The Sam Prichard Series - Books 9-12 (Sam Prichard Boxed Set 3)

by David Archer

  “Yeah, we were kind of sleeping,” Sam said. “Don’t worry about it, though, we’ll be okay. What are you up to today?”

  “Well, I’ve got to go and write a couple of new listings today, but I think Kim was planning on coming over to your place. That’s why she wanted me to call you this morning, so she wouldn’t have to be the one to tell you about that crazy old soldier of hers.”

  “She’s getting smarter, then,” Sam said, and Indie poked him in the ribs. “Oof!”

  “Well, I won’t keep bending your ear. Tell Indie and Kenzie I said hi, and I’ll see them this afternoon.”

  “I will.” Sam ended the call and set the phone back on the nightstand. “Beauregard says I have to take the case,” he said to Indie. “It’d be nice if I knew what case he meant.”

  “Maybe he does mean the next one. Let’s wait and see if it’s one you’d normally turn down.” She tossed off the covers and rolled to her feet, shaking her nightgown to make it fall modestly around her. “Get your lazy butt up and I’ll make you bacon and eggs,” she said playfully.

  “With coffee?” Sam asked, but she was already walking out of the bedroom. He groaned again and got up, sliding into a pair of jeans and then pulling a t-shirt over his head before following her to the kitchen.

  Kenzie, their not-quite-six-year-old daughter, came running down the stairs. “Is it time to get up yet?” she asked, and Sam scooped her up with one arm to carry her the rest of the way. They had told her not to get out of bed until they were up, and she had been lying up there listening for any sounds for more than an hour.

  “Yep,” he told her. “And Mommy’s making us bacon and eggs!”

  Kenzie’s face lit up. “I like bacon,” she said, and her cat, whose name was Samson, chose that moment to come tumbling down the stairs. Samson had suffered from distemper as a kitten, and while he had been lucky enough to survive, his coordination hadn’t. His back end had a tendency to pass his front end, but even the regular rolls down the stairs didn’t seem to hurt him any.

  “I think Samson likes it, too,” Sam laughed, as the cat followed its own tail into the kitchen ahead of them. He plopped Kenzie into a chair and got her a glass of orange juice, then poured some for himself and Indie.

  “Hey,” he said as he sat down across from her, “Grandma Kim is coming over later, and Grandma Grace will be here sometime after that. They want to come see you.”

  The little girl nodded. “Yeah, we’re gonna play games and stuff.”

  “Ooh,” Indie said, “that sounds like fun. Maybe I can—”

  She was cut off by the ringing of the office phone, an extension of which was in the dining room. She hurried over to answer it. “Sam Prichard, Private Investigator,” she said.

  Indie listened for a moment, and then turned to look at Sam with eyebrows that were threatening to climb over her forehead. “Um, yes,” she said. “We’ll expect you at ten.”

  She hung up the phone a moment later and walked back into the kitchen, where the bacon in the skillet was just beginning to sizzle. “That was a girl named Heather Biggs,” she said. “She wants to talk to you about finding her mother, who she says has been abducted.”

  Sam’s eyebrows were climbing a bit as well. “Abducted? That sounds like a matter for the police, not a private eye.”

  “She says the police don’t believe her,” Indie said, “and neither does her father or her stepdad or anyone else, but she’s certain she’s right and needs help. And there’s one other thing, Sam—she’s only fourteen years old.”

  “Fourteen?” Sam echoed, aghast. “I can’t...”

  “Sam,” Indie said. “Remember Beauregard? You said you’d take the next case, no matter what, right? And this is definitely one you’d normally turn down, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yes, but...” His eyes stared into those of his wife. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding. This can’t be what Kim meant, can it?”

  Indie shrugged her shoulders as she flipped the bacon. “It fits,” she said. “I think you better at least hear the girl out and agree to look into it, don’t you?”

  Sam scowled. “I guess so,” he said. “What did you say her name was, Biggs?”

  “Yeah.”

  Sam got up and went back to the bedroom to get his cell phone, dialing it as he came back into the kitchen. It was answered as he took his chair again.

  “Denver Police, this is Sergeant Ragsdale, how can I help you?”

  “Sergeant, this is Sam Prichard. Have you got a missing persons case on a woman named Biggs?”

  The desk sergeant sighed. “It’s actually Jensen, but I know who you mean. Her daughter’s name is Biggs, and she’s been calling every hour for the past day and a half, even at night. That case is with Detective Lemmons, let me transfer you.”

  Sam heard the hold music come on, but it lasted only a few seconds. “Detective Lemmons.”

  “Jerry? Sam Prichard. You’ve got the missing persons on Jensen?”

  “Yep,” Jerry Lemmons said. He and Sam had once worked together in the Vice Division, and knew each other fairly well. “Don’t tell me you’re being dragged into this, too.”

  “Actually, I got a call from a potential client who says the woman was abducted, but that you don’t think so. Any truth to that?”

  Jerry laughed. “Let me guess, the daughter called you? Listen, Sam, this is a simple case of a momma who didn’t want to be a momma anymore. I’ve got cell phone records, credit card records and a ton more info that says she’s been having an affair for the past couple months, and now she and Romeo have run off together. The kid doesn’t want to believe that of course, but it’s pretty clear.”

  “Do you know who Romeo is?” Sam asked. “Any trace of him?”

  “Yeah, he’s Martin Fletcher. Won’t be the first time he’s seduced a married woman and got her to run off, but they always come back after a few weeks. Soon as her money runs out, he’ll dump her in Boise or somewhere. She’ll call home and beg for help and forgiveness, they always do.”

  Sam closed his eyes and thought for a second. “Jerry, are you sure about this? Is there any chance there really could be something nefarious about this one?”

  “You want to see the motel security video of the two of them going into the room together? I’m sure, Sam, it’s a runaway mother situation. Nothing more than that.”

  Sam sighed into the phone. “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

  He ended the call and tossed the phone onto the table beside his plate. “That was Jerry Lemmons, guy I knew back in Vice. He’s got the case and says it’s just a matter of a mother who’s run off with a boyfriend. According to him, everything from her cell phone records to motel security videos backs that up.” Indie just looked at him without saying anything. “Okay, I know what I said. I’m not gonna blow the girl off, don’t worry. I just don’t know what to do with a case that isn’t really what she thinks it is.”

  Indie smiled at him. “Maybe the idea is to help her come to grips with reality,” she said. “Sometimes kids have a hard time with that.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Sam said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

  They finished breakfast with Kenzie and were just sitting down in the living room with her to watch some TV when Sam’s mother dropped Kim off. Sam opened the door for his mother-in-law, and Kenzie ran to give the woman a hug.

  “Good,” Indie said. “Now that you’re here, you can keep Kenzie entertained while Sam and I interview a new client. She should be here in about fifteen minutes, so your timing is perfect.”

  Kim smiled and nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Beauregard says this is the one you’ve got to take. He says there are three lives to be saved and only Sam can do it.”

  Sam looked at her intently. “Three lives to save? That’s more info than he usually gives. Is there anything else?”

  Kim shrugged her shoulders and kept her eyes on her granddaughter. “Only that you’ll have a hard time figuring out who to believe. You’ll h
ave to trust your own instincts, no matter how crazy you think they are.”

  Sam stood there in the middle of the room for a long moment, just looking at Kim and imagining the old soldier standing right behind her, then shook his head as the two of them turned to head down the hall to their bedroom. They changed into fresh clothes and then went to the office that was tucked behind his garage.

  “Believe it or not,” Sam said as Indie took the chair at her desk, “I’ve suddenly got a feeling this case is for real. Old Beauregard doesn’t usually give me any hints, but this one sounds kind of serious.”

  “Yeah,” Indie said. “I got a chill when Mom said he told her you need to save three lives. I wonder whose.”

  There was a knock on the outer office door, and Indie got up to open it. A young girl who didn’t look like she’d even made it to fourteen yet stepped inside.

  “Heather?” Indie asked, and the girl nodded.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I called a little while ago...”

  “Yes, that was me you talked to. This is my husband, Sam. Why don’t you sit down there in the chair and tell us what this is all about?”

  Heather ducked her head shyly and took the chair Indie had offered. Indie sat down in the one beside her.

  “I know you’re gonna think I’m crazy,” Heather said after a moment, “but I’m not. I know my mom, and she wouldn’t run out on me the way they say she did. The only way she’d disappear is if she got kidnapped.”

  “Okay,” Sam said. “First, why don’t you tell me what’s happened, and then tell me why you think the police are wrong.”

  Heather had kept her eyes down on the floor before, but now she raised them up to look into Sam’s own. “Mom didn’t come home from work three days ago,” she said. “The cops told my stepdad she was having an affair and ran off with her boyfriend, but that isn’t true. Mom told me about Marty, and she wasn’t his girlfriend. He worked with her at the auto parts store, but he got himself in some kind of trouble and she was trying to help him get it all straightened out. It was something about something he knew that other people didn’t want him to know, and he was scared somebody was gonna kill him, so she was helping him hide 'til they could figure out what to do.”

  Sam’s eyes were wide, and he noticed Indie’s looked about the same. “Heather, did you tell the police about this?”

  She nodded her head. “Yeah, but they say Marty always says stuff like that to get women to like him. They said it was the way he got them to leave their families, but Mom isn’t that stupid. She was really scared for him, but she didn’t want to be with him or anything like that. She just didn’t want him to get hurt, y’know?”

  Modus operandi, Sam thought. Get a woman to worry about you, and you were halfway to seducing her, or at least that was the way a lot of guys worked. If Martin was that sort, it was quite possible Heather’s mother had fallen prey to it, after all.

  “Heather, don’t you think the police might know something about this? From what I understand, your mom wouldn’t be the first woman he’s tricked into running away with him.”

  She shook her head. “Mom wouldn’t,” she said emphatically. “The morning she disappeared, before she went to work, she told me if anything happened to her, if she got hurt or disappeared and no one would do anything about it, I was supposed to come to you and tell you that the cops are in on it and can’t be trusted. She said you’d know what to do.”

  That made both Sam’s and Indie’s eyebrows go even higher. “She told you to come to me? How does she know me?”

  Heather looked at him shyly and cast a furtive glance at Indie before turning back to Sam. “Because she used to be your girlfriend,” she said. “You were even gonna get married, once.”

  Indie looked at Sam curiously, but didn’t say a word. Sam looked confused for a moment, and then his eyes narrowed. “Heather,” he said slowly, “what is your mother’s name?”

  “It’s Tracy,” the girl answered. “Tracy Jensen, now, but it used to be Tracy—”

  “Prentiss,” Sam said. “Tracy Prentiss.” He looked over at Indie and smiled halfheartedly. “She was my closest friend all the way through school, and we got engaged just before she went off to New York for college, but then—well, things just changed, and we ended up calling it off. I haven’t really even spoken to her since then, I don’t think.”

  “What happened was that she got pregnant with me,” Heather said, glancing at Indie. “Mom said it was an accident at a party, but she ended up marrying my dad. They got a divorce three years ago, and Mom married my stepdad last year.” She turned back to Sam. “Gary’s okay, my stepdad, but he’s always afraid Mom is gonna get tired of him, cause he’s a lot older than she is.”

  Sam nodded slowly. “And she told you to come to me if she disappeared?”

  Nodding again, Heather said, “Yeah. She said she read about you being a private detective, now, and that if anything happened to her, you were the only person who might be willing to help.” The girl looked down at the small purse she was carrying and opened it, taking out an envelope that she held out toward Sam. “I don’t have a lot of money, but I’ve got these. They were from my grandpa’s baseball card collection. I know they’re worth something, and I’ll give ‘em to you if you’ll try to find her for me.”

  Sam glanced at the envelope but didn’t reach for it. “Heather, we’re not going to worry about money right now,” he said, and Indie chimed in with, “Of course we’re not. Sam will find her, you just count on it!”

  Sam cleared his throat. “Actually, I was going to say that I’ll do my best to find her,” he said, “but I can’t guarantee anything. If the police are right, then she’ll probably call home sometime soon in any case, but the fact that she told you to come to me makes me think she might have gotten into something worse than that, so I’ll see what I can find out.”

  “I told you,” Heather said, “you can’t trust the cops. Some of them are in on whatever it is she was worried about. She told me if I came to you, to make sure I told you not to trust the cops.”

  Sam looked at Indie for a moment, then back to Heather. “Okay, I won’t,” he said. “You said your mom worked at a parts store?”

  “Yeah, Rocky Mountain Auto Parts. She’s the assistant manager there. She used to be a nurse, but this pays better, she says. She’s been there for a little over three years, now.”

  “Okay,” Sam said, making notes. “What about her friends? Who might know something about what she’s doing?”

  Heather shrugged. “She doesn’t really have many friends. She mostly just hangs out at home or at church when she isn’t working. I think her best friend is probably Mrs. Raymond, the lady who lives next door to us, but they just sit around and talk sometimes is all. They don’t go out and do anything, and I don’t think Mom would ever tell her anything important. Mrs. Raymond is a big gossip, Mom says.”

  “What’s your address, Heather?” The girl gave it to him, and he got the address for Mrs. Raymond as well, then added Heather’s cell number to his notes. “Okay, let me see what I can find out, and I’ll try to let you know something pretty soon. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of this, all right?”

  The girl smiled for the first time. “Mom said you would,” she said. “She said if nobody else would help me, you would.” She suddenly bounced to her feet and ran around Sam’s desk to kiss his cheek, then smiled sheepishly at Indie as she hurried out the door. Indie watched as she climbed onto a bicycle and rode away, then looked back at Sam.

  “So,” she said with a mock scowl on her face. “Your ex-fiancé is in trouble, and sends her kid to call you for help?”

  Sam rolled his eyes. “Indie, I haven’t heard anything from Tracy since the ‘Dear John’ letter that told me she was breaking up with me to marry the guy who knocked her up. She sent back my ring and that was it. I think the only time I even saw her since then was back when my ex dragged me to a rummage sale one Saturday, and she
was there buying old dishes. She looked up at me, we said hi, and then she paid for her stuff and left.”

  “I’m not jealous, Sam,” Indie said, letting a smile spread. “I’m just thinking how odd it is that Beauregard says you have to take the very next case, and it turns out to be your ex-girlfriend’s teenage daughter who comes to the office.” She leaned forward and put her elbows on his desk. “So, what do you really think about this one?”

  “The thing that troubles me is that Tracy must have honestly thought she could be in danger. That’s the only reason I can think of to tell Heather to come to me if anything happened to her. That doesn’t sound to me like she was in some kind of romantic entanglement, does it to you?”

  Indie shook her head. “No,” she said. “It sounds like someone who tried to help a friend and got into something over her head. You know what worries me?”

  “What?”

  “Beauregard said you have to save three lives. What if it’s Tracy, Marty and Heather’s lives we’re talking about? That kid is scared, Sam, scared for her mom, but I think she’s a bit scared of what’s gonna happen when you start asking questions, too.”

  Sam sighed. “Well, I can start with Tracy’s co-workers,” he said. “She and Martin both worked there, so it’s possible one of them might have some idea of what was going on. I’ll head out there in a minute, and you might start digging into anything you can find on Martin Fletcher. There’s bound to be something in the PD files on him.”

  Indie nodded. “I’ll put Herman to work on it now,” she said. Herman was a computer program she had written that could hack into most computer systems and databases, searching out information according to rules she entered into it. Before meeting Sam, Indie had been a rising star in the world of hackers, and she now used her talents to help him solve the incredibly difficult cases that seemed to always come his way. “With any luck, I can find his bank, phone and social media accounts, and those might give me some kind of clue about what kind of trouble he might have fallen into.”