A corner of Raine’s mouth lifted. “That’s good to know. Any sister who’d go to this much trouble for this long to find her brother is all right in my book.”
Tessa picked up on a vibe that bore the seeds of something deeper. “So you have a brother?”
“I did. His name was Danny. We lost him in Afghanistan four years ago. It broke my mother’s heart so much that I took over running this place for her. My grandmother’s still around so she helps my mom get through the day.”
“I’m so very sorry.” It was then Tessa zeroed in on what Raine had mentioned earlier. “So you don’t believe that the Buchanan family just decided to go on vacation in the middle of the week without telling anyone?”
“Nope. I knew Livvy. That woman had just gotten both kids in school for most of the day. Little Ally was so excited about first grade. And Livvy looked forward to making the Vitamin Hut a huge success. She thought it might shore up her marriage.”
Tessa tilted her head. “Whoa. So there was trouble there? Was it serious? I mean, serious enough for Walker to do something drastic?”
“Livvy never made a habit of opening up to people about what happened at home, especially to her mom and dad.”
“So the Indigos don’t know? I ask because I spent some time with them the other night. It’s a fifty-fifty split down the middle as to whether they completely trusted Walker or not. Lenore seems to believe there’s no way he would ever hurt Livvy or the kids. But then there’s the fact that Walker told Ryan in an email that Livvy spent his money faster than he could bring it in.”
“His money?” The words came out of Raine’s mouth like acid. “That sounds like Walker. Selfish bastard. See, that’s what I’m talking about. That statement’s another Walker lie.” She shifted closer and whispered, “There were rumors all over town that Walker was having an affair, some woman who worked at a strip club down in Key West named Harlow. Which makes sense when you think about all the trips the guy made down there at least once a week.”
“Really? I don’t think the Indigos know about this Harlow woman because it didn’t come up, not with me there anyway.”
“Hey, Mitch was just in here. He didn’t say a word to me about an affair. We’ve known each other…” Raine stopped in mid-sentence before filling in the blanks. “Let’s just say, we go way back. And yet…if he doesn’t feel comfortable talking to me about this situation, then I don’t feel that it’s my job to tell him his brother-in-law was screwing around with some stripper.”
“Good point. But I don’t have the luxury of tiptoeing around the family’s dynamics. I’m not part of their past.” She thought back to the kiss she’d shared with Jackson. She couldn’t let emotions stand in the way of finding out everything she could about Walker. “For almost two months the man refused to pay Ryan the money he owed him. That’s why he came to town, to collect.”
“Walker did the same thing to Jimmy Don Bates before the Vitamin Hut opened. It took Jimmy Don almost three months to collect on the print advertising he’d done for the store.”
“So Walker was used to doing business like that. Ryan had no idea. It’s one reason I get the sinking feeling that something bad happened. Every day he’s gone, I’m losing the advantage, if I ever had it.”
“I’m right there with ya. Livvy was a good friend, a wonderful mom, a decent person. I’m already beginning to think that something bad happened to all of them. It keeps me up at night wondering what happened to those kids. Tell you what. If you want to wait until tomorrow, which is my day off and I’m off the clock, we could do our own snooping around, maybe drive down to Key West, take one of those missing posters with Walker’s picture and see if anyone IDs him as someone who hung around the strippers.”
“You’d do that?”
“Sure. I’m thinking I should’ve done more sooner rather than wait this long. I want to make up for it now. I don’t want to force you to go with me, though. After all, this trip to Miami would be more about Walker and less about your brother.”
“The way I see it, the more I learn about Walker, the greater chance I have of finding out what happened to Ryan.” Tessa gnawed at her lip, wondering if she should mention that she’d found Ryan’s medical ID bracelet aboard Walker’s boat. Even though this was a new friend she decided to unburden that detail and watched as Raine’s mouth fell open in surprise.
“Oh, my God. That has to mean something sinister happened there.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
Raine rested her chin on her hands. “Then let’s hope my idea yields some viable info. We’ll get you settled in first at my house and then hit the road tomorrow.” She took out a pen and a piece of paper from her pocket and wrote down her address. “I’ll be home a little after six o’clock. Any time after that is fine for moving in.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter Ten - Fire
At the Indigo house, Jackson devoured his to-go order of now cold tacos while Mitch paced the floor. Garret stood at the window watching the driveway for the private detective’s car. Lenore sat at one end of the sofa with her yarn basket at her feet, knitting a mint green sweater top for Ally. Tanner had stretched out in his recliner doing his best to catch a nap.
Eager to take this next step, no one talked about how nervous they were at meeting Marcelli. It seemed too final a step to take. But between bites, Jackson had already shared Tessa’s find on the yacht and what her spying on the Buchanan house had revealed. “No wonder trust became an issue for her. We grew up here and I’m wondering if we ever truly knew any of these people.”
Lenore’s fingers stilled. She let her knitting fall to the side. “I would try to defend that meeting as harmless if not for one thing. I’m still reeling from the email Reverend Dandridge sent out church-wide, an email to all the parishioners stating that Livvy and Walker left on their own. My own pastor suggested how no one had to show up for the search. I wouldn’t even believe he could ever do such a thing, if Laura Davies hadn’t forwarded me the email.”
“It’s bullshit,” Tanner grumbled, rubbing his eyes. “I’m done with Dandridge. There’s no excuse for what he did, even if I’m hoping the man’s right and Livvy’s alive and well somewhere.”
Mitch stopped his pacing back and forth around the room. “You can’t have it both ways, Dad. You either have to wonder why Dandridge would go to all that trouble, or believe that Livvy is sipping a piña colada in Aruba.”
“This is a nightmare,” Tanner declared, running his hands through his thinning hair. “It’s not easy accepting the fact that your own pastor is part of some kind of grand conspiracy.”
“Suit yourself,” Mitch tossed back. “But I don’t appreciate him sending a group email and poisoning our well of volunteers. It was a definite, orchestrated effort.”
Garret cleared his throat. “Car’s pulling up in the driveway, he’s here. Whoops. Wait a minute. Person getting out of the driver’s side is a female, a total babe.”
“Thanks for the play by play, now answer the door,” Tanner suggested, as he brought his recliner to its upright position.
Garret bolted to answer it before the woman had a chance to ring the bell.
Tall and slim, she had long black hair that fell in gentle waves around her shoulders. Her big dark eyes were almond-shaped and flecked golden to bronze depending on the angle. To Garret’s delight, she looked like an exotic siren, a bit dangerous, and ready to lure any conquest into the rocks.
“Hi there, I’m Anniston Marcelli. The private investigator you hired out of Miami.”
“You’re not Anthony,” Jackson stated.
“No, I’m not. And you are?”
Jackson introduced himself. “We were really hoping for Anthony,” he admitted with obvious disappointment.
“Then I’m afraid you’ll have a long time to wait. Two years ago my dad suffered a heart attack. He’s now semi-retired and mostly working as a consultant.”
“But the guy I talked to
led me to believe we’d be meeting with Anthony, uh, Mr. Marcelli,” Garret corrected. “I’m Garret by the way, and this is my brother, Mitch, my dad, Tanner, and my mom, Lenore.”
“Nice to meet all of you. I wish it were under better circumstances. I’m sorry you’re in the middle of a horrible ordeal.”
“Who was it I talked to yesterday?” Garret questioned.
“That must’ve been my brother Sebastian. You see, Sebastian’s handling a tough case of his own right now in Daytona. To keep my dad’s business alive we decided to merge our forces. We return calls, go over the situation with our father and then we decide to either move forward with the case or refer it to someone else, depending on the specifics. But if you’d rather wait until Sebastian is available…”
Garret didn’t wait to scan the room or get the go-ahead from the others. “No, no, it’s fine, you’re fine. We’re anxious to kick this thing into high gear. That’s why the urgency.”
Anniston placed her laptop bag on the entryway table. “If it’s any consolation your sister’s disappearance intrigued my dad enough that it almost tempted him to come out of retirement and make the trip here. But he’s in no condition right now to do that, or to take on such a complicated case that might warrant a strenuous eighteen-hour day. Fortunately, I was able to convince him he could still contribute back in Miami, which he will. He’s tasked me to keep him up-to-date every step of the way. So it’s either work with me, or start from scratch and find another PI. Your choice. I’m prepared to recommend several capable and trustworthy colleagues.”
“Are you fully licensed?” Mitch piped up. “Because we need the best.”
Unoffended at the comment, Anniston dug in her bag. She was used to this kind of reception where she had to prove she could take on tough cases and follow in her father’s footsteps. She handed Mitch her driver’s license, her Florida state license to practice, and her gun permit. “Are we all set now, or do you want to see my Costco card?”
Anniston met Mitch’s eyes and saw the doubt had diminished. “So, if we’re ready to get started, I came prepared with a long list of questions.”
“Sit down and make yourself comfortable,” Lenore finally offered, making room on the couch. “Would you like something cold to drink? I have iced tea.”
“Not right now, thanks.” Anniston took a seat on the sofa next to Lenore. She opened her briefcase and took out the detailed list of everything she needed to cover.
“You’ll have to forgive us,” Lenore began. “We’re a little on edge. We have a lot to tell you and when we finish, you’ll understand the reason we’re so edgy.”
“No need to explain since you’ve all been through such an emotional roller coaster the last few days.”
Jackson got up to throw away his trash. “We’re also expecting a friend of ours to join us. Tessa Connelly has a great deal to add to this initial meeting.”
“Ah, the one with the brother who went missing? Good. My dad and I happened to catch your news conference on Sunday. I’m glad Ryan’s sister will be joining us. Because my father is convinced Ryan’s disappearance is connected to your sister’s, which means, three weeks ago has to be our starting point. I’ll ask for your patience on that because Walker seems to be the common denominator in both cases.”
Disappointed to hear that, Mitch wanted to know, “How patient? When will you get around to investigating what happened to Livvy?”
Anniston decided this particular Indigo needed a little more convincing. “I understand how you must feel. But try to look at this from an outsider’s perspective. In a town of just over four thousand, in a span of three weeks, five people vanish without a trace. The minute my father handed me this case I did my homework, gathering quite a bit of additional background information on all the parties before I ever got in the car this morning. There’s no way to discount the importance of Ryan’s dropping out of sight unless we can account for it. If we find out what happened to him then it might tell us why Walker and Livvy went missing as well.”
The doorbell rang and Garret opened the door to usher Tessa into the mix.
They all crowded into the small living room listening to Anniston go over the how and why of all things pertinent to hiring an investigator. After all the parties had signed the agreement and she listened to the brothers argue over who’d put up the retainer, Anniston got down to business. “So, who wants to go first?”
All eyes turned to Tessa.
Tessa glanced over at Jackson for a little emotional support. The man didn’t disappoint.
“Anniston says Ryan may hold the key to this whole thing.”
Tessa inhaled a nervous breath. “Really? Well, I guess that’s my cue. I’m not sure where to start. Ryan came down here for two reasons. Walker owed him five grand for the website he designed. Plus, Walker offered to take him fishing. Ryan loved to fish. And he’d never been to Florida before, let alone to the Keys, so it seemed like the perfect way to spend his Labor Day weekend. He was so excited about making the trip that he forgot to arm the security system at his condo.”
Anniston jumped in. “Did he often forget that little detail?”
“Not at all. Ryan was a techno geek who latched onto anything new in software or computer hardware. It didn’t matter. Whenever new gadgets hit the market, he was like a kid in a cookie store.”
Tessa opened her purse and took out Ryan’s medical ID bracelet. “But finding this on Walker’s boat is what sent me over the edge. You see, Ryan had epilepsy, from the time he was about five years old he suffered from grand mal seizures. He had to wear this medical alert everywhere he went. The thing is as long as Ryan took his anti-seizure medication they were usually under control.”
Anniston winced at the sight of Tessa handling what was likely evidence. “How often have you picked that up since you found it?”
Tessa sighed. “I put it in my jeans pocket and then transferred it to my bag. I’ve taken it out a couple of times since Monday.”
Anniston removed a plastic bag from her briefcase. “We might still find microscopic DNA on it yet. Slip it into the baggie and I’ll send it to the lab.”
Anniston noticed Tessa’s reluctance to part with it and laid a hand on the woman’s arm. “I’m sorry. Sending it for testing is the only way to know if there’s anything of evidentiary value.”
“I know. Finding it is why I’m convinced Walker did something to him.”
Anniston couldn’t afford to get tunnel vision this quickly, so she prompted Tessa to go on. “So without his medication Ryan is at risk for another seizure?”
“Exactly. And since I have yet to locate his car or other belongings, I have no way of knowing if he has his meds.” That sent Tessa into a replay of the scene last night at Royce’s house. She detailed everything about the argument she’d overheard, everything the six men in the room had said in the heated discussion until she’d backtracked to her car. She took out her cell phone and thumbed through the photos she’d taken. “These are the license plates of the people who were there.”
Anniston’s jaw dropped. “My God, you’re a genius. Who thinks to do that?”
“I’m motivated to find out what happened to my brother.”
Jackson cleared his throat. “It’s obvious from the plates one of the cars belongs to Sinclair, the main person we went to initially. He’s the one who suggested Ryan’s case had something to do with Livvy’s.”
Anniston’s brow creased. “Why would the chief of police do that if he’s somehow involved?”
Jackson proffered a theory. “Granted, Sinclair seemed fine when we spoke to him on Saturday. He even pointed us in Tessa’s direction. His cooperation was either a clever ruse or something changed between then and Monday night. I’m guessing he conned us, otherwise he wouldn’t have been hanging out at Royce’s house in a fierce disagreement. That’s why we put our heads together before you got here and came up with a way to jumpstart your investigation.”
Lenore reached to open
a photo album. “When you’ve lived in a small town for as long as we have, you get to know most of the residents on a personal level. Since Jackson says Tessa can ID the men belonging to those cars. It should begin with the guys who showed up at our house yesterday to get us to believe Livvy took off.” She flipped through church photos they’d taken over the years at all kinds of events. “Here’s Boone Dandridge officiating at Livvy’s wedding.”
Lenore handed it off to Tessa, who studied the photo.
“That explains the collar he wore.”
Lenore’s heart dropped. “I’ve known Boone Dandridge since he first got to town. The man had trouble getting people to come to services back then. I felt sorry for him so I rallied neighbors and coworkers to church. I took the kids to the Sunday school class he used to teach.” She shook her head. “I guess you never really know who your friends are until you go through something like this.”
“I’m sorry,” Tessa said.
“Don’t be. It’s better to know than to go on pretending.” She picked up another photograph. “Here’s one that shows Carson Frawley handing out doughnuts to a group of kids at a Christmas party two years ago.”
Tessa took one look and nodded. “He wasn’t as vocal as the others, but yeah, he was there.”
Lenore had one of Dave Oakerson in his scuba gear showing a group of teens how to work the oxygen tanks. “Now this is a lot trickier. This was taken years ago before Oakerson became mayor. He owned the dive shop in town, taught all my kids how to dive.”
“That’s the man I saw driving the BMW. He arrived last.”
Anniston smiled. “I’m impressed. You guys are doing all my work for me.”
Tanner studied the images of the plates. “Not quite. That still leaves two men a mystery. It could be Roger Baskin. Baskin was one of the men who stood here yesterday and stoked Boone’s theory.”
“I don’t have a picture of Roger,” Lenore admitted. “You see Roger doesn’t attend Life Stone. I’m not sure where he goes to church if at all. But his connection to Royce goes way back. He’s the person Royce trusts to fix those expensive cars he owns. Whenever they need tinkering with, it’s Roger’s responsibility to keep them all running. You sometimes see Roger driving Royce around town, acting like his chauffeur.”
The Indigo Brothers Trilogy Boxed Set Page 15