Caro shrugged. “It’s a pretty generous donation, either way.”
Sadie nodded and read some more, impressed with how many areas of the breast cancer community the Hendrickses had moved into. One particular jewelry item, the “Pink Posy Pin,” was advertised on the sidebar of every page, and Sadie clicked on the graphic to see why it was so popular.
The Pink Posy Pin, designed by Anita Hendricks, is a representation of the hope that Pink Posy Boutique and The Red Rock Cancer Foundation are dedicated to. Made of sterling silver, with enamel inlay and pinch-pin backing, the simple design is meant to remind us that there is always room for hope, even if it begins as a very small seed. Wear it for your sister. Wear it for your friend. Wear it as a tribute to your own journey toward a second chance.
Like a flower that blooms every spring, we can grow hope one petal at a time!
*100% of all proceeds of the Pink Posy Pin goes directly to breast cancer research
One hundred percent? Wow. The Pink Posy Pin seemed to be the boutique’s version of the pink ribbon that symbolized breast cancer awareness. Sadie scrolled down to the price and online ordering information and felt her eyebrows raise—$189.00 for a pin that wasn’t more than an inch in diameter? Sadie scrolled back up and looked at the pin in greater detail. It was a simple flower made of sterling silver, with a rhinestone center and five pink petals. It was pretty, but $200 seemed like a steep price to Sadie’s mind. Maybe it was something advertised that no one actually bought. Or maybe Sadie was being too cynical about the symbolism it represented to women whose lives had been directly affected by breast cancer. With a hundred percent of proceeds going to research, maybe the inflated price was to amplify the charitable value of the piece.
She clicked around the website a little longer and then reviewed what she’d put on the timeline so far, noting that the boutique had been opened a year ago in February. This year they’d introduced a new jewelry item—a Pink Posy Pendant—to celebrate the anniversary. After reading through the website for a few more moments, Sadie went back to the articles and found herself inundated with questions again. Could there have been something else contributing to Dr. Hendricks’s emotional state in the months leading up to his disappearance? Had he hiked Chuckwalla before? Some of the articles pointed out that Chuckwalla wasn’t the best choice for accessing the backcountry because it was so close to St. George. It was stated over and over again that there hadn’t been any activity on his phone or bank accounts since April eighth. She wished she could look at those records herself but knew that wasn’t likely.
For her part, Caro was reading some hiking forums that had threads relating to Dr. Hendricks’s disappearance. She found that many stories about disappearances—his and others—often unraveled into conspiracy theories ranging from government cover-ups to alien abductions.
“It does seem like the backpacking community—if that’s what you call it—is aware of his disappearance,” Caro said after laughing about a particularly fervent comment regarding little green men going after hikers who accidentally wandered into their invisible research fields. “Search and Rescue issued an alert about him in May with the understanding that at this point, it will likely be another hiker that discovers his body.”
“Can you make a list of all the different people who seem to be commenting on those threads? See if anyone stands out as more interested than others. You can leave out the nut-jobs.”
“Ah, but the nut-jobs are so interesting,” Caro said. They lapsed into companionable silence again, save for the tapping of keyboards and the scratching of Caro’s pen as she made notes on the hotel’s notepad.
Sadie found another article about Anita’s cancer and copied the link.
“I’m e-mailing a link to Tess about Anita’s cancer and the foundation,” she said. Because there was no printer in their hotel room, Tess was printing anything they needed at her home.
“Anita’s lucky to have been so involved in the early detection community,” Caro said, stretching her arms over her head and twisting from side to side. “Tess said Anita didn’t even lose her hair because she got what they call ‘light chemo.’ Other than losing some weight, Tess says you’d never know she even had cancer.”
She turned back to her screen to look at the photo of Anita that had run with the article. She was quite thin, but not emaciated like many other cancer patients seemed to be. Nor was she puffy and swollen like others. “It’s a real testament to their program, isn’t it?” Caro said. “That she caught it so quickly.”
“And yet Dr. Hendricks seemed so upset by it.” Sadie looked at the picture again. Was Anita still having treatments when this photo was taken? It was dated in February, and Anita had claimed to be cancer free in March.
“Well, it’s still cancer and he dealt with a lot of women who aren’t nearly so lucky. It would be a tough diagnosis regardless.”
“I’m not downplaying the impact of it. I’m just a little surprised that he wasn’t interviewed for any of these articles. They all feature Anita, but not a single one has so much as a quote from him.”
Caro cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brow. “That is interesting. Maybe it was just too much for him to take.” She waved toward the other articles. “A lot of people said he was withdrawn following her diagnosis—maybe that was his way of coping.”
“Lori said pretty much the same thing,” Sadie confirmed, but she hadn’t disposed of the idea that something else could have been going on with Dr. Hendricks behind the scenes. “I wonder if Dr. Waters noticed something, seeing as how they worked together every day. Did Nikki already set up a time for Tess to talk to him about the scrapbook?”
“I don’t know,” Caro said. She pulled out her phone and started typing in a text. It was after ten o’clock, and Sadie wondered if Tess had already gone to bed. Sadie herself was feeling the ten-hour drive she’d split up between yesterday and today.
Caro’s phone chimed. “She says Nikki is still working on it. I guess Dr. Waters has been crazy busy since Dr. Hendricks’s disappearance.” She put her phone down.
“It will be good to get his perspective,” Sadie said before covering a yawn with one hand.
“I guess you haven’t heard back from Pete?” Caro asked, referring to the e-mail Sadie had sent to her fiancé. Sadie looked at her ring. Zing.
“I’ll be really surprised if he even checks his e-mail on the trip.” She didn’t mention that she hadn’t said anything to Pete about Dr. Hendricks or the minor investigations they’d begun to make into his disappearance. She knew it would worry him, and with their limited ability to communicate, he wouldn’t be much help to her anyway. So why bother him with details that would simply take away from his trip? It was the first time she’d been on a case and had not had him at least available to her, though. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Anxious, certainly, not to hear his steadying opinions, but it also made her feel as though she were, in a way, taking on his role. Caro and Tess were now the newbies and Sadie was the one with experience and perspective they didn’t have. It was an interesting shift. Sadie hoped she was up to it.
“So—what should we focus on tomorrow?” Caro asked.
“I wonder if Nikki might have the names of other people Tess can talk to—it makes more sense to have Tess do that part since she’s the one doing the scrapbook. I’m encouraged by how much we learned from Lori—getting more firsthand accounts of his behavior in the weeks before he disappeared could give us a great deal more information to work with.” She paused and then looked at Caro again. “Are you mad that I ended up talking to Lori like I did after telling you guys we shouldn’t do this?”
“No. You have good instincts and you follow them—I saw it as confirmation that my interest in pursuing this case wasn’t as out of line as I’d started to think it might be.”
“Are things going to be okay with Tess, do you think? I was having a hard time reading her.”
“I think Tess is just happy to be workin
g the case again. She feels very driven about it, and you being on board probably confirms the pull she already felt.” She finished with a yawn. “Are you at a good stopping point? I’m about ready to turn in.”
Sadie agreed. Half an hour later, Sadie lay in the darkness staring at the blinking green light of the smoke detector and waiting for her thoughts to stop racing. It hadn’t even been three weeks since the Alaskan cruise, and she was worn out from that investigation in more ways than one. And yet, even as part of her protested getting involving in this situation, another part—a primal part that she hadn’t even recognized a few years earlier—was hungry for the pending hunt, hoping Sergeant Woodruff never called and that the threads she’d picked at this evening kept going and going and going until she knew exactly what had happened to Dr. Hendricks. Allowing herself to tap into that part of her mind dispelled any lingering doubt she had about her commitment.
Giving up the final remnants of reticence allowed her brain to commit to the tasks ahead. Where was Dr. Hendricks? she wondered as sleep began dominating her senses. Was he alive? Was he dead? Had he known when he left that he wasn’t coming back?
Chapter 9
Despite the late night, Caro was up at 6:30 Wednesday morning and dragged Sadie to the hotel workout room. Caro never missed a workout, and she insisted Sadie would feel better if she’d sweat a little bit. After they’d been at it for an hour, however, Sadie cried for mercy and made a break for it before Caro could get off the Stairmaster and stop her escape. Exhaustion was part of Sadie’s reason for stopping before the ninety-minute target Caro was shooting for, but she also wanted to be ready to go the second Lori contacted them with a meeting time. What she would do when Sergeant Woodruff called back was never far from her mind, either.
Sadie was showered and working on her grey-and-silver-streaked hair that required a blow dryer for proper styling these days when a sweaty Caro came back from the gym. They finished getting ready for the day and Sadie checked her e-mail—nothing from Pete. They grabbed a quick breakfast of fruit and yogurt from the hotel and headed to Tess’s, arriving just after nine o’clock.
“So glad you guys are here,” Tess said after opening the door and heading back toward the kitchen. The house smelled like chocolate and baked goods, and Sadie was immediately hyper-attentive to what might be behind that smell. “I just talked to Lori—she’s going to meet us here around ten-thirty. Do you guys want a muffin?” She waved at a cooling rack with three muffins set on it. “I keep a batch of the batter in the fridge and bake up half a dozen every morning—it’s a recipe from another northern Utah restaurant Paul’s mom loves, called The Greenery.”
“They look delicious,” Sadie said. The muffins were still warm, and she broke one in half and slathered it with butter from a bowl next to them. Caro took one, too, but skipped the butter, pinching off a bite of muffin instead.
“These are super good,” Caro said. “Bran?”
“Technically, they’re called Mormon Muffins, but yeah, they have a lot of bran in them. Some people add shredded carrots or zucchini or crushed pineapple, chocolate chips—whatever. We love ’em.”
“They are really good,” Sadie said after taking a bite. Not too different from her own bran muffin recipes, she would guess, but these were called Mormon Muffins. How cool was it to come to Utah and eat something like that?
“That’s great that you’ve already gotten things figured out with Lori,” Caro said, reminding Sadie that they weren’t here just for food.
“I know. I was so glad she called early. She sounds really excited.” Tess was beaming as she waved them toward the kitchen table. She moved to a bowl on the counter that Sadie hadn’t noticed but now reminded her of the chocolate she’d smelled upon entering the house. “I’m finishing up a batch of fudge—I remembered that Lori really liked it when I brought it to one of our planning meetings all those years ago and thought it would make a good thank-you gift for her.” She stirred the contents a few more times.
“It smells delicious, too,” Sadie said, hoping that today would be a day for her and Tess to rebuild their relationship. “What kind is it?”
“Rocky Road,” Tess said, still stirring. “I thought it was appropriate, seeing as how we’re working on this case full force now.”
“Clever,” Sadie said.
Tess didn’t look at her or comment. Instead she looked at Caro. “Did you read the morning paper?”
“No, why? Is there something in there about Dr. Hendricks?” Caro reached for the paper on one end of the table. Sadie chose to believe that Tess’s snub wasn’t intentional.
“His obituary,” Tess said, lifting the bowl she’d been stirring and holding it up in order to pour the smooth chocolate punctuated with mini marshmallows and nuts into two different aluminum containers. The yogurt and banana Sadie’d had for breakfast suddenly felt paltry. How long would it take the fudge to set up? She took another bite of her muffin and felt better.
Caro pushed the paper over so that she and Sadie could read it together. As Sadie read this final tribute to Dr. Hendricks, she realized that, despite reading all the articles about his disappearance, she didn’t know much about him. It was interesting to read his personal history, but it left Sadie wanting more information.
“So Nikki set up a couple people to talk to me at the memorial service,” Tess said, putting the bowl in the sink. She turned on the faucet and washed her hands. “She still hasn’t talked to Jake, though.”
“Jake?” Sadie asked. “Who’s Jake again?”
“Dr. Waters,” Tess said tightly, as though Sadie should know that. Maybe the earlier snub hadn’t been accidental.
“Sadie put together a timeline,” Caro said, gesturing toward the laptop bag Sadie had brought in with her. Sadie took the cue and retrieved her laptop. She brought up the timeline, and though Tess came over to give it a cursory look, she didn’t spend even five seconds taking in the details before picking up a notebook from the counter and sitting on Caro’s other side. “I went over the list of people we could talk to and circled a few of them,” she pointed out one of the names to Caro and explained that this woman worked in Dr. Hendricks’s office. Tess had already sent her a text message. “Oh, and I finished the scrapbook layout,” Tess said. “Come see what you think, Caro.” She stood and started heading toward a room to the left of the kitchen.
“Come on, Sadie,” Caro said. From the look on her face, Sadie could tell she’d noticed Sadie hadn’t been invited. “Let’s check it out.”
“You go ahead,” Sadie said, not wanting to force herself on Tess. “I wanted to work on my notes anyway.”
Caro hesitated but then followed Tess into the other room. Sadie opened a new document that would serve as a kind of journal for this process. She did it for every case she worked on—it provided a priceless way for her to review all of her movements. She opened another document to make a to-do list of things that, while journaling her experiences, would come to mind for her to explore. The first thing she put on the to-do list was to do background checks on the key players—Dr. Hendricks and Anita Hendricks for sure, and possibly Lori and Dr. Waters as well. She thought about asking her son, Shawn, for help. He was far more skilled at creating background checks than she was, but he also had a lot going on right now. Pete was geographically unavailable, but Shawn felt equally off limits even though he was only a phone call away. Caro’s phone started ringing from her purse that she’d slung over the back of one of the kitchen chairs, and Sadie retrieved it for her, then met her halfway as she ran toward it. “Thanks,” she said quickly before glancing at the caller ID and putting the phone to her ear.
“Hello? ... Yes, this is she ... Yes, I did leave some information at the police station last night. Um, thank you for calling me back.”
Sadie remained standing and tried to share a look with Tess as she entered the room, but Tess didn’t meet her eye. Judging from Caro’s comments, it had to be Sergeant Woodruff, which meant that, according to t
heir agreement, they were now off the case. It was a hard realization to accept, and Sadie felt her energy drop. “Um, actually, ten-thirty is a little early for me to come in,” Caro said into the phone. “Yes, I could be there at eleven-thirty.” She made a face at Sadie before looking at Tess, who was shaking her head. That seemed to confuse Caro, and she gave her cousin a “what am I supposed to do?” look. Tess shook her head again. When Caro glanced at Sadie again, Sadie gave an even more encouraging smile to make up for Tess’s poor advice.
“Okay ... Yes ... Thank you ... I’ll be there at eleven-thirty ... Bye.” She hung up the phone and held it out in front of her as though it had betrayed her.
“I’m so glad they’re taking it seriously,” Sadie said, keeping her tone upbeat. “And they’re meeting with you in person as well. That’s great.”
“That’s terrible,” Tess said as soon as Sadie finished, causing Sadie’s attention to snap in her direction. “They can’t just waltz in here and take over.”
“Yes, they can,” Sadie stated. “They’re the police, and this is their job. Like I said from the start, this is an active investigation, and they can do more with it than we can. Making your meeting with the police after we meet with Lori was a great idea. We’ll be able to give them even more information by then.”
“You’re not disappointed?” Caro asked Sadie. “Even just a little bit?”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed,” Sadie said honestly. “But I still believe they are the best people to have in charge of this. And our efforts get to help with that. It’s the best-case scenario.” She didn’t feel as good about it as she was making it sound, however. Walking away would be hard.
“I respectfully disagree,” Tess said. Her tone didn’t sound very respectful to Sadie. “We’re meeting with Lori in an hour, and I’m not just going to shrug off the interviews I’ve already set up.”
Rocky Road Page 7