by S J Sargent
“Hey, Bolin!” she yelled. “When are we going to be released from this place? I got to take my kid to school at 7:45 in the morning. That’s six hours away! And you can’t hold us without probable cause.” She didn’t really know if that was true, but she’d heard that said on an episode of Blacklist.
The room was silent. No response from him. She turned to the lobby and kept ranting. “We can sue them, you know?”
“Sue the cops?” Peter asked. “Can you really do that?”
“Absolutely.” Sofia took a seat and crossed her arms. “I remember there was a lawsuit against a cop in Peytonsville just a few years ago for a wrongful arrest. They had a pretty large settlement, too. What do you say, guys? We can split the earnings together. Five ways…”
Alex was too zoned in on unscrambling to say anything. Peter and Molly were too anxious to say anything back to Sofia that might be used against them. Ken just wrote off Sofia, like he had done for the past several years working next to her.
“I’ve got some good news,” a voice said from the dark hallway. Bolin emerged a few minutes later. “I’ve looked through all the surveillance footage from Bruno’s. Sofia.” They turned towards each other. She stood up, ready for a verbal battle. Bolin half-smiled. “You’re good to go home. Thank you for your patience.”
“Wait, that’s it?” she asked.
“Uh huh.” He said back. “You were in your restaurant when the…person…appeared outside the glass. The timecode matches up. So, for now, you can go.”
“It took you that long to verify that? I told you that two hours ago.” Sofia stopped right in front of him, smiling as she squeezed out the remaining energy she had into one final rant. “You’re in over your head, you know. One week later and still no suspects. Outside of a drunken video store worker that has no evidence pointed to him. Good luck, detective…”
“You can leave now.” Bolin pointed to the door. “One more word and I will arrest you for harassing an officer.” He didn’t really have just cause for doing that, but the threat always seemed to work against people.
Sofia walked past him and toward the door.
“What about the rest of us?” Peter asked. “Based on that rationale, I should be able to go home too. I was in the shot standing there while the guy was standing outside looking at me! There’s no way it could have been me!”
Bolin stared over at over him but didn’t answer.
With one hand on the door to exit, Sofia turned around waiting for Bolin to answer. He stood there in silence, embarrassed at how little progress he had on the case. Maybe he was in over his head. Or just really tired from the longest week of his life.
The lobby was tired. Exhausted. Bolin looked around at the Movie Madness staff, who had patiently been cooperative with him the whole night. They hadn’t complained or argued, even though he had a severe lack of evidence on any of them. Which usually pointed toward someone who was innocent.
“Okay, guys. Tell you what.” Bolin put his arms on his hips. “You can all go home. Get some sleep. I’ll be in touch if I need any more questions answered.”
“All of us?” Alex asked.
“All but Ken. He’s here for good.” Bolin looked over at Ken, satisfied that he at least had control over one person. Alex looked over at Ken, who stared down at the floor. Trapped. Part of Alex didn’t want to leave him there. He feared it would be the last time he might ever see him.
Peter, Alex, and Molly stood up and made their way for the door, filing out one by one. They didn’t say a word because there wasn’t much to say. They were just relieved to be able to go home and didn’t want to do anything to screw that up.
On her way out, Sofia had one more thing to say. “You know, detective. There is one more key to that back gate that’s not accounted for right now.”
“Oh, really?” he said. “Are you holding out on us?”
“No,” she said. “Not me. There are three tenants in that building. If you knew how to count, you’d know how to count the number of storefronts. Video store, Bruno’s, Insurance place. Three. Yet you’ve spent all of your efforts on questioning just two of us. I find that kind of weird if I can say so myself…”
Sofia’s hand was on the door now. She turned back for her final line of the night before marching out into the snow and driving home.
“…especially considering the third tenant, that crummy insurance salesman next to me, is the slimiest of all of us.”
30
Jonathan
Monday, December 20 – 9:10 A.M.
Jonathan pulled into the Better Brew to pick up a hazelnut latte on his way into work. He knew the flow of the week. No one is thinking about insurance plans on Monday. It wasn’t until the week started falling apart on Tuesday that people gave more attention to their insurance plans.
Coming in from the back door, Jonathan was greeted with a large stack of papers that had been left on his desk by his assistant over the weekend. Usually, he hated having to start the week with paperwork. But this paperwork was the good kind. New clients. Only the twentieth of the month and this was already the best December he’d ever had. When people feel like their life is in danger, they flock to Jonathan. And he had no problem being there with papers for them to sign.
Before he could sit down to log his new business, his phone rang. “Jonathan here.” He took a seat at his oversized mahogany desk and opened his laptop. Pulling up a spreadsheet, he began to read some numbers over the phone. Scribbling down notes, the conversation wrapped up a few minutes later. He hung up and dwelled on the moment.
“This can’t be real.” Jonathan grinned as he moved another paper to the new client pile. In tradition, he poured himself a glass of scotch to celebrate the newest addition to his insurance client family. As he savored the rich flavor, he turned on his office TV just in time to see the newest breaking news.
“We have a developing story that is breaking as of this morning from the Pecos Police Department. Christine Brandt, a thirty-two-year-old Pecos citizen, is officially classified as missing. The last time she was seen was leaving her place of employment at Movie Madness on Saturday night. The police have asked that if you have any information about the whereabouts of Ms. Brandt, please contact the local authorities immediately. Further details will come as this story continues to develop.”
Jonathan’s pen dropped out of his hand. He hopped up and frantically raced to the front of his store. With his hands in his pockets, he rushed by Bruno’s to Movie Madness and peeked through the glass. The lights were off. No one in sight. On the front was a worn piece of paper taped on the door yelling at him with thick sharpie: CLOSED TODAY!
Jonathan then turned and darted back to his desk. He took out his agenda and looked at the notes from the past week. Amy was reported missing on Monday night. Tuesday was his busiest day in months. No coincidence there. Then when Amy was pronounced dead on Thursday night, it spiked even more. New life insurance plans. Clients coming in to double down. Families adding their kids. New customers coming in for counseling and walking out with a fresh policy. Anything you could imagine, his lobby stayed busy.
And with Jonathan being the only active insurance practice in town since his competitor closed down the year before, he owned the market. Unlike the rest of Pecos, the news didn’t shake Jonathan. Crisis never did. Though he knew Christine personally, he didn’t pause to lament the news. Instead, his mind went right to work. He was a forward thinker. Jonathan began to anticipate what this week might look like with two missing persons in the past week. Staring at the growing pile of paperwork on his desk, he nodded to himself as he pulled up the number for the temp agency in Peytonsville. Time to expand staff for a bit.
There would surely be an uproar. And Jonathan would be ready on the other side of it. Finishing off his coffee, he went to the front of his store and turned on the lights and open sign. He unlocked the door and freshened up his mini lobby space. Music turned on. Glade plug-in turned up. His mints were running lo
w so he went to his supply closet to restock them.
And that’s when he saw it.
Jonathan swung open the closet door. The lights weren’t on, so he reached above to pull the chain. As he stepped forward, his leg tripped over something. Usually spotless and clean, the closet rarely had anything on the floor. Especially on a Monday. With the light now shining in, he could see his obstruction in full view.
It was a body.
Christine’s body.
Unconscious. Hands tied up.
Jonathan’s eyes bulged as he raced back to the front of the store and locked the door, now reversing everything he’d just done. Lights off. Open sign unplugged. He frantically looked around but wasn’t sure what he was looking for.
With the calming lobby Christmas music still playing, Jonathan dashed back to his office. Hiding behind his desk, he downed the rest of his scotch and took a long, deep breath. He had to get out of there, but he couldn’t just leave the body in the supply closet. He was smart enough to know that the investigation would eventually make its way down the line to his storefront, especially if this building was the last place Christine had been seen.
Several years earlier, one of Jonathan’s clients was accused of embezzlement charges. He was thoroughly interviewed multiple times. The police department didn’t leave a file unopened or a page unturned. It was exhausting how tedious they were with the case, especially when they couldn’t find evidence. And all of that was for some missing money.
His mind panicked as he started to realize that he would inevitably be brought in for questioning as one of the neighbors of Movie Madness. If they were that deliberate with an embezzlement case, he could only imagine how much crueler they would be for a missing person case. It was only a matter of time before the cops would make their way down to his door.
He needed to figure out a disappearing act, and quickly. Before he could think of a next step, his phone rang.
Unknown number. A rare contact ID for him to get on his work phone. He ignored it. Seconds later, it rang again. Ignored again. When it rang a third time, his paranoia forced him to pick it up.
Cautiously, he put the phone to his ear as if it could attack him. “This is Jonathan.”
“Jonathan. This is Detective Bolin from the Pecos Police Department. Do you have a few minutes to answer some questions for me?”
Jonathan froze, debating if he should hide the body or just flee the scene. “Umm…I…it’s a busy day today.” Jonathan shuffled around some files for effect. “Lots of paperwork.”
“I’m sure it is, so I’ll come to you. Be there in 10.”
31
Cover Up
Monday, December 20 – 9:27 A.M.
“Jane. Get in here as soon as possible.”
Jonathan yelled over the phone onto his assistant’s voicemail. He wanted to sound urgent, not panicked. She didn’t usually come in until noon on Mondays, as Jonathan had told her he liked to slowly ease into his workweek.
But when a missing person is renting space from your supply closet, you have to call an audible. Jane picked up on the urgency and assured him she was coming.
“I’ll come meet you at the station.”
Jonathan told Bolin over the phone, but Bolin insisted on coming there. The police station was only two miles down the road, so he was sure to be there any minute now. Heart racing, a rarity for Jonathan, he came over and took a seat in the front lounge.
Hopefully, he could keep the detective up there during the questioning, wrap it up, and get him out the door.
As the police car pulled up, Jonathan let out a deep breath and rolled back his shoulders. Here we go. Bolin got out, taking a keen look at the outside glass. In an attempt to control the situation, Jonathan met him at the door.
“Good morning, Detective.” His body blocked the entrance.
“Hey, Jonathan,” Detective Bolin said as he shook his hand and stepped right by him and through the doorway. He first noticed the sparkly clean state of things. The music was relaxing, as Jonathan hoped it would be for customers.
“I love this song.” Bolin plopped down on the couch and propped up his feet. “With all the chaos of this past week, it’s been hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year.”
Jonathan sat down opposite of Bolin. Hands together in front of him. Perfect posture. “I bet. How’s the search for Amy’s…um…sus…suspect going?”
“I think I may have a pretty strong lead at this point.” Bolin gave a long, uncomfortable stare at Jonathan before continuing. “Don’t want to make any announcements until we are absolutely sure, but I have a hunch. Especially based on conversations I had last night.”
Jonathan nodded. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“I’m fine. Busy week for you?” Bolin asked.
“Eh, not so much. December hardly is. Who buys life insurance in December, right?” Jonathan lied, along with one of his fake smiles.
“Well, I guess that’s a fair point. I surely don’t. I’m guessing that’s why the lights aren’t on yet?”
“Exactly.” Jonathan spoke quickly. Bolin noticed. “I was thinking about taking the rest of the year off actually. There’s almost no point in being here. The phone hardly ever rings at this point in the year. And with the blizzard, people are even more shut in than usual.”
And almost right on cue, his phone rang. He looked down. Jane. Jonathan ignored it and shoved it back in his pocket. Before Bolin could start back up, it rang again.
“Never rings, huh?” he asked.
Nervously, Jonathan fumbled for his phone and pressed the ignore button again. “Sorry. It’s my assistant.”
“Go ahead.” Bolin offered his hand up as a gentle command. “Answer it.”
“It’s really fine. I don’t want to be rude.”
“No, no, no,” Bolin persisted. “One of my rules is that I never want to disrupt someone’s business when I’m talking to them. Please. Call her back.” Bolin locked eyes with Jonathan. “I insist.”
Staring at Bolin, he pulled back out his phone and dialed Jane. She picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Jane.” Pause. “No. No. That’s fine. You can come in when you’re scheduled.” Pause. “I know. It’s fine.” Pause. “Just ignore that. Yes. I’m sure. See you then.”
“Everything okay?” Bolin rose and started pacing around the lobby to look at the minor Christmas décor.
“Yeah. Just a…scheduling thing.”
“Well, I’ll get right to it then. I don’t want to waste any of your time. I’m just trying to connect a few dots.”
Jonathan nodded.
Bolin pulled out his notebook. “I’m not sure if you heard the story that was just released about your neighbor, Christine Brandt, going missing as of Saturday night?” Jonathan nodded again. “Well, good. Not good as in, ‘good that she’s missing.’ Good that you’re in the loop. I didn’t want to throw you off with new information.” Bolin readjusted his stance, before the following question. “Did you work on Saturday night?”
“Let’s see.” Jonathan acted like he had to think about it. “Saturday? I worked until late afternoon. Not too late. Well before Christine would’ve even gotten off work.”
Bolin smiled. “You don’t have to defend yourself. I’m more asking questions to see who was here at what time. Not assuming anything.”
Lies.
“Okay. Sorry.” Jonathan shifted his hands in front of him. “A little anxious. I don’t usually have conversations like this.”
“I would hope you don’t,” Bolin joked. “The only ones that do don’t live out in society anymore.” Jonathan mercy laughed. “I have lots of conversations with a lot of people that don’t want to sit at the other end of them. People just tend to get nervous talking to police officers. You can relax.” If Bolin’s goal was for this to do the opposite, it did. Jonathan tensed up and tried to control his breathing. He paused for a moment, waiting for Jonathan to lock eyes again.
“Another question
.” Bolin said. “When is the last time you actually saw Christine? Do you remember that?”
Five minutes ago.
“Probably Saturday afternoon when I swung into the store. Actually, I don’t even think I saw her then. She was in the back. I actually, um, I can’t remember.”
“How do you know she was in the back of the store if you didn’t see her?”
Jonathan could feel the sweat on his forehead now. “Well, I saw her car as I pulled in. So I just assume she was there. She could’ve been…not. I don’t know actually.”
“That’s fine.” Bolin scribbled a few things, mostly noting his tense behavior. He could tell that either Jonathan was hiding something or he was just horrible in the midst of tragedy. In which case, insurance was a bad career choice. “Did you see any unusual customers lingering around the building on Saturday at all? Anyone…out of place?”
“Umm, no. Just the same old Saturday crowd. I was mostly in here. I think I took a break around two to walk outside and get some fresh air.”
Bolin stopped writing and looked up. “Fresh air in this weather? Seems a little brutal out for that.”
Jonathan’s fake laugh was too obvious. “Right. Whatever it takes to get a mental break. Am I right?”
Bolin didn’t bother acknowledging this. “So you saw her car here. Was it still here when you left for the night?” Jonathan nodded. “But you never actually saw her on Saturday?” Jonathan shook his head. “Okay. What other employee cars were here when you left? Do you remember that?”
“I think it was hers, Peter’s, Sofia’s, and one or two of the Bruno’s employees. I’m not sure who drives what there. So much turnover. I can’t keep up with all of them.”
Bolin kept scribbling. “Fair enough. And did you ever meet Amy Powers? Or know her family at all?”
Jonathan paused. “Wait. You’re asking questions about both missing girls?”