by J. D. Griffo
“I think you left out her shoe size,” Lisa Marie said, her voice rich with sarcasm.
“If I had to guess, I’d say, seven, seven and a half tops,” Tommy replied, either ignoring the tone of his wife’s voice or so wrapped up in the memory of Natalie that he didn’t notice it.
“I’m glad my husband has a photographic memory when it comes to describing the girl who has robbed us of our son!” Lisa Marie exclaimed.
This time there was no way around it; Tommy knew that his wife wasn’t pleased with his performance. “I’m sorry, I’m only trying to help.”
“And you did,” Vinny said. “Thanks, Tommy.”
“Do not thank him for having the image of that tramp seared into his brain!” Lisa Marie cried.
“It helped me narrow down my search,” Vinny explained. “Believe it or not, I found three Natalie Vespas, but only one fits Tommy’s description.”
“What does it say about her, Vin?” Alberta asked.
“She was born in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, which isn’t too far from here, but moved around a lot when she got older,” Vinny conveyed. “She’s worked in New York and Tampa.”
“That isn’t near Eufala,” Lisa Marie said.
“But it gets her in the state,” Vinny replied. “Is this your Natalie?”
Vinny turned his monitor around so they could see the photo of the woman he had been staring at, and they both confirmed that was Sergio’s girlfriend. He pressed a button on his phone, and when Tambra picked up, he shouted instructions.
“Tambra, I’m e-mailing you a person of interest,” Vinny said. “Run a check on her license plates, Social Security, the whole nine yards, and rush it.”
“On it, Chief,” Tambra said.
“Once we get the info on Natalie, we’ll track her down and hopefully that’ll lead us to Sergio,” Vinny said.
“That might be harder than you think.”
They all turned to see Sloan standing in the doorway, waving a piece of paper in his hand.
“What are you doing here?” Lisa Marie asked.
“I did a background check on Sergio at the library to see if anything out of the ordinary popped up,” Sloan explained.
“We did the same thing, Sloan, but there were no red flags,” Vinny said.
“Don’t you think it’s odd that he hasn’t paid his cell phone bill for the past two months?” Sloan asked.
“That didn’t come up in our search,” Vinny admitted.
“How did you find out something that slipped through the cops’ hands?” Lisa Marie asked.
“Sloan has picked up some skills working at the library,” Alberta said.
“You’re a librarian?” Lisa Marie asked. “I knew you were a smarty-pants.”
“Sergio probably has a burner phone,” Vinny said.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Sloan agreed. “Though I was hoping it wouldn’t be true.”
“Why?” Tommy asked. “What’s bad about that?”
“If he’s using a burner phone, Tommy,” Alberta said, “it means he’s serious about severing ties with the two of you.”
The irony wasn’t lost on Alberta, but she kept it to herself. This was no time to rub salt in anyone’s wounds. Sergio was doing to Lisa Marie exactly what Lisa Marie had done to Alberta.
“There’s no way to trace a burner phone?” Lisa Marie asked.
“No, there isn’t,” Sloan replied. “They’re untraceable.”
“Great!” Lisa Marie exclaimed. “What do we do now?”
“It’s going to take a while before we get the info about Natalie,” Vinny said. “Why don’t you four take this time to go get, um, better acquainted?”
CHAPTER 7
Dipende sempre dalla famiglia.
The Tranquility Diner, like the town of Tranquility itself, had been possessed by the spirit of Christmas.
Although the restaurant was rechristened the Tranquility Diner after Kwon bought it from its previous owner, who fled town after being involved in a major scandal, it looked the same. The white, rectangular structure, with its long bank of windows, rounded edges, and red-and-baby-blue-striped roof still looked like a relic of mid-century Americana. The new name of the diner was still written out in vintage font, its Is dotted with starbursts. But now it had been given a Christmas makeover.
Santa and four of his eight reindeer were perched on the rooftop, captured in midflight, brightly lit Christmas trees flanked both ends of the diner, strings of lights outlined the windows, and a huge snowman was positioned at the front door to greet guests as they arrived. The snowman’s hand was raised, and he was holding something green and leafy.
“What’s Frosty got in his hand?” Lisa Marie asked.
“Mistletoe,” Sloan replied.
“Looks like the diner’s trying to play matchmaker,” Tommy said.
“Looks like the Mistletoe Ball is taking over the town,” Alberta declared.
When the two couples walked inside, they felt as if they had stepped onto the set of one of those Hallmark Christmas movies. Wreaths made out of garland hung from the walls, a huge, overly decorated Christmas tree stood in one corner, its angel topper bending slightly forward to avoid decapitation, and another set of lights, this kind of the blinking variety, framed the inside of the windows. Patti Page was singing about the magic of silver bells in the city, her voice smooth and comforting as it wafted from the speakers. Although their surroundings were completely artificial, the warm and cozy feelings they generated were genuine. Despite their reason for gathering, they couldn’t help but smile. Alberta took it as a good omen that their lunch wouldn’t be as awkward as she first imagined it would be.
Ten minutes later, as she sat in a booth next to Sloan and across from Lisa Marie and Tommy, the air between them thick and tense, she knew she had been duped. How could they make small talk when they were waiting for information about the woman who was responsible for luring Sergio away from his family? How could they fully embrace the Christmas spirit that was alive and kicking all around them when they wanted to turn back the clock to the day before Sergio ran off? Alberta racked her brain to find something to say that wouldn’t sound frivolous or disrespectful or patronizing and came up empty. Luckily, Sloan wasn’t as choosy.
“What have you two been up to for the past fourteen years?”
Alberta couldn’t believe that Sloan, who possessed such wonderful social graces, could say something so ungraceful. Turned out to be the most appropriate thing for him to say.
The back of the booth they were sitting in was lined in teal vinyl, which cushioned Lisa Marie’s head when she threw it back in a fit of laughter. Tommy looked at his wife with a bemused expression, but Alberta was in total shock. She couldn’t recall the last time she saw her daughter laugh so hard.
“You might be a smarty-pants and way too thin for a man your age,” Lisa Marie declared. “But I like you, Sloan. You’re funny.”
“Thank you, Lisa Marie, I like you too,” Sloan said. “But I was being serious. What have you been doing since you left New Jersey?”
Lisa Marie busied herself by unfolding her paper napkin and placing it on her lap, smoothing it out several times before she spoke. “I don’t want to bore you with a bunch of . . . boring details.”
“Sciocchezze,” Alberta said. “Don’t be silly, we’d . . . I would really like to know what kind of life you made for yourself in Florida.”
Alberta could tell from Lisa Marie’s slightly puzzled expression that her daughter was trying to figure out if she was being sarcastic or serious—she could almost see the wheels turning in her head—but despite the long absence, Alberta still knew her daughter was a gambler at heart and couldn’t miss the chance to call her mother’s bluff.
“All right, then,” Lisa Marie replied, giving her shoulders a little shrug. “Here goes.”
She told her story with a detached air at first, sharing only perfunctory details and not embellishing them with tangential comments or anecdotes.
Alberta learned that when they first moved to Eufala, they rented a two-bedroom in a garden apartment complex because the offer they put down on the house they wanted to buy fell through. For their first six months in Florida they lived barracks style, Lisa Marie and Jinx sharing one bedroom and Tommy and Sergio sharing the other.
“That must’ve been fun,” Alberta said.
“It was,” Lisa Marie replied, “for about two days.”
She went on to explain that they finally closed on the house they currently lived in, but because it was at the top of their budget, several of the rooms were unfurnished for the first year. Instead of being embarrassed by their lack of furniture, they used the empty space to their advantage. Jinx turned one room into her private dance studio and Sergio and Tommy turned another into a game room, where they spent hours playing makeshift soccer games, boccie ball tournaments, and touch football.
“It was something that could’ve torn our family apart,” Tommy said. “Instead, it brought us together.”
“Until the kids got old enough to have their own cell phones, and then we never saw them again,” Lisa Marie commented.
Then she thought about her comment.
“There I go, putting my foot in my mouth again,” she said. “Making fun about not seeing my kids when I haven’t seen my son in over a month. I’m the mother of the year.”
Alberta wanted to do nothing more than reach out and hold her daughter’s hand, but she was afraid. She didn’t think she could handle it if Lisa Marie flinched or slapped her hand away. But she had to do something. She had to comfort her daughter in some small way. Then it came to her. If Sloan could break the ice by making a joke, why couldn’t she?
“Then that makes me mother of the decade,” Alberta said.
Once again, Lisa Marie’s laughter filled the air and, oddly enough, timed perfectly with Barbra Streisand’s energetic rendition of the classic song “Jingle Bells.”
“I see Funny Pants has rubbed off on you, Ma,” Lisa Marie said.
“Hey, I thought I was Smarty-Pants?” Sloan asked.
“You’re both,” Lisa Marie said. “You’re funny and a smarty; put them together and that makes Farty Pants!”
This time when Lisa Marie cracked up, she wasn’t alone; everyone at the table joined in, even Sybil, their waitress, when she served them their food. In fact, Sibyl laughed so hard that the bells on the reindeer ears she was wearing jangled louder than the ones accompanying Babs.
While they ate, Lisa Marie whipped through the highlights of their life. She explained that Tommy opened up his own electrician’s business and, despite her protestations, called it Shocking Maldonado because it sounded like one of the punk rock bands Tommy loved growing up. Lisa Marie, whose opinions outweighed her vocabulary, called it stupid.
After Jinx moved out, Lisa Marie felt it was time to get a full-time job and not just the part-time, temporary gigs, like crossing guard and salesperson, that she previously had. Without much experience or education, her choices were limited, but she finally landed at a veterinarian’s office.
“Helen will be delighted to hear that,” Sloan said. “She volunteers at the animal hospital.”
Alberta wasn’t so impressed. “You never liked animals. You used to spray water at Riccotta all the time.”
“Who’s Riccotta?” Sloan asked.
“My cousin Vito’s cat,” Alberta replied. “All white, but not nearly the angel Lola is.”
“Disciplining animals is key to controlling them,” Lisa Marie claimed. “But you’re right, I don’t like animals, and I told Dr. Rivera that, which is why I got the job.”
“A veterinarian hired someone who doesn’t like animals?” Sloan asked incredulously.
“He said I’m the most efficient assistant he’s ever had,” Lisa Marie said. “I don’t waste time playing with the animals. I stick to my job.”
“He likes her so much, she had trouble taking some time off,” Tommy said. “But she explained it was a family emergency.”
Mention of the stress they were under brought about another uncomfortable pause that no amount of cheery holiday music could conceal. Alberta had learned that when faced with such a situation, it was often better to confront the source of awkwardness, not retreat from it. She hoped the rest of them would agree.
“Tell me more about my grandson,” Alberta said. “What’s he really like?”
Without much effort, Lisa Marie and Tommy’s hands found each other on the table, Tommy’s hand covering Lisa Marie’s until they clasped. Alberta was comforted to know that she had been wrong about Tommy all along; from what she could tell, he was a good man who loved his wife and family. He was a husband her daughter could count on, which was more than she got out of her own marriage.
“He was . . . is a good kid,” Tommy said. “Decent grades, played soccer, he wasn’t as focused on his education like Jinx was, so he went to a community college for a few years but never transferred to another school to finish out his degree.”
“He was working with Tommy and seemed to take to electrician work,” Lisa Marie said. “I guess after watching his father growing up, he knew so much about the business before he even started. The moment Natalie came into his life, though, everything was ruined.”
“How did they meet?” Alberta asked. “Sergio and Natalie.”
“It was all my fault,” Tommy said.
“No, it wasn’t,” Lisa Marie protested.
“Was too,” Tommy replied definitively. “I had this raging sinus headache and sent Sergio to the CVS to pick me up some medicine, Natalie was there getting some antihistamines for her allergies, they bumped into each other at the checkout, and the rest is history.”
Alberta’s cell phone vibrated on the table, and when she read the text Vinny sent her, she announced that their lunch was over.
“Looks like we’re going to find out a bit more about Natalie’s history,” she said.
The second time they were seated in Vinny’s office, Lisa Marie and Tommy were filled with more hope than dread. They knew he wasn’t going to miraculously pull Sergio from out behind a secret door, but they were hopeful that whatever information he had found on Natalie would bring Sergio back to their doorstep. Having much more experience sitting in Vinny’s office waiting for him to share his findings during a case, Alberta was less optimistic.
“Natalie Vespa is twenty-seven and a graduate of Rowan University,” Vinny announced.
“Isn’t that in Jersey?” Sloan asked.
“Glassboro,” Vinny confirmed. “Less than an hour from Atlantic City.”
“You’ve heard of it, Sloan?” Alberta asked.
“Yes, it’s a good school,” he replied. “Not really known for attracting out-of-state students, though, and Vinny already told us she was born in Pennsylvania.”
“Emmaus, to be exact, which isn’t far from the Jersey border,” Vinny said.
“What was her major in college?” Alberta asked.
“Elementary education, with a minor in biology,” Vinny said. “She taught for a few years at St. Ann’s in Bethlehem.”
“According to the background check Tambra did posing as a potential employer, Natalie was a respected teacher and St. Ann’s was sad to see her leave,” Vinny explained. “She doesn’t have a criminal record and she’s got a good credit report.”
“Where does she work now?” Alberta asked.
“Nowhere,” Vinny said. “She might be freelancing, but we can’t find that she has a current employer.”
“That was the whole reason she left for New York,” Lisa Marie said. “For a new job.”
“We’re going to keep looking, but we did find that she worked for VitaGen, an online vitamin company, for two years,” Vinny said. “The company’s address is in Utah, so if she was living in Florida, she had to have worked remotely.”
“What about her family?” Alberta asked.
“We haven’t traced them yet, but Tambra’s still working on that,” Vinny said
.
“That isn’t much to go on,” Lisa Marie said. “Some old jobs and where she was born. Where is she now, Vin? That’s what we need to know.”
“We’re getting closer,” Vinny said. “She’s still using her cell phone—not a lot, which would indicate that she also has a burner phone that she uses. Her last known calls came from New Jersey and New York.”
“That’s terrific news,” Alberta said. “At least we know she wasn’t lying about her destination.”
“She used to rent an apartment on East Tenth Street in the City, and she’s made a few phone calls to a Rudy Lewendorf, who just happens to live on East Tenth Street,” Vinny conveyed.
“Sergio never mentioned anybody named Rudy,” Lisa Marie said.
“Natalie may not have shared that information with Sergio,” Vinny said. “My guess is that Rudy and Natalie met in Florida, because Rudy went to the FORTIS Institute in Pensacola.”
Lisa Marie shook her head with disbelief. “This is what you people call connecting the dots, right? I mean, I’ve watched my share of cop shows, but to see it unfold right in front of your face is a totally different thing.”
“It’s just the beginning,” Alberta said. “We take it one step at a time, follow the clues, and they’ll lead us straight to Sergio.”
“I’ll send a car over to question Rudy,” Vinny said. “See what else he knows about Natalie and Sergio.”
“Don’t do that!” Tommy exclaimed.
“Why not?” Vinny asked. “We need to question Rudy; he’s the only link we have at the moment to Natalie.”
“I understand, but would it be all right if we talked to the guy first?” Tommy asked. “I know my son, and if he gets wind that the cops are looking for him and Natalie, he’s going to get ticked off and hide even better than he is right now.”