by Imogen Rose
~
What a strange phone call! Of all things, Claire had never expected this odd turn of events. Someone had made an anonymous call to the Bureau and left a message for her, an urgent message. Agent Pitt conveyed that the message was short, just asking her to pick up Raj Sen from an address about half an hour from Mountain View.
The FBI had hunted Dr. Sen for months after the disappearance of the Darley kids, finally giving up after Christmas last year. She’d never expected to hear from him again. There was no time to lose; the last thing she wanted was to let him slip by again. She hightailed it to her car and followed the GPS directions to the address Agent Pitt had given her. She had no further information because she didn’t wait for any. There was no time.
Claire brought the car to a halt right outside the small cottage surrounded by woods and waited for backup to arrive. There was no way she was going in on her own unless the inhabitants seemed to be in imminent danger. She called Agent Pitt as she staked out the cottage.
“Brief me, please,” she requested. “Start by telling me who the cottage belongs to.”
“It belongs to Elizabeth Jensen, who lives there with her sister Ann Strom. They are sixty-nine and seventy-two years old respectively. They are both widowed. Elizabeth has a son, a cop, works in San Francisco. Do you want his family breakdown?”
“No.”
“Ann has four children, scattered all over, no one close to Mountain View. They are fairly well off, they both have substantial savings.”
“Do they have any connection to either the Darley or the Fox families? Any previous connection to Raj Sen?” Claire asked.
“Not that we’ve discovered so far, but we are still digging.”
“Thanks, Agent Pitt. I can see backup arriving, so I’ll check back in a little while after I know what’s going on. This is probably a hoax call, but it’s always best to make sure.”
As the two squad cars parked behind hers, Claire could see the curtains from the downstairs left window twitch. Moments later the front door opened and a lady–Claire guessed Elizabeth from the description she’d been given–came walking toward her. Claire got out of the car and walked over to meet her.
“Mrs. Jensen?”
“Yes. What on earth is going on?” she asked, looking at Claire anxiously. “We’ve never had police cars here before.”
“Is everything okay, Mrs. Jensen? Is your sister home?”
“Yes. Here she is now,” Elizabeth said, pointing over to Annie, who was walking toward them.
“Is this about the gentleman who was here earlier? John? I did think there was something strange about him.”
Claire wondered who John was. “Mrs. Jensen, can we go inside and talk?”
“Yes of course. Do your friends want to come as well? I have a fresh batch of cookies.”
“That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Jensen. But, I think they’ll wait here for now. I’ll let them know and meet you inside,” Claire said, and walked over to tell the backup squad that she’d be fine going in on her own. When she walked into the house, Ann was seated on the couch and Elizabeth was busy carrying through cookies and tea on a pretty china tray.
“Have a seat, my dear. Now, what can we do for you? Two visitors in one day is quite unusual for us, but very enjoyable, isn’t it, Annie?” Elizabeth said happily. “Now do tell us your name.”
“I should have introduced myself to begin with, my apologies. I am Agent Claire Adams. I work for the FBI.”
“Well, that’s very impressive,” Annie said in awe. I don’t think I’ve ever met a real agent before, though I know from the television what you do. Lizzy’s son is a police officer,” she said proudly. “So, how can we help you? I gather this has something to do with our earlier visitor.”
“Yes,” Claire replied. “You mentioned his name was John?”
“Yes that’s right. We didn’t get around to asking him his last name. I suppose we should have,” replied Annie. “He seemed like a nice man, from the city.”
“San Francisco?”
“Yes. He didn’t say, but we think he was out on a nature ramble and got lost. We found him, fallen over, out in the backyard. He’d probably tripped over something; I found him just sitting there. He looked hurt. He wasn’t hurt badly, though. Just a limp,” Annie reassured Claire. “So, we didn’t call the ambulance or anything.”
“Ladies, was it this man?” Claire asked, pulling up Raj’s picture on her iPad and passing it to them.
“Yes! That’s him. He looked a bit older than in the picture, but it’s definitely him,” confirmed Elizabeth. “Why are you asking? Has he gone missing? He left a couple of hours ago, so he should be back in the city by now.”
A couple of hours ago? Shoot. Claire wondered how long it had taken for the message to filter down to her at the FBI. So much precious time lost.
“Did he leave you an address or a way for you contact him?”
Annie shook her head.
“Have you ever seen him before? Can you think of any reason he would have been here at your property?”
Annie shook her head again.
“Can you tell me about his visit here, starting with how you first found him?” Claire asked. She took notes while they recounted their story. They’d found him in the backyard, he had tripped on something and hurt his foot. Whatever would he be doing in their backyard? This property was miles from anywhere. Why drive all the way out here? Was there something he needed to retrieve from the backyard? Did he come back for something he had hidden there previously? Or maybe came back for something he’d hidden in the house.
“Ladies, do you mind having a look around to see if anything has been touched or is missing? You said he was only in this room, the bathroom and the backyard, but I want to make sure nothing is missing.”
“You think he was a thief?” Annie asked horrified, looking at her sister. “I didn’t even consider that! If it wasn’t for the fact that he was hurt, I wouldn’t have let him in the house….”
“No, no. I just want to make sure,” Claire comforted. She walked through the house with Elizabeth and Ann. Nothing seemed out of order in the downstairs portion of the house. Ann checked the safe hidden behind a replica of the The Starry Night. It hadn’t been tampered with.
Things changed when they went up to the bedrooms. Ann kept a small collection of jewelry in her bedroom, in a pretty enamel box that sat on her bedside table. It was now empty.
Ann was visibly shaken; her hands trembled as she closed the box. “I had some cash in there, too, maybe five hundred dollars or so.”
Claire could see Elizabeth trembling as they entered her bedroom next. Claire handed her the enamel box from her bedside table, which also turned out to be empty. Elizabeth’s eyes welled and tears started streaming down her face. Claire sat her down on her bed. “Mrs. Jensen, we’ll do every thing we can to recover your property. I’m going to get a local detective to come and sit down with you to make a list of everything that’s missing.”
Claire looked to Ann. “Mrs. Strom, you said that John left on foot and that he went to look for his car. I suppose you didn’t see it, the car, I mean?”
Ann shook her head. “He seemed lost. I suppose he could have just been a regular burglar and we’ve been played for fools.”
“Can you come with me to the backyard and show me any outbuildings like sheds or garages you may have. I need to make sure that he is gone and that he’s not still hiding outside.” Claire walked outside with Ann, leaving Elizabeth in her room, still distraught. A quick survey of the backyard didn’t reveal any information. Claire couldn’t find any tracks, but that wasn’t something she was good at. She’d already called in a team to investigate that. The only outbuilding was a garage that housed a Chevy Impala that the two sisters shared, for trips to the grocery store mostly. Claire wasn’t surprised to find the car missing. “Mrs. Strom, if you give me the car registration, we’ll put a trace on it. I would like to call your nephew, he should come down
here. May I have his phone number? One of the police officers will stay with you until he arrives.”
Claire mulled the case over in her head as she drove back. A whole year had passed since Raj was last sighted and his wife remained missing. He had now suddenly reappeared out of the blue, appearing to not know where he was. So, why and how did he end up on Mrs. Jensen’s property? To her knowledge, Raj was not a common thief, so he must have taken the valuables because he had no money. A year in hiding could be draining on the finances. But still–stealing from two elderly ladies? He told them that he was going to San Francisco, so she could almost be sure that it was the one place he wouldn’t go. What he would do is make contact with his daughter. What was her name again… Simla?
Claire called Pitt. “Could you give me Simla Sen’s address and background, please?”
“Yup, I’ve got it right here. She’s been living with the Weeks family. I’ll send the address to your GPS. She’s a senior at Mountain View High. No siblings. What else do you want to know?”
“I’m not sure. I’m going to drive over to see her. Can you meet me there?”
Claire had been at the Weeks’ house last year when the Darley children disappeared. She’d met the father, Grayson, and she’d also met Simla’s mother, Erica, there. At that time, Claire suspected that there was something going on between Grayson and Erica, but since it wasn’t relevant to the case, she’d left it alone. Grayson Weeks had been totally distraught during the questioning when Erica disappeared. He seemed to know nothing about her whereabouts. It had been assumed that she’d gone to find her husband.
Claire drove right up to the entrance of the Weeks’ house, got out of her vehicle and knocked on the door. It seemed very quiet. There was obviously no one home. She tried calling both Grayson’s work number and his cell, without any response, so she left him messages. The FBI would watch the house. It was past school hours, so she had no idea where to begin looking for Simla and was happy to see Agent Pitt arrive. He would have done his research.
“Any idea where we would find a seventeen-year-old girl at this hour?” she asked him.
“After-school sports, music, theater club… you name it. She doesn’t have any close friends from what we can tell, apart from Justin, whose house she lives in. We should track him down. He’ll probably know where Simla is. Now, let’s see,” he said, pouring through his notes. He was old-school, everything was noted down on yellow legal pads. “Our best bet is the ice rink. The varsity team has a scheduled practice there this evening. Won’t be the least bit surprised if Simla is over there watching them practice.”
“Yes, that sounds like out best bet. Let’s go. I’ll meet you over there. You’ve got someone assigned to stake out this place, right?”
“Yup.”
Pitt was right. The ice rink was buzzing with activity. The team was on ice, partaking in a heavy training exercise by the look of things. There were groups of parents and teens scattered in the bleachers. Claire scanned them for familiar faces. She noticed a group of girls huddled together, engrossed in conversation. She recognized a couple of familiar faces in the group–Ariele and Monica–two of Arizona Darley’s friends. She couldn’t see Arizona herself, but guessed that she must be on the ice with the rest of the team.
She scanned the rink again but couldn’t spot Simla anywhere. So Claire walked up to Ariele and Monica. “Hi, girls,” she said, using her most friendly tone.
“Hi. You’re the agent from last year, aren’t you?” Ariele asked, looking totally surprised. “Wassup?”
“I’m looking for Simla Sen. Have you seen her?”
“Nope,” replied Ariele. “She doesn’t hang out with us, though. Justin might know where she is, but he is on the ice at the moment, I think. What do you want with her?”
“I just need a quick chat. Has anyone seen her today?” she asked the group. There were at least eight girls there; surely one of them had a class or other activity with Simla. They were all shaking their heads. “Would you happen to have her cell number?” Another round of shaking heads. She sighed. This was going nowhere. She’d need to get Justin off the ice and ask him. He’d at least have her cell number.
Claire walked down the bleachers–wishing she’d changed back into her sneakers, these heels were killing her–and got the coach’s attention.
“Ma’am?” Coach Stanislaw muttered.
“I’m Agent Claire Adams. I need to have a quick word with Justin Weeks. I won’t keep him long.”
“He didn’t show. I have no idea where he is, but if you find him, tell him he’s benched from next weekend’s game.”
“Any idea where I might find him?”
“Nope. Kids!” he frowned, and turned to go back to his players.
“Hold on, let me talk to the rest of the team, someone must know where I can find him.”
“Look, lady. Do you have parental permission to speak to any of these kids? If not, I suggest you go and get some. Well?” he challenged.
“Look, Coach. I’ll be frank with you, but this is highly confidential. We have a serious problem. Dr. Raj Sen, Simla’s dad, was possibly–and it’s just a possibility–sighted earlier today. If it was him, it’s quite likely that he will try to make contact with her. He’s a dangerous man, we need to warn her and provide her with protection. We’ve been unable to locate her so far, so any information you or the kids have may be crucial,” she pleaded.
Coach Stanislaw blew his whistle bringing the skating to a sudden halt. Another sound of the whistle resulted in the skaters assembling in a group in front of Coach’s box. Claire was impressed.
“Kids, have any of you seen either Justin or Simla today?”
Claire was once again presented with the, now expected, shaking of heads. One boy perked up. “Coach, he wasn’t in any of his classes today. I’m in all his.”
“Has anyone got Simla in your class?” Claire asked, trying to identify the faces behind the helmets. It was impossible.
The same boy who had spoken before nodded. “Yeah, she wasn’t in class either, but I only have one class with her.”
“Anyone else?” Claire tried. There was a shuffling, but otherwise all remained silent. “Thanks, Coach. If you hear from them, please call me,” she said, leaving her card with him.
“What do you make of all this?” she asked Agent Pitt once they were outside again.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. It could have been Raj Sen at the cottage. We don’t know that for sure. Those ladies are fairly old. We can’t go by that identification a hundred percent. Still, it could have. As for Simla and Justin? They’re seventeen. There are a hundred different explanations why we can’t locate them at this moment. I say we stake out the house and head over to the school tomorrow morning.”
Claire nodded. She needed some time to look through the files, anyway. Putting out a search for Simla right now would be an overreaction. It wasn’t like anyone had reported her missing. In fact, for now, they didn’t really know anything.
~
Raj watched the FBI agents talking outside the ice rink from his borrowed Corolla, which he had acquired when he dumped the Impala. How had the FBI gotten on his case so fast? He did expect Lizzy and Annie to call the police when they discovered their stuff and car missing, so he had dumped their vehicle as soon as he could. He certainly didn’t expect the FBI to get involved so quickly. They obviously knew it was him, why else would they be looking for Simla? And where was she, anyway? Could she still be with Potomal? If so, why had they dumped him here where he was in danger? Why was he being punished? Had Potomal alerted the FBI, like he said he would? What had Simla done?
Kellan looked majorly hot in his Sigma-W protective shell. I was wearing one, too. I bet I looked pretty awesome, as well–I could tell by the appreciative glance from Kellan. All black leather–surprise, surprise–with the Sigma-W logo on the front, red epaulettes, and black biker boots, which I was hoping to get to keep. We were ready to transport out to rescue Simla a
nd Justin.
We, Kellan and I, had not been privy to the planning aspect of this mission–very 007. We’d spent the short time it took the Sigma-W council and my parents to come up with a plan catching up. My biggest surprise? When my boyfriend told me that his mom had been a Sigma-W.
“Get out!”
We had been sitting out in the backyard with Harry and David munching on strawberries while Ella went for a swim with Alexa. Alexa and Ella really hit it off. Or rather, Alexa was an expert at keeping little girls happy. They had been playing with makeup and doing mock fashion shows. Ella was having a blast. She was now reluctant to remove her tiara to go for a swim, nearly opting out of it just so she could keep the tiara on her head, until I offered to take care of it for her until she came out of the pool. I put the tiara on my head and decided to wear it while Ella swam.
“Kellan! Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me before? Or did I know, but forgot when I changed?” I still couldn’t recall much from my Darley life before last October, so there was a possibility I had known this all along about Kellan’s mom, who had passed away when he was about six.
“Shrimp, no. You didn’t know,” he reassured me. “I only found out about it recently, as in after you were taken by Potomal’s group.”
“Wow, your dad kept it from you this long. Why?”
“He didn’t know either,” Kellan explained.
I was flabbergasted. “How could he not know? Being married to a paranormal being… that’s ridiculous!”
“Is it?” Harry asked. “She lived an ordinary life, not one as a Wanderer.”
“I guess, but still….”
Harry hunched forward looking at me intently. “You do realize that Dad has latent Sigma-W abilities, don’t you?”
I nodded. Seeing that both Rupert’s mom and dad were Sigma-Ws, it would be odd if he didn’t. “Can he actually wander?”