Zachary was still uncomfortable leaving her there alone. He turned on his phone and pressed redial on Bridget’s number. Bridget knew Robin’s family; maybe she would want to visit with Vera for a while and make sure she was okay. Or maybe she knew someone who could be called to deal with it. It was outside of Zachary’s usual experience.
He waited for Bridget’s impatient answer, but it went instead to voicemail and Bridget’s light, pleasant greeting. Zachary hesitated, then suggested that she call him back. He hung up and looked at Vera again.
“Just one more call,” he promised.
This time, he called Joshua Campbell. He might not be exactly the person to contact, but he could probably put Zachary on to the right person.
Campbell picked up after a few rings. “Campbell.”
“Hey, it’s Zachary. I’m at Mrs. Salter’s house, and—”
“What the hell are you doing there?” Campbell demanded. “Didn’t you get the message that the case is closed?”
“Well, not exactly… Kenzie told me the preliminary findings—”
“Then you know it was medical error and the file is closed. Why are you still questioning the family? It’s no wonder I’ve got the brass on my back! You never know when to leave things well enough alone!”
“I… wasn’t questioning them. I just came over to make sure they knew what was going on, and…”
Campbell sighed in exasperation. “And what?”
“I’m a little worried about Mrs. Salter being here alone. Her daughter is away and I’m not sure she’s okay to be here by herself.”
“She’s upset?”
Zachary looked at Vera sitting there on the couch, staring at one of the pictures nearby. He got up and walked into the kitchen so that she wouldn’t overhear him. Similar to the living room, it looked as if nothing had been cleaned up since the weekend.
“No,” he said in a low voice. “She seems forgetful and maybe not capable of looking after herself if something was to happen.”
“Call the daughter.”
“The daughter already knows and is the one who left her alone like this. If I call her, she’s just going to tell me that her mother is fine and to butt out of something that’s not my business.”
“Not bad advice.”
Zachary didn’t say anything. Maybe Campbell hadn’t been the best person to call for advice.
“Okay, Zach,” Campbell acquiesced. “I’ll get a couple of officers over there for a welfare check. If they think she shouldn’t be left alone, they can make the necessary calls to have her cared for until something can be arranged with the family.”
“Great. Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“But you know the case is closed now. So I don’t expect to be getting any more calls from higher up telling me that you’re still poking around and causing trouble.”
“I’m not on the force,” Zachary reminded him. “I’m a private citizen, so you can’t tell me what to do unless I’m breaking the law. And I’m not.”
It wasn’t like he had planned to do any more investigating. The answers from the coroner’s office seemed pretty conclusive. But he bristled at the order to stay off the case. He hated being told what to do, especially by someone who had no real authority over him.
“I can charge with you impeding an investigation.”
“An investigation that’s closed?”
“Zachary, I’m helping you out with the Salter woman. So can’t we get a little bit of reciprocation here? There’s nothing left to investigate.”
“I’ll be the one to decide that.”
Before Campbell could say anything else, Zachary hung up.
When he got back into his car, Zachary checked his phone to see if he’d missed a call back from Bridget. She was usually on her phone all of her waking hours, so it was unusual not to be able to reach her or at least get a call back pretty quickly. But she still hadn’t responded. There was, however, a direct message from Rhys, continuing their conversation from earlier.
Zachary frowned as he studied the moving gif of a fat dog stuck in a toilet bowl, looking out with bulging, glistening eyes. It was captioned “help me.”
Rhys had used a dog picture for his greeting the previous chat session as well. Zachary didn’t know how much to read into it. He considered the little dog for a few minutes before messaging back.
“Hi, Rhys. I was just at your house. Is everything okay?”
The reply that came eventually was a cartoon character, from Disney maybe, surrounded by walls of fire. The caption said “everything is going to be just fine.”
Zachary didn’t know what to make of the sarcastic meme. Did Rhys mean everything would be okay? Did he mean he was in danger? If it was just the first option that came up when Rhys typed in “everything fine,” then did he really mean he was fine? Or was it intended to be sarcastic?
“Does that mean you’re okay or not?”
He waited, but no answer was forthcoming. Zachary stared down at the short exchange on his phone, trying to figure it out. It seemed clear that Rhys wanted something, but Zachary didn’t know what. He didn’t think he could go to the authorities and get them to agree that the memes might mean Rhys was in some kind of trouble. They were pictures. Maybe they had meaning and maybe they were just random. And the words on the last one said that everything was going to be fine. The police wouldn’t interpret it as meaning anything else.
There could be plenty of reasons Rhys had stopped messaging. He might have been using his phone between classes, but had to put it away when the next period started. His phone might have been taken away because he was caught using it in class. The whole thing might have been a pocket dial and randomly selected messages.
He’d just have to wait and see if he got anything else from Rhys.
Chapter Twenty
H
aving returned home to work on other files, Zachary looked in his fridge, decided that he’d just have a cup of coffee, and sat down in front of his computer to work. He tried to focus, but his thoughts kept getting dragged back to Rhys and Bridget. He kept looking at his phone for any more messages from Rhys, but nothing materialized. He tried reaching Bridget by phone several times, and kept just ringing through to her voicemail.
It figured.
She had come back into his life, acting like she was ready to take him back again, and he had fallen for it. He had taken the case for her because he would do anything for her. He still cared about her and if there was any chance he could get her back, he would take it.
But she didn’t feel the same way. All she wanted were his services. She had said she would pay him, and maybe that should have been the first tip-off. She wasn’t looking for a favor or a relationship, just for his investigative experience. Any investigator would do, but he was the one she knew, and he came cheap.
Now that he had shown that Robin’s life had, in fact, been cut short by a medical error, Bridget was satisfied. She could go on, knowing that justice had been served. She didn’t have any lasting attachment to Zachary. Now that it was all sorted out, she didn’t even have the time to answer a call from him. Not even to tell him to take a hike.
It was a good thing he didn’t have any alcohol around, because he would have downed a whole bottle and maybe washed down a few pills while he was at it. He couldn’t believe he had let himself be used by Bridget. Hadn’t he figured out by now that she was the worst thing for him? How many times was he going to let himself be hurt by her?
Zachary considered throwing his phone across the room, but he couldn’t be bothered to have to replace it. He placed it face-down as punishment for not being useful to him and resolved to ignore it. Even if Bridget decided to call him back, he wasn’t going to answer it.
He looked back at his computer, but instead of navigating to his file system to work on reports, he clicked on the tab to see if Rhys had messaged him back again.
At ten o’clock, Zachary was crawling out of his skin. He was so anxious and agit
ated he couldn’t stay in his apartment, even pacing, so he went out for a walk.
It maybe wasn’t the best time of day to go out to burn off some steam, but his new apartment was in a reasonably nice neighborhood and it wasn’t really late. It was still before midnight. The bars were open, so rowdies were still occupied and weren’t wandering around looking for excitement. He walked in well-lit areas and kept his eyes open for signs of trouble.
All the while, his heart was pounding out an angry rhythm. Bridget didn’t want him. Rhys hadn’t posted again. The case was closed, but he didn’t feel the sense of satisfaction and resolution he usually did when a case was resolved. Instead, it felt like an open wound. Something that needed to be properly treated and bandaged before he would feel better. It didn’t make much sense. He hadn’t known Robin. He had been hired—or asked as a favor—to find out why she had died so soon, and he had done that.
But Vera had been left alone and Rhys was asking for help. Gloria obviously wasn’t dealing with her responsibilities to either one of them. Maybe he should go back to the house to make sure Gloria had gotten home and everybody was okay. She could have fallen back on old addictions and be out somewhere completely wasted, while her mother and son struggled to care for themselves.
Of course, it was Bridget’s behavior that was really bothering Zachary. Even at their worst, darkest times, she had still called him back. Maybe she had only done it to yell at him and threaten to take out a restraining order if he didn’t leave her alone, but she had still called him back.
Zachary turned back after an hour and headed back the way he had come. That way he would be back at his apartment at midnight. He could take some pills to help him sleep, and maybe in the morning, he’d be able to move on and deal with his other cases.
As Zachary approached his building, he saw a stealthy figure in the parking lot. Somebody hanging around, trying to keep to the shadows and not be seen. Zachary had done it enough times himself on surveillance to immediately recognized the movement pattern. The figure was definitely male, taller than Zachary, as most men were, broad across the shoulders. Zachary hung back and watched him, seeing what he could learn. The man put his phone to his ear and looked up at the windows of the apartment building. Watching for a figure to cross the window or a phone screen to light up the room? Or calling to report to someone on the movements of his quarry?
Zachary ducked back as the man turned around to scan the parking lot. He thought he got back behind an electrical box quickly enough that the man didn’t see him. But Zachary had been able to get a full view of his face, well-lit by the phone screen.
What was Stanley Green doing hanging around in his parking lot?
Zachary never did get to sleep that night.
Eventually, it was late enough in the morning that he wouldn’t be waking Kenzie up. If he’d timed it correctly, he figured she should be getting her coffee on her way to work. But by the way she answered the phone, he figured she hadn’t had any caffeine yet.
“Case is closed, Zach. Why are you still bugging me?”
“Um…” Zachary tried to come up with a snap response and failed. He needed more time to compose an answer that would make any sense or satisfy her. “Sorry?”
“Brilliant. You’re sorry. Sorry for what, should I ask?”
“I didn’t… I wasn’t calling to bug you about the case… not really.”
“Not really. And what does that mean? Either it’s about the case, or it’s not.”
“I was just going to tell you… about last night… nothing to do with the case, not really.”
“Why should I care about it, then?”
Zachary stopped trying to explain and backed off. “What’s wrong?”
“Maybe I’ve got my own life to deal with. My own job and my own personal problems. I don’t need to deal with yours too.”
“No.”
“You’re always wanting something from me. But what happens when Bridget shows up playing damsel in distress?”
“I fall for it,” Zachary admitted. “I know I did… and now she won’t even answer my calls. I gave her what she wanted and she doesn’t want anything else to do with me.”
“You see? I warned you. I told you not to think she was going to get back together with you. It was just a trap. That’s how she gets you. She’s still got you wrapped around her little finger. All she has to do is give it a little pull and you’ll dance for her like a marionette on a string.”
“Yeah.”
“I warned you, and you didn’t listen and got your hopes all built up. Now she drops out of sight, and I’m the one left to pick up the pieces.”
Zachary took in a deep inhale, trying to keep his emotions under control. He sat at his desk, elbows on the table, covering his eyes. On the phone, Kenzie swore.
“You’re a grown man, Zachary. Why don’t you try acting like one instead of a lovestruck teenager? Your crush has moved on. Time for you to let her go.”
“You’re right.”
There was silence from Kenzie. Zachary waited. He didn’t trust his own voice. She obviously needed to blow off some steam. He hadn’t registered before how irritated she’d been by Bridget’s reappearance in his life.
“Okay. I’m done,” Kenzie conceded. “So, what’s this about last night?”
“It’s not important… just… Stanley Green was hanging around my parking lot,” Zachary explained, happy to move on to a less personal topic. “Robin’s fiancé of ten years ago.”
“Well… that’s a little weird. I gather he knew you were investigating the case.”
“Yes, I interviewed him Tuesday.”
“Then if he wanted you, why didn’t he just give you a call? That would have been easier than stalking you, surely.”
“Exactly,” Zachary agreed.
“What did he have to say for himself?”
“I didn’t talk to him. I just called the police to say this guy was lurking around in the parking lot. I didn’t say I knew who it was.”
“Why not?”
“For one thing… I didn’t want him to have confirmation that I lived there. Or that I had seen him. Better if he just gets the idea that it’s not a safe place for him to loiter.”
“Are you safe? What if he comes back and you don’t see him the next time?”
“I’ll keep a close lookout. If he does show up again, I’ll have to get a restraining order.”
“I’d feel a lot better if I knew you were carrying a gun. All of the private eyes on TV do, why don’t you?”
“Because this is real life. Real private investigators don’t go around shooting everything up.”
“Well, not everything, maybe, but if someone is stalking them…”
“I’ll take pictures. Proof that he’s following me.”
Kenzie sighed. “How am I supposed to admire you for your manliness when all you do is take pictures?”
Zachary allowed himself a smile. “You’ll have to take my rugged good looks instead.”
Kenzie snorted.
Zachary was checking for any messages from Rhys when his phone rang. He startled so badly that he almost threw the phone in the air. He didn’t recognize the number, but he answered it anyway. Maybe it would be a new client to distract him.
“Goldman Investigations.”
“Zachary?”
Zachary grasped for the identity of the voice, but couldn’t quite place it.
“Yes, this is Zachary.”
It wasn’t Stanley Green, that was the important thing. Or Joshua Campbell.
“It’s Gordon Drake. Uh… Bridget’s… friend?”
“Oh. Uh, hi Gordon. What can I do for you?” Zachary hung on to the hope that perhaps Gordon had a big corporate espionage investigation he wanted to hire Zachary for. Those could be quite profitable, from what he understood.
“I know this is going to sound a little strange, but… I was on a business trip, and when I got home today… well… Bridget isn’t with you, is she?”<
br />
Goosebumps prickled up Zachary’s arms. “With me? No. Why would she be with me?”
“Well, it was the only thing I could think of. I can look up her call records online, and I saw that you had phoned her a few times…”
“I’ve been calling her since Tuesday. I had a short conversation with her, but she had to take a call. I haven’t been able to reach her since.”
“That’s a little odd, don’t you think? She’s pretty good at returning calls.”
“I just figured she was avoiding me.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Gordon’s voice was painfully frank, “not when you’re conducting an investigation for her.”
“That’s just the thing… when I talked to her last, it was to tell her that we had figured it out. That Robin died of an iron overdose, probably the result of medical error. Bridget had to hang up to take another call, and that was the last I heard from her. She didn’t… tell you where she was going? Leave you a note?”
“No. There’s nothing. I’ve called the appointments on her agenda yesterday… she didn’t get to any of them.”
Zachary felt panicked and vindicated at the same time.
Bridget wasn’t just avoiding him. Bridget was missing.
Chapter Twenty-One
I
n the time Zachary and Bridget had been together, it seemed like Bridget had gotten to know half the police force. She knew at least as many of them as Zachary did, maybe even more. She made friends far more quickly and naturally than Zachary, and fast became the darling of the force. By the time Zachary made it over to Gordon’s and Bridget’s house, at least a dozen police cars were pulled in all along the driveway and the street, both marked and unmarked cars, a testament to her many warm relationships.
Zachary pulled his car over down the block and hurried to the house. He was stopped before he even got close to the door.
“Crime scene, you can’t go in there.”
“I’m family,” Zachary snapped at the unfamiliar police detective. “I need to get in to talk to Gordon and whoever is in charge of the investigation.”
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