DON'T LIE TO ME: Eva Rae Thomas Mystery #1

by Rose, Willow

  Chapter 31

  After dropping the kids off, I drove to the beach, my Yeti containing my coffee still in my hand. I had so much on my mind; I couldn't really face my house and the loneliness inside of it when the kids weren't there.

  I felt exhausted. I hadn't slept well in a long time. The kidnapping of two kids since I got back here brought back too many bad memories.

  I went for a walk and greeted a nice old couple who were obviously snowbirds. You could always tell by their pale skin and by how much they enjoyed the sunlight hitting their faces.

  As I reached the pier, I stopped and watched the surfers. There were a couple of them out there. The waves were big and very glassy. One of the surfers stood out in particular as he shredded the waves and even went for some air. After watching him for a few minutes, he came up, and I realized it was Coach Price.

  "Nice air," I said as he exited the water.

  He smiled widely. "Thanks."

  I sipped my coffee.

  "Could you teach my kids to surf that well?"

  He shrugged. "I don't really do beginners."

  I nodded. "Of course not."

  "But there's a really good surf school downtown. You can sign them up for camp and then maybe if they make it big, you can sign me on as coach. I can take them all the way."

  "I'll remember that if we ever get that far," I said, chuckling at the idea of my kids surfing. It was mostly Alex I was thinking about. He needed a sport that could take some of the energy out of him. I looked at the coach, who was standing next to me, watching the other surfers out there.

  "It doesn't hurt your back, surfing like that?" I asked.

  "My back?"

  "Yeah, you injured your back, didn't you? That's why you stopped on the tour?"

  He nodded. "Ah, yes. No, I can do some stuff, just not all of what I used to be able to, and some days are better than others. Anyway. I should get back. Nice to meet you."

  I looked after him, then smiled. "You too."

  I stayed in my spot for a few minutes longer, sipping my coffee and watching the surfers, thinking about Sophie and Nathaniel, the senator's son, wondering why the killer—if it was the same one—had chosen those two kids of all the children he could have chosen. They were both very much in the spotlight and killing them had to have some significance. If it was the same guy, he clearly had some sort of message he was trying to get out. These kills weren't random.

  I shook my head, once again reminding myself this wasn't my case, then began to walk back, planning my day in my mind. I would unpack a few more boxes and then sit down at my laptop and get some writing done. I needed to get at least the first page on paper today. I had written three books before this one and knew that the first page was mentally very important. Once you got that down, you had actually begun writing it, and then it would start to flow and come naturally. I just had to get past that first darn page. And for some reason, I kept postponing it.

  Chapter 32

  THEN

  Three years later, the boy got a new mommy. She was beautiful, and the boy really liked her. He could tell his dad did too, and that made him even happier. She was very nice, even to his baby sister, and that made the boy happy. Having her at the house brought new joy, and it was like everything changed, especially his father, who no longer sat for hours in the living room, staring into thin air, saying nothing.

  They told them to call her, Mommy. The boy found it a little strange at first since he already had a mommy. But his new mommy and his daddy had a new name for his old mommy. They called her The Thing. Every time they mentioned her, they would always say The Thing said this or The Thing did that. They also talked about her being on drugs and how it wasn't very good for the boy and his sister to visit her.

  They didn't see each other often anymore. A couple of times a year. She kept getting the dates mixed up or missed the appointments, his dad and new mommy explained to him. It wasn't his fault, they kept saying, but it was hard for the boy not to feel a little guilty, to feel a little like his mommy didn't really want him.

  "It's okay to be mad at her," his new mommy said one day when tucking him in. "She has not been treating you very well."

  "The kids would sometimes come home with bruises," his dad said, coming in to say goodnight as well. "She hurt them when she was alone with them. And still, I can't say they can never see her again. I can't protect them. She's their mother."

  "It's tough," the new mommy said.

  And then they kissed.

  Later that same night, the phone rang, and the boy hadn't fallen asleep yet, so he could hear his dad pick it up. He could tell it was his mommy or The Thing by the way his dad talked to her. He talked like he did when he was very angry with the boy or his baby sister. Like when they had gone to Michael's house down the street one afternoon without telling him. He talked to The Thing in the exact same way. Like he was mad.

  The boy walked out of his room, and his dad saw him just as he hung up.

  "What are you doing up, buddy?" he asked. "I thought you were asleep. You should be. It's a school night."

  "Who was that on the phone?" he asked.

  "That? Oh, it was no one. Wrong number. That's all. Don't you worry about that; just go to sleep."

  "Was it Mommy?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

  "No. No, it wasn't. Now, go back to sleep."

  The boy looked up at his father, then wrinkled his forehead. He had been so sure it was her, and he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her he got a new bike. It had been so long since she had last called.

  "It was no one. Now, get back to bed, buddy. You have school tomorrow."

  "But…?"

  "Now, I said. Now."

  "Can I call her?"

  "Can you call who?"

  "Mommy. I want to call her."

  His father scoffed. "Your mother doesn’t want to talk to you. Don't you understand that? She abandoned all of us, and she doesn't want to see you. Now, get back to bed. I don't want to have to say it again."

  The boy felt like crying. Still, he didn't. He held the tears back, then ran to his bed, cursing his mother far away, deciding he never wanted to see her again. Never.

  Chapter 33

  I found all the baby pictures of Olivia, and that's when I stalled. Up until then, I had been through several boxes, and the kitchen was beginning to look decent. My mom would be pleased to see that all the plates were finally in place. She would probably find them to be ugly, yes, but at least they were there.

  I told myself it was time for a cup of coffee and went through the baby books. I looked through them, lingering especially long on the ones from our trip to California when she was just a year and a half. I remembered the trip as exhausting because I spent most of the time running after her, but as I looked at the pictures, I was suddenly reminded of how simple life had been back then. I was nothing but a young detective with tons of dreams and aspirations of climbing the ranks one day. It had always been my ambition to get to the FBI, but back then, it had been nothing but an idea, a dream that I loved clinging onto.

  I placed a finger on Chad's handsome face.

  Gosh, I was in love with him back then.

  My trip down memory lane was violently interrupted when there was a knock on my front door. It sounded urgent, and I hurried to open it. Outside stood Melissa. The look on her face told me something was very wrong.

  "I need your help with something."

  "Well, hello to you too. What's going on?" I asked. That was when I realized Melissa hadn't come alone. Behind her stood a woman that I had never seen before.

  "This is Patricia," Melissa said. "She's actually the one who needs your help. Can we come in?"

  "Sure. Sure," I said and stepped aside to let them in. "The place is still a mess, but what can you do, right?"

  Patricia smiled at me feebly as she walked past me, and I closed the door behind them. I guided them into the kitchen and served them coffee.

  "I think I still
have some of that pie left," I said. "You want some?"

  Melissa nodded. "Sure."

  I found the plates and served us all some pie. Patricia barely touched hers.

  "So, what's going on?" I asked midway through my piece. Unpacking had made me hungry, and I realized I had skipped lunch.

  Melissa looked at Patricia, then at me. "Patricia has a request for you."

  "Yeah?"

  Melissa put her fork down. "Her daughter has gone missing."

  I almost choked on my coffee. "Missing? What do you mean missing?" I looked at the woman next to me, then at Melissa for answers.

  "She never came home from school yesterday," Patricia said.

  My eyes grew wide. "Yesterday? But that's almost twenty-four hours ago?"

  She nodded, heavily. "Yes, that's why I’m worried."

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Knowing how important the first twenty-four hours were when a child went missing, I couldn't believe they were just sitting there.

  "But…but surely you filed a missing person's report? Have they had search teams out…to search the canals and the streets?"

  Melissa stopped me. "That's the thing. She hasn't told the police."

  "You haven't? But…why not?"

  "She can't," Melissa said.

  "And why is that?"

  Patricia sighed. "I’m a prostitute. I work at night and leave my ten-year-old daughter home alone all night. I’m not happy about it, but it's the only way I can survive. I can't afford a babysitter, and I have no family nearby."

  "If the police get involved, they'll take her daughter away," Melissa took over. "She can't go to the police; you must understand this, Eva. I told her it would be safe to come to you. We were hoping you could help find Maddie…without the police."

  Chapter 34

  It went against everything I believed in. Everything I had been trained for and knew as the way to handle things, yet I still agreed to help her. How could I say no? Her daughter was missing.

  I told them to take me to her condo, so I could look around. Patricia showed me in, grabbing the big pit-bull who ran for us as the door opened.

  "This is Rosa. She won't harm you. She looks fierce but is like a lamb. She keeps Maddie safe at night."

  I smiled and petted the dog.

  "This is where she sleeps," Patricia said and opened a door.

  It was the only bedroom in the condo. The mother slept on the couch.

  "I never bring clients home anymore," she said, looking shameful. "I used to when she was younger, but then I realized how bad it was for her because she could hear it when they treated me badly. I was afraid she would begin asking questions. Now I have them take me to motels, or we just handle it in the car. So, I figured I might as well give her my bedroom."

  I looked at the small woman in front of me, then felt like hugging her, yet slapping her at the same time. No one should have to live a life like this. Not the child who had no choice, not the mother who suffered abuse every day.

  Patricia saw it on my face. She looked shameful.

  "I tried getting other jobs, but…when I lost the one I had…well, I have to eat, right? I have my girl to feed. My ex refuses to pay anything."

  "No one is judging you," Melissa said and placed a hand on Patricia's shoulder.

  I smiled at her to reassure her that I wasn't, even though I had to admit that I had been at first. I was just suddenly so extremely grateful that I had made my own money and could take care of myself. Chad had promised he would pay alimony, but so far, I hadn't received any. He was still having the time of his life in Greece and not thinking about the kids or me. He had inherited a good amount of money when his mom passed recently, and I suspected that he was out burning all that off on his screaming midlife crisis. Luckily, the publishing house had given me a big advance, and I still had royalties coming from my previous books. If I didn't overspend, I’d be fine. And if everything went south, I always had my parents. My mother was cold and emotionally distant, yes, but I knew she and my dad would always bail me out if they needed to. I was one of the fortunate ones; Patricia wasn't.

  "So, you say she left for school on Monday morning?" I asked and looked around the girl's room. Patricia had handed me a school photo of her daughter, so I knew what she looked like.

  Patricia nodded. "Yes. I spoke to Mrs. Altman downstairs. From her window, she saw her walk to the road wearing her backpack, but she was too late. The bus had already been there. Mrs. Altman saw it pick up another kid from this block. But Maddie came out afterward. Before Mrs. Altman could come out on the porch to tell Maddie that she was too late, a car drove up on her side, and Maddie got in."

  The blood in my veins froze. "She got into a car?"

  Patricia nodded with a loud sob. "I just learned it this morning when I came down. I thought she was at a friend's house all day yesterday and I went to work in the evening, thinking she would be home later. I was preparing to scold her for being out so late. Then, when I came home this morning and could tell that Maddie hadn't been home all night, I panicked. I ran downstairs and knocked on Mrs. Altman's door to ask her if she had seen her and she told me this."

  "I need to talk to this Mrs. Altman," I said. "Now."

  Chapter 35

  Before we left Patricia's condo, I texted Olivia and asked her if she could be sure to be home when Alex came home with the bus today since I was out. He was usually about half an hour later than her if she came home directly from school and didn’t go into town with her friends. Luckily for me, she texted me back that she had tons of homework, so she was planning on going home straight after school anyway. I was pleased with this. I needed my kids home today.

  "Mrs. Altman?" I said as the old lady opened the door, leaning on her walker. A smile appeared on her weathered face.

  "Yes?"

  "My name is Eva Rae Thomas," I said. "I’m with the police. We're trying to figure out what happened to Patricia's daughter, Madeleine Jones. She told me you saw her get into a car?"

  The old woman nodded. "Yes. It's true."

  "What can you tell us about the car? Do you remember what it looked like? Maybe the color or the brand? Was there anything particular that stood out about it, like a sticker or anything?"

  The old woman became pensive, and her face lit up. "I don't know any of those things since my eyes aren't what they used to be, but I did take a picture of it with my phone. I had a feeling that car was up to no good, and watching little Maddie get into it scared me. I knew something wasn't right. Wait here a sec while I go get my phone."

  "You took a picture with your phone?" I asked, surprised.

  The old lady returned a few minutes later, holding a phone in her hand. She pressed the screen and navigated through it like it was the easiest thing in the world.

  "I love this thing. My daughter bought it for me, and I can't seem to stop using it. This is how I keep track of my grandchildren up north when she posts pictures on Facebook. The kids use Snapchat more, and we have over one hundred streaks. I send them pictures of myself wearing all these different filters; it's loads of fun. Keeps their old grandma on her toes. Here it is," she said. "It's not a very good picture since I took it as the car took off, but you can see some of it. Have a look for yourself."

  I took the phone and looked. The car was definitely in motion when the picture was taken, making it a little blurry, but I could see that it was white, and I could see the shape of the driver. Unfortunately, I couldn't see a face, no matter how much I zoomed it in.

  "There’s more if you swipe sideways," she said.

  I did, and to my excitement, there was a perfect picture of the license plate. This was our lucky day.

  "Can you send me these two pictures, please?" I asked.

  "I can airdrop them to you," Mrs. Altman said, as she touched the screen a couple of times, and then I had the pictures.

  "Thank you so much, Mrs. Altman," I said and shook her hand. "You've been a tremendous help."

  "
You're very welcome. I just hope you find the girl. So much bad stuff is happening these days. Find her and bring her back home, will you?"

  "I will do my best, Mrs. Altman. I will do my best."

  Chapter 36

  I called the station and asked to speak to Cooper. Patricia was sitting on her daughter's bed, biting her nails, while Melissa sat next to her and tried to calm her down. While waiting for Cooper to pick up, I saw Melissa pull out a pack of Kleenex from her purse and hand them to Patricia. The sight made me chuckle since I suddenly remembered how Melissa always took care of all of us back in the day. She always had a shoulder to cry on when you needed it and always had a piece of chocolate in her bag or a pack of Kleenex. It was just who she was. Always taking care of anyone in need.

  "Miss me already?" Cooper said as he picked up.

  "Very funny. No, I need your help."

  "And Matt isn’t your go-to guy anymore?" he asked. "That's new. Can't say I’m not flattered…"

  I exhaled. What was this? Sixth grade?

  "Matt and I aren't exactly…you know what? It doesn’t really matter. That's not why I’m calling. This is urgent. I need your help. And I need you to be discreet about it."

  "Sure. I guess I can do that," he said, sounding a little hesitant. I knew it was a lot to ask him.

  "I need you to run a plate for me," I said.

  He breathed, relieved. I don't know what he had feared I would ask him to do, but clearly, he had thought it was something bad. "I can certainly do that. Hit me."

  I read the numbers for him, then waited while he put it in the system. I smiled confidently at Patricia to make her feel calmer. I hated seeing that look of despair in her eyes. I didn't even know how I would react if I didn't know where my child was and if I knew she had gotten into a car with some stranger. It would tear me apart with anxiety. It was unbearable to even think about, especially when thinking about what had happened to Sophie Williams and Nathaniel Pullman.