by Vicki Hinze
Laney didn’t dispute her, so her information must have tracked with Dana’s. “Why did her dad oppose, do you think?” Laney asked.
“He didn’t say, but I looked online and the State Department has the whole country under a travel advisory alert. Things are a real mess over there. I expect maybe he was concerned for her safety.” Dana let her gaze drift. “I’m almost sure she planned to go looking for Josie Rodriguez. She was on the list I sent of things to tell you.”
“I got it.”
“Did you look into her family there?” Dana asked.
“They’re not in Venezuela anymore.”
Shock pumped through Dana’s body. “What do you mean? They moved, I know. But they left the country?” Quinten and Katherine Windermere had put the girl on a plane to go home for the family emergency. Katherine had told Dana so at the time.
“The Rodriguez family immigrated here. They live in Grass Valley now.” A haunted look landed and stayed in Laney’s eyes. “They wanted to be close to their daughter.”
One town over. “Which explains why Josie was working part-time for Sylvia at Sparkle. None of the other exchange students had worked while with the Windermeres.” No flight required. “How long have they been here?”
“They arrived about two weeks after Josie got to the Windermeres.”
“So why was she staying with them?” With her family living so close by, that didn’t make sense.
“She wasn’t,” Laney said. “Once her family arrived, Josie moved home.”
Dana frowned. “But she was presented to us as an exchange student.”
“She was an exchange student,” Laney said. “But then the family got approved and they moved to Grass Valley, so she went home to live with them.”
Dana processed these developments. “Mrs. Windermere. She wanted Josie in our Blue Ribbon school rather than in Grass Valley’s system,” Dana guessed. “So she just didn’t tell us about the change in Josie’s status or that she was living in another school district.” They turned down out-of-district requests all the time. “That would explain Mrs. Windermere’s recent unsolicited and sizable donation to the school library.” Guilt money for the non-disclosure, to cover the added expense. Josie would have been transferred to Grass Valley.
“That was my guess,” Laney agreed. “I ran a check. Something came up, so I called Grass Valley PD. It’s a matter of public record, Dana.”
“What is?”
Dread filled Laney’s face. “Josie Rodriguez is listed as a missing person.”
“Missing?” Dana felt her knees going weak. She sat down in the chair near Laney’s desk. “Oh, no. For how long?”
Her expression warned Dana wasn’t going to like the answer. “Since two days after the Windermeres supposedly put her on a plane for Venezuela due to a family emergency.”
“Mrs. Windermere specifically told me that she and her husband had put Josie on that plane,” Dana told Laney.
“Why would they do that if they knew her family was in Grass Valley?”
“They wouldn’t.” Dana had hoped not to have to disclose this, but there was no choice. “Wade Travis thinks he saw Josie, Laney. On a porn site. He isn’t sure it was her, but if it was, he thinks she’s been trafficked.”
Laney buried her revulsion, but it sneaked into her body language. “What site?”
“Viva Venezuela, he said.” Dana’s mouth went dry. “Her stage name is Viva Vivian.”
Laney jotted that down on a yellow pad, then paused to digest. “I’ll look into that.”
Only a fool wouldn’t put it together. “Sylvia saw the site, too. Wade showed her. She wasn’t sure it was Josie either but, I think that vacation she was planning was to go and find out. Sylvia was very protective of her employees.” No travel advisory alert or food shortage would slow her down.
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
Dana’s stomach burned. She pressed a hand to it. “Travis said he told Sylvia, if the girl was Josie, she could be anywhere. The site could be anywhere.”
“They tend to move around.”
The sites or the people? Dana didn’t ask. She had enough nightmares. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about Josie. She didn’t even know enough to be dangerous at looking for her. For Josie’s sake, Dana put her in Laney’s capable hands. Her priority was Vinn. It must remain Vinn. Getting him out of jail and back in school. “When I talked with Sylvia’s parents, I have to tell you, Laney, they couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.” It had struck Dana as odd then, and it did now. “Neither of them wanted to discuss her.”
“Grief hits people in different ways.”
“It does,” Dana agreed. “But it doesn’t usually scare them.”
“What do either of them know about Josie?”
“I’m not sure,” Dana admitted. “They knew her. They’re in and out of Sparkle all the time. They talk to the girls who work for Sylvia, even bring them lunch sometimes.”
“I’m going to speak to Renata Fernandez again and see what insight she can give me.” As if remembering herself, Laney pressed her hands to her lips. “Just thinking aloud,” she said. “I can’t talk about the case with you, but I appreciate your sharing your impressions. You know these people in ways I don’t.”
Dana often found herself suffering from the same kind of restraints. “I brought you information I thought might be relevant. You haven’t violated any protocols or ethics.”
“Thank you.” She nodded toward Dana’s purse. “I need a copy of that video for our records, if that’s okay? When Morris Barton hears I was in that room, he’s going to go off like a Roman candle.”
“That’s why we made it. So he could see for himself you didn’t do anything you weren’t supposed to do.” Dana pulled out her phone. “Give me the official email.”
Laney reeled it off.
Dana attached the video and hit send. “There you go. Make sure you got it.”
Laney checked, opened the file and ran through the video. “We’re good.”
“Great.” Dana returned her phone to its slot in her bag.
“I appreciate your thinking to do that—making the video.” Laney smiled.
“No problem. These days, covering everyone’s back is a natural mindset. Comes with having to pay hefty malpractice insurance bills and an ever-present awareness, fear really, of legal liability.”
“How well I know.”
Dana hiked a shoulder, her mind racing. “You know, Connie Bradshaw often talked with Julia Ford. They used to meet all the time at Fitzgerald’s for lunch. Maybe Connie mentioned something to her.”
“You think he’s covering for his mother?”
“Odds are, but I don’t know…yet.” Dana checked her watch. “I’ve got to get to school. Pam will be overwhelmed.”
“Travis matter?”
Dana nodded. “Email went out to the parents last night. I expect they’re at fever pitch by now.”
“Full throttle,” Laney agreed. “Probably half of them are at your office.”
“Exactly why Pam will be overwhelmed.” Dana grimaced. “We’re having all the parents in at three o’clock, but some will hit the office early to talk about their specific child.”
“Maybe it won’t be so bad. If it is, first round tonight at girls’ night out is on me.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Dana said.
Laney stood up. “Thanks for everything.”
Dana smiled. It was going to be a wickedly long day, but she could cope with it. Laney was now on the Vinn-is-Innocent train.
She left Laney’s office with a spring in her step. What they had wasn’t enough to clear Vinn, but they had made a huge step in the right direction.
Chapter Sixteen
Perhaps Dana’s certainty that she could cope with the wickedly long day had been a little optimistic. It had been wickedly long. But it also had been brutal.
She had expected accusations to be hurled and heaped on her head. She had expected concern and worry and even fear
. She hadn’t expected one of the mothers to stand up and shout, “Travis probably killed Sylvia Cole. Vinn’s taking the blame because Travis is making him. I’ve read all about how these traffickers groom kids into doing what they want.”
That set off a firestorm of screamed opinions and deepened fear in some and fury in others. Dana’s stomach burned like fire and a dull ache pounded at her temples. She let them vent for a brief few minutes that seemed hours long. Thomas Jessup and all the others on the Shutter Lake Council had stayed seated at the table at the front of the gym and didn’t seem inclined to intervene. That others were drawing the conclusion Vinn could be innocent was a good sign. But convicting Travis?
Dana lifted a hand, which was promptly ignored. Out of patience, she shouted. “Enough!”
The gym fell silent.
Never, not once in seven years, had she raised her voice to the students, much less at their parents. She stepped to the right, stood in the clear line of vision of the parent who had shouted the accusation out about Wade Travis. “With all due respect, kindly refrain from making false accusations against others. Any others,” she said. “Mr. Travis has an alibi and is not a person of interest in the death of Sylvia Cole.” She pointed toward Laney. “As Deputy Chief Holt will verify.”
“That is correct.” Laney said in a clear, loud voice.
“Now.” Dana turned back to the parents and put the principal-authority in her tone. “If we could change this situation, we would. We can’t. We might not like this sordid activity touching our town, our school and especially our children, but we address the problems we have.” She strode a short path between the table where Thomas and the council were seated and the rows of chairs, seating the parents. “Go home and talk with your children. The first thing we must know is if Mr. Travis told us the truth—that no children were even aware of his addiction. Then report back to my office your findings, whatever they are, as soon as possible.” She stopped. “It is our fervent hope that Mr. Travis was honest and the children are blissfully unaware of his problem. But either way, we need to hear from all of you what the children have to say.”
A hand shot up. A mom. “Yes?” Dana asked.
“What if something did happen?”
“Let us know immediately. We’ll contact Deputy Chief Holt right away. From there, we’ll see what needs to be done and do it.”
She fired back another question. “What if my child needs counseling?”
Thomas stood up. “Whatever the children need, they’ll get,” he promised. “I would like to thank Dr. Perkins for taking swift and decisive action on this matter. As soon as she learned of the problem, she acted. Mr. Travis was sequestered in her office under her direct supervision until he was retrieved by medical personnel.”
“He wasn’t around the kids at all?”
“No.” Dana looked the father speaking right in the eye. “Absolutely not.”
“Can’t ask for more than that,” he said, then returned to his seat.
“Anyone else?” Dana took the next question, then the one after, not rushing the parents, but giving them the time they needed to work through all their uncertainties and to come to terms with events.
Finally, the last of the questions was answered, and Dana ended with, “Okay, we know what we have to do. So let’s do it and report back to my office before three o’clock tomorrow. We’ll follow up with an email and release all the findings so that we all know exactly what, if anything, we’re facing beyond getting a new history teacher.”
Satisfied, the parents began to file out of gym.
Thomas joined her. “You did well, taking all their questions. Lessens the odds of us being sued.”
“Anyone can sue over anything,” Dana reminded him. “I’m hoping they won’t, but they might.”
Zion Cole spoke from behind her. “They’d lose. You acted within two minutes, Dr. Perkins. No reasonable individual can expect you to act before you’re aware that a problem exists.”
Vernon Bradshaw rubbed at the back of his neck. “They could sue over hiring him.” He looked at Dana. “I take it you reviewed his file and nothing about any of this showed up when you hired him.”
“I didn’t hire him,” Dana said. “Mr. Travis was already contracted to teach here when I came to Shutter Lake.”
“On us then.” Vernon said.
“But I did review his file,” she said. “For what it’s worth, there is nothing in it that would have kept me from hiring him.”
“Who did the background check?” Vernon asked.
“Sterns and Brown.” Dana lifted a hand. “They’ve done all of them, and we’ve never had a problem.”
“Until now.” Vernon frowned. “I’ll have a chat with Sterns. Get them to double-check all the existing employees, just so we can say we did.”
“Good idea.” Thomas nodded his agreement. “Can’t hurt and could help.”
Spotting Pam waiting to speak with her, Dana told the council and Laney, “Thanks for being here for this. If you think of anything else we can do as preventative measures, let me know.” She hoped there was nothing that involved the kids. Her greatest fear was that the parents, particularly of the little ones, would reveal more than the kids needed revealed in quizzing them. That’s why she had spent so much time answering their questions and giving them examples of how to talk to the kids about this.
The council members left, including Thomas. Laney paused and touched Dana’s sleeve. “You okay?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Okay. See you back at the station,” Laney said. “You’re coming back to talk to Vinn again, right?”
“Absolutely.” Holding onto that hope of getting him to open up and tell her the truth is all that had kept her together today.
Laney left and Pam stepped over to Dana. “I think I’d best stay around for a while.”
“Why?”
Her eyes seemed huge and soulful. “The parents are going to go home, talk to the kids, and then they’ll call to unload.”
“Give them time to think things over first,” Dana said. “You go home and dig in the dirt or listen to music or do whatever you like to do to relax.”
“But—“
“No, Pam. Thank you,” Dana said with a smile. “I appreciate what you’re doing, but tomorrow is going to be an incredibly trying day. We both need to be fresh and ready for it.”
She nodded. “Whatever you say, Dr. Perkins.”
Dana left the gym, stopped by her office and collected her handbag. “I’m going now, Pam.”
Seated at her desk, Pam nodded. “Tell Vinn I said hello. See you in the morning.”
“I will.” Dana was encouraged. So far, no calls. It’d been less than an hour, but most of the parents likely hadn’t made it beyond the parking lot before phoning their upper-level students. It was the little ones that would be most difficult, but if any came in from that group, it’d be tomorrow.
Of course, keeping the parents calm was a fantasy. They would soon be in an uproar all over again. Once Dana convinced Vinn to tell the truth, and they realized he was innocent. They would be relieved about that.
Until it hit them that Vinn’s innocence meant a killer was still on the loose.
Chapter Seventeen
Catching a delicious whiff of cinnamon and spice, Dana noted the sign in Batter Up Bakery’s window—Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting—and dropped in for half a dozen. Heidi typically only made those after Halloween through the new year. Pumpkins must be ripening early this year.
Heidi stood on the opposite side of the counter. In her black-and-white uniform and wearing her chef’s hat, she took Dana’s order and warned her, “Nothing low-cal about these, Dr. P., just so you know.”
“Don’t worry, they’re not all for me.” Dana smiled and paid for the purchase.
“Just didn’t want the health nuts chewing on me.” She sniffed and passed the pink-and-white box across the counter. “Trouble with the council, I do not need.”
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“No one does,” Dana said in a conspiratorial whisper. It was the truth. Powerful men and women who were also brilliant and very specific on the community they wanted in Shutter Lake were impossible to thwart. You either agreed with them or suffered their wrath.
That was certainly no secret.
Fortunately, they also happened to be well-grounded, good people. If not, few would thrive in Shutter Lake, and many had done very well here.
“Seeing the mayor, huh?” Heidi prodded.
“Actually, I’m going to see Vinn.”
Heidi didn’t look at all surprised. In fact, she seemed to be expecting it.
“Heidi?” Dana nudged her.
Her cheeks pinked. “Connie Bradshaw was in this morning. Actually, I baked the cupcakes for her. They’re her favorite, and after I upset her, I thought she could use a little comfort food.”
“That was very thoughtful of you.” The discussion brought Troy Duval to mind. “Have you been to Mr. Duval’s today?”
“First thing this morning.” She smiled. “I was surprised. He seemed so happy to see me. Well, it wasn’t me. It was the bagel. Said it reminded him of the many kindnesses Sylvia had shown him. We talked a solid half-hour.” Heidi laughed. “He has a wonderful sense of humor.”
“I’m so glad to hear that.”
“I promised to come see him this weekend. He’s rather frail,” Heidi whispered, though there was no one else in the bakery this late in the afternoon. “I think you were right, Dr. P. The man is starved for company but he can’t get out and around.”
Heidi loved to talk and no doubt Troy Duval was tired of hearing his own voice. Sounded like a good combination for friendly visits to Dana. “Well, I think it’s terrific for both of you. He’s an astute businessman. Can’t hurt to ask him to share his wisdom.”
Her eyes gleamed. “I’ll do that,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about trying a little expansion.”
“Do you need to expand for cupcakes?”
“No,” she said. “But when I was a kid, my mother and I would go to New York twice a year. We always had high tea while we were there.” Her expression went dreamy. “I loved high tea.” She shrugged. “We don’t have anywhere in Shutter Lake that serves high tea.”