by Ronald Craig
"I love you, Charlie. Thanks for supporting me," she said as she leaned over Shadow to kiss him. When they reached the mobile home, he set the bowls down and went to the small shed to grab a piece of carpeting. When he placed it under the steps, thinking he was doing something special for both of them, he turned to find them both watching him. Jenny walked up the three steps, opened the front door and said, "Come-on, Shadow." Shadow quickly followed her into the mobile home.
Charlie stood there in silence a few moments and realized he had just slipped a rung down on the ladder. From the foot of the steps, he conceded, "OK, but the bedroom is off limits!"
*****
"Hello you two," Jacque said cheerfully as they entered the Marina Police Department the following morning.
"Hello, Jacque," Jenny said with a smile. They walked back to Detective Edwards desk as he was waving them back.
"Any luck?" Charlie asked.
"I think we have a name for our Jane Doe. Using the last name we got yesterday, approximate age, height, and weight, I've been looking at Oregon DMV license photos since yesterday," Edwards said. He held up the photo they had pulled from the video next to the computer screen showing the license of Karen Meyers. "What do you think?"
"Certainly looks like her," Jenny said.
"How old is the license photo?" Charlie asked.
"It was taken three years ago. I've been through all the results, and I think this is her."
"So you got a name from the dealership?" Charlie asked.
"One of their drivers that delivered the car to her at a motel. The Chief and I left there with mixed feelings. He's looking into the new owner of the dealership. Once we get a social security number for Karen Meyers we can track her employment. Maybe get lucky there."
"If her past employment was legitimate, maybe. A paper trail from this activity would be too much to hope for. Finding her name is a great start," Jenny said.
"When they found her body, did it look like she was killed there?" Charlie asked.
"No blood at the scene," Chief Walker said from his office doorway. "Strictly the dump site. If I could get my detectives together we can compare notes."
"Detectives?" Edwards asked.
"You and the Watsons," Walker said. "Edwards, you're the one that put the Watson Investigations sign up."
"Right, Chief," Edwards said and grabbed his notes. Charlie and Jenny followed him into Walker's office and they all sat down.
"Ok, I can't hold this case from the FBI for more than another day, two at most. Edwards, you feel good about Karen Meyers being our Jane Doe?"
"Yes Chief, but it's from the poor profile photo we have."
"We have two people that we know of, that have seen this woman, the gas station attendant and the driver at Walter Mercedes. I would like both of them to look at the license photo before we contact Santa Cruz PD on their Jane Doe," Walker said. He turned and hit his intercom button. "Jacque, could you come in a minute?" He pulled a piece of paper from his file.
"Yes, Chief," Jacque said entering his office.
"I want you to call the Mike Abbott on this list, don't talk to anyone else. Explain we need to fax a photo to a machine he has access to for confirmation of the Meyers woman he delivered the car to. Edwards has the photo we need to send."
"I'll call right away. Anything else?"
"Yeah, my neighbor called again about her lost dog: young male, medium-sized, all black…, missing for a week now. Said she put posters all over town and wondered if we've heard anything."
"Oh no," Jenny said, sadly looking at Charlie. "It might be Shadow."
"It just might be," Charlie said, fighting a laugh.
"What?" she demanded, staring at him.
"Jenny," Walker said. "Charlie called this morning, told me about your long night with the new resident. He just wanted to make sure, before you got too attached, that there is no missing dog report out. I just couldn't resist, sorry."
"So you're kidding about a lost dog?" Jenny asked hopefully.
"Yes, Jenny. No APB out for Shadow," he told her smiling.
"Was this your idea, Charlie?"
"I can't take any credit this time. Not bad, Chief," he said, smiling at Walker.
"No Jacque, that’s it," Walker said.
Jacque took the enlarged license photo from Edwards and turned to face Jenny. "I take it you found a stray dog?"
"Shadow. He's adorable, Jacque," Jenny said, laughing with relief.
"Ok. I can't believe I'm even asking you two this," Walker continued. "With our hands full here, and because of your initial contact with Sam at the Chevron Station, will you two take this photo out there and see what he says? We'll follow up with a signed statement for trial."
"Absolutely, Chief. We can do that," she said.
"It's possible she never stepped foot on the Walter Mercedes lot and all we know for sure is she was in Marina, in one of their cars. Whether she was arriving, departing or just passing through is unknown. Her name is not on the motel register and there is no Karen Meyers on the sales list. The driver, Mike, said he delivered the car to her December 22nd and only one car matching that description was sold on that date to Mr. and Mrs. Clive Patterson. It checks out, they are both alive and well and love their new car.
"If it’s a company car it wouldn't be listed as a sale, right?" Charlie asked.
"That was my thought as well," Walker said. "Only sales, leases and dealer trades showed up on the report they gave us."
"There would be some record of it," Jenny said.
"Jenny," Edwards jumped in. "We can press them for inventory records and nail down the car, but at this point we're not sure if there might be some involvement there with Karen Meyers. We need to stay behind the scenes and not spook the staff there."
"Wow, you think the dealership is involved in this?" Charlie said with surprise.
"Let's just say that until we dig deeper, we've not ruled anything out," Walker said. "And that is based more on a gut feeling than any evidence at this point."
"Wait a minute," Jenny said. "Her name was not on the motel register but we know the room number and date. Who was on the register for that room?"
"A dead end. The name was Michael Mann and he paid cash. The home address he put on the card in Sacramento was bogus," Edwards said.
"So all we know is there were two of them. Maybe Lew from the video? I hope we get a positive ID from Sam at the gas station." she said.
"Is there anything suspicious on the new owner?" Charlie asked.
"Not really. Until the purchase of the dealership, Nelson Crown Enterprises was mostly into commercial real estate," Walker said. "Some strip malls, public storage places and office buildings. They seem to be scattered around, three or four different states. I'm still compiling the list."
Jenny looked at her notes and said, "We have children from San Jose, Stockton, a brother and sister from San Mateo, and a little girl from Concord, all in California. Do any of those match the real estate locations?"
"Let's see," Walker said, reviewing the corporate asset reports he had just printed. "Two office buildings, both listed as legal professional. Parkside Professional in San Jose and Marina Professional here in town." He turned to Edwards. "Maybe that's why we got a reaction from their finance guy. The strip malls are both in San Jose, Lake View Plaza and Old Town. There are ten Crown Storage facilities listed. In California we have Stockton, San Jose, Santa Rosa and Salinas. In Nevada, Henderson and Carson City. Arizona lists three, Kingman, Flagstaff and Lake Havasu City. The last one is Klamath Falls in Oregon. Great question, Jenny!"
"2920 Lake View Court, Klamath Falls, Oregon is on Karen Meyers drivers license, Chief," Edwards reported.
"It wouldn't be hard to convert a block of storage units into a holding area," Charlie said. "The rollup doors could have an electric opener to drive right in after the abduction. Hold the kids there until the alerts die down…a week or so."
"Edwards, pull all the stops with resea
rching Karen Meyers," Walker said. "If you find a link to Crown Storage in Klamath Falls, don't call to confirm it there: the IRS records will do. I will dig deeper into Mr. Nelson Crown. Jenny and Charlie let us know right away on the license ID at the Chevron Station."
Chapter 9
Charlie and Jenny left the Marina Police Department and drove directly to the Chevron Station. The manager told them that Sam would be working an afternoon shift from 11:00 to 7:00 and should be there in an hour.
"Let's have a look at the Marina Professional building," Jenny suggested dialing directory assistance.
"Works for me."
"12562 Reservation, Looks like it's at the end of town."
Charlie started the truck and pulled out onto Reservation Blvd. They drove just under two miles and pulled into a parking lot on the outskirts of town. A weathered, wooden sign was at the entrance indicating that this was the future location of the New Marina Business Park. An area measuring a quarter of a mile long and three hundred feet deep was surrounded by construction chain link fencing. Curb and driveway accesses lined the street side of the area but lead only into the graded dirt. Five large foundation slabs had been poured with pipes breaking through the surfaces but no skeletal framing had begun. A single building was four stories above the small section of a temporary asphalt parking area. Above the windows on the top floor were the raised letters, "Marina Professional" and the address. The windows wrapped completely around the concrete building, creating tinted stripes and clearly marked each story. There was a 3-by-4- foot sign above the ground floor entrance with provisions for ten separate business names, but only one slot was filled: Stewart & Richards Attorneys at Law.
"Looks like this project lost funding three or four years ago. Wonder what kind of law they practice?" Charlie asked.
"Let's have a look."
He parked the truck next to the only two cars in the parking lot, a three year old BMW and an older Chevy Nova. They entered the small ten foot wide by twenty foot long lobby in the center and on the side of the building adjacent to the parking lot. To their right was a staircase going up lighted by the windows from the floors above them. A rope spanned the first step with a sign 'No Entry'. Beside the stair case was a glassed cabinet intended to list the different business and their suite numbers but it was empty. Elevator doors stood further down the wall on their right that ended at two glass doors directly in front of them. The doors were etched with the name of the law firm but offered no specialty practiced.
"We can go in or look them up online," she said.
"Don't you want to look around a little?"
"Yes, but we don't have a reason to be here."
"I have an idea, follow my lead," Charlie said opening one of the glass doors.
The wall to the right which appeared to divide the ground floor jogged away from the glass double doors and ran to the back of the room. There were two desks along that wall, both facing toward the center of this inner room with desktop computer screens and were both unoccupied. A plain unlabeled three foot door was in the back corner where the wall ended. The back wall had a short hallway in the center and a glass enclosed conference room was on the right, the exterior windows were visible surrounding it. The inter space to the left of the double glass doors was a wall offset ten feet with two three foot office doors, both closed. The first door was marked with Randal S. Stewart Family Law and the other was Allen L. Richards, Corporate Law.
Directly in front of them was a desk with a young woman in her late twenties, dressed in a professional-looking white blouse with a suit jacket draped on the back of her chair. She stood and offered her hand to Charlie. "Good morning," she greeted them. "Are you two looking for legal services?"
"Possibly downstream. We'll take a few cards to have on hand," Charlie said. Jenny approached the desk and pulled a card from each of the two card holders on the reception desk. "This is a very nice building," Charlie continued. "Is your firm the only business here?"
"Yes. Was your interest corporate or family law?"
"Actually, right now we are looking for office space for our business. Saw this building and thought we would inquire as to availability," he said.
"The owner is currently in negotiations with other law and professional firms. That is why there is no sign outside offering office space."
"How long has your firm been here?" Jenny asked.
"About a year. Sorry we can't help you," she said as she sat down in her chair.
"When we walked in I was surprise you are only using half of the first floor with the only access to the first floor being through your double doors." Charlie said.
"We reserved it for expansion. I am really sorry, sir, there is no available space in this building."
The door marked Allen L. Richards, Corporate Law, opened and a man appeared in the door way. He was in his mid-to-late forties, about 5'10", wearing suit pants, a white shirt and tie. "Hello, I'm Allen Richards. May I help you folks?"
"Thank you. We saw your building and are looking for office space," Charlie said.
"I have already told them, Mr. Richards, that the owner is in negotiations for the upper floors," the woman interjected.
"Thank you, Judy. We are hoping for some life upstairs by the end of the year," Richards said.
"Ok, sorry to have bothered you. We'll keep looking," Charlie said as they left the office. They passed through the inner and outer doors and walked past the exterior side windows on the back half of the building. Their view inside was blocked with construction paper or black plastic sheeting so they walked back to their truck.
"I definitely got the feeling that they are not interested in filling the empty space here," Jenny said.
"Or disappointed that the business park project is dead. Then again, maybe that’s why they are here to begin with. I would have loved to open that door to the other half of the bottom floor."
"Me too," Jenny said. "We have some cards to give the Chief. Let's see if Sam is at the station. Oh, and let's stop at the pet shop and get Shadow a collar, leash and stuff."
"And something other than my shoes to chew on," he added. They drove back towards the heart of Marina and stopped at The Pet Emporium. They left with two bags of toys, treats, dog food and a large doggy bed.
"So you didn't like my carpet under the front stairs as a bed for Shadow?"
"About as much as you planning to put one of our other kids there," she told him smiling.
"Our kids? Now that you mention it, he does have your warm hazel eyes."
"And seems to react as playfully as you do when I scratch behind his ears too."
They pulled into the Chevron station and parked beside one of the roll-up service doors. When they got out of the truck, Sam called from the gas pump, "Be just be a minute." They waited by the truck and after a few minutes he approached them. "I was told you wanted to talk to me again."
"Hello Sam. We have a license photo we would like for you to look at," Jenny said, handing him the photo.
"I remember thinking, 'why are the pretty ones always so bitter'. That’s her. I wasn't as sure with the video but this is a good picture."
"Sam, I know you were nervous when Rick took her camera, and you told us you didn't see her again after that. Did anyone come around later asking about her or the camera?" Charlie asked.
"You are in no way in trouble here," Jenny interjected. "We just need whatever you can tell us."
"There was a guy, a couple days later, in a suit. I figured he might be a detective. I was really worried, there was no way I would rat out Rick. I told him that I remembered the blond woman and her car but nothing about her lost camera. Then he said she was offering a reward of two hundred bucks."
"Can you describe him?" Jenny asked.
"Not really, I was so spooked that he would see I was lying. I avoided looking at him," Sam said. "I was so relieved when a car pulled up to the service bays and I could get away."
"Anything else you remember? His car maybe
or someone else in it?" Charlie asked.
"He must have parked on the other side of the station, I never saw his car. He told me to call him if I heard anything and handed me his card."
"His card, do you still have it?" Jenny asked excitedly.
"I never looked at it. Slipped it into my pocket and ran to help the customer."
"And your uniform has been washed twenty times since then," Jenny said.
"Sorry, I didn't calm down for two weeks after he was here."
"Sam, you have again been a great help. No reason to be sorry," Charlie said.
"Yes, thank you so much Sam," Jenny said as they got into the truck. Charlie was backing away from the station when Sam approached the driver's window.
"I think it was blue," Sam said.
"The car he was in?" Charlie asked.
"No, the card."
Jenny held up the business card from Allen L. Richards printed on pale turquoise card stock and asked, "Like this?"
"Maybe, sorry I didn't look closer at it," Sam said.
"It's ok Sam. Thanks again," Charlie said as they pulled out of the station. Jenny pulled out her phone to report the positive ID on Karen Meyers and said they were on their way in with some other information.
"The Chief and Edwards got the same confirmation from the driver," Jenny told him.
"I'm sure Santa Cruz PD will be in the loop soon with a name for their Jane Doe."
They pulled into the Marina Police Station and went inside. Neither one of them noticed the older Chevy Nova that drove slowly past the police station and parked down the block. The driver turned the car off and reached for her phone.
Chapter 10
"I think we have a problem," Judy said into her phone, her attention glued to Charlie and Jenny in her side-view mirror as they parked the truck and walked into the Marina Police Department.
"Who are they?" he asked.
"I don't know yet. They went to a pet shop, so I stayed there a while, figuring it was as they said, just looking for office space. I decided to head back when they came out so I followed them. They went to the Chevron Station to talk to Sam, that attendant you spoke to the end of December."