Both men looked up as a soft, “Hey,” came from the bedroom door. Looking over, Jason smiled at the sight of Rose, her sleep-tousled hair in a mess about her head, wearing yoga pants and one of his large T-shirts. Her gaze moved nervously to Zac, and Jason’s heart twinged at her expression.
Rounding the counter, he moved directly to her and enveloped her into his embrace, “Hey, back,” he said. “Zac came by to see how you are doing this morning, but I told him that I hoped you were going to keep sleeping. Were we too loud?”
She leaned back and looked up at him and said, “Oh, no. I just woke up, and I can’t stand lying in bed when it’s time to get up and be busy.” Leaning around him, she offered a hesitant smile toward Zac. “Hey.”
Zac grinned in return and said, “I wanted to see how you were doing, honey. I know last night’s news was a huge shock.”
“I’m fine,” she said, pushing her hair back from her face. With a few deft twists, she managed to pull it into a messy bun on top of her head, securing it with a band she had around her wrist. “I’ve had a few fainting spells, and I think I was just very emotional last night.”
“Make sure to keep your doctor’s appointment,” Zac advised.
“Oh, I won’t miss it.” Haltingly, she added, “I hope you won’t be…um…insulted if I make sure you’re not going to tell anybody yet.”
“Not offended at all, Rose. I’m bound by confidentiality, anyway. But I give you my word that I won’t say anything. The news is for you and Jason to share whenever you’re ready.”
Sighing in relief, she walked over and offered Zac a hug before Jason shook his hand. Saying their goodbyes, they watched as Zac headed down the stairs to the outer door, and Jason turned back to Rose who had moved to the window overlooking the street and her shop.
“It’s pretty surreal, isn’t it?”
He looked at her, noting her pale complexion and the tight lines around her mouth. Pulling her in for a hug, he kissed the top of her head. He led her to the kitchen and said, “Well, it’s up to Mitch to figure out if there’s anything he needs to investigate. For now, I’m fixing you breakfast.”
“I was thinking of something, but I don’t know if you’ll agree.”
Turning to look at her, he tilted his head in silent question. She worried her bottom lip and then continued, “I wondered if Gareth and Katelyn, since they’re private investigators, could find out anything about the woman.”
Sighing, Jason said, “I wish there was something I could do to keep your mind off the woman in the cellar, but I probably can’t, can I?” Seeing her nose scrunched, he added, “Tell you what. I’ll talk to Gareth and see what he thinks. The last thing anyone wants to do is interfere with what Mitch is working on. But you need to take care of yourself. And part of that is focusing on you, our baby, and what flavors of ice cream you want to create next.”
Sliding in front of him with the counter at her back, she encircled his waist with her arms. Dropping her eyes, staring at his chest, she said, “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I heard you talking to Zac.”
Not following her change of subject, he thought back to what he and Zac had been talking about. She did not make him guess when she continued, “You told him how you felt about me. But you also mentioned how everyone will be shocked.”
His arms spasmed, pulling her tighter as his eyebrows lifted. “I don’t want you to worry about that—”
Nodding, she sucked in her lips and said, “I just know that people can talk…make suppositions. I don’t want you to feel trapped—”
“Babe, first of all, I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks or says. Never have. I know who I am and what kind of man I am. I know my feelings and own those feelings. But second of all, our friends want us happy, and once they know about the baby, they’ll be happy too. But mostly, I want you to know that we’re solid. Not trapped. But solid in what we feel and what we are.”
Giving her head a little nod, she smiled and said, “I love you, you know.”
Bending, he took her mouth in a kiss, his tongue tangling with hers until his cock was standing at attention and ready to play. Forcing himself to step back, he said, “Breakfast first. Then? I’ll do anything you want today, babe.”
Before Mitch became the Police Chief of Baytown, he had been an FBI agent assigned to the Richmond office. He had already contacted one of his friends at the Virginia Department of Forensic Science and hoped that he would have some information for him. Picking up his phone, he knew Bob would be in the office early.
“Bob? It’s Mitch Evans. I wasn’t sure if you had a chance to get my latest email this morning. It seems our assumption about the skeletal remains that were sent to you was in error.”
“I read your email when I got in, and I was going to call you anyway. There’s a couple of things that I have determined. Now, understand that this case hasn’t been a priority, but what I can tell you is that the remains contain dental work that would not have been available in the late 1800s or early 1900s. In fact, based on some of her amalgam fillings, I’d say we’re looking at someone born in the mid-1950s or later.”
Mitch startled, realizing that would put her at his parents’ age. “Could dental identification be made?”
“If you’re able to isolate and get me dental records, then the answer is yes,” Bob replied.
“I suppose it would be too much to ask if there was an obvious cause of death?”
“Your skeleton appeared to be in very good health. No broken bones and the skull was completely intact.”
Sighing, Mitch asked, “Anything else you can tell me?”
“I can tell you that the skeleton belonged to a Caucasian female, probably in her late teens or early 20s. And there’s one other thing, Mitch.”
“What’s that?”
“Hers were not the only remains that were there. She was pregnant. I’d say close to six months.”
His breath left him in a rush as Mitch leaned back in his chair. When Bob asked if he was going to work up a case, he replied, “I’m going to at least try to identify her. If she was living in town, my dad was a Police Officer around that time, so I’m going to see what information he might have.”
“Glad to hear it,” Bob said. “I always like to have mysteries solved. If you’re able to come up with some possibilities and can get dental records, send them my way and I’ll take a look at them.”
Thanking him before disconnecting, Mitch sat in his office, his mind warring over what he knew. The timeframe surrounding the skeletal remains would put her in the cellar of the store at the time that Corwin’s aunt owned the shop. Female. Alone. Pregnant. Fuckin’ hell.
He had already checked the database of cold missing-persons reports when he got in earlier in the morning. It was a short list and did not shed any light on who he might be looking at. But those only included someone who was reported missing. He rubbed his forehead as he tried to think of a six-month pregnant woman going missing and no one reporting it.
Picking up his phone again, he placed another call. “Dad? I was wondering if I could come by for a cup of coffee this morning and maybe bring someone with me.”
After arranging to meet with his dad, he filled in Grant, Lance, and Burt. “Because we’re down an officer with Ginny on maternity leave, we don’t have a lot of extra manpower for a case this old, but I can’t just leave it alone. We have no evidence of a crime at this time.”
“So it could be just a woman who worked in the store and got locked in the cellar?” Grant asked, incredulity in his voice. “And no one, not even the shop owner, missed her and reported her missing?”
Mitch threw his hand up and said, “I know that makes no sense, and I agree, something must have happened to her. I’m going to turn over some of this to Gareth and let he and Katelyn do some digging since the BPD is stretched thin right now.”
It was not the first time that the Baytown Police had used the investigative skills of Harrison Investigations. After giving o
ut the daily assignments, Mitch headed out the door.
23
Jason sat down in the chair of the conference room of Harrison Investigations and looked at the two people sitting across from him. Katelyn had found love when Gareth moved into town and opened up his private investigator business. She had wanted to do something more than just serve in a restaurant, having worked at the diner and her Pub since she was a teenager. Gareth hired her to be his receptionist, and it wasn’t long before she got her own investigation license.
“How’s Rose?” Katelyn began, worry on her face.
“She’s good. You know her…gets kicked down and rallies back,” he said, knowing his pride in her showed on his face and in his voice. “We got the place cleaned up last night and then she slept long and hard, for which I was glad,” he answered.
“I assume this meeting is about the remains found in her cellar?” Gareth asked.
Nodding, Jason replied, “I haven’t talked to Mitch yet, but for Rose’s peace of mind, I’d like to see what we can find out.”
Just then, the bell over the front door rang, and Katelyn left the conference room to see who was there. A moment later, she returned, a grin on her face. “Looks like everyone wants to find out who the mystery woman is,” she said. Mitch entered the room behind her, his eyes immediately landing on Jason.
After greetings were over, Jason said, “I realize with you here, Mitch, you may not want my presence if this is an ongoing police investigation.”
Mitch shook his head and said, “No, Jason, it’s fine for you to be here. Honestly, this is not an official investigation at this time. I do want to try to identify the woman if possible, and to do so, I need to narrow down who she might be and see if I can get dental records. My office is stretched thin right now with Ginny on maternity leave, so that’s why I’m here. I’ll take all the help I can get.”
Gareth, Katelyn, and Jason all nodded, and Mitch continued, “I thought that I would start with my dad. I stopped by to see if you’d like to have coffee with my parents, and Jason, you’re more than welcome to come.”
Agreeing that was the best place to start, they each made the short drive to Nancy and Ed Evans’ house. Greeted warmly, Nancy soon had cups of coffee and slices of pound cake served in the dining room as everyone settled around the large, round table.
Jason listened with interest as Mitch gave them the information he had concerning the woman’s approximate age based on her skeletal remains and her dental work. Then his heart stuttered when Mitch announced that she had been pregnant at the time of her death.
Nancy’s hand flew to her throat, her face filled with sadness, while Ed and Gareth’s expressions hardened, and Katelyn gasped. But for Jason, the news struck him to his very core, thinking of Rose’s pregnancy and the horror if something happened to her and their unborn child.
Forced to set that aside, he listened as Mitch asked his dad if he could remember anything.
Ed leaned forward, propping his forearms on the table with his hands surrounding his mug. He was lean and muscular like his son, had managed to stay fit as he got older, and Jason wondered if that was not due to Nancy’s continued monitoring. He knew that Ed had been a Baytown Police Officer and Chief for many years, until a heart attack forced him to retire, giving Mitch the impetus to leave the FBI and return to Baytown.
Ed said, “Given that timeline, I’ve gone back to see what I can remember. Your granddad became a police officer in Baytown in 1950 and made chief ten years later. I was born just after that in 1962, and like Dad, became a police officer here when I returned from my two years in the Army.”
“So, about 1982?” Mitch surmised.
Ed nodded, “Yeah, that’s right. I remember the stores in town as a child, including the one run by Corwin’s Aunt Ellen. It was a woman’s clothing store, so I never had a reason to go in there. My mom and grandmas would shop in there some and always thought that Ellen was a real nice lady. Ellen never married and never had children, but she treated her employees very well.”
Nancy nodded her agreement, and said, “It always seemed that she would hire someone who really needed the money, and as long as they had proper decorum, she would keep them on for years. I had a few friends in high school who wanted to work there, but they came from families that were affluent, and she didn’t hire them, saying they didn’t need the job.”
“Interesting,” Gareth said. “You might think that she would only want to hire women that she considered being of a certain class if she was selling fancy women’s clothing.”
Nancy grinned and said, “Ellen was known around town for being rather eccentric. But people always spoke about her with respect.”
Ed took over again, saying, “I never heard my dad talk about a missing person case, at least one that didn’t get solved. He’d have to go looking for a couple of drunks whose wives had reported them missing, but he always found ‘em.” Chuckling, he explained, “Usually off in a fishing boat somewhere. But a young woman? I don’t think so. And if she had been reported missing, there would’ve been a record of it. And when I became a police officer, we didn’t have anything like that.”
“Could she have been killed somewhere else, not in Baytown, and then just buried there in the cellar?” Jason asked. He knew his question sounded ridiculous, but he was willing to grasp at straws.
“That’s always a possibility,” Ed agreed, “but why there? Trying to get a body into Baytown, into a store, would be so risky. There are so many places out in the county where someone could easily bury a body and it would not be found.”
“What about someone that left town suddenly?” Mitch asked. “It might be someone that was around your age.”
“Honey, lots of people would’ve left town,” Nancy replied.
Ed's eyes lit, and he jumped in, “No, no, I see where you’re going with this. Someone that everyone assumed left town when maybe they were actually killed.”
“Exactly,” Mitch said, nodding. “If there was a woman about your age that simply left then no one would have filed a missing person report. It would have to be someone who didn’t have a family.”
Ed looked at Nancy and said, “I left for the Army in 1980 and was gone for two years, so I have no idea what was happening in Baytown at that time. When I joined the Police Department with my dad, it was late 1982. I know there are people who might move in and out of town, but back then Baytown was pretty steady.”
Jason watched as Nancy chewed on her bottom lip, her brow crinkled as she appeared to be digging through the recesses of her memories. She looked up and said, “I remember that my mom and Ellen were both members of the Baytown Library Board, and one day, Mom came home fuming because their meeting had been nothing other than Ellen being upset about one of her employees. Something about her leaving without giving notice.”
Looking around the table, she blushed and said, “Goodness, you’re all looking at me as though I’m going to give you a huge clue, but I swear I don’t know who or what she may have been talking about.”
“Can you think what year that might’ve been, Mom?” Mitch asked.
Her forehead scrunched again, and then she smiled. “Strangely enough, yes, I can. I had been waiting for Mom to get home so that we could talk about my graduation party. I was a year behind Ed in school, and he was already in the Army. So that would’ve been in the spring of 1981. Mom was so preoccupied with whatever Ellen had been talking to her about, she barely paid attention to me.” Shaking her head, she said, “That’s not much, but honestly it’s the only thing I can think of about Ellen and her shop. Well, that and the fact that Corwin was always hanging around there, which we used to laugh about.”
“Corwin hung around his Aunt’s women’s clothing shop?” Jason asked, thinking that was a curious place for a young man to spend time.
“He mentioned something about that in his speech last night,” Mitch said. “In fact, Phyllis even mentioned he was sweet on one of the workers.”
Eyes widening, Nancy said, “That’s right. Corwin was ahead of Ed and me in school, probably by about five years, so I didn’t know him well. But Phyllis was two years ahead of me, and we had known each other in high school. She liked Corwin, although I couldn’t see the interest, myself.”
“That’s because you were already in love with me,” Ed said, winking at his wife.
“If Ellen treated her employees so well, I wonder why one of them would leave without giving proper notice?” Jason wondered aloud.
Nodding, Mitch said, “I was thinking along the same lines.” Turning back to his mother, he asked, “Can you think of anyone who might have worked in the store at that time who might remember?”
“Oh, goodness, those women would have been older than me. Um…” Startling suddenly, she said, “Sue. Well, not Sue, herself, but her aunt. Her aunt worked there for years and years. Martha…Martha Barry is her name.”
“I remember her,” Ed said. “I would see her out and about town when I was on patrol. Nice woman. Quiet. I think she worked for Ellen until Ellen closed the store in the mid-90s.”
“Do you know if she’s still living?” Mitch asked.
Nodding, Nancy said, “She’s on the prayer list for our church, so she must be living. I believe she’s at the nursing home that Belle works at.”
Mitch looked at Gareth and Jason and asked, “Feel like taking a visit to a nursing home?”
Both men agreed, and Jason said, “Absolutely. It will give me a chance to pop in and say hello to Rose’s mom anyway.”
Thanking the Evans for their hospitality and information, Jason followed Mitch and Gareth back out to their vehicles. While part of him wished that Rose could forget about the finding in her cellar, he knew that she would not be completely at peace until she could lay the woman to rest, literally and figuratively.
24
An hour later, the three men sat at a table in the bright, sunny day room of Careway Nursing Home. Belle had rolled the elderly Ms. Barry over to them, explaining that she was still quite nimble of mind, although a bit hard of hearing. After explaining to Ms. Barry why the men were there, Belle smiled and walked away.
Sweet Rose: Baytown Boys Page 19