by PJ Fernor
This is all wrong, Allie. Get out of there, call for backup, call Ben, and do it the right way. You can’t do it like this. Someone is going to get hurt…
My mind begged me to back off just a little.
I angled myself so that Connor had no chance of reaching me but I could still see inside the garage.
He only had the door open enough for me to see an old fridge that buzzed like a dying light. On the floor of the garage was a broken bottle and a wet spot.
“I think you’ve worn out your welcome here,” he said.
He pulled the door shut with force.
I moved away and kept my hand on my gun.
I didn’t point the weapon at him though.
You’ll find her, Allie. Just not like this.
Connor’s face twisted. “What are you going to do now? Shoot me? I gave you your chance to look around and you left. That doesn’t mean you get to barge in here whenever you feel like it now. Get out of my house. I’m calling Laura about this too. You’re no help in finding my daughter. You just want to blame me for it. Good luck. Oh, and when I’m done talking to Laura, I’m calling my lawyer. Next time you want to step foot in here, you better have a warrant. Now get out.”
His voice thundered more than it did back at the station when he and Cat were arguing.
There was a dark side to Connor.
Maybe that dark side was the reason why Cat could never trust him.
I slowly put my left hand out and moved my gun to my side.
“I’m leaving, Connor,” I said.
“I’m locking every door and making my calls,” he said.
My gut told me something was wrong.
Very wrong.
My gut also told me to get out of there before things got worse.
Before someone got hurt for real.
Or before I did something stupid.
There’s two girls! You’re not listening to me! It’s not just the one… I have to go back there…
I gritted my teeth and knew I had messed up.
I left Connor’s house for the second time.
He slammed the door and locked it loud enough so I could hear.
I looked at the garage door again and shook my head.
Maybe I was going to get fired during my first week on the job…
But something was off about Connor and the garage.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The day began to end much like the previous day in that there were no leads. The search parties found nothing. Every single tip that came through the station or over the phone was quickly debunked. Everyone and their best friend wanted to find Jessie. Which was the uplifting part of it all. There was no doubt in anyone’s eyes or actions that Jessie was still alive and waiting to be found.
In my heart, there was a sadness that tried to blossom, wanting to believe in the statistics that had been pounded into me for so long working in the city.
Then again, the case that made me a detective… how long had she been missing?
And there were two girls! Where was the second girl? How long had she been missing?
Laura began to grow frantic, desperate to keep the media from scouring through the town. The last thing she wanted were news vehicles and reporters showing up, asking questions, and trying to conduct their own investigations.
I told her I was still working on a few leads of my own. Ones I wasn’t ready to openly talk about yet, but I assured her that I would find Jessie. One way or another, I would find that little girl. I was going to bring her home even if none of us knew what home actually was for her.
Ben had a small group in his office when I hurried by so I could sneak out and meet Lo at the apartment. Even if she hated me again for it, I needed her to know she was safe and I was always going to be there.
My plan was simple.
Get Lo settled, make sure Miss Kesslier was as good as her word to help when needed, and then I was going back to Connor’s house.
If I told Ben or Laura about it there was a risk they’d say it was too much of a long shot and that I needed to do things right. I respected the word right because I knew how muddled things could get when it came to the legal system, but at the same time, a little girl was missing. And the way Connor seemed to be able to flip a switch with anger, on top of him being protective of his garage, I had to see it for myself.
Once I had confirmation that I was right, then I could take it to Ben and Laura and go from there. But if there was any chance that Jessie was in that garage - alive or dead - I needed to know.
When I arrived at the apartment, Lo wasn’t there.
I hurried to check the fridge in case something was written there.
Nothing was scheduled for Lo.
Seeing the calendar made me think of Connor’s house. The fridge. The pictures. The schoolwork.
Counselors had been brought in to talk to anyone from Jessie’s school who needed it. There wasn’t a single person that didn’t know about her disappearance. And with time moving along as fast as it always seemed to, it was getting harder for anyone to convince themselves that nothing bad had happened.
The best dinner I could come up with for Lo and myself was a frozen pizza.
Slid from the box to the oven, baked for twenty minutes, and cut into slices on the counter.
As I cut the last slice, Lo finally showed up.
I opened my mouth and caught myself wanting to yell at her.
“I’m late,” she said. “Sorry. Nat and I were just hanging out in her car. Just driving around. Talking about stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“Jessie.”
My heart sank. “Lo…”
“She’s really missing, right? And I heard someone kidnapped her? Someone ran her over and then tied her up and took her into the woods…”
“Who told you that?” I asked.
I hurried from the kitchen and blocked Lo’s path.
She looked scared. “I… it…”
“Who said that?” I asked, louder.
What if this is it? What if some punks in high school decided to have fun with a little girl?
“It’s a rumor,” Lo said. “Jeez. I also heard her parents kidnapped her trying to get money from each other. Because they hate each other.”
“Lo… anything you hear…”
I was stumbling and fumbling again. I could almost hear my sister laughing at me. All those times I tried to give her parenting advice when she was stressed out as a single mother. I was starting to understand it.
“I’m sorry you have to hear rumors like that,” I said. “Nothing has been found or figured out yet. Anyone who says that kind of stuff…”
I lost my words again.
I wanted to call Laura and bring them all in. Anyone who said something like that, bring them in and find out where they heard it. Track it down to the person who started the rumor, just in case it wasn’t a rumor.
“I’m going to my room now,” Lo said.
“I made pizza,” I said. “I have to get back to work. I’m going to talk to Miss Kesslier too. Okay?”
Lo nodded. “Okay. I’ll eat when I’m ready.”
“Enjoy your night, Lo,” I said. “Just relax. Listen to music. You know?”
“Thanks for the advice, Allie,” she said.
I sighed and shut my eyes when she walked away.
The fall from cool aunt to stumbling caretaker was a far one and I wasn’t sure I had reached rock bottom yet on it.
I grabbed a slice of the pizza for myself and headed out the door.
The pizza was okay. I told myself I should have just ordered takeout.
I tapped my knuckles to Miss Kesslier’s door.
She opened the door and gasped. “What is it? What happened?”
“I have to work,” I said, taking the last bite of crust. “My niece… Logan… call her Lo…”
“She’s home?”
I nodded.
“I’m on it,” Miss Kesslier said. “Let me g
et my crossword puzzle book and I’m on it, Allie. You need to find that little girl.”
“Yes. I do. And I appreciate your help with Lo. She keeps to herself. Normal teenager, right?” I faked a smile. “But I just want her to feel comfortable and safe.”
“Say no more,” Miss Kesslier said. “You go. I’ll sit and keep my eyes on the place. I’ve always wanted to be involved in detective work.”
I realized that to Miss Kesslier by sitting in the apartment with Lo she assumed she was helping find Jessie. And maybe in a way she was.
I didn’t have to debate it.
I made sure Miss Kesslier took my cell phone number and I hurried out of the apartment building to my car.
As I drove to Connor’s house, I knew what I was doing could get me into some serious trouble.
I just needed to know…
With my car parked at the end of the street, I walked the sidewalk as though I were part of the neighborhood. My hands in my pocket, enjoying a nice brisk walk on a cool evening.
I slowed as I approached Connor’s house, scouting the house.
His car sat parked in the driveway.
No lights coming from the garage.
In the house, the far left window glowed with light from the inside.
I cut through the front yard and knew better than to worry about the front of the garage. Those doors were locked.
There was a side door to the garage and wondering if luck was on my side, I grabbed the handle and twisted.
Locked.
That didn’t discourage me though.
There was a back window that faced the yard Connor talked to me about.
I had to push through some shrubs and bushes to get there.
My eyes scanned for any floodlights.
There were none.
I crept around back and the window was there… but so where what looked like heavy, black curtains.
I made fists and swallowed hard.
My heart and mind begged me to leave.
To call Ben and tell him everything that had happened with Connor and then do this the right way.
I pushed through the same shrubs and bushes to go back to the side of the garage.
I noticed a window out of my reach.
It was a small window, rectangular, and I needed to know if that one was blocked off too.
I spotted a garbage can and touched it. I shook it.
It was empty.
It was plastic, but it seemed like a sturdy kind of plastic.
I flipped it over and patted the bottom.
It was the best I could do.
As I climbed up on the trashcan, I fought to keep my balance, my hands sliding against the side of the garage.
As I moved to my tip toes, I was able to see into the window.
My fingertips pulled at the concrete lip so I could see down into the garage.
My right leg shook as my head told me I was going to fall and get hurt.
But I needed to see…
And there it was.
Thanks to the soft glow of a light plugged into the wall next to the door that led to the kitchen, I was able to see what Connor had been so worried about me seeing in his garage.
An SUV.
I swallowed hard.
I didn’t need to ask myself why he was worried about hiding an SUV…
Now I had what I wanted.
I lowered my heels flat to the trashcan to regain a steady balance.
I put my hands against the side of the garage again and started to bend my legs to let myself down.
My heart raced.
And someone grabbed my leg.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The grip on my leg and the strength of the pull proved to me just how much I had messed up. I didn’t want to go through the list of everything I had just done wrong because it didn’t actually matter. I was where I was because of the decisions I had made.
Now it would have taken me thirty seconds to defend myself, even as I struggled for balance on a flipped over trashcan.
But this was the kind of thing any decent detective knew to avoid.
I was going too fast for my own good. Rushing the ending, demanding that I had complete power and control over it. Allowing personal and professional issues to attach to one another, creating an impossible sense of now that didn’t exist.
“What are you doing up there?”
With my right hand pressed against the side of the garage, I started to turn.
It was going to come down to either letting me go or taking a kick to the face.
“Are you insane, Allie Down?”
I looked down at I turned.
“Ben?” I asked.
Ben stared up at me, his right hand clutched tight to my leg.
“Tell me you’re not standing on a garbage can outside Connor’s house at night?” he asked as though he was tempting himself to wake from a dream.
“I found it,” I said to him.
“What?”
“I came here to find something and I did,” I said.
“Get down now,” he said. “We have to get out of here. Do you realize how stupid this is?”
“I don’t really care,” I said. I did care. “I found something…”
Ben offered his left hand and I took it.
He helped me off the trashcan and I put it back where I had found it.
Then I pointed to the window out of reach.
“It was him the whole time,” I said to Ben.
“Allie, look at me and focus,” he said.
“What? I know I’m wrong here, Ben, but-”
“Lo is terrified right now.”
And just like that, my mind changed gears.
“What?”
“We have to get out of here,” Ben said. “Before he comes outside. And then this entire thing blows up even more. Understand?”
I nodded.
My heart, my mind, my life once again was ripped into two pieces.
The focus on finding Jessie fought with the focus on making sure Lo was okay.
Ben slipped his hand into mine and guided the way through the side yard of Connor’s house down to the sidewalk.
When we got to the sidewalk, Ben continued to hold my hand.
I tried to pull away but he resisted.
“Just a happy couple taking a walk,” he said.
“Right,” I said.
I moved my fingers so our hands were interlocked.
There wasn’t anyone outside but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anyone looking.
I felt the anger seething from Ben.
And the moment we turned the corner and I saw Ben had parked behind my car, he pulled at my hand, bringing me closer to him.
He opened his mouth and I hurried to get my words out first.
“There’s an SUV in the garage,” I said.
“What?”
“Connor’s garage. Okay? That’s what I came to see. Something was off about him when I visited him. He was making darn sure I didn’t check his garage. One second he was welcoming and the next he wanted me out of the house.”
“There’s ways to do this, Allie,” Ben said. “You can’t just bust in… you’ll mess everything up.”
“As long as we find Jessie, who cares?”
“Who cares? You’ll lose your job.”
“That little girl is out there,” I said.
“And your little girl has been crying,” Ben said. “Where’s your phone?”
My eyes looked to my car.
My phone was in the car.
I didn’t want it to ring, buzz, fall out of my pocket…
Another genius idea.
“She was calling you. Looking for you.”
“Why?” I asked. “She was home. Settled. I even had the neighbor there.”
“I don’t know, Allie,” Ben said. “Lo ended up calling me. Thinking you were with me. And when I said you weren’t…”
My heart sank. “Oh, Lo…”
“
I tracked you down,” he said. “And when I saw where you were, I panicked.”
“I didn’t say anything because I knew you and Laura would tell me not to.”
“Of course we would. This is crazy. This is not how…”
I shook my head at Ben.
He stopped talking.
“This is how I work,” I said. “I walk a fine line, Ben. And on a case like this? I felt something and went with my gut. If I talked to Laura she would have wanted more proof. I got the proof now. There’s an SUV in Connor’s garage. Correct me if I’m wrong, but does he own one?”
“No,” Ben said. “He doesn’t.”
“So why does he have an SUV parked in his garage?” I asked. “Right after Nelle tells us she saw what could have been an SUV…”
“Okay, fine,” Ben said. “There’s something in the garage. Now we need to get in there. The right way.”
“I’ll tell you the right way,” I said. “Connor himself. His attitude. His anger. Everything about him. I said we needed to push harder at the parents.”
“Then we’ll do it.”
I bit my lip. “Is Lo okay… I have something else to tell you.”
Ben groaned and rubbed his chin. “Lo just wants to know you’re safe. If you’re telling me she was calm when you left, then something happened to scare the hell out of her. And what else do you have to tell me?”
“When I left Connor’s I heard a noise in the garage. I went back into the house, gun drawn…”
“What?”
“Connor confronted me. He was angry. Like when he was at the station. That kind of anger is scary, Ben.”
“You pulled your gun on him?”
“He was wiping his hands with a towel. He showed me a broken beer bottle in the garage. But he only opened the door far enough to show me that. Then he got really angry so I left.”
“And you didn’t tell me this?”
“I wanted to come back and find out what was in that garage,” I said. “He said he was going to call Laura and his lawyer. I don’t think he did either. Because he knows he’s guilty. And if we don’t do something right now, Ben, he might try to move the SUV. Or maybe something worse…”
Ben’s jaw tightened. He looked around.
“You need to get back to Lo,” he said. “I’m going to follow you. I’ll make some calls while I’m driving, okay? I’ll have a patrol car watch the street and the house tonight. If anyone asks, I’ll say we decided on it just in case Jessie’s kidnapping was targeting her parents. I’ll have a patrol car at Cat’s apartment too. Connor won’t be able to do a thing with that SUV. Okay?”