“We have a bit of a break on this,” JP said. “An old friend of mine, Vincent DuBois, was the detective on the case, and he has agreed to meet with me this afternoon. Hopefully, we can get some insight.”
“DuBois?” Bob asked. “Isn’t that the guy who always calls you McCloud?”
“McCloud?” Ron said. “Like the old TV show with Dennis Weaver, the cop from Taos, New Mexico, who is transplanted to New York City?”
“That’s the one,” Bob said.
“That makes sense.” Ron looked at JP. “So, McCloud, do you think you can get to the bottom of this?”
“If you’re tryin’ to decide between continuing to call me McCloud or cuddling a hornet, you best go with the hornet,” JP said in his usual soft tone.
Bob and Ron both laughed and said almost in unison, “Okay, McCloud.”
Sabre smiled, but she couldn’t quite get into the mood. “It would sure ease my mind if you could find Vanna…alive.”
“And preferably before Friday,” Ron said.
“What’s happening Friday?” Bob asked.
“Our mother’s next date with the black widower,” Ron said.
Chapter 24
The Parker Case
Sabre waited upstairs in the hallway for Regina and her client. She stood by the short wall where she could look down on the lobby and watch the people. She was always amazed by this view. It fascinated her to watch as the attorneys, defendants and their families, and other court personnel carried on. For some it was just work, for others it was their entire life caught up in a system most had never expected to be in.
Nearly fifteen minutes passed before Regina arrived.
“Sorry, I got tied up,” Regina said. “This is Laura Ramage.”
“I’m Sabre Brown.” She pointed to some chairs a few feet away. “Let’s have a seat.” They all sat down and Sabre turned to Laura.
“Did Regina explain why I wanted to talk to you?”
“Yes, but I don’t think I can help. I don’t really know much about that guy.”
“I know, and I’m sorry I have to bother you with this, but any little thing might help.”
Laura shrugged. “Whatever.”
“You met him in a bar, correct?”
She nodded.
“Do you know the name of the bar?”
“Peter D’s in Clairemont.”
Sabre perked up. “Were you drunk?”
Laura frowned and clicked her mouth. “Tsk.”
“I apologize,” Sabre said. “I’m not passing judgment. I just want to know your state of mind at the time.”
“I was bummed because my boyfriend and I had just broken up. I wasn’t drunk when I met the guy, but I seemed to get there pretty fast. When I think about it, I hadn’t drunk that much. But I barely remember getting home.”
“Do you remember anything specific he said to you?”
“He kept calling me his ‘shining light.’ He was real charming at first, but then he started talking about God and outer space or something. It all made me very uncomfortable. That’s when I asked him to leave.”
“Did he go when you told him to?”
“He wanted to stay until morning, but I told him no. That’s when he said I was pregnant, which I found very odd.”
“But you did get pregnant, right?” Sabre asked.
Regina spoke up. “We just got the paternity tests back and her boyfriend is the father of the baby. She was probably already pregnant when she met this guy.”
“Did he ever tell you his name?” Sabre asked Laura.
“He did, but I can’t remember it. I think it was a pretty common name.”
“Could it have been Jim Jones?”
“Maybe.” Laura shrugged. “I don’t remember. This was almost a year ago, and it wasn’t the best night of my life. I’ve tried to forget about the creep.”
Just then Regina’s name was called over the PA system.
“We have to go,” Regina said, and stood up.
“Thanks, Laura,” Sabre said, and nodded to Regina.
~~~
JP sat across the desk from Vincent DuBois, his old friend.
“What’s the story, McCloud?” DuBois asked. “I haven’t seen you in years and suddenly we meet three times in the past month.”
“As I said on the phone, I’m working on something that led me to the Vanna Norstrom case.”
“Yeah, you said that earlier. What’s the connection?”
“It’s personal. My girlfriend Sabre’s mother is dating her husband.”
“Harley Lindgren?”
“Yes. I just want to make sure she’s safe.”
“I understand.” He opened the file sitting on his desk. “It’s been more than eleven years and there hasn’t been any action on the case for a very long time. We investigated Harley when Vanna disappeared, but it didn’t lead us anywhere. The sister reported her missing when she didn’t show up at her house, but that was two days after Vanna left. When we went to Harley’s house the first time, he didn’t even know she was missing. He said she was ‘in a mood’ and had said she was going to her sister’s and left.”
“And he didn’t call her or anything?”
“No, he said he was letting her calm down.”
“Had they had a fight?” JP asked.
“Not according to Lindgren. He said she just started screaming at him and said she was leaving. He said she never did anything like that before they were married, but from day one of the marriage she acted bizarre. He had only known her for about six months before they married, and they had never lived together, so he didn’t know her as well as he thought.”
“Did you believe him?”
“Lindgren said all the right things. He didn’t act suspicious or appear like he was trying too hard, but he didn’t have an alibi for the evening she left. He was the last one to see her, as far as we know. He worked the next couple of days, which he would have likely done one way or the other. We never found any physical evidence of any kind that was suspect. That was all we had, not enough to arrest him. A few days later, Lindgren came to me and said there was a hundred-grand missing from his safe.”
“Whoa, that’s a lot of green to have lying around, even in a safe.”
“For you or me, but he was a big-time real estate mogul. At the time, he owned about six rentals and had another eight hundred thousand in stocks. I guess that was his pocket change.”
“But he didn’t tell you about the money until later?”
DuBois looked at the file. “Two days after she was reported missing.”
“Do you think it was a cover to make it look like she ran away? Maybe he was feeling too much heat.”
“That was my first reaction. When we questioned him, he claimed he didn’t know it was gone. He hadn’t looked in his safe. I suppose that’s possible. If I had a hundred thousand dollars in cash, I’d look at it every day.” He chuckled. “But I guess if I had his money I wouldn’t be opening my safe that often.”
“What did your gut tell you?”
“He was either telling the truth, or was really good at lying. He seemed genuinely surprised and concerned about her well-being. Vanna had some mental history, and even though her sister played it down, everyone else said she was a whack job. Lindgren didn’t appear to know about her history. That doesn’t explain what happened to her, and we had nothing to go on. We know she bought a train ticket from San Diego to Santa Ana, but we don’t know if she ever got on the train. She just disappeared, but if she stole the hundred-grand, she would’ve had the money to run away. That may very well be what she did.”
“Is the case closed?” JP asked.
“It’s still open, but I doubt if it will ever be solved. A few years ago, I had her DNA run through a national database, but nothing came up. Other than that, no one has worked it in years. I talked to the sister a couple of times the first year, but she didn’t seem that concerned after a while.”
“Do you think her sister knew w
here she was?”
“I asked her, but she said she didn’t. I think she had just given up on her.”
“Can I see the file?” JP asked.
“Why not? I don’t want to see anything happen to Sabre’s mother if there is something there.” DuBois handed him the file. “I better not give you copies, but you can take notes if you want.”
JP looked through the file and jotted down a few notes including the name and address of Vanna’s sister.
“I appreciate this, DuBois,” JP said as he stood to leave.
“I got your back,” he said, and walked him to the door. “I expect to see you at my retirement party in a few months, McCloud.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
Chapter 25
The Lynch Case
JP’s research on the Lynch case led him to Ian Lynch, a CPA in Costa Mesa. Although Ian’s photo on LinkedIn looked nothing like Todd, he fit the age of Todd’s brother and had attended Pasadena Community College before he went to California State University, Fullerton, where he received a degree in accounting. JP compared the photo on the Internet with a photo from the high school where Todd and Ian had graduated, and he was pretty certain he had the right guy. He called and made an appointment to see Ian about his taxes.
Then he made the hour-and-a-half drive to Orange County to see Ian Lynch. His appointment wasn’t until later in the day, which gave him time to stop and see Vanna Norstrom’s sister while he was there.
Helga Norstrom lived alone in a large, two-story house in a gated community. JP followed another car in when the gate opened, and then he found her address. He had not called ahead, so he risked her not being home. He figured the element of surprise was worth the risk. When he knocked on the door, a dishwater-blonde woman about 5’ 10’’ answered the door. JP had studied photos of Vanna and noticed the family resemblance. They were both big women with azure-blue eyes and blonde hair, though Helga’s hair was darker than the towheaded Vanna’s.
“What are you selling?” she asked.
“I’m not sellin’, just askin’. Are you Helga Norstrom?”
“Yes.”
“I have a few questions about your sister Vanna. Can we talk a minute?”
The smartly-dressed woman stepped out and closed the door behind her. JP wondered where she was headed in her tailored suit. According to his research, she was unemployed and living on a trust from her parents, so she wasn’t likely going to work. He suspected she probably did some charity work or something to fill her time.
“Did you find Vanna?” she asked hesitantly. “Is she okay?”
“No, we didn’t find her.”
“Then why are you here? Did they reopen the case?”
“It never actually closed. Something has come up that made us take another look at her husband.” JP knew she thought he was law enforcement even though he hadn’t actually said so. He was skating on thin ice, but if he told her he was a PI, he would have too much explaining to do, and maybe not get the answers he needed. “How well did you know Harley Lindgren?”
“I never met him.”
“Not even at their wedding?”
“No, they went to Vegas and got married. I wasn’t invited. No one was.”
“Did you find that odd?”
“No, my sister did things like that.”
“Was she married in Vegas before?”
“No, I mean she didn’t always think things through. She just acted on the spur of the moment. I was always afraid something would happen to her because she took too many chances. She hardly knew that man before she married him.”
“Do you think he was involved in her disappearance?”
“Probably, but I can’t be certain. She called me and said she was coming on the train and asked me to pick her up. I waited for her at the train station, but she didn’t show. When I called her cell, she didn’t answer.” She said it all in a monotone voice as if she had said it a hundred times. JP expected she probably had during the course of the investigation.
“Did you call her husband?”
“I didn’t have a number for him. At first, I just thought she changed her mind and decided not to come. I kept calling Vanna and when she didn’t answer after two days, I called the police.”
“And you never heard from her after that?”
“No.” Helga shuffled her feet. “Look, I have an appointment. I really need to go.”
“Of course, thank you for your time.”
~~~
JP drove to Costa Mesa for his “free consultation” with the accountant. He was a little early and he was getting hungry, so he stopped at an In-N-Out Burger and had a double-double with fries. He had hoped he could meet up with Sabre for dinner, but his appointment wasn’t until five o’clock and the traffic would be horrible until at least seven. It could be pushing nine before he got home, so instead he agreed to meet Powers and his client Amber Baker, another woman who might have had sex with the ghost.
Due to the traffic, JP didn’t arrive at Lynch’s office until a few minutes to five. The receptionist was about to leave, but she escorted JP to the back office where Ian Lynch sat. The office was surrounded by windows with wide-open views of the parking lot and the street.
“This is your five o’clock, JP Torn,” the receptionist said and walked out.
“Have a seat,” the thin man said.
JP was a little surprised by his physique. Todd wasn’t tall, but he was muscular and had broad shoulders. Ian looked more like an anemic runner.
“Thank you,” JP said as he sat down. He glanced around the office at a multitude of artifacts that looked like they could have come from Africa. “Are these from your travels?”
“Only a few of them. I’m very interested in African art and I have a couple of clients who bring them to me whenever they travel.” He eyed JP curiously. “Did you bring any of your tax information with you?”
JP decided to level with him. “Actually, I’m a private investigator on a juvenile case in San Diego.” He laid his business card down in front of Ian. “I work for an attorney, Sabre Brown, who is representing some children in a dependency case.”
“What does that have to do with me? I don’t have any children.”
“Is Todd Lynch your brother?”
He sighed. “Oh, no. Has he hurt the boys?”
“So, he is your brother?”
“Yes, but we haven’t spoken in almost five years. What has he done?”
“He hasn’t done anything that we’re sure of. He and his wife have divorced and she had the children. They were in her custody when they were removed,” JP said. “Why did you ask if he had hurt them?”
“Because it was only a matter of time. He’s a mean man. He was a mean kid, and he’s a mean man.”
“Did he hurt the boys before?”
“I never saw him hurt them or I would’ve reported it. The last time I was there I saw some bruising on Nolan. When I questioned Nolan, he started to tell me, but then his father walked in and clasped his hands in front of him and he stopped talking.”
“He grabbed Nolan’s hands?”
“No, his own hands. Like this.” Ian demonstrated by intertwining his fingers and holding his hands in front of his chest. “My mother would do that when we were young. If we didn’t respond to it immediately, we got a whipping with a belt. I expect he whipped those boys a few times until they learned to respond to the hands. Nolan was only about four years old, but he knew what it meant.”
“Did you see anything that might have constituted abuse after that?”
“No, I was never allowed back in his home. The only reason I went at all was to see the boys. I had no interest in seeing Todd. He did some pretty cruel things to me when we were young. I was older than him, but he was always bigger and stronger.”
“What kind of things did he do?”
“He would put critters in my bed when I was real little and watch me scream. Lizards, snakes, that sort of thing. He never did anything
that left marks. It was mostly emotional abuse. Once he strangled my cat and he threatened to tell our mother that I did it. She always seemed to take his side over mine, so I didn’t dare tell.”
“What about your father?”
“My dad tried to protect me, but my mother wouldn’t listen to him either. I think he was afraid of her too.”
“Todd told us you were homeless. Why do you suppose he would do that?”
“Of course, he did. Years ago, I was homeless for about two months. Todd always seems to lead with that. When I was seventeen, I told my dad I was leaving right after high school graduation. He decided to go with me. We rented a little apartment near Pasadena Community College and I started school.” He gulped. “We were only there a few months when Dad had a heart attack and died. I couch-surfed when the rent ran out. A friend of mine finally got his parents to let me stay with them until I finished at PCC. Todd likes to tell everyone I’m homeless. He never will admit that I’ve been successful. He hated it when I did better than he did in school. It didn’t matter that he excelled in sports. He had to be known as the ‘smart one,’ so he did his best to make me look dumb or like a loser whenever he could.”
“Todd wants your mother’s home evaluated for placement, but the boys don’t really want to go there. Is she a good grandma?”
“I hate to say it, but my mother is a horrible woman who has only gotten worse with age. She doesn’t like children, even Todd’s. I’m surprised she’d be willing to take them, unless she thinks she can just hand them over to Todd.”
“What about you? Would you be willing to take them?”
Ian sat silently for a few seconds. JP didn’t know whether he was trying to decide, or trying to find a tactful way to say “no.” He swallowed and then said, “I can’t. I know a little bit about how these things work and there is no way I could control Todd. He’d make all of our lives miserable. Besides, the children don’t know me. As I said, Nolan was only four the last time I saw him, Drew was three, and the baby, what’s his name?”
“Evan,” JP said.
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