by Tim Kizer
“What’s her name?”
“Vera.”
“Why would she abduct and kill your daughter?”
“To hurt me. I think she’s angry at me: our parents gave her away and kept me.”
“How would she know you’d find out that Melissa was your daughter?”
“She made Melissa’s body hard to identify so you’d have to run her DNA through your database. She knew my DNA was in the database.”
“Do you know where Vera lives?”
“No. Her adoptive parents’ names are Andrew and Natalie Walsh. They lived in Burbank when they adopted Vera. They’re around sixty now.”
“Do you think Vera has something to do with your mother’s disappearance?”
“Yes. I think she might have killed my mother.”
“Can you give me your father’s phone number?”
“Sure.” Alice told Hagan Walter’s number.
“What’s his name?”
“Walter Cannon.”
“I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thank you.”
“Goodbye, Alice.”
“Goodbye.”
When Alice returned to the living room, David said, “I see you bought a surveillance camera.”
“Yep.”
“Just one?”
“Yes. What movie are we going to see?”
David told her the name of the movie. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.” Alice grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite.
They got in David’s car, and when David started the engine, Alice said, “I know who abducted and killed my daughter.”
“Who?”
Alice told David about Vera.
“Why do you think it was her?” David asked.
“There’s a witness who saw Melissa with a woman who looked like me on the day of the murder.”
“Are you going to look for Vera?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Have you told the police about her?”
“Yes.”
“Your folks should have told you about Vera a long time ago.”
“Yeah.”
Kevin Munroe (now Alice was sure it wasn’t his real name) and Jeb might be Vera’s partners. Munroe might know where Vera lived.
What was the name of Munroe’s apartment complex?
It took Alice about a minute to remember the name of the complex. Crestwood Condominiums.
What was his apartment number?
It was 2D.
Alice got on the Internet and found the address of the Crestwood Condominiums.
She doubted Munroe lived in that apartment; Jeb had probably rented it for a few days using a false name. But she figured it wouldn’t hurt to check.
Alice didn’t want to confront Munroe unarmed, so she decided to go to the Crestwood Condominiums next Tuesday, after she picked up her gun.
2
When they came home from the movie theater, Alice went into the study and called her father.
“Do you have a gun?” she asked.
“Yes. Why?”
“Can I borrow it for a few hours tomorrow?”
“What for?”
“I’m going to meet a guy who might know where Vera lives.”
“Is he dangerous?”
“I think so.”
“I’ll go with you. Where does he live?”
“Culver City.”
“What’s his address?”
“Do you have a pen?”
“Yes.”
Alice told Walter Munroe’s address.
“What time are you going to be there?” Walter asked.
“One p.m. Don’t forget to bring the gun.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodbye.”
Alice opened her laptop, went to peopletrace.com, a people-finder website, and searched for Vera Walsh. There were nine matches, two of whom were Alice’s age. One of the two women lived in Pasadena (Alice assumed it was herself) and the other in Bakersfield.
Alice purchased a full search report for the Vera Walsh in Bakersfield and discovered that it did not give the woman’s date of birth. The report listed Vera’s address but not her phone number.
Alice entered Vera’s address into Google Maps and got directions to it. Vera lived one hundred and twenty miles from Alice’s place. It was a four-hour drive both ways.
As Alice looked at the map, there was a knock on the door and David entered the room.
“Are you okay?” David walked up to the desk.
“Yeah. I’m trying to find Vera.”
“Any luck?”
“No.”
“I left you three slices.”
“Okay. Do you know anyone in the NSA?”
“No. Why?”
“The NSA would find Vera in no time.”
“Yes, they would.”
When David left the room, Alice went back to peopletrace.com and searched for Andrew Walsh in California. She found fifty-three matches. One of the men was related to Natalie Walsh. The guy was sixty years old and lived in San Jose.
The full search report didn’t list Andrew’s phone number.
Bakersfield was about two hundred and fifty miles from San Jose. If the Vera Walsh in Bakersfield didn’t turn out to be her sister, she would go to San Jose.
Chapter 36
1
When Alice got out of the car, she saw her father walking down the street toward her with a messenger bag over his shoulder. He had on blue jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and a blue baseball cap. She waved to him, and he waved back.
“When did you get here?” Alice asked as Walter approached.
“Ten minutes ago.”
Alice lowered her voice. “Did you bring the gun?”
“Yeah.” Walter patted his bag.
“Thanks for coming.”
“No problem.”
“Here’s the plan. If he’s alone, I’ll enter his apartment and you’ll go in right after me with your gun drawn. He may be armed.”
“Who’s this guy?”
“His name’s Kevin Munroe. I don’t know what he does for a living.”
“Are there security cameras in the building?”
“No.”
Alice recognized the Crestwood Condominiums when she saw it; it really was the place where Munroe had claimed to live. She buzzed Apartment 4E. A woman’s voice answered, “Who is it?”
“It’s Jane from Two-C. Could you let me in? I left the key at home.”
The lock buzzed and clicked. Mentally thanking the woman from 4E, Alice opened the door and they went inside.
“What kind of gun is it?” she whispered to her father, pointing at the bag.
“Glock,” Walter whispered back.
“Is it loaded?”
“Yes.”
They met no one as they climbed the stairs and walked down the second-floor hall. When they reached Munroe’s apartment, Alice whispered to Walter, “This is it.”
Walter stepped away from her, then opened his bag and stuck his hand in it.
Looking at the peephole, Alice wondered if Munroe would open the door.
He probably would. He had no reason to fear her.
“Are you ready?” Alice asked Walter.
He nodded.
Vera might be in Munroe’s apartment right now. Her nightmare could be over today.
Alice rang the bell. A middle-aged Asian man in a tank top and shorts opened the door.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Does Kevin Munroe live here?”
“No.”
“Do you know him?”
“No.”
“Did you just move into this apartment?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“A week ago.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry I disturbed you.”
The man shut the door.
She was right. Munroe had never lived in this apartment. She had no doubt that the apartmen
t had been rented under a false name, so the landlord couldn’t give her any useful information.
“He moved out,” Alice said to Walter.
“Do you have his phone number?”
“He changed it.”
When they went outside, Walter said, “Are you hungry? I saw a sushi place a block from here. My treat.”
“I could eat.”
The sushi place was called Sakura Sushi. Alice ordered a spicy tuna roll and Walter a shrimp tempura roll. As they waited for their food, Alice asked her father, “Can I borrow your gun till Tuesday?”
“What do you need it for?”
“Protection. I’ll bring it back myself.”
“You’re not going to do anything reckless, are you?”
“No, I’m not, I swear.”
Walter nodded. “Okay, I’ll give you the gun. I’ll pick it up next Saturday.”
“Thank you, Dad. By the way, has Detective Hagan called you?”
“No. Who is he?”
“He’s investigating Melissa’s murder. I gave him your number.”
“I’ll let you know when he calls.”
After they left Sakura Sushi, Walter took his messenger bag from his car and got into the back of Alice’s Altima. He pulled out the clip, ejected the round in the chamber, and then explained to Alice how to use his pistol.
“Be careful with it,” he said. “I don’t want you to accidentally shoot yourself.”
“I’ll be very careful,” Alice promised.
“I assume you know it’s illegal to carry a gun without a permit in California.”
“Yes, I know that.”
“Don’t do anything reckless. See you next Saturday.” Walter climbed out of the car.
As Alice placed the Glock in her handbag, she remembered that she hadn’t removed the GPS tracker. She unplugged the tracker from the OBD-II port and put it in her bag.
What about the surveillance camera?
She would leave the camera on the shoe rack in case Vera or one of her friends broke into her house.
Alice checked her watch. It was five minutes past two.
If she left now, she would arrive in Bakersfield around four and in San Jose around nine. Although she had a gun, it was safer to have a partner who could come to her rescue if something bad happened to her. She would ask David to accompany her.
Chapter 37
1
“How was your meeting with your dad?” David asked when Alice sat down on the couch.
“It was fine. Are you busy tomorrow?”
“No. Why?”
“There’s a woman in Bakersfield who might be Vera. I want to go and check. Can you come with me?”
“Are you going there tomorrow?”
“I’m leaving now. It may take two days because I may have to go to San Jose to meet a guy who might be Vera’s adoptive father.”
“Okay, I’ll go.”
“Thank you.”
“Where did you get their addresses?”
“On the Internet.”
Alice went to the bedroom and packed a blouse, a pair of panties, and a pair of socks in a duffel bag. David walked into the room with her tablet computer in his hand and said, “Did you pack my toothbrush?”
“Not yet.”
Alice placed the toothpaste and her and David’s toothbrushes in a zipper pouch and then put the pouch in the duffel bag.
“This is exciting. We’re going on an adventure.” David smiled.
“Yes, we are.”
2
On the way to Interstate 210, they stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank. When Alice pulled out of the gas station, David said, “What are you going to do if that woman in Bakersfield turns out to be your sister?”
“I’ll call Detective Hagan.”
“We could make a citizen’s arrest. She might run away, you know.”
“That’s a good idea.”
When she accused Vera of abducting Melissa, Vera might decide to kill her.
She might kill me then and there.
She would talk to her sister outside. She didn’t think Vera would dare murder her in broad daylight in front of her house.
It would be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Vera had murdered Melissa. What if Vera was acquitted?
I’ll take the law into my own hands and kill the bitch.
Vera deserved to die. She had abducted and murdered Melissa and she had probably murdered Rebecca.
She would buy a gun from a private seller so there would be no paper trail, and blow Vera’s brains out with it.
3
At five o’clock, Walter called and told Alice that Detective Hagan had talked to him about Vera. He had given the detective the same information he had given to Alice.
At a quarter past five, they arrived at the Bakersfield Vera Walsh’s house, a tidy beige rancher. Alice opened the voice recorder app on her phone, grabbed her bag, and said to David, “If she shoots me, call the police.”
“Let me go with you.”
“No. I want you to stay here and watch.”
“Don’t go inside.” David pulled out his phone.
“I won’t.”
Alice got out of the car and walked to Vera Walsh’s house. The street was quiet. There was an old Winnebago parked in Vera’s driveway. Alice unzipped her bag, glanced at the pistol inside it, then tapped the Record button in the voice recorder app and rang the bell, her heart pounding. Several seconds later she rang the bell again.
No one answered.
Alice got back in her Altima. “No one’s home.”
Maybe Vera had seen her through the peephole and decided not to open the door?
At 5:32 p.m. a gray Toyota Camry pulled up in front of Vera’s place. The driver’s door opened, and a dark-haired woman in a T-shirt and jeans stepped out of the car. She was carrying a plastic bag.
Alice tapped the Record button in the voice recorder app, climbed out of her Altima, and called, “Vera!”
The woman turned to her and said, “Yes?”
Her T-shirt had huge red lips pictured on it. She did not look like Alice.
Maybe this woman was her sister’s friend or roommate.
Alice started toward Vera. “Good evening. Are you Vera Walsh?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Do you live in this house?” Alice pointed to Vera’s house.
“Yes.”
“Are you thirty-three?”
“Yes. Do I know you?”
Alice stopped two paces from Vera and said, “I’m sorry. I think I got the wrong address.”
This woman wasn’t her twin sister. There was no resemblance between them.
Vera didn’t appear to have undergone facial reconstruction surgery.
“No problem.” Vera smiled. “Have a good day.”
“Bye.”
When Alice got into the backseat, David said, “She’s not your sister.”
“No, she’s not.”
“Do you want me to drive?”
“Yeah.”
David got out, rounded the front of the car, and climbed behind the wheel. “Are we going to San Jose?”
“Yes.”
Alice gave David the San Jose Andrew Walsh’s address, then went on the Internet and booked a hotel room in San Jose for tonight through a travel website.
Chapter 38
1
As they approached Andrew Walsh’s house, Alice wondered if the guy would be mad at her for paying him a visit at half past nine in the evening.
He probably would, but she didn’t care.
There were lights in the windows of Walsh’s house. Someone was home.
“If I don’t call you in ten minutes, call the police,” Alice said to David.
The night air was cool, crickets were singing in the grass. Alice opened the voice recorder app on her phone and tapped the Record button.
If Vera was in Walsh’s house right now, she would not accuse her of abducting and killing Melissa. Sh
e would pretend to be happy to see her, and then call Hagan. Hagan could ask the local cops to arrest Vera, and she would watch Walsh’s place until they arrived.
A lean man in his sixties, with thinning gray hair, opened the door.
“Did you lose your—” He stopped in mid-sentence.
“Hi, how are you doing?” Alice said. “Sorry to disturb you so late. Can I talk to Andrew Walsh?”
“Sure. I’m Andrew Walsh.”
The man had a surprised look on his face.
“I’m looking for a woman named Vera Walsh. Her parents’ names were Andrew and Natalie Walsh. Do you have a daughter named Vera?”
“Yes.” Walsh stepped aside. “Please come in.”
When Alice entered the house, Walsh said, “What’s your name?”
“Alice.”
Walsh pointed at the brown leather couch and said, “Please take a seat. Would you like something to drink?”
“No, thanks.” Alice sat down on the couch and scanned the framed photographs on the walls. Her sister wasn’t in any of the pictures.
“I did have a daughter named Vera,” Walsh said, his gray eyes fixed on Alice. “And she looked like you. Actually, she looked exactly like you.”
“Was Vera adopted?”
“Yes, she was.” Walsh froze for a moment and then said, “Oh my God. Are you Vera’s twin sister? Vera had a twin sister.”
“I think I am. Can I see Vera’s pictures?”
“Sure.” Walsh left the room and came back half a minute later with an eight-by-ten framed photograph. “Here you go.” He handed the picture to Alice.
The woman in the photograph looked exactly like Alice.
Did the Walshes know that Vera had stolen Melissa from her?
Maybe they helped her steal Melissa.
Natalie Walsh was too old to have been “Ashley Coates” but the right age to have been “Megan Stanwick.”
Alice set the photograph on the coffee table.
“Is this Natalie?” She pointed to a picture of a blonde woman on the wall to her left.
“Yes.”
Natalie did not look like the woman who had told her about Mellissa’s death.
“Are you still married to her?”
“Yes, I am. She’s with her friends. She’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
“Where does Vera live?”
Walsh frowned. “Vera died four years ago.”