Free Dream Chasers by Barbara Fradkin Page A

qualifier “if ”. Lea Kovacev was at the bottom of the river, and it was a matter of time before the divers found her, or her body bloated enough to float to the surface. “I need to inform the mother, so make sure nothing leaks.”
    â€œNothing will, unless the woman who found the bikini talks. But the press are circling like vultures.”
    After he hung up, Green glanced at his watch. Hannah’s school started at nine o’clock. He still had an hour in which to check out the latest news from the search scene and speak to Lea’s mother before he could intercept his daughter at school. Fortunately, her school was located in Old Ottawa South, a mere five minutes drive from Billings Bridge.
    Although the challenge of coordinating the different teams on the case—the Ident unit, the ground and water search teams, K-9—fell to the duty inspector, the investigative aspects were still technically in the hands of the lead investigator, Ron Leclair. The case would not officially become a major crimes case until a body was found and the coroner ruled death to be suspicious. But Leclair was astute enough to recognize the potential for disaster in any misstep on his part and seemed genuinely grateful when Green turned up to check out the situation.
    Green realized why once he’d waded through all the media trucks in the Billings Bridge parking lot and caught sight of not only Superintendent Barbara Devine, decked out in a photogenic lime green pantsuit, but also the police chief himself in full dress uniform. They stood before a phalanx of reporters. Lea Kovacev’s plight had caught the imagination of the city. Green swore under his breath. Not only would every Tom, Dick, and Harry flock to the river’s edge in the hope of finding the next clue—the bikini top, perhaps—but Marija Kovacev was going to learn the worst possible news as a chatty, late-breaking news byte on some local TV morning show.
    He barely had time to check out the specialty teams and confer with the duty inspector before his fears were confirmed. A cab pulled into the parking lot, and Marija Kovacev leaped out, hurling some money in her wake. She raced wide-eyed through the crowd, accosting everyone in uniform before her eyes settled on Green. He drew her hastily out of earshot of the media.
    â€œWe haven’t found her,” he said before she could draw breath. “There’s still hope, but I think you should be prepared.”
    She tore free of his grasp. “No! She’s a good swimmer! That bathing suit—it falls off at the first jump.”
    â€œWe’re looking everywhere, and we have an ambulance standing by if we need it. But meanwhile, is there someone I can call for you? A family member?”
    She was shaking her head vigorously. “No family.”
    â€œA friend then? I know how hard it is to be alone, just waiting for the word.”
    â€œI am not waiting. I look all night. I phone every person who is her friend, I went to her work and I walk on all the streets. Today I will go to her school. I will look through her locker—”
    â€œThe police did that.” “But they don’t know what they look for. Names, pictures, poems. Lea’s mind is always going. Imagining, creating. She write little poems—just pretty words about her thoughts— but I know somewhere in them are some...” Marija waved her hand impatiently. “What is the word? Clues? Where she would go, if she has a secret boyfriend...” Her chin quivered. “Maybe your Sergeant Leclair is right. I pray to God that he is right. I was too strict, I keep her too close to me, and she can’t tell me about her new boy. I pray she is away with him.”
    Green vaguely registered her new-found conversion to hope and recognized the desperate denial that fuelled it. His mind was caught up in her earlier words about Lea’s creative bent. Of all the school books Lea could