when she thought of the teenage years yet to come with this one.
    She followed her daughters into the kitchen and wondered at the little-girl infatuation they both had with their dad. Were they ever that way with her? Chase’s job seemed to leave her in the role of a single parent more often than not. Even though they tried to even things out, he got to be the hero while she played taskmaster and disciplinarian. Some days, it got to her more than others.
    “Are we gonna do balloons tomorrow, Dad?” Angela asked.
    Bond’s throat tightened.
    “Yeah, Daddy. Tomorrow is David’s birthday. It’s his party,” Stephanie said.
    Tears, rarely bidden except for when she needed release, filled Bond’s eyes. Damn . Not the time. Her husband looked to her for some