Twisted Dreams

by F J messina

  Sonia took over from there. “You see, before you leave town, you’ll have gotten together with your lawyer and come up with the exact terms of your divorce settlement, however you want it to be. Then, while he’s still reeling from being caught and fearing that he’s about to lose the business, we’ll have a document ready for him to sign. ‘Sign it now, or it only gets worse,’ we’ll say. Chances are it’ll take him a minute or two to figure out that he doesn’t have any other choices, then he’ll sign it. We’re pretty sure he’ll sign it.”

  Sonia could hear herself breathing as the room became suddenly silent again. Eventually, Mandy rose very slowly. “I guess this really is the best thing, isn’t it?”

  Sonia gave Jet a, “let me handle this part,” look. “Yes, sweetheart. This really is the best thing. But don’t worry, nothing is going to happen until you let us know for sure that you’re ready. If you change your mind, you can look at other options. It’s just that we really don’t think you have any better options.”

  Jet and Sonia both stood. Jet helped Mandy steady herself then walked with her to the door, softening her tone of voice. “It’s all up to you, honey. Just know that we’re here for you, and we’ll be helping you achieve whatever it is that you want.” Sonia walked ahead of them.

  As they reached the door, Sonia opened it and guided Mandy out onto the landing at the top of the steps. Everything looked bright and clean to her, almost as if the whole world was getting a fresh start. “It’s all in your hands now. You go think about it. Just let us know what you decide.”

  Sonia and Jet stood together on the landing. They watched Mandy walk slowly down the two flights of steps and through the parking lot to her car.

  Sonia turned to Jet. “That woman has some tough choices to make.”

  Jet almost chuckled. “Not the way I see it. In my book, the only things she has to decide on are the terms of the divorce. Now, what say we go downstairs and get ourselves some lunch?”

  Sonia sighed. “Sounds good. One question, however.”

  Jet, who had started down the steps in front of her, stopped and looked up at her. “And what would that be?”

  “Exactly who is this manly man who is going to be with us when we show Nick the video?”

  Jet threw her arms out in a grand gesture and headed down the steps. Over her shoulder, she tossed, “It’s a good thing one of us is in a relationship with a former marine.”

  33

  After lunch that day, Sonia had gone out to get a few more shots of Mr. Afternoon Delight. Since her case against him was going to be entirely circumstantial, she wanted to have plenty of different images from plenty of different days.

  Meanwhile, Jet had decided to spend one last afternoon trying to catch whoever it was that was purloining the high-end makeup from her client’s establishment. She had a thought she wanted to check out.

  Hanging out in the drugstore at about the same time she usually did, Jet saw the small group of girls she had been certain were the guilty culprits. This afternoon, however, she shifted her attention to a person who had, on many of the days that something disappeared, popped in around the same time the girls did─a young boy, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, not particularly large or small. He was wearing loose jeans, untied sneakers, and a dark blue T-shirt. The hood of his plain, gray sweatshirt was up.

  As he usually did, the boy walked over to the counter that held the large variety of candies that were available at the store. No surprise. What other reason brings a teenaged boy into a drug store? After the boy paid for the candy he had picked up, several Payday bars, he started for the door. A moment later, however, he slipped down one of the aisles.

  Jet felt certain she knew what was coming next. Instead of following the boy, she went directly to the front door. In just over a minute, she looked up to see the boy heading right toward her. She simply held her ground waiting until her gaze caught his eye.

  The moment the boy sensed Jet looking at him, he stopped, his face flushing a dark red. The look of panic that came over him caught Jet off guard. She realized almost immediately that this wasn’t some slick, devious boy stealing makeup for his girlfriend. This was something else.

  The boy stood frozen as Jet approached him, walking slowly down the narrow aisle. She was certain he was surprised when she simply walked right past him, quietly saying, “Follow me.” He remained frozen until she stopped, looked over her shoulder, repeated herself, and then walked on─risking the fact that he might just bolt.

  Instead, the boy turned and followed Jet to the back of the store. She stopped and waited for him; he looked up at her sheepishly, embarrassed. “Just answer me one question, son. But you answer it honestly now, you hear?” She was looking directly into his eyes.

  He silently nodded.

  Her voice was quiet, calm. “That makeup you’ve got stashed in your hoodie. Who is that for?”

  There was no answer. The boy was silent.

  Jet took a deep breath, then tried again. “Son?”

  The boy looked up at her, his eyes pleading, but it seemed his answer was stuck in his throat.

  Jet pursed her lips. “It’s for you, isn’t it?”

  Still no answer, at least not from his lips. His eyes, however, told her enough.

  As a high school athlete, Jet had spent her share of hours in locker rooms. She’d had enough experience with other girls that age to know that each young person experienced their own bodies, their own sexuality, differently. Though she’d never had any desire to experiment, she had felt curious eyes discreetly checking her out. She knew that adolescence could be a confusing time for girls─and now that she thought about it, probably for boys as well. Whatever was going on with this young man, Jet was not inclined to turn his life inside out. She simply walked over to him and held out her hand.

  The boy reached into his hoodie and pulled out two tubes of lipstick, bright red, and one mascara. His hands shook noticeably as he placed them into Jet’s outstretched palms. His eyes, his face, his mouth indicated he was on the verge of speaking─nothing came out.

  “So, listen.” Jet’s voice was soft but strong. “If I tell the owner his problem with someone shoplifting makeup is over, am I going to be putting my butt in a sling?”

  No answer.

  “Am I?

  The boy nodded, indicating his accession. After a moment of silence, his shoulders turned just slightly, as if he were asking permission to leave. He froze, waiting for Jet’s response.

  With the tiniest of smiles on her face, Jet waved the back of her hand forward. “Go on. Get out of here. But don’t you dare make me regret this.”

  The boy turned and headed for the door. Before he got there, Jet called out gently. “Son.”

  He stopped, turned around, apprehension on his face.

  “I want you to wait for me outside.”

  The boy’s eyes opened wide, but Jet believed he would obey her instructions. She walked to the counter at the front of the store and, without any words of explanation, paid for the makeup. She took the flimsy plastic bag the clerk put them in, stepped outside, and silently handed the bag to the boy. Without looking back, she walked past him and headed for her car.

  Less than twenty minutes later, Jet was back in her office. The sense of satisfaction she normally experienced after having wrapped up a case was definitely eluding her. Instead, she opened her armoire, took out a semi-clean glass, and poured herself a short drink. It wasn’t enough to numb her feelings, but somehow the activity helped her put the afternoon behind her. She sat at her desk and crafted an email to the drugstore owner. It indicated that the shoplifting had been taken care of and that he should send them a check. If the problem arose again in the near future, BCI would take care of it with no charge. After re-reading the message, she sent it, took a deep breath, and started making phone calls.

  When Sonia returned to the BCI offices several hours later, she saw Jet sitting at her desk. The look on her face was not encouraging. “W
hat is it Jet? What’s happened?”

  “Something, and it ain’t good.”

  Sonia stepped into the office and took the seat across from Jet’s desk. “Well? What?”

  Jet rummaged through the mess on her desk, pulling out a yellow pad. “Remember, last week, when I got the name of two more friends we should track down?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Well, this morning I found out that LaKeisha Washington wasn’t working here in Lexington.” She put the pad, the first pages rolled back over the top, in front of her. “She was working on a horse farm in Florida. You know, there’s a big horse industry down there too.”

  Sonia leaned in, resting her elbows on Jet’s desk and her chin on her folded hands. “And you haven’t been able to reach her?”

  “No. Worse than that.” Jet let out a big sigh. “I wasn’t able to reach her at the phone number I’d found, so I called her employer.” She simply stopped speaking.

  Sonia leaned farther forward. “And?”

  “And it looks like we’re never going to get to ask LaKeisha Washington where she thinks Mariana might be.” Jet’s voice was almost a whisper.

  Sonia dreaded the answer she was sure she was going to receive. “Why?”

  “Because on Thursday, March tenth, at five-thirty in the morning, LaKeisha Washington was killed by a hit-and-run driver. She’s dead.”

  There was a stunned silence in the room. Slowly, things started to come together in Sonia’s mind. “She was run down at five-thirty in the morning?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Then she must have been on her way to work.” Sonia scratched her head. “Where’d it happen?”

  “You’re not going to believe this, right in the parking lot of her apartment complex.”

  “In the parking lot?” Sonia leaned back in the chair, her hands dropping into her lap.

  “Yup.”

  “Who drives fast enough to kill a pedestrian in a parking lot?”

  “Good question.” Jet looked down at the yellow pad, her finger tracing a path to the information she sought. “When I spoke to the folks at her farm, Willowbay Farm, they said that the police thought it was someone who was up early and just taking off for work themselves. They thought that maybe, it being so early, the driver just didn’t expect to see anyone else in the parking lot and allowed themselves to become distracted. They’ve checked the other resident’s cars, but they haven’t come up with anything. I guess it could have been someone who was picking up a friend early in the morning. Who knows?”

  Sonia brushed a wisp of hair out of her face and leaned back in. “Yeah, but the speed. You’d have to be going pretty fast to hit someone and kill them. Wouldn’t you?”

  “I guess.” Jet lifted her shoulders, opening her hands. “Sometimes things just go south.”

  It was a long moment before Sonia spoke again. “Or maybe sometimes things go just as you plan them.”

  Jet sat up tall in her seat, leaning in, matching Sonia’s posture. “So, I’m getting the feeling that you’re thinking what I’m thinking.”

  “That this was no accident?” Sonia’s voice had a quiet edge to it. “That somehow, right around the time that Mariana Castillo went missing, one of her closest friends just happened to die at the hands of a hit-and-run driver, someone who managed to kill her right in her own parking lot?”

  Jet nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly what I think.” Her next question came quickly. “So, what do we do now?”

  Sonia stood up. “Well, I’ll tell you the first thing we’re going to do. We’re going to find Penny Rae Nelson as fast as we possibly can.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “You’ve already got several calls in to her, right?”

  Jet looked up at her. “Right. And where are you going now?”

  Sonia started for the door. “You and I, dear friend, are going to go downstairs to get a cup of coffee. Then we’re going to walk around this neighborhood and try to think our way through this mess together. You know, two brains and all that. So, c’mon. Get up and let’s get going. We’ve got to try to find this other girl before something happens to her.”

  By then, Sonia was on her way to the offices’ outer door and Jet was reaching for her purse. Sonia spoke while she walked. “Don’t worry about that. I’m buying. Let’s just get going. Somebody’s daughter is out there and we need to find her before it’s too late.”

  34

  Around ten-thirty on Thursday morning, Sonia looked up from her desk and saw Jet enter the waiting area. She called out, “Hey,” then waved Jet into her office, her eyes returning immediately to the papers on her desk.

  Jet was carrying her battered, freshly-filled thermos of coffee and a cinnamon roll. “You calling me in here in order to levy a tax on my breakfast?”

  “What?” Sonia hadn’t looked up.

  “You looking for twenty-percent of my cinnamon roll?”

  Sonia raised her eyes and smiled. “Well, whatever gave you that idea?” She reached to the far side of her desk, grabbed a paper plate that hadn’t been overly used and held it out.”

  Jet rolled her eyes. “I’m going have to sneak in here through the back door if I don’t want to lose half my breakfast every day.”

  Sonia pointed to the only door into their offices, “It seems to me you just did. How’d that work out for ya?”

  Jet tore off a piece of the pastry and put the ragged portion on Sonia’s plate. “There.”

  Sonia took her first bite and quickly swallowed. “I’ve got news. I just sent Michael Oakley a bogus invoice from the Bluegrass Sump Pump Company.”

  Jet took a seat. “Do tell. Difficult to do?”

  “Absolutely not.” Sonia’s eyes twinkled. “With Burnett’s ability to fabricate the invoice and help from Brownlee on some particulars, it was no harder than sending a real invoice.”

  Jet unscrewed her plaid-patterned thermos and poured a small portion of coffee into its lid. She motioned to Sonia as if to ask if she wanted any, but Sonia shook her off. “So, does that do it for Oakley? Have we got him?”

  Sonia licked sugar off her fingertips. “No. We’ll have to wait to see what he does with it. He’s either going to ignore it, which tells us he knows we’re on to him, or pay it. I’m hoping he does the latter and we find out a lot more about his operation. For now, we’re just going to sit still and watch.”

  Jet pointed to Sonia’s laptop. “And we’ve still got the keystroke thingy tracking what he does on his computer, right?”

  “Absolutely.” There was a lilt in her voice. “He can’t do anything on that computer without us knowing about it. If we’re lucky, he’ll complete the last phase of his scheme on the same computer, not his personal one. There, we have no idea what he’s up to.”

  Jet took a sip from the red, plastic cup. “Well then, we’ll know soon enough if Burnett’s plan is going to work or not, won’t we?”

  “Yup.” Sonia popped another piece of cinnamon roll into her mouth, a small smile crinkling the skin around her eyes.

  At three in the afternoon, Sonia looked up to see Jet walking in circles within the confines of her office. She stood, knocked on the glass wall between their spaces and mouthed, “What’s up?”

  Jet walked out of her office and over to Sonia’s. She stood in the doorway.

  Sonia was still standing by the glass wall. “So?”

  “So, this is the part of the job I hate, waiting.” Jet moved to Sonia’s desk and half-sat on its edge. “I mean, Mandy’s got all the information she needs on that cheating, perverted husband of hers, and all we can do is wait until she makes up her mind to move in one direction or the other.” She casually pointed at Sonia’s iPhone sitting on her desk. “You’ve got almost all the shots you need of Mr. Afternoon Delight, right? One or two more and that’s wrapped up. And with today’s rain, you’re not likely to get anything good this afternoon.”

  Sonia looked out their large windows overlooking East Main. The world really did look gray and dreary.
Lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t respond.

  Jet nodded toward Sonia’s laptop. “And Michael Oakley. You’ve sent him the bogus invoice, so all we can do is wait to see what he does with that.” She paused, seemingly done with her complaint. Eventually, she continued. “Then there’s Penny Rae Nelson. I’ve tried everything I can to find her. I’m sure she’s not working on any farm here in Lexington, pretty sure she’s not even in Kentucky. Until I hear back from my last set of inquiries, nothing much I can do there either. It’s like there’s absolutely nothing for us to do right now but wait.” She shrugged her shoulders and twisted her lips. “I’m telling you. I’m just not well suited for this part of the job.”

  Sonia walked over and lifted her light-blue spring coat off her simple coat rack. “I know exactly what you mean. Want to go downstairs and get some coffee?”

  Jet shook her head quickly. “No, I emptied that whole thermos. I don’t need any more today.”

  Sonia slipped on the coat, picked up her purse, and walked right past Jet and out into the waiting area. “Then I suggest you do exactly what I plan to do.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Go home. We’re not accomplishing anything here this afternoon and it’s been a long week already. I’m headed home to just sit and relax a bit and wait for a call from Brad. Why don’t you do the same? In fact, don’t you have some financial issues you need help with?”

  “No. Not that I know of.”

  “Nothing a forensic accountant could help you with?” A smile emerged on Sonia’s face.

  The smile was suddenly reflected in Jet’s as well. “You know, come to think of it, I’m not really sure that I’m doing everything I can to ensure my long-term financial security. I really should have somebody come and look over all of my assets.”

  Sonia stopped, looked back at her friend, and smiled. That’s my girl. “Don’t let any of those assets slip by him unexamined, sweetheart. See you in the morning.”