Fatally Linked

by Juliann Vatalaro

  “Don’t do this, Zach. I’m in no mood for one of your jokes.”

  “No joke, ma’am. I’m Zach’s brother Jake. May we come in for a few minutes?”

  Jennifer finally realized he wasn’t alone. She looked over to Dani and back to Jake. “Zach didn’t have a brother. He was an only child.”

  “It was a recent discovery for us. Take a good look at me. We are identical twins, but there are some differences. If you’re the Jennifer we were told about, you will see the differences.”

  Dani and Jake stood there while Jennifer looked Jake up and down. Suddenly, she brought her hands to her mouth. “Oh God, he really is dead.”

  “Yes, ma’am, he is. Do you mind if we come in?”

  “Oh, no, Katie. You found Katie.”

  “Not yet, ma’am. Please let us in. We need some answers.”

  Slowly she opened the door wider. She stepped to the side and motioned them in. Dani walked past her with barely a glance. Jake picked up the phone.

  “I’m Detective Santos with the fifth precinct. Everything is okay, but Jennifer is going to need to call you back.”

  He hung up and handed the phone to Jennifer.

  “This is Lieutenant Castello. We would like to talk to you about Katie. We found out last night that she is Zach’s daughter and that she ran away. Is that true?”

  She nodded.

  “Can you tell us what’s going on?”

  She motioned further into the room. “Please come in and sit. Can I get you anything?”

  Dani was having a hard time looking at her. She and Jennifer resembled each other. Same hair, same height, and around the same body shape. Jennifer looked like she was in pretty good shape. They did have different eye colors. Dani’s were green, Jennifer’s a light brown.

  Dani sighed to herself as she looked around the house. It was nice. For this neighborhood, it was actually very nice. Neat and clean. Pictures on the walls. Furniture that looked no more than a year old. It seems Jennifer Granta did well for herself.

  “We’re fine, ma’am. Just to clarify, you are Jennifer Granta?”

  “Yes.”

  “You have a daughter named Katie and she has run away?”

  “Yes.”

  “Katie is Zach’s daughter?”

  “Yes, and I guess your niece.”

  “Please tell us what’s going on.”

  She sat with her hands clasped together in her lap. “Katie ran away three weeks and two days ago. She didn’t leave a note. She called me after twelve hours and said she wasn’t ever coming back. I spent two days looking for her. I searched everywhere. I had her friends searching everywhere.”

  “Why didn’t you report it to the police?”

  “I tried. As soon as I hung up with her, I called them. They said she was just mad about something and when she calmed down, she would be back. If I didn’t hear from her again in twenty-four hours to call them back. I was to busy looking for her. I didn’t take the time to call them back. He wasn’t going to help me anyway.”

  Jake and Dani looked at each other. “In California, if a kid goes missing we are on it the moment we find out about it.”

  “That’s the way it is in New York also,” Dani replied.

  “Do you have the name of the person you spoke to?”

  “Detective Cranstone. I’ll never forget him. The arrogant bastard.” She brought her hands to her mouth. “Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize, ma’am.”

  “You can call me Jennifer. I’m not old enough to be called ‘ma’am.’”

  “No need to apologize, Jennifer. I’m sure the Lieutenant is already figuring out how she can make his life a living hell.”

  Jennifer smiled. It was probably the first time in three weeks and two days.

  “What did you do next?”

  “I remember hearing that Zach became a cop. I didn’t want to call him, but I was up against a wall. I have to find her. I figured Zach would know what to do. I called him. I was surprise he took my call right away. I asked him to come over. I told him about Katie. As I was explaining what happened, he was looking at the pictures.”

  She motioned to a picture on the mantel.

  “When he saw the one on the end, the empty one, his eyes got really big. I knew right away that he realized she was his.”

  She wiped a tear from her eye.

  “He yelled at me for what had to be five minutes. He wouldn’t let me explain. Finally he said he would find her, ripped the picture out of the frame and walked out. I never heard from him. Then I heard he was killed.”

  She took a few deep breaths to control herself.

  “I couldn’t believe it. He never told me what he was doing to find Katie. I didn’t know who I could go to. I went to his funeral. I was hoping to maybe talk to his partner.”

  She looked over to Dani. “That was you, right?”

  Dani nodded.

  “You didn’t look like you would listen. I realized it was not the right time.”

  “She wouldn’t have been any help to you anyway. Zach didn’t tell her about Katie. We were going through some of Zach’s things last night. We came across his journal. It explained Katie.”

  Jake sat up and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Why haven’t you contacted the police again?”

  “I didn’t get the feeling they would help the first time.”

  “Why did Katie run away?” Jake walked over to the mantel and took down one of the pictures of Katie.

  Jennifer pulled at her hands. “I was dating this man. He has a twenty-year-old son. We went out to dinner a few times. We were trying to let them get to know each other. It seems one night Daren found out where Katie was and followed her there. She told me he was hanging all over her. He insisted on bringing her home. She said he tried to get her to sell drugs for him at her school. When she refused, he tried to rape her.”

  Again, she wiped the tears from her eyes.

  “I told her she must have misunderstood and I would talk to him and his father. I told her we would straighten it out. I guess she didn’t believe me or didn’t want to wait until I had the time because she ran away that night.”

  “We’re going to need both their names.”

  She went over to the desk, took out her address book, and ripped out a page. She handed it to Jake.

  “I told Matt what Katie had accused Daren of. He went off the wall. He actually slapped me. I told him I never wanted to see him again.”

  “Has he tried to get back with you?”

  She smiled again. “I told him I never wanted to see him again as I had my gun pointed at his chest. It seems he took the hint.”

  “Did Zach know about them?”

  “No. As I said, he yelled at me for a long time. He wouldn’t let me explain. He wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “Okay, we’ll check them out.” Jake looked at Dani and back. “What did Zach say as he was yelling at you?”

  “Nothing, really. He said he couldn’t believe I would keep his daughter from him. He said if anything happened to Katie, he would never forgive me. He kept saying how Danny would never believe this.”

  “Can I ask why you broke up with him and never told him about Katie?”

  Jake shrugged when she looked at him.

  “Not really information we need for the investigation. I didn’t have a chance to get to know him. I’m trying to figure out what kind of man he was.”

  She smiled again. “Zach was one of a kind. I loved him back in high school and I can honestly say I still love him today. I didn’t tell him about Katie because I knew he would throw his life away trying to provide for us. He was going to college on a football scholarship. He was going to be a cop. He would talk about it all the time. I loved him too much to let him throw it all away because one night we wanted each other and neither one of us happened to have a condom handy.”

  She looked at Dani for a long moment. It seems Dani was not the only one that noticed the resemblance.

&n
bsp; “Why didn’t you get in touch with him after he graduated college, after you found out he was a cop?”

  She shrugged. “I was afraid he would try to take Katie away from me. Turns out that probably wouldn’t have happened. I don’t think they would have given him custody with his lifestyle.”

  Dani spoke for the first time. “His lifestyle?”

  “I’m sure considering you were his partner, you knew he was gay?”

  Dani and Jake stifled a laugh. “What makes you say that?”

  “As I said, when he was yelling at me he kept saying how Danny was never going to believe he had a kid. The way he said it gave me the impression I did the right thing by breaking up with him back then. It seems I would never have been what he wanted.”

  Jake shook his head. “I think I should clarify something.” He looked over to Dani and back to Jennifer. “This is Lieutenant Castello. Lieutenant Danielle Castello. She was Zach’s partner. On the job and off.”

  Jennifer looked over to Dani. She looked her up and down, and again brought her hands to her lips, this time to hold back the laugh. “Thank God. I was starting to think I was nuts. There was no way Zach could have turned gay, but I swear he was so worried about Danny finding out, I could have sworn it was a lover.”

  Dani got up. “You’re right—Zach was far from gay.” She smiled at Jennifer. “We’ll find Katie. When we do, I would like the opportunity to tell her about her father. I hope you give me that chance.”

  She headed for the door.

  Jake held up the picture of Katie. “Do you mind if I take this?”

  “No.” She took it from him and removed the picture from the frame.

  “I also would like to spend some time with my niece.”

  He headed for the door. “One difference between me and Zach is I will call you with any information we find.”

  “Thank you.” She looked at Dani through the door. “Tell her she can have as much time with Katie as she wants. It might help her deal with her loss.”

  “Just so you know, she was very much in love with Zach. She will not rest until she brings Katie home. For that matter, neither will I. I barely had a chance to get to know him. I will not lose any time with my niece.”

  CHAPTER 11

  DANI SAT IN THE DRIVER’S seat with her hands on the wheel and her head on her hands. Jake watched for a minute before getting into the passenger seat.

  “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

  She extended one hand for the keys, but kept her head on the other. “What am I thinking?”

  “That he was using you to replace her.”

  She lifted her head and turned the key. “Well, isn’t that nice? Now you can read my mind.”

  “Dani…”

  “Jake, don’t. I don’t want to talk about it. Put out an APB on Katie. Tell them they’ll have a picture within the hour. Call Manark and see if he came up with any information on the client that used to be in the Fallen Angels. What was his name?”

  Jake let out a slow breath. “Give me his number. I think the guys name is Trotter.” He made the call. “Manark called it in this morning. He gave Wilson the guys address and phone number. He didn’t have any luck finding Katie last night.”

  “There was no point in asking about Katie. He’ll call as soon as he knows anything.” Dani leaned her head on her hand as they sat in traffic. “Call Wilson. Tell him to go talk to Trotter. Also have him check back with Split. See if his grandfather came up with anything else.”

  Jake shook his head. “Did you make Zach do all the crappy work?”

  “No. We shared it. Whoever was in that seat made the calls. Since you don’t know your way around the city, I’ll be driving. You’ll be doing the crappy work.”

  “I’ve been driving you around since I got here. I could just program the GPS like I’ve been doing all along.”

  He snickered as he made the call.

  Jennifer had just picked up the phone to call her friend back when there was a knock on the door.

  “Daren, what do you want?”

  He pushed the door open wider and walked in. His friend Billy walked in behind him, slamming the door closed.

  “Get out of here or I’ll call the police.”

  “Where’s Katie?”

  “She’s not here. Now get out.”

  She headed for the door, but Billy held up a hand signaling her off.

  Daren walked into the kitchen then back out. He stood at the bottom of the steps and yelled up. “Katie, get down here!”

  “She’s not here.” Jennifer headed over to her desk. Her gun was in the top drawer.

  As she pulled it open, Daren came behind her, slamming it closed. He grabbed her arm and pushed her away from the desk. “I don’t think so. My father told me about your little friend.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want Katie. Tell me where she is and we’ll be on our way.”

  “I don’t know.”

  Daren backhanded her across the face. She fell back into the wall.

  “I don’t want to hear that. Tell me or you will regret she was ever born.”

  “I don’t know. Even if I did I wouldn’t tell you.”

  He hit her again, pulled her gun out of the drawer, and aimed it between her eyes. “Tell me where she is!”

  Billy came up behind her and grabbed her around the neck.

  “Tell him where she is,” he whispered into her ear.

  “Go to hell!”

  Daren smacked her again. “I’m not going to ask you again.”

  “I don’t know. Please leave her alone.”

  Billy slapped her this time. She fell into Daren, knocking the gun out of his hand. He pushed her away and dove for the gun. Jennifer bounced off the desk, falling back toward Daren. Billy grabbed her around her shoulders and held a knife to her neck. Daren was on his knees when he pointed the gun at Jennifer again. She kicked his hand, setting the gun off as Billy slashed her neck with the knife. He let go and watched her fall to the floor.

  “Damn it,” Daren yelled. “Will you stop killing people?”

  “Let’s get out of here,” Billy yelled as he headed out the back door. “I’ll meet you at the warehouse.”

  Daren took off to the left. Billy took off to the right.

  CHAPTER 12

  DANI AND JAKE WALKED INTO the morgue and headed for the lab. As they passed the reception desk, the receptionist jumped up, bringing her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God,” she mumbled.

  “He’s not a ghost,” Dani told her as she continued down the hall.

  “Jake Santo,” Jake held out his hand as he introduced himself. “I’m Zach’s long lost twin brother. Nice to meet you.”

  Slowly she lowered her hand and placed it in Jake’s. “Helen Motors. Nice to meet you.”

  Dani walked into the lab grabbing gloves as she headed to the three gurneys set up toward the back. Since she was alone in the lab she took a minute to review in her mind what they had so far. It’s a good thing she didn’t have much to review because Jake and Peter, both grabbing gloves, came in a few minutes later. Jake stood next to Dani and looked at the three kids. Peter stood on the other side and grabbed his iPad.

  “Anything new?” Dani asked without taking her eyes off the gurneys.

  “Will some names do?”

  Dani and Jake’s heads both popped up. Dani replied. “You have names?”

  Peter moved over to the first gurney. “Kim Sasaki, sixteen. She’s originally from Pennsylvania. She ran away six weeks ago. Notification has been made.” He looked up from the iPad. “Her father said, and I quote, ‘That’s what happens when you defy you father,’ before he hung up on me. I told the local police. They’re going to pay Mr. Sasaki a visit.”

  He moved over to the next gurney. “William Textler, you know. He’s from Chicago. Ran away about six weeks ago. He wasn’t reported missing for over a month. Seems Mr. and Mrs. Textler care more about their work with the Peace Corps than they di
d about William. He was left to the nanny to be raised because his parents are out of the country ten months a year. I left word with the local office. They are going to locate them. I gave them your number. This notification I refuse to make. I’m sure you know why.”

  Jake looked at Dani. “Why?”

  Dani looked at Peter for consent to explain. When she got a nod, she turned to Jake. “Peter was one of those kids that was raised by his nanny. His parents felt that flying the rich and famous around the world was better than staying home with their son.”

  Jake looked at Peter. “I’m sorry to hear that. My mother was a drunk, but was always there for me when I needed her.”

  Peter shrugged. “You play the hand you’re dealt.”

  “From what I can see, you played it well.”

  A slow smile came to Peter’s face. “Thanks, man.”

  After a moment of them staring at each other, Peter cleared his throat before continuing.

  He moved over to the last gurney. “Melissa Chartel, seventeen. Since she didn’t seem like a runaway, I went straight to the yearbooks. It’s the fastest way to put a name to a face. She was supposed to be staying with a friend this week while her parents are away on business. They’re both doctors, traveling in Texas for a seminar on a new brain surgery procedure. Melissa had a fight with her friend and decide to go home.”

  Again he looked up from his iPad.

  “It seems she didn’t make it. I notified her parents and they’re on their way. Though this is going to be a touchy one. They refuse to believe what I was telling them.”

  “What about the friend and her parents. Can they confirm her identity?”

  “The housekeeper, who is the one that filled me in on what happened this weekend, says they’ve been out looking for Melissa and she wouldn’t give me their number.”

  Dani looked at Jake. Jake took out his phone and swiped the iPad from Peter’s hand. “I’ll get the number.”

  As Peter stared at Jake’s back, Dani spoke. “Let’s review what we know while we wait for Jake.” She stood at the foot of the gurney holding Kim Sasaki. “Miss Sasaki was found in the alleyway behind Pure Pleasure, a strip joint on 5th and Main. No sign of any intercourse whether consensual or forced?”