Absence of Alice

by Sherry Harris

  Awesome careened up to the barn in his SUV. Jumped out and gathered Stella to him like she was the world’s most precious gem. He hadn’t even glanced at me. He didn’t speak to me even though I’d been standing with my arm around Stella. I missed her warm presence next to me when Awesome swept her up into his arms, carried her to his car, and drove her off. I assumed to a hospital to be checked out.

  I realized it was going to be a long night and I would have to answer a lot of unpleasant questions. “Harriet, I can leave you out of all of this.”

  “Don’t lie for me. I agreed to go along with this and I’ll take full responsibility for my role. After all, what can they do to me? I’m retired.”

  Maybe she couldn’t get in trouble with the FBI, but there could be legal consequences.

  Crime scene techs showed up, and soon police tape was stretched around the barn and the field. People from Seth’s office showed up, but not Seth.

  An hour later Harriet and I were at the police station. Separated. I didn’t know where she was, but I sat in a vacant office by myself. No one knew yet about the connection between Stella’s kidnapping and poor dead Crystal Olson. I had my arms wrapped around my stomach. It cramped just thinking about it. I worried about the kind of legal trouble I might be in for withholding information about Crystal and Stella. I only hoped that, with my finding and rescuing Stella, all else would be forgiven.

  Since they hadn’t taken my phone, I called Vincenzo DiNapoli, one of Angelo’s many cousins. Vincenzo was a shark of a lawyer with rumored mob connections. He’d gotten Mike Titone off charges before. I reached an answering service, not surprising at this time of night, and left a message saying I was at the Ellington police station and possibly in serious trouble. I knew the drill while I waited to hear back from Vincenzo. Keep my answers short and don’t volunteer anything. How sad was it that I knew that? And how could I not volunteer anything about Crystal Olson’s death?

  The minute I said anything about Crystal, the two state troopers would be brought in. The thought of facing Trooper Kilgard again was worse than thinking about Awesome, who probably wanted to kill me at this point. He could probably do it a thousand different ways and hide my body where no one would find it. Then there was Seth. I’d tried to call him once but it went to voicemail. I didn’t leave a message. His attempted kidnapping was probably connected to this too. What would he think when he found out I’d withheld information not only about Crystal’s death but about his own kidnapper? Oh, lord, and Mike Titone. He might be the scariest of all when he found out he’d been sent out here by the kidnapper to make my life more difficult. After going through the list of people who were going to be mad at me, maybe facing Trooper Kilgard wasn’t all that frightening.

  All the justifications I had made in my head the last few days—not to say anything to the police about Stella and Crystal—suddenly didn’t make much sense. I tried to reach Seth again. This time by sending a text. Are you okay?

  I waited, watching the dots move across the phone until a heart appeared. I’m sorry I can’t be there. The office door slammed open behind me, hitting the wall and making me jump. Pellner stood there. His deep dimples indicated that this wasn’t going to go well. I wanted to cry or better yet run. I did neither. Instead I sat quietly, waiting to hear what he had to say.

  He tossed a notepad onto the desk and sat in the desk chair on the other side. “I don’t even know what to say to you.”

  That’s how it started. He went on with the “how could you” and “what were you thinking” and “do you realize what could have happened to Stella” comments.

  “Do you think I didn’t agonize over what could have happened to Stella?” I wanted to jump up, slam my hands down on the desk, and get in his face. None of that would help. I folded my hands in my lap and squeezed until my knuckles turned white. Pellner noticed.

  “He gave me a set of rules I had to follow or he said I’d never see Stella again. He could have killed Stella.”

  “Or you.” Pellner leaned forward. “Tell me about these rules.” He sounded skeptical.

  I listed them for Pellner. Even the one about Mike Titone. Let the chips fall, as they say.

  “Why Mike Titone?” he asked.

  I lifted and dropped a shoulder. Oh, to hell with it. “He’s given me some help with things in the past.” I’d recently gotten out from under all the things I owed Mike for. Some of his help I didn’t want Pellner or anyone else to ever find out about. I’m sure Mike felt the same way.

  “How did you know the kidnapper would have followed through?”

  And there was the can of worms, Pandora’s box, the genie out of the bottle. The question that led right to what had happened with Crystal Olson. “I couldn’t take the risk. Not with Stella kidnapped and in danger.”

  Pellner tapped a finger on the desk. “Does this have anything to do with the body you found?”

  I wished he hadn’t figured that out. But Pellner was no dummy, so I wasn’t surprised. “I’ll talk after my lawyer arrives.”

  Pellner rocked back in the desk chair like I’d punched him. “Your lawyer?” His voice dropped. Threatened.

  “Yes.”

  He put his forearms on the chair and leaned in. “Sarah, it’s me. You can tell me.”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t. “Vincenzo should be on the way.”

  Pellner shook his head too. Disappointed. How did his five kids ever get away with anything? That look was almost enough to make me spill everything I knew. Almost.

  Pellner and I sat there staring at each other—well, I felt Pellner’s stare. I’d broken mine off after the first few seconds and looked at the scratched surface of the metal desk. I finally cracked. “Do you know who owns the barn?”

  Pellner frowned at me. I didn’t think he was going to answer, but he relaxed his shoulders. “Yousef and June Ghannam.”

  “The same people who own the house Crystal was found in?”

  Pellner nodded. “Yousef was my dentist. At one point they thought they’d try their hand at farming. They quickly realized they didn’t have time with their dental practice.”

  “Do you think they had anything to do with Stella’s kidnapping or Crystal’s murder?”

  “It seems unlikely.”

  “Do they have kids?” Maybe they had children that I’d run into at some point.

  “A daughter who is going to college in Scotland.”

  “Have any of them ever been in trouble before?”

  Pellner shook his head. “Do you have any connection to them?”

  “Not one that I know of. I go to a different dentist.”

  “I shared information with you, Sarah. Now, why don’t you tell me what you know about Crystal.”

  “I appreciate that you did. But I’ll wait to say anything further until Vincenzo arrives.”

  Pellner leaned back again, and we sat in tortuous silence—for me at least—until we heard a knock on the door fifteen minutes later. I looked up. Pellner had a puzzled expression on his face as he looked over my shoulder. I turned to see why. Instead of Vincenzo, Emil Kowalski, Rosalie DiNapoli’s nephew, stood there.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Vincenzo is out of town and asked me to fill in for him.” Emil wore tan cashmere slacks and a burgundy V-neck cashmere sweater with a white, button-down shirt peeking out above the V.

  “You know this guy?” Pellner’s dimples deepened even more.

  I nodded. “No offense, Emil, but I need a lawyer not a businessman.”

  “I am a lawyer. Mostly international criminal law, but I maintained all my bar credentials here in Massachusetts too.” He stepped up to the desk and shook Pellner’s hand. “If you don’t mind giving us the room, I need to have a word with my client.”

  After Pellner walked out, unhappily I might add, Emil took his vacated chair. He pushed up his sweater sleeves and rolled up the sleeves of his cuffed white shirt. After that he extracted an expensive-looking silver
pen and a leather-covered notebook from his pocket. Finally, he directed his gaze at me. I hadn’t gotten over the shock of having him here and not Vincenzo. Vincenzo I trusted. Emil I wasn’t sure about.

  I shifted in my seat. “Don’t I have to give you a retainer to be your client?”

  He smiled, open, warm. “It’s covered under your agreement with Vincenzo.”

  What was my agreement with Vincenzo? I had some vague recollection of giving him ten bucks one time. “I didn’t realize I had an ongoing agreement with Vincenzo.”

  “According to Vincenzo you do. I trust him. Don’t you?” Emil cocked his head briefly to one side as he said it.

  “Yes. Of course. He’s helped me out before.” Me and a few of my friends. Vincenzo had helped me and not charged me much. I wondered why. Maybe since I knew Angelo I got the friends-and-family discount.

  “Why don’t you just start at the beginning and finish with how you ended up here.” Emil waved a hand around.

  “It’s complicated.”

  “It always is.” He leaned forward. “I’m here to help you.”

  His voice was soothing. What did I have to lose?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “My friend, Stella Wild, was kidnapped.”

  “Are you talking about the opera singer Stella Wild?”

  “Yes. You’ve heard of her?”

  “Not only heard of her, but I heard her sing in Italy. Multiple times. She was mesmerizing. And then, poof—she just disappeared from the opera scene.”

  I didn’t want to tell him about Stella’s past woes with drugs. “She’s singing again, and she’s still amazing. Last fall she was in a production of The Phantom of the Opera and she was supposed to leave last Friday to appear in another staging in LA.”

  “Then I hope I get to hear her sing again sometime. But let’s get back to what happened with the kidnapper.”

  Emil jotted down notes as I talked. His handwriting was sloppy, and he seemed to use some kind of shorthand. If anyone ever stole his notes, good luck to them at being able to decipher his handwriting. Maybe he did that on purpose. He’d occasionally stop me and ask me a question, but he mostly just listened and wrote. If I paused, he looked up at me encouragingly, but waited patiently for me to continue.

  It was almost midnight when I finished talking. I yawned.

  “Do you want to go home and finish this tomorrow?” Emil asked.

  “No. I have information the police are going to need. Stella might be safe, but her kidnapper is out there.” Seth’s almost kidnapper and Crystal’s probable murderer. “I have to do this now.”

  Emil gave me a brief nod. “Okay, then my next move is to get hold of the DA and get you immunity for explaining what you know. I’ll make some phone calls.”

  “Um, I’m seeing the DA.”

  Emil smiled. “I’m aware. Aunt Rosalie filled me in. That will probably work to our advantage.”

  I hoped so. But part of me worried how this could impact Seth’s career. His mother would have even more reason to dislike me after this. “Wait. Harriet Ballou could be in trouble too. She helped me out. She needs immunity too.”

  Emil stood. “I’ll be right back.”

  * * *

  “Be right back” turned into another hour. But by then I had immunity for any crimes I might have committed in the last few days, as did Harriet. I almost couldn’t believe it. A few minutes later Emil and I walked down to a bigger conference room. Pellner, the two state troopers, two assistant DAs, and Awesome were already in there. I was relieved I didn’t have to face Seth yet. Awesome leaned against the back wall, arms crossed, jaw clenched. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. Harriet sat there with a woman. Her own lawyer perhaps. I’d have to pay for Harriet’s legal expenses since I had dragged her into this mess.

  By now they all had to know, from information Stella must have given them, that I’d known about her kidnapping for several days. And if Stella hadn’t already told them, I’m sure Frida, her son, his friends, and Gennie had all been interviewed too.

  “Before Sarah starts, I just want to remind you that, because of her actions tonight, Stella is safe. Sarah put herself at risk to save Stella. The kidnapper is the monster here.” Emil looked from person to person as he spoke. “Not Sarah.”

  No one nodded in agreement. Awesome’s jaw didn’t unclench.

  “And Sarah did what she thought best. What any of you would have done to protect a loved one.”

  I started speaking. I gave just the facts—talking almost robotically. Taking out the emotional turmoil I’d gone through during the past few days. I didn’t try to justify my decisions. Although my voice betrayed me a couple of times by shaking. When I got to the part about being sent to find Alice in Wonderland, knowing that she was connected in some way to my kidnapper, all hell broke loose.

  Awesome shook his head in disgust. Pellner looked so disappointed it almost broke my heart. Only Harriet and her lawyer remained stoic. But Harriet knew most of this story already.

  “She obstructed our investigation. Lied to us,” Kilgard said. “She’s got immunity?” She looked at me with her psychopath eyes like she wanted to leap across the table and do me in. I couldn’t really blame her.

  Emil put a hand on my quivering arm. “Let’s let Sarah continue,” he said.

  I cleared my throat, looked at a spot above Kilgard’s head, and started talking again. I told the story about what had happened in the cemetery.

  “Why didn’t you tell me what was going on when I saw you that night?” Pellner asked.

  “Or me. At any point. Any point,” Awesome said. His voice like a grizzly’s growl.

  Emil started to say something, but this time I put a hand on his arm. “I couldn’t risk it. The kidnapper may have some link to the police. He knew as soon as I called about Alice in Wonderland. Like I said earlier, he docked me twelve hours after I made that call. Twelve fewer hours before he killed Stella.” I paused. Swallowed. “I told you. I gave myself three days to find her with the least amount of risk. And I found Stella.” Thank heavens. I’d found her. But I knew the trust I had with these men was broken. Maybe forever. While that thought hurt, I’d gotten Stella back.

  Who knows what she was thinking about me though. Stella might hate me as much as Awesome seemed to. Then there was Seth, who wasn’t even here. Sure, he’d sent me a heart emoji in his last text and said he couldn’t be here. But couldn’t he have checked in on me for a minute, even if it were only on the phone?

  “Sarah, go on,” Emil said.

  I explained about having Elmer Norman pick me up and the partial license plate number he’d given me. Awesome looked hopeful, but the car was probably stolen, a dead end. I left out the part about calling CJ and about visiting Gregory Kiah. There was no reason to drag either of them into this mess.

  Awesome shook his head while I talked about assembling my team of friends to help me rescue Stella. He muttered something that included the words “stupid” and “reckless.” At this point I didn’t care anymore. Stella was safe. That was all that really mattered. A half an hour later I finished the story. No one seemed too concerned that a group of people had formed an anti-Sarah group, that one of them—maybe all of them—could be behind all this. Maybe they were all going to go over and join the group.

  Harriet spoke briefly, confirming what I’d said.

  “Just one more thing,” I said. It struck me while I was talking. “The realtor who is the agent for the house where Crystal was found also had the listing for the store where I was sent to find the Alice in Wonderland doll. Anyone in her office would have access to both buildings.”

  “We’ll check it out,” Rodriquez said. “You stay out of it.”

  I bobbed my head, knowing that this was probably just one more lie to add to the long list of them. Staying out of it would be difficult for me.

  “We’ll need your phone and Stella’s phone,” Kilgard said. “Maybe it won’t be too late to find a way to track the perpetrator. O
f course, that’s a lot less likely than it would have been three days ago.”

  She turned those empty eyes back on me. I just stared back into those blank lagoons of brown, too tired to be intimidated. Then I grabbed my purse from where it hung on the back of my chair and dug out the phones. I handed them to Emil who slid them across the conference table to Kilgard.

  Emil stood. “That’s it then. If you have any questions for Sarah, contact me.” He passed out business cards. Emil looked at me. “Let’s go.” His voice was gentle, nonjudgmental.

  As I stood I took one last look around the room. Pellner and Awesome didn’t look at me. Kilgard continued her hard stare. Harriet smiled and mouthed, “Don’t worry.” Her lawyer, if she was one, looked relieved. At the door Emil stepped back so I could leave first.

  Awesome caught up with us in the hall. “I need a word with Sarah.” His look at Emil seemed to say “don’t try to stop me.”

  Emil opened his mouth, but I put a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. Give us a minute.” Emil frowned, but walked further on down the hall. I’d take whatever Awesome had to dish out like a woman. I didn’t mean by crying or sniveling. But by being strong and empathetic. I gathered myself as if I were going to get punched.

  Awesome glanced up and down the hall. It was empty except for the two of us and Emil. He leaned in close, bent his head down toward me. “Please tell me that you didn’t send me those texts? The ones that were supposedly from Stella.”

  My back was trapped against the wall. Awesome’s breath was hot on my nose. I could almost feel the waves of tension radiating off him like a force field. If this had been a dark alley, I would have been terrified. But I knew, angry as he was, Awesome was a good man and would never hurt me.