Free Don't Cry by Beverly Barton Page A

you?”
    â€œA Coke’s fine,” Audrey replied
    â€œI’ll make yours regular and mine diet.”
    Audrey nodded. She and Tam had different body types and different metabolisms. Tam was always dieting. Audrey had never dieted. But she suspected that eventually, probably in her fifties, that would change.
    When Tam walked off, Audrey noticed that Willie was once again engrossed with some of the papers and photos spread out on Garth’s desk.
    â€œWould I be out of order to ask what you’re looking at?” she asked.
    â€œYou know better than to ask,” Garth told her.
    â€œSorry.” Audrey eased away from the desk.
    â€œIt’s something we chose not to share with the media.” Willie glanced from Garth to Audrey. “But Audrey isn’t the media.”
    â€œShe’s not one of us, either,” Garth reminded the chief.
    Choosing to ignore Garth’s comment, Willie said, “It’s something that we all find odd about how both bodies were staged.”
    â€œEverything’s odd,” Garth said. “There’s nothing normal about it either.”
    Willie glowered at Garth before turning back to Audrey. “It’s about what the two women held in their laps.”
    â€œJill Scott was holding a doll, right? Or at least that’s what everyone assumes. That’s what the reporters said. So, what was Debra Gregory holding?”
    â€œThe media present at the scene where Jill Scott’s body was discovered were kept at a distance and assumed they saw a doll lying in her lap.” Willie shuffled through the photos in front of him, chose two, and held them up to show Audrey. “It wasn’t a doll.”
    Audrey stared at the crime scene photograph of Jill Scott. It took her brain several seconds to grasp the reality of what she saw. Her mouth parted to release a soft, startled gasp.
    â€œIt’s a…a skeleton.” Audrey took the photo from Willie and studied it more closely. “Oh my God! The killer laid the skeleton of a small child in Jill’s lap.”
    â€œIt’s horrible, isn’t it?” Tam said as she came back into the office.
    â€œThen it’s real,” Audrey said, barely believing her own eyes. “It’s the actual skeletal remains of a human child?”
    Tam set two colas on the desk, one by her sandwich and the other by Audrey’s. “All too real. We’re waiting on DNA results in the hopes we can identify the child, but the UT Body Farm has identified the remains of the child found with Jill Scott as a white male, probably between the ages of twenty and thirty-six months.”
    â€œWhat about Debra Gregory? Was there a…?” Audrey couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
    â€œYes, there was another child found in her lap,” Tam said. “About the same size.”
    Willie stood and placed his big hand on Audrey’s shoulder. “Pete Tipton will examine the remains, take DNA samples from bone and teeth, and forward them to the lab.”
    Audrey suddenly felt as if someone had dealt her a body blow hard enough to knock the wind out of her. For a few seconds, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t allow herself to accept the impossible possibility. Not now. Not after twenty-five years.
    â€œIs there any chance that one of those little bodies could be…” She swallowed hard. “Could be…” She couldn’t get the words out, couldn’t say the unthinkable.
    â€œIt’s possible,” Tam said. “We’ll know as soon as the DNA testing is completed.”
    â€œOh, God, does my father know?” Audrey asked.
    Â 
    Whitney Poole hated her job, especially when she drew the Sunday lunch shift at Callie’s Café. Crowds of churchgoers descended on the restaurant in droves, and many of those good Christian people treated the waitresses as if they were unemotional robots. As if being