Chapter 8 - The Wrong Woman UndergroundAdrian petitioned for Julianne's remains to be exhumed.
Leonard's lawyers opposed it immediately.
That alone convinced Adrian to continue.
Two weeks later, under court supervision, the coffin was opened.
Adrian did not attend the initial examination.
Emma did.
She did not know why.
Perhaps because someone had spent twenty-four years beneath Julianne Mercer's name.
Someone whose own family might never have known where she went.
Forty-eight hours later, forensic anthropologist Dr. Helen Ward called them.
“The remains are female,” she said. “Approximately twenty-eight to thirty-four years old at death.”
Julianne had been twenty-four.
Helen continued.
“There is also orthopedic hardware in the left wrist from a surgery performed years before death.”
Adrian went pale.
“Julianne never broke her wrist.”
“We checked available medical records. We agree.”
Emma crossed her arms.
“So who is she?”
“We don't know yet.”
Helen placed a folder on the table.
“But she is not Julianne Mercer.”
Adrian stared through the glass toward the laboratory.
Twenty-four years of grief shifted beneath his feet.
He had visited that grave every anniversary.
Spoken to it.
Apologized to it.
Left flowers on Mother's Day after being told their unborn child died too.
All for a stranger.
Emma touched his arm.
It was the first time she had done so.
Adrian looked at her.
“I abandoned her.”
“You thought she was dead.”
“What if she needed me?”
“You were lied to.”
He shook his head.
“That doesn't make twenty-four years disappear.”
“No.”
Emma looked toward the laboratory.
“But maybe finding out who that woman is will tell us who put her there.”
A technician entered carrying another report.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Adrian turned.
“We found something else.”
The coffin lining contained traces of an old funeral-home inventory tag.
Most of the writing had deteriorated.
But one name remained legible.
HENRY COLE.
Adrian recognized it.
May you like
Henry Cole had been the embalmer at Julianne's funeral.
And according to public records, he was still alive.
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