“Kins said it could go out next week,” she said.
“That’s what they tell us.” Melton used a napkin to wipe at the corners of his mouth visible beneath his thick reddish-brown beard. Over the years it had become streaked with gray. Tracy had heard the term “bear of a man” used to describe big men, but in Melton’s case the analogy fit, and not just because of his size. In addition to the beard, which seemed to get longer and fuller each time Tracy visited, Melton wore his hair combed back off his forehead, the curls touching the collar of his shirt. He also had the build of a lumberjack, with meaty forearms and hands that looked like they could tear a phonebook in half, yet his fingers were nimble enough to pluck the strings of a guitar. Detectives referred to Melton as Grizzly Adams, because of the uncanny resemblance to that TV show’s star, Dan Haggerty.
“Come in and sit.” Melton walked to Tracy’s side of his desk and moved a leather satchel from one of two chairs. The other was stacked with technical books.
“A little light reading?” Tracy asked.
“Just trying to stay on top of everything.”
Tracy settled in. Rather than returning to behind his desk, Melton leaned against the edge. “Heard Pierce County pulled the crab pot case.”
Melton was no dummy, nor had he just fallen off the turnip truck. As the crime lab’s lead scientist, he possessed multiple degrees, none of which hung on the wall of his office. Instead of diplomas, he kept mementos from prior interesting cases—a hammer, a saw, a baseball bat. He also knew that when detectives showed up unexpectedly at his office door they usually wanted something.
“They did,” she said. “And left me with a couple loose ends I’m trying to nail down.”
“Such as?” Melton said, moving back to his seat and picking up his cheese sandwich.
“DNA. Given the condition of the body, it’s the only means for a positive identification.”
“Heard the parents were deceased and no siblings,” Melton said, taking another bite.
“Found an aunt in San Bernardino. The mother’s sister.”
“Ah.” Melton put down the sandwich and sipped his water.
Tracy had no way to soften the question. “I was hoping you’d provide me with the victim’s profile so I can send it to an outside lab for comparison.”
Melton leaned back in his chair. “You don’t like the work we do here?”
“It would be better at this point to let an outside lab handle it.”
“How are Nolasco and Martinez going to like that?” he said, the corners of his mouth inching into a slight grin.
“You heard about that?”
“I hear everything. You know that.”
She smiled softly. “They’ll like it probably less than they liked me going to talk to the aunt in the first place.”
Melton gave her comment a moment of thought. “Well, we send out the profiles all the time when we get backed up and overwhelmed here. In fact, with the Lipinsky matter taking up so much time, I was just thinking we needed to send that profile out so we could speed things up.”
Tracy smiled. “Thanks, Mike.”
“Don’t thank me. Just doing my job. Would it also be better if I didn’t ask why you’re using an outside lab?”
“Probably.”
Melton nodded. “You don’t think it’s her, do you? You don’t think it’s the woman everyone said walked off Rainier.”
“Like I said, she has an aunt in Southern California who’d like some closure,” Tracy said.
“So . . . easy enough to find out.”
“Easy enough,” Tracy agreed.
Melton again paused. The man was nothing if not deliberate. “Well,” he said again, “that is our job, isn’t it? To find out with certainty so the victims’ families can find closure?”
“I always thought so.”
“So my running a DNA profile would just be a means to ensure certainty.”
“It would be, if it was still our case.”
“Might not still be yours, but it’s still mine. I do run this division,” Melton said, meaning he was head of all the crime labs throughout the state, including the one in Tacoma that serviced Pierce County.
“I got into a bit of a pissing contest with Pierce County,” Tracy said.
“So I hear,” Melton said.
“They’re not going to be too happy about me doing anything to help solve their case for them. Probably best if you stay out of the line of fire.”
Melton scoffed. “What are they going to do, fire me?” The detectives knew that with his expertise, Melton could get a job in minutes at a much higher salary with one of the private laboratories. He stayed at the crime lab out of a sense of duty to find justice for victims’ families.
“I don’t want you to have to make that choice for me, Mike.”
“Which lab did you choose?”
“ALS,” she said.
Melton nodded. “They’re a good outfit. I know Tim Lane. He’s been recruiting me for years. I’ll give him a call and tell him to treat you right, put the pedal to the metal.”
Tracy pushed up out of her chair and offered her hand. “Like I said, I appreciate it, Mike.”
“I know you do,” he said, taking her hand. “That’s why I’m willing to do it.”