by PJ Fernor
“I know,” Ben said. “Jessie has been missing for a while now. Closing on in that forty-eight hour mark. Trust me, Allie, I know.”
I shook my head and tried to cut my brain in half. One half mad at Ben. The other half wanting to find Jessie.
I needed to let the Ben thing go.
At least for now.
“I’m sorry,” Ben said. “I want you to know that. I’m sorry, Allie. What I thought and what was real was wrong. I’ll never do that again. My mind…”
“Ben, shut up,” I said. I walked around the table toward the door. “I don’t want to hear anything else about it. Don’t ever cut me out of something again. I don’t care what the situation is in my life. Because it’s my life.”
I opened the door.
“You don’t have to be tough and be alone, Allie,” Ben said.
I looked back at him. “Still haven’t found the guts to ask me out, huh?”
“Working on it,” Ben said.
“Let’s find this little girl first.”
Chapter Fifteen
I told Ben to keep both parents at the front where they were. And that meant to keep everyone else away. I wanted to keep the situation as casual as possible, even if that meant standing between two ex’s who hated each other as much as they did.
There was so much time already lost.
And that poor girl was…
I opened the door to go to the front of the station and looked back at Ben.
He had the same somber look that I felt inside of me.
Ben wasn’t just some small town cop. And I was pretty sure that Laura wasn’t just some small town Chief of Police either. They both knew all the statistics. All the data that spoke louder than the voice of the missing girl.
To put it blunt… there was a good chance Jessie was no longer in Sandemor. Or even in the state of Pennsylvania. And there was a good chance that she wasn’t even alive.
That, of course, depended on who took her and why.
Which meant the focus needed to be on what once was the happy couple.
I gravitated toward Cat and sat next to her. Connor was back on his feet, pacing along the front desk. That’s where Ben went.
“I’m so sorry, Cat, but there are some uncomfortable questions I have to ask,” I said.
She lifted her head and looked at me. Her eyes were wide, dazed, slowly starting to slip away into self-doubt, guilt, and the possibility that she may never see her daughter again. Alive or dead.
“Are you really from the city?” Cat asked.
“Yes.”
“You’ve worked on cases like this?”
“Yes.”
“Why weren’t you there last night then?”
My heart dropped a few inches. “I don’t think that really matters right now. Focus on you. Your daughter. We have to put all of our attention there. Now let me play a little bit of catch up here. Forgive the questions I ask if they seem silly. I promise you, they aren’t. You have to trust me, Cat. Okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Is there anyone who would want to hurt you? Or Jessie?”
Cat’s eyes moved toward Connor.
That was the obvious.
The divorce…
“No,” Cat said. “There’s nobody. I’ve done this already.”
“Done what?”
“Ran through it all in my head,” she said. “Did I have an argument with someone at work? Nope. Did I cut someone off while driving? Nope. Did I call and complain about a business or report a… I don’t know… report a bag sitting at the bus stop? Nope. I can’t think of a single reason why…”
“That’s okay,” I said. I reached for Cat’s hand. “Hey, it’s okay. Sometimes things jump out pretty obvious at us. Sometimes they don’t. Talk to me about your family.”
“What family?”
“You don’t have any?”
Cat shook her head. “My mother passed away a few years ago. My father moved to Florida to fish. He’s got a girlfriend and loves his life. I called him about the divorce and he told me the marriage was doomed from day one but my mother said to let it go. I have one sister. Megan. She lives just outside of Seattle. She works in IT. She’s been engaged for five years now. That’s it.”
“What about friends?”
“Someone took my daughter,” Cat said. “Why aren’t you out there looking?”
“She’s got a point,” Connor chimed in.
“Let us do our job,” Ben said.
I looked at Connor and nodded. “Search parties are out there. Combing through the town. The side streets. The woods.”
“There’s a lot of woods out there, Detective,” Connor said.
“And that’s why I’m asking questions,” I said. “Someone saw something. Something made this happen.”
“Ask him about his family,” Cat said.
“Oh, don’t do that,” Connor said. The hate filled his eyes again. “You really want to go down that road, Cat?”
“What about your family, Connor?” I asked.
“A bunch of drunks,” Cat said. “And his brother has been picked up for drugs how many times now?”
“Don’t you dare…,” Connor growled.
He moved and Ben grabbed his shirt and held him back. “Is this how it’s going to go? Can’t we focus on your daughter?”
“I can focus,” Connor said. “But I’ll never forgive her for letting this happen.”
Cat jumped and threw her purse toward Connor. “I hate you!”
“Connor, your family…,” I said.
“Jesus Christ,” he said. “Yeah. It’s true. You want to go north and bother them? Have at it. They’re all drunks. Most don’t have a license. Or a vehicle. You think one of them came down here to kidnap my daughter?”
“Your brother?”
Connor’s lip curled. “Is in jail again.”
“What?” Cat asked. “Since when?”
“Since none of your business,” Connor said.
“You bastard,” Cat said.
I got between them and faced Cat. “Okay. Sit back down. Jessie was at dance, right?”
“Yes,” Cat said. “The studio over on Molly Avenue. It was her favorite thing to do. She was good at it.”
“Really good at it,” Connor said.
“If everyone keeps calm and quiet, we will figure this out,” I said.
“I want you to stay right here,” Ben said to Connor.
He looked at me and pointed to the same door where the interrogation rooms were.
I nodded.
“Cat, I’ll be right back,” I said. “If I hear any noise, I’ll start arresting people.”
“Just find my daughter,” Connor said.
I followed Ben but he stopped when the door shut.
“We have a problem, Allie,” he said.
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re obviously divorced.”
“Ben…”
“The reason I had them come in like this… last night, I got a statement from Connor and Cat about where they were…”
“Right,” I said.
“I snuck it in,” Ben said. “I didn’t accuse anyone. I just asked to help piece things together. Try to figure out where Jessie was last. Who saw her. The normal.”
“Of course,” I said. “I would have done the same if someone had called me last night.”
“Hate on me later,” Ben said. “I just got a text.”
“About?”
“We have a problem,” Ben repeated.
“Stop saying we have a problem and tell me what the problem is.”
Ben looked at the door and curled his lip. “Both of their alibis for the night their daughter went missing… they don’t check out… they were both lying to me.”
Chapter Sixteen
Then
The little boy sits on the edge of his bed and stares at the empty bed next to him. That’s where Milton sleeps… or used to sleep.
The bed’s been perf
ectly made for weeks now.
And each morning the little boy wakes up and tells himself that Milton is going to be there.
But Milton is gone.
Milton is dead.
He fell off that cliff.
Right in front of the little boy and his big sister.
That day was weeks ago but it was like ten minutes ago in the little boy’s head.
His chin quivers and teeth chatter.
He’s afraid.
He’s cold.
He wonders if Milton is a ghost now.
Ghosts aren’t real… but his big sister says they are. And everything she says is true. And right. And happens.
Just like with Milton.
“Frank! Get your ass down here now!”
The little boy’s father’s voice makes the house feel like it’s going to shake.
The little boy jumps off his bed and makes sure there are no tears showing. Last time that happened, his father hit him. To give him something to cry about. Because men and boys don’t cry. Crying is for the women. So Momma was allowed to cry. So was his sister, but she… she didn’t cry.
The little boy sees his sister at the bottom of the steps.
She stares at him and smiles.
She looks around and slowly shows the middle finger of her left hand to the little boy.
He gasps.
He knows what that means.
It means… f you.
Just thinking those two words makes him gasp again.
“You said it in your mind,” his sister says.
She skips away.
The little boy goes downstairs to the kitchen and sits at the breakfast table.
Momma is sitting in her normal spot. She smokes cigarettes and has one lit. It rests in the ashtray, burning away. All Momma does is stare.
His father tells him that’s part of grieving. That Momma will be back soon.
Until then, his father has to cook.
The toast is so burned, it’s black and hard to eat. Biting into it scratches the roof of the little boy’s mouth. And there’s no butter.
Momma always made the best toast.
Milton’s favorite breakfast was oatmeal.
There’s no more oatmeal allowed in the house.
The little boy misses oatmeal.
He also misses Milton.
His sister sits next to him and kicks him hard in the shins from under the table. It hurts so bad that the little boy wants to cry. He wants to ask for help.
But his father won’t help.
“You better hurry up and eat that, or else,” his father says.
The little boy doesn’t know what or else means but he doesn’t want to find out either.
He eats the painful toast and drinks the milk that doesn’t taste all that good.
His sister leaves the table without permission.
His father shakes his head. “Going to have to give out lessons soon.”
The little boy looks at Momma. Her cigarette has burned out. She moves her eyes to his.
“Morning, Momma,” the little boy says.
Momma lifts her right hand and waves.
Then she shuts her eyes and cries.
“Look what you did,” his father says. “Goddammit, Frank. Go upstairs and brush your teeth. Tell your sister we’re leaving in a minute.”
His father hurries to his Momma.
She begins to scream as she cries.
She calls out Milton’s name.
Wanting him to come back so bad.
Begging for her life to be taken so he could have his back.
His father hugs Momma.
“We’re going to get those people back. That company should have had that place sealed off better. They took our boy. I’m going to take all their money. You watch and see…”
The little boy doesn’t think money will help.
But he will never say that out loud.
Upstairs, the little boy finds his sister standing in his bedroom.
It’s just his bedroom now. It used to be his and Milton’s.
His sister is standing next to Milton’s bed.
The little boy watches as his sister sticks her finger into her nose and twists it. Then she wipes her finger on the bed.
When she turns and sees the little boy, she smiles.
The same smile she had when she pushed Milton off the cliff.
Chapter Seventeen
I looked toward the door and took a breath.
“They were lying to you?” I asked.
“Both of them,” Ben said.
“And you’re sure of it? I’ve seen in these cases where parents get-”
“Allie,” Ben said in a stern voice.
When I looked at him, he was serious.
Dead serious.
“I do know what I’m doing,” he said.
“Right. I’m not saying you don’t. I’m just saying that sometimes details come later. The presence of cops and detectives alone can make someone get flustered.”
“I’m telling you their alibis didn’t check out,” Ben said. “I’ve been working on this all night. I think I took a nap for an hour.”
I swallowed hard. “While I tossed and turned all night, worried about Lo. And Mike the cat. Thanks for that, Ben.”
“I already told you, Allie Down, have at me later. When we bring this little girl home safe and alive, then you can beat me up.”
“Right,” I said. “Tell me about the alibis.”
“Connor said he was home. Watching TV. He was having an alone night to unwind, under the assumption that Cat was picking Jessie up from dance. He said they normally don’t have a set schedule when it comes to getting Jessie from school or dance, or anywhere else. It’s usually a big fight.”
“Fight.”
“Argument. Sorry. Nothing physical.”
“Never physical?” I asked.
“You can push that when you’re ready,” Ben said. “Connor wasn’t home when Jessie disappeared.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Neighbors. Connor has that one neighbor who is nosey about everyone on the street. Margaret Roebles. She worries about where people park, if their garbage cans are left out too long after the garbage is picked up, that kind of thing. She has no problem looking into Connor’s windows either. When I told her that wasn’t allowed, want to know what she said?”
“What?” I asked.
“She told me it was for Jessie’s safety.”
My heart sank. “Wow.”
“She said there had been yelling many times that had concerned her. I asked Connor about that and he said the neighbor is a mean old witch. He didn’t say witch though. And that she had called the police on almost everyone on the block for one reason or another. I talked to another neighbor who just so happened to be walking her dog the same time Margaret was walking too. That neighbor confirmed two things.”
“Connor wasn’t home?”
“Right,” Ben said. “The house was completely dark. No glow of the TV or random light turned on somewhere inside the house.”
“Maybe he went to bed early.”
“Maybe he didn’t,” Ben said.
“What’s the other thing you confirmed?” I asked Ben.
“Margaret is the pain in the butt everyone says. That neighbor walking their dog? She told me Margaret yelled at her to make sure she had a poop bag for the dog.”
I took in the information. Then I asked, “What about Cat?”
“Went to her apartment building to look around. Funny enough, she gave almost the same story as Connor did. That she was home. She was sipping wine and taking a bath. She was trying to unwind and forget about the day and the week. She said she was having a bad week at work. She missed Jessie. It was Connor’s turn to get Jessie from dance and she just wasn’t in the mood to fight about it. Cat left her mailbox open.”
“What does that have to do with Jessie?” I asked.
“I ran into the property manager there
. She said the mailbox was open and she gathered up Cat’s mail and tried taking it to the apartment. Cat wasn’t home.”
“She was in the bath though?”
Ben shook his head. “Property manager said there was no sound from inside. I guess the building is old and you can hear when the water is running. Especially for a bath. If you need any more convincing, the property manager met with the head maintenance person shortly after in the apartment directly under Cat’s. The man there had been complaining of a clogged sink and the property manager wanted to be there to see it for herself. She insisted there was no water running from Cat’s apartment.”
Ben shrugged his shoulder.
I stepped back and leaned against the wall.
The alibis were thin. Saying they didn’t pan out was also a little thin. If I stormed through the door and pushed at both parents, it would backfire. Connor could say he was tired and depressed and went to bed. He’d want us to go after Margaret. I couldn’t blame him there. Having someone snooping like that… then again, she did it out of worry for Jessie?
“What are you thinking, Allie Down?” Ben asked.
I looked at him. I shook my head. “It’s thin. But it’s something. We can’t go in there attacking them just yet. There’s a way around each alibi and lie. You have notes of all the statements?”
“Of course I do,” Ben said. “What else do you want? Need?”
“You have a neighbor who is worried about Jessie. You have two parents who ended up divorced. Before the divorce the house was messy. Busy. Loud. Then they get divorced. Cat moves out. You’d think Connor would have moved out, right?”
“I think that’s the cliche way of looking at it,” Ben said. “Everyone assumes the man will leave.”
“What about Margaret?” I asked.
“You think she’d take Jessie?” Ben asked. “Why wait until after the divorce?”
“True,” I said. “But it’s something.”
Ben smirked. “So the nosey neighbor is going to get her dose, huh?”
“That’s right,” I said. “Ben, I won’t back down from anyone or anything when it comes to this. I’ve dealt with a lot of politics in the city. So a small town doesn’t scare me.”