Free Murder at the Azalea Festival by Ellen Elizabeth Hunter Page B

on my cell."
    "Come when you can," I said. "Even if it's late."
    I nibbled my English muffin. "By the other thing, you must mean the case you're working on with the sheriff's special task force. This is about those bodies that washed up at Fort Fisher, isn't it?"
    "Yes, and we're under a lot of pressure to get that case cleared up before the beach season begins. We've got SBI agents helping, and a team of forensic pathologists from Duke. But we've got nothing to go on because we can't make identifications."
    "Why not?" I asked. "Can't you make IDs from dental records?"
    He shook his head. "Not with these vics. Too much damage. From the pelvic bones and cranial shapes, the M.E. verified they are males as we suspected, approximate age twenty. But that was as far as he got."
    "But can't they make dental impressions then match the impressions with data bases? Aren't there some missing men you can compare dental records with?"
    Nick set down his coffee mug. "Ashley, what I'm about to tell you can't be shared with anyone. Not Melanie. Not Jon. No one. Oh, I know, there'll be leaks and sooner or later it'll come out, but I won't be the source."
    He looked so careworn, so weighed down with responsibility, I wanted to help. I understood he was about to tell me something important and something that could hurt him if it got out. If our relationship was to deepen and succeed, he'd have to be able to trust me, and I'd have to learn to keep my mouth shut.
    "You can count on me, Nick. I won't tell a soul."
    He nodded slowly, taking me at my word. "You are aware that when bodies have been in the river for a while, there's soft tissue damage. There's a certain amount of breakdown caused by the water and from striking sandbars. And the fish do damage. You know all that?"
    "Yes," I said, pushing my plate away.
    "Well, these cases are different. The bodies were mutilated."
    "Mutilated?"
    "The jaws were crushed so we can't take dental impressions."
    "Crushed?"
    "That's not all. The hands are missing. Some of the feet too."
    "But how? Crushed jaws and missing hands and feet. Sounds like someone didn't want them to be identified."
    "That's what I'm thinking."
    "What about DNA?" I asked.
    "The M.E. will preserve tissue samples for possible DNA identification, of course, but we've got to have someone to match it to. And for now we've got nothing."
    He seemed to slip away, deep in thought, carried back to that ugly world he occupied, groping for answers. The world where evil reared its ugly head, and often prevailed. The world he was struggling to make right.
    It hit me then that I respected who he was, and what he was trying to do. I'd never ask him to give up police work again. Somehow we'd build a love relationship strong enough to survive his profession.
    He got up and reached for his jacket. "I've got to go. Walk me out."
    At my front door, we snuggled, unable to part.
    "Ashley, last night was wonderful. I want you to know . . ." He paused, pulled back and looked me squarely in the eyes.
    "What, Nick?"
    "I want you to know I don't sleep around . . ."
    "I knew that about you," I said.
    "Let me finish. Now that we're together, I won't be seeing anyone else . . . dating anyone else, that is. And . . .” He cleared his throat. "I'd like it if you didn't date anyone else either."
    I took my time answering, as if I was considering his request. But what was there to consider? The only men I saw were Jon and Binkie. There was no one I wanted to date. And if there was someone else, the choice would be simple.
    "Yes, Nick," I murmured in my most angelic voice.
    He hugged me to him again.
    "'Cause I love you, sweetheart. I want you to be mine."
    "I love you too, Nick." The words came easily. I'd said them to myself often enough.
    I closed the door, thinking, What a man! I hugged myself. What a sweetheart! And he's all mine.
     

 
     
     
     
    13
     
    A little before one o'clock I met Binkie outside the Bellamy Mansion. We took a few minutes to stroll