“So you do believe her?”
“I didn’t say that either.” Sean sat back and stared at the FBI agent. “So anything on your end?”
Water’s face went slack. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was a two-way conversation.”
“If we work together the odds of getting Willa Dutton back alive might go up a little bit.”
Waters still didn’t seem convinced.
“Look, I told you, I don’t care who gets the credit or the glory. We just want the girl back.”
“You can’t possibly have a problem with that deal,” said Michelle.
Waters finished his beer and eyed her curiously. “Was your mother really murdered?”
“Yes.”
“Any leads?”
“The chief suspect is my dad.”
“Jesus!”
“No, his name’s Frank.”
“Shouldn’t you be focused on that?”
“I’m a woman.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning, unlike men, I can handle more than one thing at a time.”
Sean tapped his arm. “So what’s it gonna be, Chuck?”
Waters motioned to the waiter for another round, then said, “We found a hair on Pam Dutton that didn’t belong to her or anyone else in her family.”
“I thought the trace DNA didn’t produce a criminal database hit,” said Michelle.
“It didn’t. So we ran a different test on the hair. An isotopic exam looking for geographic clues.”
Sean and Michelle exchanged glances.
“What’d you find?” asked Sean.
“That the person whose hair it was has eaten a diet high in animal fats for years but also one with plenty of vegetables.”
“What can you deduce from that?” asked Michelle.
“Not a lot, although the typical American diet doesn’t include a lot of veggies anymore.”
“Were the fats or vegetables processed?” asked Michelle.
“Don’t think so, no. But the sodium levels were high too.”
Sean looked at Waters. “Maybe a farm? They slaughter and eat their own meat? Cure it with salt, maybe. Harvest crops. Preserve and can them, again with salt.”
“Maybe,” said Waters. “They also found something else in the exam.” He hesitated.