by H K Christie
"He's with a patient right now. Is it urgent?"
"If it will only be a few minutes, it's fine, but I need to speak with him as soon as possible."
"All right, let me tell him and I'll be right back."
I watched as the young woman in her twenties scurried back to the offices. I glanced down at my phone and read a text message from Martina.
Iris confirmed.
How many girls had disappeared that had been labeled runaways but had likely been kidnapped? Raquel wasn't the first. Who was the last? Was it Layla? Who knew how many others there were from different counties that didn't appear to be related to our case but actually were? I texted her back.
At the office of Dr. Isaac Clark, about to notify.
She replied.
Good luck.
I tucked my phone away when I saw a man approach, with dark hair and a five o'clock shadow, wearing a white coat. "Detective Hirsch?"
"Yes. Dr. Isaac Clark?"
"Yes."
"Is there somewhere we can speak privately?"
He nodded. "We can talk in my office."
I took a seat in the leather chair across from Dr. Clark.
"Detective, what is this about?" he asked with worry in his bloodshot eyes.
Perhaps he had tried to get a hold of Jonathan and could not reach him and was worried? "I have some tough news. We found Jonathan's body yesterday on Mount Diablo. He'd taken a fall. I'm sorry for your loss."
Isaac's head fell into his hands. A few moments later, he looked up at me with tears in his eyes. "Are you sure it was him?"
"Yes, we're sure."
"You said he fell?"
"We found him at the bottom of the mountain."
Isaac shook his head back and forth. "It doesn't make sense."
I studied his face. The anguish appeared genuine. "Where were you Monday between the hours of ten AM and noon?"
"At work, I saw several patients during that time." He paused and stared up at the ceiling. "I just can't believe it. I mean, I have been calling him and he hasn't answered and..."
"Is it normal for him to be gone for a day or two?"
"No. He always told me if he was doing an overnight hiking trip. I was worried and called all of our friends. Nobody had heard from him."
"Was it normal for him to go hiking by himself?"
"Sometimes. He was an avid hiker. I'm sorry." Isaac stopped, shut his eyes, and breathed heavily.
I gave him a moment to compose himself. His boyfriend, his love, had just died. "I'd like to ask you a few questions about Jonathan, if that's all right?"
"Yeah, that's fine," he said with a sniffle.
"How did you meet Jonathan?"
"I was working at Delta. We met in the cafeteria. He was putting a slice of pepperoni pizza on his tray, and I made a comment that it was a terrible choice. It was our little joke that terrible pizza had brought us together."
"How long have you been together?"
"A little over a year."
"Have you met his family?"
"I've met his brother a few times. He lives in LA. He's not my favorite person or Jonathan's either."
"Really? Do you know why Jonathan didn't like his brother?"
"I shouldn't say anything."
"What shouldn't you say?"
"I don't want to tarnish Jonathan's memory. He's a good—he was a good man. But he told me about some things he used to do for his brother. He worked at the eating disorder clinic. A few years back, Jordan was a new talent agent and had convinced Jonathan to get recruits from the eating disorder clinic to fill up his roster as quick as he could."
"That has to be against hospital rules."
"It was absolutely against hospital rules. He told me that at first he fought Jordan, but he was the only family Jonathan had and wanted to make Jordan happy."
"Did Jordan land any legitimate jobs for his clients?"
He shook his head. "No, that was one of the issues Jonathan had with the whole scheme. The girls had to pay a fee for headshots and an agency sign-up fee."
"The girls had to pay money to Jordan?"
"Yeah, he was a real nice guy. He even let them make installments. He'd assure them they'd make it back tenfold with their first job," Isaac said bitterly.
"Do you know why he moved to LA?"
"I think he landed a job down there, and he'd said there was better talent in LA. But really, I think he just wanted to be amongst the stars. Jordan had what I would call delusions of grandeur. We'd only met a few times, but he makes a strong impression."
"When you met Jonathan at the cafeteria, did you start dating immediately?"
"Yes. The first time we met, I asked him out to dinner that night. We've been together ever since."
"Were you working at Delta Hospital five years ago?"
"Yes."
"Did you know anybody else in the eating disorder clinic at that time?"
"No, our two specialties rarely overlap. I'm in orthopedics."
"Did Jonathan ever mention anything about any of the women he had referred to Jordan?"
Isaac seemed to clam up. He looked around his office as if there were other people there. There weren't. "He did."
I arched my brows at him. "What did he say about them?"
"He just told me he stopped referring the girls for a reason."
"And what was the reason?" Now we were getting somewhere.
"He said a few of them went missing shortly after he referred them."
"Just a few of them?"
"He said there were three back to back. That's when he said he was out and refused to have anything to do with it anymore."
"Did he have any suspicions about what happened to the girls?"
"He didn't know. He just said it was too coincidental and didn't want anything to do with it. Jonathan wanted to help people. That's why he became a nurse. He himself had struggled with eating disorders growing up. He really wanted to make a difference with those suffering from the same issues that he once had. I truly believe Jonathan never thought what he was doing would cause those women any harm."
"Do you think somebody hurt him?"
Isaac stared into my eyes. "I don't think for a second his fall was an accident. After the press conference about the missing girls’ cases being reopened, Jonathan started acting really on edge. That's when he confided in me about those women he referred to Jordan all those years ago. He said that's why he didn't do it anymore - because of those three women. But something got him pretty shook up."
"Do you know if he received any mysterious phone calls or if he got into any arguments with his brother that may have upset him?"
"I don't think it was his brother. Somebody else I think. He told me he didn't want to discuss it."
This was very interesting. Jonathan may have known he was in danger. "If Jonathan was feeling threatened, would it make sense for him to go hiking?"
"Yes. He said nature calmed him down."
I studied Isaac's face. He looked worried. "Is there anything else you can tell me that could help us find whoever may have hurt Jonathan?" I asked.
"Check his cell phone. Like I said, after the press conference, he became really anxious, but he wouldn't tell me why. I guess I kind of waved it off as he was feeling guilty that he had referred those women when he knew he shouldn't have."
I continued to speak with Isaac Clark about his relationship with Jonathan and their life together. I doubted Isaac was in danger, but I couldn't be sure. "Do you have somewhere to stay tonight other than your home just in case you could be a target too?"
"Do you think I could be in danger?"
"If somebody thinks you know anything about the missing women, it's possible."
"I have a few places I can stay. Worst-case scenario, I could stay at a hotel."
"Good. Thank you, Dr. Clark. You've been very helpful." I handed him my business card and conveyed my condolences once more. My heart weighed heavily for him having lost his partner, but
at the same time, my adrenaline was pumping. Isaac Clark confirmed what we thought but didn't know for sure. Jonathan Day had been referring girls to his brother and Jordan Day was, in fact, Jordan Starr. Martina and I needed to get down to LA ASAP.
20
Martina
I parked in front of Tessa Gray's apartment building. Tessa was Iris's best friend at the time she disappeared five years ago. Like the other girls' families, they'd initially thought she was a runaway, but as time went on, and she never made contact, they realized maybe something had happened to their daughter or their sister. Iris's family confirmed that she had an eating disorder and had been treated at Delta Hospital's eating disorder clinic, which I already knew from Patsy's covert reaction when she looked up her name on the computer at the hospital. Her family had told me she also was an aspiring actress but had been focusing on getting her degree. They'd sworn she didn't have an agent and hadn't had recent head shots. Of course, a search of her room discovered otherwise. The cases were so eerily similar. It was as if the girls were given a script on how to communicate what was going on in their lives to their families. Why would these girls have agreed to hide headshots and an agent? It wasn't logical. All of my hopes for learning more about Iris would come from her best friend, Tessa. I was sure of it. Like the other young women, the family had been in the dark about what was really going on with her. The friends were the ones with all the information.
I moved toward the front door of the first-floor apartment in Pleasant Hill. I called ahead as to not startle Tessa. According to the police records, Tessa never believed that Iris was a runaway. I rapped on the door and waited with my hands behind my back. A few moments passed before I heard footsteps and then the lock disengaging. The door opened, and there stood a young woman who looked a lot like Iris, with blond hair and blue eyes, and she was rather thin, too thin. "Are you Tessa?"
"Yes."
"I'm Martina Monroe. We spoke on the phone. I'm investigating Iris's case along with the sheriff's department."
"Yes, please come in."
I watched as Tessa looked both ways before she shut the door. What was Tessa afraid of?
"You can have a seat on the sofa. Can I get you anything to drink?"
"Some water would be great."
It wasn't as if I showed up at people's homes thirsty, but giving nervous folks a task seemed to calm their nerves. Tessa returned with a glass of water for me and one for herself as well. I gave her a reassuring grin. "Thank you for meeting with me, Tessa."
She took a seat across from me. "I'm just glad somebody is looking for Iris."
"When was the last time you spoke with Iris?"
"It was five years ago, the day that she disappeared. She didn't run away. Don't believe them, if they say that."
"Why do you say that she didn't run away?"
"That morning, she wasn't supposed to tell me, but she did because we didn't have any secrets. She was going to a photo shoot."
I cocked my head at her. None of this was in the police report. Why wasn't it in the police report? "Did she tell you why she wasn't supposed to tell you where she was going?"
"I don't know if I believed the story or not. But what she told me was that there was this new up-and-coming artist and a big showcase. It was a big secret until the grand unveiling or something like that. Basically, it was supposed to be kept really hush-hush until it was ready to be revealed to the rest of the world."
"But you didn't believe that it was real?"
"No. There were too many things that didn't make sense. Like, why did it all have to be a secret? She wasn't supposed to tell her parents that she had a talent agent? Does that sound legitimate to you?"
I shook my head. "No, not even a little. Do you remember the talent agent's name?"
"Oh yeah. Jordan Starr."
The disdain in her voice was obvious.
"Did you ever meet Jordan?"
"Once. He tried to sign me, too, but I wasn't interested. I didn't trust him, and unfortunately, I couldn't convince Iris he was no good."
"Are you also an aspiring actress?"
"No, I just finished nursing school. I start my first job starting next week."
"Congratulations."
My thoughts turned to Claire, our former nanny. Her graduation was coming up as well. I knew Zoey was excited and had been shopping online for gifts with my mother. "Can you tell me anything else about the photo shoot she went to that morning?"
"She was told to pack a change of clothes, makeup, and to meet them at the BART station in Concord."
"Did Iris not have a car?"
"She had a car, but they wanted to meet at the BART station, which I thought was weird. There were so many red flags. I pleaded with Iris, but she just wouldn't listen. She said they were the real deal."
"Did she say the name of the photographer?"
"No, Jordan had set it up. She didn't have a name."
"How did she know who she was meeting without a name?"
"She said Jordan would be there too. That's why she said I was overreacting."
"Did she say why they were meeting at the Concord BART station instead of where the photo shoot was being held?"
"She said the photographer was eccentric and didn't want to reveal his location. I told her to call me as soon as she got back, but she never did because she never came back."
"At what point did you realize that maybe something was wrong?"
Tessa wrapped her frail arms around herself. "That night. Part of me thought maybe she was late because I knew all about the casting couch. It's still a thing, you know. The next morning, she still hadn't called. That's when I got worried and I called her mom. Her mom hadn't seen her either. She assumed she had been with me."
"And that's when her mother filed a missing person's report?"
"Yeah, I was with her when she went to the police station."
"Okay, tell me about the detective you met with?"
"I don't remember his name, but he was a jerk and said that she was probably out with a boyfriend. She didn't have a boyfriend, so it didn't make sense. He told us we had to wait until she'd been missing for forty-eight hours before filing a missing person’s report."
False. If there was a cause for concern, there is no waiting period for filing a missing person's report. "Is there anything else you can tell me about Jordan or the photographer or anything that could give us a sense of maybe what happened?"
"No, that's about it."
"How long before the photo shoot did Iris sign with Jordan Starr?"
"It had only been a few weeks."
"Do you know how she got involved with Jordan Starr?"
"He was Jon's brother. Jon was a nurse at the clinic we went to."
"Delta Hospital's eating disorder clinic?"
Tessa's eyes widened. "Yes, how did you know?"
"We think Iris's disappearance is related to three other missing women."
"The ones on the news?"
"Yes. All four were treated at the eating disorder clinic. Jordan Starr was the talent agent for all of them, and they were all aspiring actresses. Physically, they looked quite similar. Our team found Iris's case, so now we're reopening it and investigating them together as one."
"I can't believe it." Tessa raked her fingers through her blond hair. "Have you talked to Jon? He was so nice. I think that's why Iris trusted him and his brother."
"No, Jon, died on Monday before we were able to get a chance to talk to him."
Tessa gasped. "Was he murdered?"
"We're still looking into that."
She shook her head back and forth. "It's so strange."
"What's so strange?"
"I've had this eerie feeling somebody's been watching me, and now Jon is dead, and all the missing women are being talked about. It just seems really weird, you know?"
"You say you feel like someone's been watching you?"
"It's just a feeling. You know, like the creepy crawlies on the back of yo
ur neck."
"When did it start?"
"I don't know, maybe, a week ago."
"Has anyone contacted you about Iris, other than me?"
"No."
Hmm. I didn't like that. We continued to discuss Iris. Her likes, dislikes, and the kind of person she was. It wasn't surprising to hear that Iris was an optimist and too trusting.
Five years was a long time to go missing—too long. Thankfully, Vincent's teammate found her file. Hopefully, we could bring her home and soon.
21
Martina
I stared at the board. Iris. Raquel. Willow. Layla. We knew their cases were related and likely the same person or persons had abducted all four. We knew Jonathan Day may be the entry point to whoever had them or sold them. I glanced over at Hirsch. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"
"I always have a bag packed."
I smirked. "What are you, some kind of criminal that always has a go bag ready?"
His eyes twinkled. "Hey, there are a lot of things you don't know about me."
"Obviously." I chuckled. I doubted Hirsch, the boy scout, ever had any tussles with the law. I'd be shocked if he'd ever even gotten a speeding ticket.
"Once we land in LA, maybe we should watch him for a while and see where he goes and who he sees. Who knows, maybe he restarted this actress-snatching scheme down in Los Angeles. Maybe that's why he moved—fresh targets. After three women in a row went missing, he figured his luck might have run out, so he moves down south and sets up shop in a town where missing girls aren't exactly front-page news," I theorized.
It was sad how many women went missing each year. One instance of poor judgement or trusting the wrong person or just being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and you could find yourself in the hands of a madman. It made me think of Zoey. She was only eight years old, but I knew she'd eventually be a teenager. How would I keep her safe? How would I keep her out of the hands of predators? What if she didn't trust me and wouldn't tell me the details of her life like these four young women? How could I make sure Zoey always felt comfortable sharing with me what was going on in her life? Tuesday pizza nights for life? Maybe I could bug Zoey? She's far too smart for it to work. She'd probably find the listening device as soon as I planted it. Tracking device? Stick it in her backpack? Was I becoming paranoid or protective? I knew about all the things that went bump in the night.