See You Soon

“No, no change. I have been settled in since last June, same apartment, same office, same classroom. I have not changed anything, nothing bad has been happening here, so I see no reason for the stress to cause it. But, that’s enough of that for now. What’s up with you? Why are you here and why didn’t you just call me if you knew where I was?”

Johnnie explained just why he had come to her instead of calling. “First, let me say that I had a hard time finding you. You went off the grid, and that is where you stayed!” He stopped and smiled at her. “I guess I trained you well.”

“Four weeks ago, a body of a young girl was recovered. It was a grisly thing, to say the least. Her fingertip had been sanded off, to the point of no hope for printing to find an ID on her.”

“Well, but you still could use facial recognition or dental records right?” She asked as she turned towards him on the couch. She did not like where this was going, and it looked as if it was about to get worse.

“No, we could not do that, not really. All of her teeth had been removed, and based on what we could tell; it was done before she died. The worst part is that her face had been so disfigured that there was no way to tell what she looked like before. Just seven days later, a second body was found, in the same condition. This one was found about 100 miles down the interstate. They were both in the same condition, both about the same age, hair color, and eye color. They were both placed in the same placement, just off the interstate, in a car, but not their own.” He watched her as he talked. She got that look, the one he had seen on her face so many times during the seven years they worked together. She nodded at him to go on.