‘Ah, c’mon, don’t put a damper on it. We both got good forensic reports this evening. Let’s celebrate that tonight – and move on tomorrow.’
‘Honestly, Jake, until Amber is found, I won’t feel up to celebrating anything. I’m terrified for her.’
FIFTY-NINE
After a quick breakfast of bagels, cream cheese and coffee, Lucinda and Jake drove over to the Van Dyke home. They noticed that lights were on in a few rooms and that probably meant that Charlotte was up for the day. For a few minutes, they sat in the car observing the house and neighborhood for anything that appeared out of the ordinary.
Standing in front of the door, they listened for any suspicious sounds before ringing the bell. Charlotte answered wearing a blue terry cloth robe and pink fuzzy slippers. ‘Well, good morning, Lieutenant. You sure are up early today. I suppose you got my message. Or did you find my Jimmy? Is he OK?’
‘Yes, ma’am, I did get your message, but we haven’t found Jimmy,’ Lucinda said. ‘This is Special Agent Jake Lovett with the FBI. We were hoping you might have thought of something that would help us locate your son.’
Charlotte shook her head and frowned. ‘No, ma’am, I sure do not know a blessed thing. I keep having these horrible pictures of Jimmy being shot by a police officer for resisting arrest. I am so afraid for him. I do believe this is all going to come to a very bad end. But come on. Come on into the house. I have a fresh pot of coffee brewing and I need to pull the biscuits out of the oven. We can all sit around the kitchen table and try to find a way to make it all work out.’
The two investigators followed Charlotte through the living room and into an immaculate kitchen. The aroma of coffee fought for dominance over the fragrance coming from the oven. They sat down and watched as Charlotte slipped the baking sheet out on to the top of the stove, used a spatula to transfer the biscuits two at a time into a basket lined with a red-and-white checked kitchen towel. That morning’s bagels faded from memory as their mouths watered in response.
Charlotte put the basket on the table, slid a butter dish, a jelly jar and cream pitcher out of the refrigerator, small plates out of a cabinet, three butter knives out of a drawer and set them in front of Lucinda and Jake. Then she poured three mugs of coffee, carried them over and sat down. ‘Now that’s real butter, mind you, and real coffee cream – no substitutes allowed in this house.’
‘I imagine, then, that’s no decaf,’ Jake said with a smile.
‘Heavens, no. If God didn’t want us to have caffeine, He wouldn’t have put it in the coffee beans in the first place,’ Charlotte said with a grin. ‘Now, I don’t think I know a thing that I haven’t already told you. But perhaps if you ask some questions, something might come to mind.’
Lucinda thought for a moment about how to ask if Charlotte knew about her daughter’s interview without betraying the girl. ‘Do you think Tamara might know anything worthwhile?’
Charlotte smiled. ‘You are a lovely woman, Lieutenant. I see what you are doing – protecting my girl’s confidence. I am very pleased to know you’d do that. But, actually, Tamara told me all about her visit to see you. I don’t think she knows anything else but you could ask her. But if we wake her up this early on a Saturday morning, she would probably bite my head off – and yours, too – and she would be grumpy all day long. I could give you a call when she wakes up. Would that be OK?’
‘Oh, yes, Mrs Van Dyke, I do know enough about teenagers to realize that. Please, let her sleep and, yes, I was trying to find out if you knew without exposing Tamara. I’m glad you understand. But do you have any idea of where Jimmy would go to lie low.’
‘I tried really hard to know those things before Jimmy was eighteen – sometimes I did; probably most times I didn’t.’ Charlotte sighed. ‘Then on his eighteenth birthday he told me that he liked living at home and would like to keep staying here until he figured out whether he’d go to college or join the army or get a serious job; but if I was going to always be in his business, he’d live in the streets rather than put up with that. So I backed off. I guess that’s the long way of saying, “No, Lieutenant, I have not one single idea.” For all I know, he’s left town – even left the state. Maybe he’s been driving all night, heading for Montana or Idaho. He always said he wanted to live out where there were more acres than people.’
A flash of worry jagged through Lucinda’s thoughts and she asked, ‘Do you know if Jimmy knows that Tamara talked to me?’ Lucinda asked.
‘I don’t believe she’s talked to him since then. She hasn’t mentioned it to me so I don’t believe so. But I guess it’s possible he called her last night after I went to bed. We’ll have to ask her about that when she gets up.’ Charlotte’s head tilted to one side. ‘Well, speaking of the devil, did you hear that?’
Jake and Lucinda started to form the word ‘no’ but stopped when a louder thump hit the floor above their head.
‘Sounds like Little Miss Grumpy is up early today. She must have smelled the biscuits,’ Charlotte said with a chuckle. ‘I’ve told her if she sleeps too late, I might eat them all and leave her nothing but crumbs. I imagine she’ll be down shortly. Maybe the two of us will be able to think of something else. More coffee?’
They both nodded and lifted their mugs. Charlotte filled the cups, turned around and was walking back to the table when she gasped and the cups fell from her hands and crashed on the floor. Hot coffee sprayed in the air and splashed all over Charlotte’s legs but she seemed oblivious. She stared straight ahead, her jaw moving up and down but not a word coming from her mouth.
Lucinda and Jake spun their heads around to see what had alarmed her and both automatically put their hands inside their jackets and on the butt of their guns.
‘Put your hands where I can see them,’ Jimmy said. He stood in the doorway, looking dirty and disheveled. One arm was wrapped tightly around his sister. The other held a gun, pressed into the flesh of one of her cheeks. ‘I will shoot her, I swear I will.’
The surprised detectives slowly pulled out their hands and held them out, palms up and open.
‘Put both your hands on your head.’
Jake and Lucinda followed his orders without hesitation.
‘Mom, go get their guns.’
For a moment, she didn’t respond. Then she put hands on hips and said, ‘I will not. You stop this nonsense right now.’
Jimmy shoved the barrel into Tamara’s face, causing her to whimper. The force scraped the surface of her skin, causing a small trickle of blood to run down to her jawline.
‘Jimmy, you look what you’ve done. You cut her. Now give me that gun right now. You know I have forbidden guns in this house. You’ve known that all your life. Where did you get that thing?’ She stretched her hand out. ‘Give it to me.’
Lucinda looked at Tamara whose eyes seemed about to roll up into her head. If she passed out, Jimmy might shoot her, thinking she was trying to escape from him. She then studied Jimmy. When she first looked at him, his eyes appeared dead and flat; now they were jumping. His mother was escalating not defusing the situation. ‘Come on over to me, Mrs Van Dyke. You can take my gun. I will not try to stop you.’
‘See, Mom, she has sense enough to know who’s in charge here. Do what she says.’
Charlotte walked backwards toward Lucinda. She turned to face her. She reached one hand inside Lucinda’s jacket.
‘Just flip the snap on the top of the holster and it will slide right out.’
The snap filled the quiet room like an explosion. Lucinda, however, did not feel the revolver moving, even though Charlotte was acting as if she was withdrawing the weapon. Lucinda tried to get the woman to look at her but she seemed to be avoiding her gaze. Lucinda wasn’t sure what Charlotte was thinking but she wanted to yell at her to stop. But she didn’t for fear that it might prompt Jimmy to fire the gun. She sat there helpless as Charlotte spun around, slapped a hand on Jimmy’s pistol and jerked.
As Charlotte and Jimmy struggled, Jake pulled Tamara away and
shoved her back.
Tamara screamed, ‘Mom!’ and rushed toward her mother.
Jake and Lucinda circled Charlotte and Jimmy, seeking any small window of opportunity to wedge in between mother and son and disarm whoever had control of the weapon. Before they could do anything, the gun went off, echoing in their ears, and Tamara fell to the floor.
SIXTY
Charley pulled her iPhone out of her pocket when she heard the familiar sound of an incoming text message. She read, ‘If I tell u where I am, will u promise not 2 tell any1?’
Amber! She knew if she said yes and then told her dad or Lucy, Amber would be angry. If she told her no, then she probably wouldn’t hear from her again. If she agreed to keep the secret and kept her word, Dad and Lucy would be mad at her. Well, they don’t need to know, do they? She typed back, ‘Y.’
‘Coffee shop 2 buildings away.’
‘OMW,’ Charley answered.
She headed out to meet Amber but the moment she unlocked the front door, her father shouted, ‘Where are you going, Charley?’
‘Down to the coffee shop for something with lots of whipped cream.’
‘Why don’t you take Ruby with you?’
‘Da–aaa–ad,’ Charley whined.
‘OK, OK, just bring something back for her, OK?’
‘Yes, Daddy.’
‘There’s a twenty in the box on the table.’
‘Thank you, Daddy,’ Charley said and ducked out into the hallway before he could change his mind. When she reached the coffee shop, she looked all around but didn’t see Amber anywhere. She pulled out her cell and tapped on the keyboard, ‘Where r u?’
‘Ladies.’
Charley went into the restroom and still didn’t see Amber. ‘Amber, where are you?’
‘Down here, last stall,’ Amber said, pushing open the door.
‘It stinks like disinfectant in here. Can we go talk out at a table?’
‘I wanted to make sure you didn’t bring anyone with you.’
‘So, you don’t trust me? Really? What’s with that?’
‘I’m sorry, Charley. I don’t trust anybody. Ever. I’m sorry.’
‘Well, c’mon, let’s go get a drink.’
Amber stepped out of the stall and said, ‘I don’t have any money. We could go for a walk.’
‘Daddy gave me money before I left.’
‘He knows?’ Amber said, stepping back into the small enclosure.
‘Oh, c’mon, Amber. I told you I wouldn’t tell him and I didn’t. He gave me money so I’d come home with something for Ruby and he never asks me for change back. It’s OK, really.’
Amber came back out and said, ‘Thank you, Charley. You’re a good friend. I shouldn’t doubt you.’
Charley threw an arm around Amber’s shoulders, noticing a tear in the sleeve of her shirt and the dirtiness of her hair. ‘You can order anything you want. Double mocha, triple caramel, quadruple whipped cream. You name it, it’s yours.’
The girls placed their orders and carried the largest size cups brimming with their fattening concoctions – Amber’s chilled, Charley’s hot – to a table. ‘Girl, don’t take this the wrong way,’ Charley said, ‘but you are a mess.’
Amber sighed. ‘Duh. There are mirrors in the bathroom, you know.’
‘We’ve got to do something. You can’t live on the streets, Amber.’
‘She came to the school. She’ll come to your house, too. She’ll get me. And she won’t let up. She’ll call me a liar. She’ll make me feel so bad. All for him. All because she has to have a boyfriend so bad she doesn’t care what a piece of crap he is. She doesn’t care what he does to me. Or to Andy. All she cares is that he’s there.’
‘But that’s just it, Amber. They put her back in jail.’
‘They let her out before; they’ll let her out again.’
‘Not this time,’ Charley said, shaking her head.
‘You can’t know that. Nobody can.’
‘We can go see your CASA lady. She’ll know.’
‘Yeah, right. She didn’t think they’d let her out last time.’
‘You’re going to get hurt out here.’
Amber snorted. ‘Can’t be any worse than what happened to me in my own home.’
‘OK. I’ll sneak you into my bedroom.’
‘How can you do that? There’s no way.’
‘Easy peasy,’ Charlie said. ‘Just do what I tell you to do, every step of the way.’
‘What about the doorman? I bet he’s looking for me.’
‘Sure, he is. So I’ll go in, chat him up and then let you in the back door.’
‘What if somebody sees me in the elevator?’
‘I’ll buy a newspaper and you can hide behind it.’
‘Won’t that look suspicious?’
‘OK, how about a magazine? We’ve got enough change left for that.’
‘Which magazine?’
‘There’s a bookstore a block from here – you can pick out whatever you want. Pick one big enough to hide your face.’
‘I don’t know. It sounds dangerous.’
Charley rolled her eyes. ‘And you think it’s safe roaming the streets?’
‘OK. But if anybody says anything, I’m going to run and you’ll never see me again.’
‘Drama queen,’ Charley said.
Amber stuck out her tongue and laughed.
Everything went as planned and without incident all the way up to the Spencers’ condominium. ‘Now,’ Charley said. ‘I’m going to leave the door open a crack. Put your foot against so it doesn’t close and listen. I’m going to get everybody out on the balcony – you’ll hear the door. Sneak in and go up to my room. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’
‘What if someone sees me out here?’
‘Read your magazine. I’ll only be a minute.’
Charley breezed inside. ‘Daddy, Ruby, you gotta see this guy down on the street. He’s got a monkey and his hair his purple.’
‘The monkey has purple hair?’ Ruby asked.
‘No,’ Charley said, ‘the man has purple hair and a monkey.’
Ruby ran straight for the sliding glass door.
‘C’mon, Daddy, c’mon. You gotta see this guy,’ Charley urged.
‘OK, Charley, I’m coming.’
Charley peered over the railing. ‘He was right here. He couldn’t have gotten far. Where is he?’
‘I don’t see no monkey, Charley,’ Ruby whined.
‘Any monkey, Ruby,’ Charley corrected her sister.
‘I don’t see any monkey, either.’
‘OK, Charley, is this supposed to be a joke?’ her dad asked.
‘No, Daddy. He was right there. That darned elevator is just too slow. Maybe if we went down on the street, we could find him.’
‘He’ll probably be long gone by then. C’mon, let’s go back inside.’
‘But I want to see the purple-haired monkey,’ Ruby whined.
‘The monkey doesn’t have purple hair,’ Charley snapped.
‘But you said—’
‘Girls, girls,’ Evan said, ‘it doesn’t really matter. He’s gone now.’
‘But, Daddy,’ Ruby pleaded, jutting out her lower lip.
‘If Charley sees him again, she’ll call me on her cell phone right away, won’t you, Charley?’
‘Yes, Daddy.’
‘And that way we won’t miss him next time.’
‘That was stupid, Charley,’ Ruby complained.
‘Ruby, what did I tell you about calling your sister stupid?’
‘I didn’t call her stupid, Daddy. I just—’
‘Enough,’ Evan said.
‘Well, I’m going to start on my homework. See you later,’ Charley said, rushing off before anyone could object. She opened her bedroom door but didn’t see her friend. ‘Amber,’ she hissed.
The closet door eased open and Amber’s head popped out. ‘Made it. No one saw me, did they?’
‘Nope. I told you it would work.
’
‘What are we going to do now?’
‘I have to get on my computer and do some homework. Don’t you have some?’ Charley asked.
‘Yeah, I do – or I did.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘This boy stole my backpack and it was in there.’
‘See, I told you it’s not safe out there. You can’t leave me again. Promise?’
Amber’s brow furrowed. ‘But—’
‘No buts. I had your back. I wasn’t going to let her take you. I never, never, never give up.’
‘You sure had Mom’s back,’ Amber said with a giggle. ‘If I hadn’t been so scared, I would have laughed.’
‘I bet that did look pretty funny,’ Charley said with a grin. ‘But you’ve got to promise.’
‘OK, I promise.’
‘Swear?’
‘Swear.’
‘No lying?’ Charley asked.
‘If I’m lying, I’m dying.’
‘BFF forever and ever?’
‘Forever and ever,’ Amber said.
The two girls bumped fists. Amber curled up on the bed with Charley’s iPad and Charley sat down at her desk and got busy on her homework.
SIXTY-ONE
Charlotte Van Dyke crumpled down to her knees and let loose a high, keening wail. Jimmy threw the gun across the room and screamed, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’
Lucinda and Jake went down on the floor on either side of Tamara. The girl still had a pulse. They searched but found no sign of entry. Puzzled, they looked at each other and then around the room. Jake spotted the point of impact. There was a hole through the crown molding.
‘I think she just passed out,’ Lucinda said.
Jake stood and checked the defect near the ceiling. ‘Looks like the bullet went up through here. ‘Mrs Van Dyke, are you hit?’
‘No, no. Tamara. My baby …’
‘Jimmy, were you shot?’
‘I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to …’
‘No one’s injured?’ Jake asked again.
‘Tamara – get help for Tamara,’ Charlotte pleaded.
Pulling out his cell, Jake said, ‘I will. I will but it doesn’t look like she was shot, ma’am. I think she just passed out.’ On the phone, Jake identified himself and explained he was with Lieutenant Pierce, then requested an ambulance and a patrol car to transport Jimmy Van Dyke.
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