“The car is registered to a Dennis Hightower, last known address in Dover, Delaware.” He tapped a few more keys and waited. His eyes widened as he read what came up on the screen. “Dennis Hightower was released from prison in March where he spent almost two years for robbing a dollar store. The same one he robbed previously.” Burt rolled his eyes. “That’s how smart the dude is. Dollar store for crissakes. Prior to that, he and his brother David Hightower were arrested on assault charges.” Burt’s gaze shifted to the flier on his desk, and back to the screen. “They waited outside a gay bar in Dover, followed and attacked a transgender woman.”
Jonelle couldn’t believe her luck. She slapped her palm on Burt’s desk. “I knew those two cretins were involved in LucieBlu’s disappearance. Do you know where they are now?”
Burt held out his hands in a calming gesture. “Now, hold on Jonelle. That’s quite a stretch to go from what they did then, to being involved in this now.”
Jonelle crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Does the report say how bad the other person was beat up? Did she wind up in the hospital?”
“The victim was taken to the hospital with minor cuts and bruises and released.” Burt leaned back in his chair. “I know what you’re thinking, but there’s no proof they’re involved with making this woman vanish.” He tapped the flier.
Jonelle sat forward and held Burt’s gaze. “What about if I get the proof we need? Can I have their address in Delaware?”
Burt powered down his computer. “We need? Absolutely not. I’ve told you more than I should have already. Leave this to us. I’ll walk over and place this missing person’s report, along with the info on the Hightower brothers, and leave everything with the detective on duty.” Burt rose from his chair.
“Hold it a sec.” Jonelle raised her hand.
Burt sat with a frustrated sigh. “What now?”
Jonelle fingered her handcuff and pistol necklace. “I think you should contact the DC police. Give them a description of the two men and ask them to stake out Rainbows and Lollipops. They may go back there again.” At least she hoped she didn’t scare them off.
“Rainbows and Lollipops? I’ve heard of that place. Is your missing person gay?”
“No. She’s transgender. And what difference does it make anyway?”
Burt shook his head. “None. Just wanted to know if I should add any additional information to the report.”
“How about I go to the club and see if they come back. If they do, I can keep my eye on them, and…” she stopped as Burt glared at her.
He sat up in his chair, shoulders squared. “We’ve had plenty of missing persons cases Jonelle, so we know how to handle them.” He checked his watch. “I’ve got to go. Was there anything else?”
Jonelle hesitated before replying. “Sorry. I went too far, huh?”
Burt slowly nodded.
“I do that sometimes. Tact is not one of my strong suits. Tell you what. Would it be possible to keep me informed of any progress in the case? I’d like to keep Marcella up to speed on what’s going on.”
Burt rose again, and this time Jonelle followed suit. “I can do that much,” Burt said. The two walked side-by-side away from Burt’s desk. At the main door, he turned to her. “Would you like me to escort you downstairs?”
Jonelle shook her head and smiled. “Not necessary. I can find my way. Thanks again. I really do appreciate it.” Burt returned her smile.
After the door clicked shut, Jonelle headed down the hall toward the stairwell. Hand poised against the exit door, she knew she wasn’t going to sit around waiting for the police to act. Her client paid her to do a job and she intended to do it.
CHAPTER 27
Later that afternoon, after calling Marcella and giving her updates on the case, Jonelle drove to the address where the bus driver dropped off LucieBlu and pulled over to the curb. From the driver’s side window, she looked out and clearly saw the other bus stop. She unbuckled her seatbelt and rushed across the street. Dark or not, there was no way LucieBlu could miss the stop that would take her home. Plus, a sturdy wooden bench ran the length of the kiosk. An exhausted LucieBlu could simply have sat and waited a half hour for the new bus driver.
Jonelle hurried back to her Jeep. She scanned the area and saw no one staring back at her. She took the pistol from the glove compartment, placed the weapon in her bag, left the vehicle and set the alarm. She wanted to get a sense of what LucieBlu felt when she wandered away.
Dilapidated row houses covered both sides of the street. Most were boarded up but one or two still looked occupied. Washed out red and gray brick covered the outside of some of the homes. A few were adorned in protruding multi-colored blocks. All the buildings had three concrete steps leading from the sidewalk. Plywood covered the areas where there once were doors and windows. Though she saw no one, Jonelle felt as if many eyes were looking at her. Here, in this place, graffiti wasn’t art. Graffiti scrawled on the boards and brick was profane and ugly.
Jonelle traveled in the direction indicated by the bus driver. A dog barked somewhere in the distance. An answering yap came a few moments later. Jonelle wiped her forehead and pushed her hair up from the nape of her neck and wished she’d worn it in a ponytail, or at least put on a hat. The sun radiated from the pavement in waves, and she squinted against the glare. Jonelle retrieved sunglasses from her bag.
The more distance she covered, the more her feet hurt and her hands began to swell. There were no bus stops in this area and few people on the street, even at this time of the day. The occupants of the limited number of cars that drew near, slowed and stared at her with such intensity it made her nervous. She patted her bag, comforted by the weight of the pistol nestled at the bottom and continued on. Eyes glued to the front, she used her peripheral vision to track the progress of the few cars that turned and headed down another street. She wondered how many vehicles passed by this area at night. Jonelle felt sure that LucieBlu would attract more than just the passing attention of anyone who drove by.
The longer she walked the more discouraged she felt. At the next intersection she looked up. A one-way sign with most of its bolts missing, pointed to the ground. “Figures,” she mumbled to herself. If Jonelle went straight, she’d come upon what looked like worn down and unused warehouses. A left or right turn would lead her toward a continuation of the same brick row homes she had passed. Jonelle decided to go straight for a few more blocks.
Sweat trickled down her back, sticking her shirt to her skin. The air smelled hot and dusty. Jonelle had a pretty good sense of the type of woman LucieBlu was and tried to imagine what she went through that night. “Let’s see,” Jonelle said to herself. “LucieBlu had been unhappy both nights at the club with Peter and Autumn. When she left Rainbows and Lollipops Sunday she didn’t want to talk to her friend on the bus. Stands to reason she was still distraught when she walked to the back and sat down. But not too upset that she didn’t stay awake.”
Jonelle frowned. She crossed the street and stood on the corner next to a large cream colored warehouse. The company name was painted on the top but the letters were so faded, she couldn’t read what it said. Multi-paned windows covered the uppermost floors, and all were shattered. A rusted chain link fence, sagging on one end, outlined the side and back perimeters.
“How far would she walk?” Jonelle wondered. “Especially in heels and wearing her favorite dress.” Jonelle checked her watch. Twenty minutes had passed, though it seemed longer. “She might keep walking until she felt so tired, or her feet hurt so bad she couldn’t go on. But then what? What if someone offered LucieBlu a ride? Would she take it?” Talking out loud didn’t help. Jonelle felt a lump grow in the pit of her stomach as she worried about all the possibilities of what might have happened to the missing woman.
If LucieBlu wandered this far, she would have noticed the desolation. Nothing green grew in this area, only dirt and concrete as far as the eye could see. Jonelle couldn’t even hear the sound of dogs b
arking anymore. Deciding the search on foot was futile, Jonelle turned around, intent on going back to her vehicle. A lone figure in the distance on the other side of the street caught her attention. “Excuse me,” she called out. Her steps quickened. “Can I ask you a question, please?”
A man dressed in dirty clothes carried a bulging, black plastic garbage bag. He stopped at the sound of her voice, looked at her and hobbled off toward the fence in back of the warehouse.
“Hey, wait a sec,” she called to him. “I want to ask you something.”
He limped on with surprising quickness. “Dammit,” she said and sprinted after him.
He paused once, looked back at her, and hurried on. He kept going toward the warehouse. By the time she arrived at the spot where she’d last seen him, he was nowhere in sight.
“Well, damn it all,” she said. A wide gap in the fence could easily allow a person to slip inside. Beyond the fence Jonelle noticed a large opening allowing access to that side of the building. She turned sideways, eased through the fence and tip-toed up to the building. She allowed her eyes enough time to adjust to the dimness and peered through the opening.
Massive columns seemed to hold up the building. Trash was strewn everywhere and filtered light from somewhere up above floated down like multiple spotlights. A rank smell assaulted her nose. She walked forward a few more steps. As she stepped through the opening and into the building, her phone’s ring tone blared and echoed off the walls. Jonelle jumped and found herself back outside.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” she said, closing her eyes. She bent over and clutched her chest. After waiting a few seconds she opened her eyes and saw something glinting in the sun. Jonelle stared at the ground. She reached down and picked up the object. It was a gold hoop earring.
CHAPTER 28
The “Hawaii Five-O” ring tone blared on Jonelle’s phone. The display indicated the call was from Sherman and he wanted to tell her he’s been feeling LucieBlu’s, that is, LB’s presence. “And it’s not good,” he said. “One of the crew found a scarf of hers. As soon as I picked it up, I started getting these visions. When I closed my eyes I saw lots of rundown buildings with trash everywhere.” Jonelle shuddered. She told Sherman she had followed the direction LucieBlu took when she was last seen by the bus driver. “The area resembles what you’ve been seeing.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but could you meet me where LucieBlu got off the bus?” Jonelle didn’t believe in psychic phenomena, but as of right now, she’d take any help she could get. “I’ve been walking around, trying to get into her head to figure out her state of mind, and I’m not getting anywhere.” Jonelle considered the earring lying in the middle of her palm. “I found a piece of jewelry. If I show it to you, I wonder if you could tell me if it belonged to her.” Jonelle thought Marcella would surely know, but the woman was at work and Jonelle needed help now.
Although it took all of her best persuasive skills, Sherman finally agreed to meet her. Jonelle gave him the directions to where she left her Jeep. With a concrete mission established, Jonelle pushed through the chain link fence and stopped. The person she saw earlier was nowhere around, yet she sensed someone watching. “If Sherman is as psychic as he says he is, he should be able to pick up LucieBlu’s vibes,” she muttered to herself.
Jonelle encountered no one as she fast-walked back. Her Jeep still stood on all four wheels, windows were intact and doors secured. She unlocked the glove compartment intent on putting the gun back, and changed her mind. Even with Sherman with her, she wanted to keep the weapon close. “Better to be safe, than sorry,” she said to herself. Settled behind the wheel with the windows rolled down, Jonelle waited for Sherman.
Less than thirty minutes later, a dusty, dark brown sedan, belching blue smoke, pulled up behind the Jeep. She stared through her rearview mirror and was relieved to see Sherman’s expansive girth, leave the car.
“Nice car you’ve got,” Jonelle said as she got out and walked up to him.
Sherman mopped his brow before he answered. “It’s not mine. It belongs to one of the crew. I asked to borrow it ‘cause, well, this neighborhood wouldn’t be too kind on my Audi. If you catch my drift. He forgot to say this damn thing didn’t have air conditioning.” Sherman’s short sleeved yellow shirt clung to his body. His face shone bright pink and sweat flowed down his face.
“Would it help to walk around here a bit? See if you, uh, sense LucieBlu’s presence? You know, maybe pick up any transmissions, or whatever you call them.” An image of a bloodhound sniffing the air appeared in Jonelle’s mind.
Sherman’s eyes opened wide. “Walk around? Are you serious? And I don’t pick up ‘transmissions.’ I’m not a radio.”
Jonelle zeroed in on his heavy breathing. They both got in the Jeep and Jonelle cranked up the air conditioning. She noticed Sherman locked his door. “Well, however it works. Tell you what, I’ll drive you to where I found this.” She showed him the gold earring. “Does this look like something LucieBlu would wear?”
He took the earring and turned it over in his hand a few times, before he responded.
“Not sure. Her hair was long and I can’t honestly say for certain.” He studied the smooth gold. “But… Jeeze,” Sherman said. He frowned. “Now, my head hurts real bad.” He threw the earring on the dash.
“Hey, watch out,” Jonelle shouted. “This could be evidence.” She retrieved the earring and placed it in her shirt pocket.
“Sorry,” he said. “I felt weird when I touched it. I feel better now.”
“Glad to hear it.” She put the Jeep in gear and drove slowly down the street. Sherman looked all around but didn’t say anything.
Jonelle cleared her throat. “When I interviewed Peter the other day, I knocked over some papers on your desk.”
“Happens all the time,” Sherman said. “No worries.”
“I picked them up and noticed a letter from a lawyer about a Lawrence Michael Brown. I know that’s LucieBlu’s legal name.” Jonelle stole a glance at Sherman and noticed his body stiffen. “Was LucieBlu suing you?”
Sherman mopped his face again. “Yeah. She said it wasn’t personal. Whatever the hell that means.”
“Why?”
“Discrimination based on sexual orientation.” He looked over at Jonelle. “But I guess you already knew that. After all I’d done for her, this was the thanks I got. Hell, I always gave her a job.”
Jonelle shook her head. “I didn’t read the letter. Did you talk to her about it?”
“Didn’t get a chance.”
A few minutes later they arrived at the abandoned warehouse.
“I saw someone over there,” Jonelle said, pointing to the building, “but he ran away before I could ask him anything.”
Sherman struggled out of the Jeep and stood on the sidewalk. Jonelle started to ask him something, but changed her mind when she noticed the expression on his face. He stared at the building with such intensity that it looked to her as though he was channeling Superman’s x-ray vision.
“She was here,” he whispered.
“What?”
“I said, she was here,” Sherman repeated a little louder.
Jonelle peered at his face, once again turning bright red. Lord, don’t let this big man faint. I’d never be able to get him in the Jeep. For a fleeting moment she considered whether his so-called psychic powers kicked in, or if maybe he had prior knowledge.
“Let’s go to the place where I found the earring,” she said. She took his arm and guided him around to the side of the building.
Once inside the chain link fence, Jonelle searched the ground. She didn’t find any other clues that would indicate a woman had recently been there. “What do you think?” she asked.
“She was here,” he said for the third time.
The sun scorched the top of her head, initiating the arrival of a whopper of a headache. “Yeah, Sherman, I get that you feel she was here. Do you think she’s still here?” She squinted at the man’s
florid face.
Sherman stumbled over to the exposed side entrance to the warehouse with Jonelle close behind. A rustling noise from inside brought them both up short. A shadow ran along the back wall of the building.
“Hey, stop!” Jonelle shouted. The figure kept going. “You stay here,” Jonelle told Sherman. “I’m gonna try and catch up to him. I think he may know something.”
Before Sherman could respond, Jonelle darted after the man. She followed him through a large, open archway which divided the room in half. She dodged empty bottles and slid over discarded paper. Filtered light floated down, illuminating the mini storm of dust particles flying through the air, stirred up by the man’s progress. She marveled as to how he could limp away so fast. “Please stop,” she shouted. “I’m not here to hurt you.” The man kept going.
An old wheelchair, one large back wheel bent and with the back rest shoved down so far it was horizontal to the seat, stood propped against one of the large, round pillars. Graffiti, most of it obscene rendering of body parts, adorned the concrete in several places. Numerous posters advertised rehabilitation programs and soup kitchens and were either glued to the columns or spread all over the warped floor. She heard the man scurrying along, but didn’t see him. Jonelle stopped running and tried to catch her breath. “Shit,” she said, more frustrated with herself than with her target.
Jonelle’s breath came in rapid gasps as she focused in on the surrounding area. Nearby, two pairs of dusty men’s shoes, black, soles falling apart and ripped on the sides, lay against a pillar. A brown and battered small, one-eyed teddy bear rested amidst the rubble. Jonelle reached down and picked it up. The feel of the still soft fur filled her with sadness. Homeless people lived here, and at some point, so did a child. At least she hoped a child didn’t have to live here anymore. She propped the toy next to the shoes and walked on to where she last heard the man, and came upon two old shopping carts… the metal kind that always seemed to have the wonky wheels.
Gone Missing: A Jonelle Sweet Mystery Book 2 Page 16