by Mike Ryan
“I’m not listening,” Bridge said, walking into the kitchen. “I’ve heard it all before. There’s nothing more I can add.”
Fester took a deep breath and realized she was wasting her time. She turned around and was about to leave, but Nicole quickly jumped off the couch and scurried to the door, closing it before their guest could leave. She grabbed Fester by the arm and led her over to the kitchen, seeing Bridge open and close some drawers, not really looking for anything.
“Luke, just listen to her,” Nicole said.
Bridge turned around, shooting daggers at his girlfriend. He hated being surprised, especially when it came to work, especially by people he trusted. Nicole being at the top of that list.
“You set this up.”
“I did not,” Nicole said.
“You did.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“I didn’t.”
Bridge then looked at Fester. “Did she?”
Fester didn’t know quite how to respond. “Uh, well…”
“See, you did!”
Nicole took a deep breath. “OK, I did. Kind of.”
“No, there’s no kind of. You did.”
“Sharon called me yesterday and said she found something.”
“She better be finding the door in a minute,” Bridge said.
“Luke, stop being stubborn for a minute and just listen.”
“Why?”
“Do you really think I would have told her to come here if I didn’t think she had something we could work with?”
Bridge looked at her skeptically. “Maybe.”
Nicole put her hand out, waiting for her boyfriend to take it. “Will you please just listen?”
Bridge sighed, hating when she talked nicely to him in the middle of an argument. It was hard to fight with someone who wasn’t fighting back. If she stayed calm, that meant his anger would recede and calm down as well, which meant that she was likely to talk him into whatever it was that she wanted. It was a game they played before. A game Bridge usually lost, though it usually didn’t involve a case.
Reluctantly, Bridge put his hand in hers. “Fine. I’ll listen. But that’s all I’ll do.”
“Fine.”
“And only for five minutes. That’s it. No more.”
“Agreed.” Nicole took his hand and led him into the living room, sitting down next to him on the couch that he had just dumped her on a few minutes prior to that. Fester sat down on a chair across from them. Nicole looked at her and nodded, prodding her to begin.
“First of all, thank you for seeing me again,” Fester softly said.
“I didn’t seem to have much choice,” Bridge said. He then looked at his girlfriend and softened his tone. “I hope you brought more with you this time than just a feeling.”
She reached into her pocket and removed a piece of paper. She handed it to Bridge, who then looked at it.
“What’s this?”
“I don’t know,” Fester replied. “I was looking through my sister’s stuff, hoping something would jump out at me, something I missed before.”
“And this is what you found?”
The innocent-looking girl nodded. “It was tucked inside the front pocket of one of her jeans. I looked through her closet and dresser before, but I just padded them down, and I guess since it didn’t stick out or anything, I overlooked it.”
“Do you know what this is?”
“I typed the numbers into a computer. Nothing really came up. I don’t really know what I was looking for, though.”
Bridge stared at the numbers, wondering what they could have meant. Six hundred fourteen was scribbled in black ink. Just underneath it was the numbers 10:45. And the word Friday was written in the top left corner. It obviously looked like some type of meeting time. At least that was how it appeared to him.
“Thought maybe it was a flight number or something,” Fester said dejectedly. “Maybe you’d have better luck than I would with it.”
Bridge passed the paper to his girlfriend. “You seen this already?”
Nicole nodded. “Well, she told me what it was when I talked to her yesterday.”
“And what do you think?”
Nicole only shrugged one of her shoulders. “Could be anything. The time is obvious. The numbers… could be a flight, an apartment, an address for a street she already knew.”
“Or a code for something.”
Bridge lowered his head into his left hand, rubbing parts of his face, while his right arm crossed his chest. His left hand eventually made its way to his forehead, obviously deep in thought. Fester looked at Nicole, wondering what it meant for her situation. She was still fearful that the famous Extractor was going to say no, that she still didn’t have enough evidence to work from. But Nicole gave her half of a smile and winked at her, making her feel like maybe there was a chance. Nicole knew he was hooked. After what seemed like an eternity for Fester, but was actually maybe a minute at most, Bridge took his hand off his head and looked at her.
“OK, here’s the deal…”
Fester could tell by the tone of his voice that he was rejecting her again. Her shoulders slumped, her face screamed of disappointment, and she let out a deep sigh. She really wasn’t in the mood to listen to it again.
“I knew it,” she said. “I knew it wasn’t enough.”
“Well, it might not be enough.”
Fester stood up, ready to walk out the door, not in as hopeful of a mood as when she walked in. Bridge could tell she thought he was going to say no again.
“Sit down.”
Fester, still sporting a dejected look on her face, didn’t really want to hear his lecture again, but agreed anyway and sat down.
“What I was about to say was… I’ll look into it.”
Fester stared at his face like she didn’t hear him properly. “What?”
A small smile crept onto Bridge’s face. “I said I’ll start working on it.”
Fester’s eyes opened wide, feeling like they were about to pop out. Her cheekbones raised, now able to reverse her frown into the widest smile that she could muster. “Oh my gosh. Oh my… you will?”
“Yes.”
“You’re actually gonna work on it?”
“I really will. Now in saying that, I have to also say that at the first sign it looks like she ran off with some guy to shack up somewhere, I’m dropping it.”
“Understood.”
“And this little slip of paper isn’t much,” Bridge said. “If we can’t get much more than this, there might not be anywhere else for us to go. I can’t promise anything other than we’ll start looking into it.”
“That’s all I can ask.”
Fester reached into her purse and pulled out her checkbook. She started writing Bridge’s name on the check.
“What are you doing?” Bridge asked.
“Giving you a down payment. All I have right now is five thousand, but I promise you I’ll get more.”
“And where did you get that five thousand?”
“Well, four thousand is my savings, and I borrowed another thousand from friends, who agreed to kick in a few hundred each in order to hire you. But don’t worry, I know you usually get more, so I’m gonna work extra and try to borrow some from other people too.”
Bridge looked at Nicole, who just sort of tilted her head at him. “Put it away.”
Fester stopped writing when she got to the number line. “What?”
“Put it away. I don’t need any money right now.”
“You don’t?”
“We’re just doing a precursory look right now. And you don’t need to worry about bugging people about money either.”
“I’m not gonna be able to afford to pay you then.”
“Just don’t worry about it. If we get to that point, we’ll figure something out.”
Fester couldn’t contain her excitement anymore and jumped off her seat and onto Bridge’s lap, giving him the biggest hug t
hat she could deliver. “Thank you so much.”
Bridge looked at Nicole, who seemed to approve of working the case. Bridge put his hands on Fester’s back and patted her a couple of times. “Don’t thank me yet. Wait until I actually find her.”
Fester stood up and looked at Nicole. “Sorry, I know you two are like a thing, so I’m…”
Nicole smiled. “It’s completely fine.”
“So what do we do now?” Fester asked.
Bridge looked at Nicole. “You got her number?”
“I do.”
Bridge then glanced back to Fester. “OK, so what we’re gonna do now is you’re gonna go home while we start doing our thing.”
“Are you gonna let me know if you find anything?” Fester asked.
“Yes. Before you go, we’re gonna need to know everything about your sister that you can think of. Where she worked, who she knew, friends, co-workers, enemies, hobbies, places she liked to go, any strange or unusual things that happened before she went missing, everything you can think of, no matter how small or insignificant… we need to know it.”
Nicole grabbed a notebook off the kitchen table and brought it over to Fester, who sat back down and immediately started jotting down everything she could think of. As she was writing, Bridge and Nicole stood next to each other.
“We’re doing the right thing,” Nicole said.
“Remind me of that again if we actually find something.”
“We will.”
“I’m glad you’re so confident. I’m still not sure this is anything other than a girl who went to Vegas on a whim and married one of the Flying Elvises while she was there and was too embarrassed to come home. Or she’s enjoying herself while she’s out there.”
“I doubt this is that.”
“You better hope this is that,” Bridge said.
“Why?”
“Because if it’s not, then that means she’s in real trouble. Or was in real trouble.”
Nicole winced, not wanting to think about that. It was a legitimate concern, though. If something did happen to Evelyn Fester, six months was a long time to be missing and still be healthy. The odds of them finding her alive were probably not the greatest if she didn’t leave of her own accord.
“Let’s just keep an open mind,” Nicole said.
“I can do that. I just hope Sharon’s ready for the alternative if it comes down to it.”
3
After Fester left, they got down to work. Nicole started digging into Evelyn’s background, her financial statements, credit cards, criminal history, employment history, everything that might be useful. Evelyn was twenty-four years old, and had just started gaining some traction in the modeling industry. She had gotten a few small gigs, but she was always looking for that big job that would catapult her career into stardom. She was five-eight, thin, gorgeous, long black hair, just what a lot of people in the industry were looking for. Unfortunately, it was what a lot of people outside the industry, bad people, were looking for too. Bridge called one of their closest friends to get the lowdown.
“Let me guess,” Happ said. “You need something.”
“Did you ever think into going into fortune telling or mind reading or something? You seem to have a knack for it.”
“No. I just know you. You never call just to say hi, or how you are doing. You only call when you want something.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is.”
“It is not.”
“It is.”
“See, you couldn’t be more wrong about me,” Bridge said. “Because I didn’t call for any particular reason.”
“You didn’t, huh?”
“No. I didn’t. I just called to see how you were.”
“You did not.”
Bridge sighed, loud enough for his friend to hear. “See? Even when I try to be nice, you just can’t handle it.”
Happ was silent for a few seconds. He was sure something was going on here. Bridge never called for small talk. Never. “What’s this really about?”
“Nothing. Just called to say hi, see how you were doing?”
“You’re such a liar.”
“Really, that’s all I called for. So, how are you doing?”
“OK, I guess.”
“Good. Glad to hear it. Talk to you later.”
Bridge hung up, then looked at his girlfriend, who was also looking at him after hearing the strange conversation.
“What was that all about?” Nicole asked.
Bridge smiled. “Just messing with him.”
Nicole rolled her eyes. “Oh. Because you love to do it so much.”
“I do. I really do. I shouldn’t like it as much as I do, but I just can’t help it.”
“So I’ve noticed.”
“It’s so much fun.”
Nicole went back to her work as Bridge dialed Happ’s number again.
“Yes?” Happ answered.
“So I need a favor.”
“I knew it! I knew it! You never call unless you need something.”
“Well, that’s clearly not true,” Bridge said. “I just talked to you a few minutes ago and didn’t ask for a thing.”
“You’re playing games with me.”
“I am not. You said I never call just to say hi. Well, I just did that several minutes ago. I didn’t ask for anything during that conversation, did I?”
“Luke, you’re being…”
“Thoughtful and understanding, I know. It was nice of me to call and ask how you were doing. You don’t have to thank me for it. It’s just part of being friends.”
Happ couldn’t help but laugh, while at the same time wanting to beat his head in with the phone. “OK, I’m not even gonna get into this whole game you love to play today. Not gonna do it. I’m not gonna get upset.”
“I’m glad to hear it. You know, being an FBI agent is a really stressful job, and you should really watch your blood pressure.”
“What do you want, Luke?”
“So I was wondering about the disappearance of a woman named Evelyn Fester.”
“Fester… Fester… sounds familiar for some reason.”
“Did you work the case?”
“I don’t think so. Let me pull her name up.” Within a few seconds, everything Happ had on her was on his screen. “Yeah, I remember her. I remember talking about her with the agents who were investigating the case.”
“Anything special?”
“No, just that it seemed like a weird case. They couldn’t find out much about what happened to her. One day she was here, the next day she was gone.”
“What about her modeling agency?” Bridge asked.
“Don’t know a thing. She wasn’t working on anything that they know of. Nothing they sent her out for, anyway.”
“What about passports?”
“No hits on hers. If she left the country, she got out under the radar.”
“Any hits on credit cards, bank accounts, things like that?”
“Nothing since the night she disappeared.”
Bridge was silent for a minute, trying to think of what it all meant. There was another option. One that wasn’t pleasant. One he didn’t want to think about. But it had to be asked. “What about Jane Does?”
“The agents checked the database for unidentified female bodies all over the country. Nothing matched her. We got her fingerprints on file, as well as DNA from a coffee mug she used. All nada.”
Bridge sighed, not liking anything he was hearing. “What does this say to you?”
“Honestly, sounds like, for whatever reason, whether it was stress, hating what she did, whatever, sounds like she decided to make a new life for herself somewhere else.”
“What about her sister? Sharon. They’re apparently close. Their parents are gone. Seems like that’d be a hard thing to do. Move away from the only family member you’ve got left. And keep it quiet for six months.”
“Yeah, maybe. But there’s no evidence of anything els
e. You on this?”
“For now,” Bridge answered.
“You don’t sound so sure.”
“I’m keeping my options open.”
“You’re not sure there’s foul play either?”
“No. But the sister is adamant that something’s not right.”
“Could be right,” Happ said. “But we can’t prove it one way or the other. Not without more evidence.”
“The case still being worked on by you guys?”
“It’s on the back burner right now. Looking at the notes here, we’ve done all we can do. At least until something else pops up.”
“Hopefully not her.”
“Huh?”
“Her body I mean.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Bridge loudly sighed again. “All right, Eric. Thanks for the info.”
“Luke,” Happ said hurriedly, wanting to get him before he hung up.
“Yeah?”
“I hate missing persons cases. They can be messy.”
“I hear ya.”
“And a lot of times they can take you in unexpected places and directions.”
“I know.”
“I know you do. But it’s always a good feeling when you find someone who shouldn’t have been missing and return them home. If you need anything on this, you know who to call.”
Bridge smiled. “Thanks. You know I will.”
“Yeah. Now get out of here.”
Bridge couldn’t stop smiling as he put the phone back in his pocket. Happ always made it seem like he didn’t want to help or was being bothered by being asked, but Bridge knew otherwise. The FBI agent didn’t care about credit or having someone outside the agency handle things. All he cared about was getting justice. By whatever means possible. And sometimes that meant Bridge. Happ was OK with that no matter how he made it seem sometimes.
Nicole looked back at him once she saw he had finished his conversation. “How’d it go?”
“They don’t know anything.”
“It’s not going so good on my end either. I can’t find any hits on her credit cards since the night she disappeared. Nothing in her bank account either, and there’s a few thousand dollars in there.”
“If she was disappearing intentionally, like she was running off with somebody, it’s unlikely she would leave that money in there.”