He walked to the front door. The two-story house was not marked with a sign, but he double-checked the address and it was correct. He knocked on the door. A girl who appeared to be around fifteen answered. Her blonde, shoulder-length hair had three or four inches of brunette roots. JP wondered if it was the style she chose, or if it had been previously bleached and was now growing out.
“Yeah?” she said.
“Is this Merlot Group Home?”
“Yeah. Are you a social worker?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Who you here to see?”
“Lester Gibbs.”
“He ain’t here.”
JP thought he saw a look of disgust on her face. “Do you have a problem with Lester?”
“Naw, he’s alright.” This time there was no expression. JP thought he probably projected his own feelings on the situation. “Want to see anyone else?” she asked.
“Whoever is in charge.”
“Well, that ain’t me.”
I figured that much out, JP thought, but before he could say anything else, the girl yelled, “Veronica, someone here to see you.”
The young girl walked away, leaving him standing in front of the open door. Within a minute, a thirty-something woman, about five-foot-ten, in good physical shape, appeared.
“May I help you?” she said.
“I’m JP Torn. I’m a private investigator on a juvenile dependency case. I’m actually here to see Lester Gibbs, but I understand he’s not here. Right?”
“That’s right. He’s off today.”
“Do you have a minute?”
“Sure, come on in.”
JP followed Veronica through the living room, past two younger girls who sat watching television, and into a small office.
“How well do you know Lester?” JP asked.
“I only know him from working here. He was here when I came to work. That was just under a year ago. Why?”
“He’s the friend of a family we’re working with in juvenile court. I was hoping he could give me some insight. I’ve never met him. Is he good to work with?”
“Yeah, he’s alright, I guess.”
“Do the girls get along with him?”
“He has a lot of control over the girls.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure how to explain it. They don’t seem to like him really, but they always do what he tells them to. When he gives an order, it gets done. Maybe it’s just that he’s been here longer and has experience, or that he’s a man, but it seems easier for him.”
“Have any of the girls ever complained about him?”
Veronica rolled her eyes. “They complain about all of us. They’re not really good at accepting responsibility for themselves. So, if they don’t like something, it’s our fault.”
JP thought he had learned as much about Lester as he could from Veronica. He asked for the name and phone number of the director of the home and left. The two girls were still in the living room. They both looked up as JP passed through. One of the girls had burn scars on one hand and arm. Her sleeve covered part of it, but JP surmised they went all the way up because he could see some scarring on her neck as well.
“Hello,” JP said and kept walking.
The girl with the scars ignored him. The other responded.
He wondered what their stories were. Most of the girls in these homes didn’t get a very good start in life, and they were angry at the world for the hand they were dealt. He couldn’t blame them, but he didn’t see that he could do much for them either. He admired Sabre for the empathy she had for her “kids,” but more importantly for the time and effort she put into helping them when she could. Whenever they had one of these cases, Sabre’s heart seemed to open a little more. All JP wanted to do was kick some ass.
Chapter 11
The Parker Case
Bob and JP were invited into the house where Ellesse was staying. This house didn’t appear to be much better than the one Ellesse had left, except there was running water and working plumbing. Two adults besides Ellesse, three girls under the age of six, and a one-year-old boy occupied the two-bedroom home. Clothes, toys, and junk were strewn throughout. The sofa was covered with bedding where Ellesse sat watching a horror movie. A man sat in an armchair a few feet away drinking a beer, his eyes aimed at the blaring TV. The children were chasing each other around, yelling, and rolling on the filthy, worn carpet.
Ellesse moved over, making room for Bob and JP to sit on the sofa. The man yelled at the kids to go to their room without taking his eyes off the screen. They didn’t seem to hear him as they continued to play.
Ellesse didn’t introduce anyone.
“Why don’t we go outside and talk?” Bob suggested.
Ellesse led them through the kitchen, through a small, messy bedroom, and out a side door that led to a fenced backyard. A short, thin woman crushed her cigarette butt against the side of the stucco house and then dropped it in a coffee can on the ground. A few butts that had apparently missed lay on the ground around the can.
“I’ll be out here for a bit talking to my lawyer,” Ellesse said.
The woman shrugged and said, “Okay.” Then she went inside.
Ellesse led them to an old bench under a pepper tree. She and Bob sat down. JP remained standing.
Bob nodded toward JP. “This is JP. He’s a private detective, and he’d like to ask you some questions about Jim Jones.”
She looked at him with a furrowed brow. “I’ve already told you everything I know.”
“Humor me,” Bob said. “It’s important.”
“Where did you meet Jim Jones?” JP asked before she could object again.
“In a bar.”
“Do you know the name of it?”
“The Watering Hole.”
He made a note in his notepad. “On Clairemont Mesa?”
“Yeah, you know it?”
“Not well,” JP said. “Did you talk to him at the bar?”
“Yeah. He kept looking at me at first. He looked around a lot. I think he was trying to pick just the right woman. He explained all that to me later. Sometimes,” she hesitated, “he would disappear.”
“You would see him fade away?” Bob had to ask.
“No,” Ellesse said, “I would see him sitting or standing somewhere, and then I’d look again and he’d be gone. Suddenly, he’d reappear somewhere else in the bar. When I first sat down at the bar, he was at the end to my right. Later he was sitting at the bar to the left of me. Once he was leaning against the wall near the door to the bathroom. He kept popping up.”
“At some point, he approached you?”
“Yes.” She sighed as if she was having a pleasant memory.
“Then what happened?”
“He said his name was Jim. When I told him my name, he said that was perfect, that my name meant ‘shining light,’ and that he had picked the right one. I asked him what he meant by that, and he said it would all be clear soon. He was very mysterious and charming. Then he bought me a drink.”
“Just one?”
“Yes. I started feeling kind of woozy. I don’t think I realized how many drinks I had already had. Jim noticed and offered to walk me to my car.”
“Did he?”
“I told him I was on foot and I’d be fine, but he insisted I not walk alone. He was worried about me. He said it wasn’t safe for a beautiful woman to be out there by herself so late at night.”
Bob rolled his eyes. JP could see Bob wanted to make some sarcastic remark, but he didn’t.
“So he walked you home?”
“Yes. At first, I wasn’t going to invite him inside, but he had been so sweet to me.” She paused. “I don’t remember what happened right after that. I guess I had too much to drink. A few hours later, I woke up in his arms. We made love again, and then we talked for a long time. He explained more about who he was and what his purpose was on Earth. It all seemed so clear at the time.”
�
�And now?” Bob interjected.
“I don’t want to lose my baby. He has important work to do, and he’ll be famous someday.”
“You mean to the system?” Bob asked.
“Jim told me that he was on Earth once before and he impregnated a woman, but then she stopped believing, and she miscarried. He told me to never stop believing.”
“Can you tell me what Jim looked like?” JP asked.
“He was really handsome.” She paused. “I didn’t think so at first, but he seemed to change and look more handsome all the time.”
Everyone looks better after a few drinks, JP thought. “Can you give me a description—height, weight, eye color, stuff like that?”
“He was probably 5’ 10, dark hair that fell across his forehead, but he had a little point in the front, right in the middle, when his hair was pushed back.” She pointed to the middle of her forehead at her hairline.
“Eye color?”
“He was wearing sunglasses so I didn’t see his eyes at first.”
“He wore sunglasses in the bar?”
“Yeah, at first, I thought that was strange, but he explained that the light hurt his eyes.”
“Did you ever see his eyes?”
“Yeah, he took the sunglasses off later. He had brown eyes.”
“What shape was his face? Round, square, oval?” JP asked.
“It was more square than round, and he had a high forehead.”
“Do you think you could help a sketch artist draw a picture of him?” JP wasn’t certain if Sabre wanted to go that far or not, but he would ask.
“I have a picture of him,” she said. “He didn’t know I took it. I was going to tell him, but then I figured it would just disappear anyway. I’ve heard that happens when you take a photo of a ghost, but when it didn’t disappear, I realized he wasn’t really a ghost. He was more like a spirit.”
“What’s the difference?” Bob asked.
“With a spirit, the photo doesn’t disappear. With a ghost, it does.”
“I mean, what’s the difference between a ghost and a spirit?”
“Jim was sent here on a mission. Ghosts are here because they have unfinished business, something they’re unhappy about.”
“I’m glad we got that cleared up,” Bob said.
“Can we see the photo?” JP asked.
“Sure.” She took her cell phone out of her pocket and brought up a photo.
JP looked at it first, then Bob. It wasn’t a very good shot, but if it was enlarged, it might help.
“Do you mind if I send this to my phone so we can get a better look later?”
She shrugged. Bob texted the photo to his phone. A few seconds later, his phone pinged. “Got it,” he said.
“It won’t do you any good,” Ellesse said.
“Why is that?” JP asked.
“I told you, he’s gone. He went back to heaven.”
Bob and JP thanked her for her time and walked to their car without going back through the house. They got in and drove away.
“She sure got snowed,” Bob said.
“I think he drugged her at first,” JP said. “It ticks me off that there’s some fool out there taking advantage of vulnerable women. I plan to find him, whether Sabre wants me to do it for this case or not.”
“I don’t know if Ellesse is a little whacky, or if she wants to believe it because she just can’t accept that she was duped.”
“And he still has a hold on her with that threat of believing or losing the baby.”
“Do you think she believes all that?” Bob asked.
“I don’t know, but either way, she’s about half a bubble off plumb.”
Chapter 12
Sabre looked at the time. It was after eight, and she was still at her office. She hadn’t worked there that late since the incident with her stalker. She had promised both JP and Bob that she wouldn’t, but the time got away from her. She packed up her briefcase and headed for the back door. She suddenly felt uneasy. All her old fears had returned. She stood there for a minute in the hallway by the back door. Then she realized how silly it all was. She opened the door to the brightly-lit parking lot. JP had replaced the small light on the wall with a floodlight right after the incident. She looked around, then walked to her car, and drove away.
Her phone rang.
“Hi, Bro,” Sabre said when she saw it was her brother, Ron, calling.
“Have you eaten?” he asked.
“No, and I would invite you over, but I don’t really have anything in the house to eat. Do you want to meet me at Pieology on Balboa?”
“Sure, see you there in a few.”
Sabre hung up and called JP.
“Hey, kid,” he said. “Where are you?”
“I just left the office.”
Before she could say anything else, he asked, “Were you there by yourself?”
“Yes, the time just slipped away. Don’t fuss. I’m fine.” Sabre appreciated his concern, but still felt a little annoyed by his overprotectiveness. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She had to be. She couldn’t live her life in fear, and that incident had happened long ago.
“I don’t like you there by yourself that late.”
“I know,” Sabre said and changed the subject. “Where are you?”
“Bob and I just left Ellesse and we’re headed to a bar to follow up on Jim Jones.”
“A bar?”
He told her what he had learned from Ellesse.
“See what you can find out, but keep in mind, he’s not a party to this case yet.”
“I can’t stand the thought of that predator out there. He may think it’s just a clever way to get laid, but if he’s drugging them, it’s really tantamount to rape. I’d like to pursue it.”
“Do what you need to do,” Sabre said. “I’m going to meet Ron at Pieology.” She was hoping he would be able to join them, but she didn’t say anything since he already had plans. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
~~~
Ron was waiting outside of the restaurant when Sabre arrived. He was never one to go inside a building any sooner than he had to, unless it was to get away from the elements.
“Hi, Sis,” the handsome blond man said when Sabre walked up. He gave her a quick hug.
They walked inside and got in the short line to order. Pieology had become one of their new favorite restaurants. It was a thin-crust pizza place that was set up like a Subway. You ordered the individual crust, wheat or white, and then went down the aisle picking whatever toppings you wanted. It started with the sauces and cheeses, then the vegetables, meats, and whatever else you might like. Everyone got the kind of pizza they wanted.
Sabre went first, and when she got to the cash register, she paid for both pizzas.
“You don’t have to do that,” Ron said.
“I know.”
Sabre was concerned about Ron. He hadn’t had a steady job since he returned to San Diego nearly a year ago, and she knew that was starting to get to him. He had worked a little for Sabre, and JP had given him some surveillance work on a couple of cases, but he didn’t have that much for him to do. Ron was in his thirties and struggling to find his way in life. He loved the outdoors and had held a couple of good jobs with Parks and Recreation, but no one was hiring right now. He had applied everywhere he could think of, even out of state, but nothing yet. He was living with their mother, which was nice for both of them at first, but Sabre knew that was starting to get old.
Ron took the number the clerk gave them, and they sat down and waited for the pizzas to be delivered to their table.
“How’s Mom?” Sabre asked.
“I don’t see her that much. She’s involved in so many things, volunteering for different organizations, playing bridge three times a week, and…” He hesitated.
“And what?”
“I think she might have a boy…male…friend.”
“A boyfriend?”
“Yeah, it just seems wei
rd calling someone that old a ‘boy’.”
“How old is he?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t met him, but I’m pretty sure she’s interested in someone. She’s acting different. She’s been kind of giddy. And she takes more time getting ready for things.”
“Mom always looks nice when she goes out, even to the grocery store. She wouldn’t be caught dead at Target without her lipstick on.”
“I know. It’s not that. She’ll change her clothes a couple of times, and she sings when she’s doing things around the house, like she did when we were kids.”
Sabre noticed trepidation in her brother’s voice. “Ron, does this bother you? Because Dad has been gone a long time. I think it would be great if Mom found someone.”
“No, it’s not that.” Ron’s voice perked up. “I would love to see her with someone. It’s just that I feel like I might be cramping her style.”
Sabre laughed. The clerk brought the pizzas to their table. Sabre was still laughing when she left.
“It’s not funny,” Ron said. “At least not that funny.”
“Really, Ron, it’s not like she wants to bring him home and….” Sabre paused and looked up, her eyes wide. “Or maybe she does. She’s not that old.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of serving him dinner without her son looking over their shoulders. But there’s that too.”
Ron started laughing, and the conversation degenerated even more as they ate their dinner.
“That’s our mother you’re talking about,” Ron finally said.
The Advocate's Illusion Page 5