“Well, that sounds like a very efficient solution.”
“Yeah, but the guy down the street is a cheap man. The guy he hired wasn’t fully vetted, that’s what the insurance company called it, and he stole the RV.”
“What?”
“Drove that retired couple out of the area, pulled over at a truck stop to get supplies, out in the middle of nowhere, and while the couple were in the store getting munchies and going to the bathroom, he just drove off.”
Carolyn couldn’t help herself. She got involved with Anna’s story even though she really wanted to talk about Barry and her new insight. “It couldn’t have taken them long to catch up with him. The bad guy, I mean.”
“No, they caught up with him pretty quick, but then it turned into a whole police chase thing and by the time it was all done, the RV was all over the side of the highway and the couple had to fly home. I’m not sure they ever got the insurance company to pay up.”
“That’s too bad. Can we get back to Barry?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Carolyn, please, continue.”
“So, anyway, I got to thinking about the man down the street, the one that left with the Internet woman. As it was described to me, he didn’t just wake up one day and decide to take off with this woman, it was a progression.”
“Right.”
“Which got me thinking about Barry.”
“I don’t mean to rain on your parade, Carolyn, but we have discussed this. We were already pretty much satisfied that—”
“But what I’m saying is that I think we stopped too soon.”
“What?”
“I think that our timeline is too closed in. You see where that girl was on the lease with him? We tried to track down that girl and we came to a dead end. We figured it was just because we aren’t computer people. What if she doesn’t want to be found?”
“Why wouldn’t she want to be found?”
“Because maybe Barry scared her so bad she doesn’t want him to be able to find her. Maybe there are more like her. Maybe it isn’t our incompetence, but his history.”
“That’s a good thought. Oh, God, I can’t imagine.”
Anna shook her head. “If he was able to beat Suzi down to the point he did, and then she married him anyway, I have to believe he has had practice. I have to believe that she isn’t his first.”
“We kind of knew that. Even if I didn’t want to admit to myself just how poorly my granddaughter had been treated.”
“Yes, but I don’t think we thought about the extent it could be. How bad it could really be…” Carolyn’s voice faded off and her face took on such a sad look.
The girls were lost in thought for some time. Carolyn thinking about all the times she missed a hint from Suzi or a comment from Barry that should have set off all her alarm bells.
Adeline reliving some of the past she had long ago tucked in a very private part of her memory, only to retrieve it when it was to help her new friends.
Anna had been quiet. Unlike her to be so quiet on any subject having to do with organization and snooping around to find information.
Adeline and Carolyn seemed to notice at the same time.
Adeline spoke first. “Obviously you are thinking about something, Anna, please, what is it?”
“Maybe she can’t be found because she is no more.”
“What?”
“We assumed we couldn’t find her because we don’t have the skills, but let’s be realistic. If your guy Roland is on top of this at all, and we have to assume he is, then he is looking at the same things we are and he has little girls like Kimberly the computer genius that set all this stuff up, who could find what we have found in a moment. A few taps of the keys. If she didn’t find anything, then I suggest there wasn’t anything to find.”
“I believe Roland is running pretty thin on personnel right now. He has all of his regular clients. He is watching us and Cara and her family, Suzi and her brother, and a number of others, all while looking for Barry. If he doesn’t have the manpower to cover every base, I think we can forgive him, and perhaps help a bit.”
Carolyn put her hand to her heart. “Adeline, my God, you must be spending a fortune. I don’t know how I will ever repay you, but as Anna is my witness, I will find a way.”
“While I appreciate the sentiment, Carolyn, I would be equally involved even if you were not so important to me. Cara saved my life. It is the least I can do to try to help solve this whole situation.”
Anna cleared her throat. “I think we’re missing something. Something big. You know what the problem is? We’re thinking about this in our own reality. Like the mature women we are. We aren’t looking at this from the perspective of a man Barry’s age. We don’t know how he thinks.”
“We can certainly try to think of it from his end.”
“Or we can call my Joey. They’re about the same age. About the same education. Barry already was pretty established in his career and Joey is just getting started, but I think it’s a place to start. See if maybe he can shove us in the right direction. I’m gonna go give him a call.”
After she left the room, Adeline turned to Carolyn. “Any other thoughts?”
“Just fears, mainly. I don’t know what ever possessed Suzi to marry the man after she already knew the animal he was.”
“There has been a lot of research about that. Some believe that women are manipulated into believing they are the only ones who can save the Barrys of the world from themselves. Others believe that if they love the man enough and are patient enough, he will change. Still others are so detached from the concept of an abuser that they truly don’t realize abuse is taking place. They blame it on the stress of work or drink or any number of other transitory things in their lives and believe the bad phase will pass.”
“I thought I raised her smarter. It looks like I not only failed in raising my own daughter, but in my granddaughter as well.”
“Well, that is quite shortsighted.”
Carolyn looked surprised. “I’m sorry?”
“Firstly, I find it a little disarming that you are taking responsibility for the decisions of a grown woman. Show her a little more respect than that.”
Carolyn started to defend herself but Adeline cut her off.
“Secondly, if you are unwilling to take credit for the lovely things regarding your granddaughter, and those lovely traits far outweigh the mistakes she has made, it is disingenuous to take credit for the negative. I believe that would constitute a situation that is more reflective of you and your needs and wants than it is of Suzi or her needs or wants. As Cara would put it, don’t make it all about you. The child actually said that to a rather pretentious individual the other day. She is such a curious mixture of pluck and insecurity.”
Again Carolyn started to defend herself and again Adeline cut her off.
“Most importantly, Carolyn, is that you love your granddaughter. She loves and admires you with equal veracity. Your laser focus should be on helping her to heal, to become the woman she was born to be, and to raise that beautiful little baby she is expecting without regret or complication. Isn’t that what we are trying to accomplish with all of this? To remove Barry from her life and the life of your great-grandchild?”
It ran through Carolyn’s mind that Adeline was investing outrageous sums of money, not to mention her own time and effort, and instead of being appreciative, she herself, Suzi’s grandmother, was whining and feeling rather sorry for herself. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. This is as difficult for you as it is for Suzi. Probably more so.” Adeline took a deep breath. She became very still, perhaps reliving a memory from her past. She continued, “Suzi knows where she stands and that she has the power to make the decisions she needs to make. Making a good decision or a bad decision is within her grasp. All you can do is hold your breath and pray she makes the decisions you would want for her to make. You have been completely helpless in all of this, which makes it nearly impossible to deal w
ith. But time will help. Counseling if you need it. Lots of talking. Lots of forgiveness. Most importantly, lots of love.”
Carolyn leaned in and hugged Adeline, not letting go until several seconds past the social norm, letting Adeline know it was a heartfelt connection, not a social gesture. “Thank you.”
“I wish for you all the things that I know are missing from my relationship with my children and the rest of my family. You have the ability to have all of that, Carolyn. Your family loves and respects you. They are good people. I am not as fortunate.”
“We’ll work on that just as soon as we know that Barry is taken care of. Your soldier daughter will be home soon. Didn’t Anna tell me that her orders had been changed and that she will be delayed another few weeks?”
“Actually, I find that a blessing of sorts. Her delay and the whole effort to find Barry. It puts a little time between the hurt my family has caused me and the decisions I must make with my daughter. The decisions that need to be made as to which actions need to be taken and what the ramifications of the actions already taken will be.”
As she stood, Adeline slapped her knees, a new habit she’d picked up from Anna. “I will be able to look at all the intercourse with my family much more objectively once all the emotion has settled. No important decisions in life should be made solely on emotion.”
“Very wise—”
Anna came through the door before Carolyn could finish her comment.
“Joey will be here in thirty minutes. All he asks for is food. A pizza should arrive about the time he does. I ordered the usual. Everybody okay with that?”
Adeline smiled, if only to herself. Sitting in the den with these two wonderful women eating cheap pizza and waiting for a young man she hoped would soon be in her employ were some of her most treasured moments.
These women had no idea how important they were to her. To her sanity. To her safety and feelings of well-being.
Her life had been one of great privilege. She’d been places few people had been. Done things few people were blessed enough to do. She had met or become friends with some of the most powerful people in the world. Their power was based on wealth or political pull or social status, but none of those powerbrokers were as strong as these lovely women.
None even came close.
SEVEN
With Joey gone and the pizza boxes in the trash, the girls found themselves once again in the den looking at the timeline, trying to determine the best course of action.
Anna leaned in and pointed at the board. “Okay, my Joey said that it is strange that three of those girls are just nowhere to be found. I find it curious, but I’m not willing to throw my hat into the serial murderer ring just yet.”
“Dear God. Do you really think that my Suzi could have been married to a serial murderer? And what about her baby?”
“I said I do not believe that Barry is a serial murderer. At least not that we can prove right now.”
Adeline looked at the women, but addressed only one. “I’m confused, Anna, how did we get to this place? Why do we believe that there is the slightest possibility that Barry is that much of a monster? It would seem to me that it is a long leap from domestic abuser to serial murderer.”
“Tell that to any one of a dozen people I could name you. From the kids in California that shot their parents in the face over money, to celebrities that kill in recording studios or on the front porch. People kill people for stupid reasons and get away with it all the time. Once they get away with it once, they think they have the power. The unsolved murder rate is higher than the solved murder rate, but I don’t think that’s where we should go yet.”
Carolyn’s head had begun to spin. “Where exactly do you think we should go?”
“I think if somebody was after me, I’d hide. I wouldn’t put my stuff out there on all this social media stuff.”
“Makes sense.”
“So, I think we stop looking in the distant past and look in the recent past.”
“Okay.”
“Suzi met Barry here. That means that he had to be here – I’m assuming that he lived here — and I’m thinking that there is more than a good chance that he wasn’t a monk before he met Suzi.”
“I’m not sure how long he was in town before he met my Suzi, but I can ask her.”
“That would be good. I think we concentrate on the girls he knew here first. Work our way back if we can’t find them or if they have nothing interesting to tell us.”
“And how are we going to do that?”
“The devil is in the details. There is no way he could have kept himself completely under the radar. And even if those girls don’t want him to find them, they didn’t just disappear off the planet, at least let’s hope they didn’t. Adeline, why don’t you call Roland and find out if there is any way we can get Barry’s phone records. Say, for the six months before he met Suzi until now.”
“I am quite certain that can be arranged.”
“Good, and if any of those computer geniuses he employs can give us the names or emails or anything of the girls he talked with while he was local, that would be good too.”
Carolyn seemed less confident than Anna. “I know that Suzi gave Roland permission to take anything they found in the house, but you would think Barry would have had that type of thing with him. I can understand that he had all kinds of information, but I would think that information would be on his laptop or a smart phone or that type of thing and I would doubt he left that in Suzi’s house when he did all this other stuff. I would think it would have been on his person, so to speak.”
Anna smiled. “Yes, but Barry is a controlling person and controlling people have backups. It is not in their nature to leave things to chance. I’m betting there is a backup of just about everything we need on his home computer or a thumb drive or someplace like that. I’d be surprised if we didn’t find all the information we’re looking for right there for the taking.”
Adeline stood. “I will call Kimberly directly.”
“I’ll call Suzi.”
Anna headed for the kitchen. “I’ll make tea.”
Roland’s assistant called just as they were putting away the dishes. Adeline left the room and took the call. Carolyn took Anna’s hand and led her out to the backyard.
“I haven’t had the chance to talk to you with Adeline staying here in your house.”
“What is it?”
“Do you think Adeline is okay with all of this? I don’t want to make things any harder on her. I can only imagine how uncomfortable she has to be at this point. It worries me. Add to that all her problems with her family and her health just now coming back to near normal. Have you seen any sign of a problem?”
“I asked her if she would be more comfortable in a hotel but she insisted on staying here.”
Carolyn’s eyes grew wide at Anna’s mistaken assumption. “Oh, no, I didn’t mean her staying in your home, your home is lovely. I meant her dealing with all of this domestic abuse stuff when she has a history of domestic abuse herself. I don’t want to be the cause of dredging up all that hurt and turmoil.”
“Oh, I see. I guess that was a little insecure of me.” Anna laughed. “It is a little intimidating to have a woman that could buy and sell your whole city sitting in your humble house and washing your dishes.”
“I can fully understand, but she seems very happy. No, content. I think I would prefer to be content over happy. I think being here, with you, is exactly what the doctor ordered. Adeline is a very serene type of person, but when she is here, she seems…comfortable. I don’t know what the right words are, but I’m glad she is here, but don’t want to lose sight of the fact that this could be difficult for her.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. And thank you.”
“For what?”
“For pointing out that Adeline is comfortable here. I thought she was, but I wasn’t certain.”
“Well, she is. You have a lovely home and I have to tell you, that boy of yo
urs, Joey, he is a pure delight.”
“He is a good boy. I thought we might have some problems with him when he was younger. A couple of years there I thought I was going to have to staple those pants of his to his hips to keep them where they should be, but he has grown into a fine young man.”
“Maybe when all is said and done we can help him to find a job.”
“Adeline has been kind enough to put his resume in front of some people, she didn’t give me the details, but I’m hoping upon hope that something works out soon. The child is a couch dweller – as my Morgan calls it – and there is a limited time you can do that without just giving it all up. I don’t want him to take a wrong turn. Not after how hard he has worked.”
“I understand. It’s the economy. A lot of young people are dealing with that kind of thing. He’ll find something soon.”
“I pray to God you are right. Let’s get back inside.”
As they approached the door, Adeline was opening it. “Was it something I said?”
Anna smiled. “The walls are thin, didn’t want to interrupt your call. Carolyn and I were just talking about Joey. Hoping he finds a job sometime soon.”
“About that, Anna, I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but there is no longer any reason for you to be concerned.”
“Really?”
“I’m sure Joey will be giving you a call soon.”
“Thank you, Jesus. And Adeline.”
They all laughed.
“I was happy to present his resume, but the truth is, he is a well-educated and well-qualified young man with an excellent work ethic and he isn’t hard on the eyes either.” Adeline winked.
“You have your eye on my baby?” Anna laughed.
“No, but I doubt it will surprise you to find out that the hiring manager is a thirty something young woman that found your baby to be – what were the words she used – ah, yes, outstandingly good looking and that butt!”
Carolyn’s eyes were wide. “A hiring manager said that?”
“She was once in my employ. She was one of my runners, years ago. She continued on to finish her education and is now holding a very responsible position that I did not help her obtain. She is a lovely young woman and is utterly professional at work, but we were having a bit of a gabfest on the phone. She would never say anything like that to anyone else.”
Hawaii Can Wait (The Girls Series) Page 10