by David Archer
Carol looked around to the door and motioned for Chance to come into the room. He stepped inside, smiling as he approached the bed.
“Hey, babe,” he said. “How you feeling?”
Gabriella stared at him, then looked at the wedding ring on his left hand. She raised her eyes to his face again and slowly shook her head.
“I don’t know you,” she said. “You’re my husband?”
“Yes,” he said, forcing himself to smile. “My name is Chance. And I'm the luckiest man alive, because I happen to be married to you.”
Slowly, Gabriella closed her eyes and began to tremble again, tears making their way down her cheeks as she began to weep. The silent tears gave way to wracking sobs; the machines connected to her registered a spike in her heart rate, and Doctor Peterson came rushing in. She used a hypodermic needle to inject something into the IV line, then told everyone they would have to leave.
“You can come back later,” she said. “I’ve given her a sedative to relax her, and she needs to rest a bit more.”
Gabriella’s sobs slowly faded away, and she drifted off to sleep.
Chance stepped out of the room and looked at Pete. “I think it might be a good idea to get her mother up here,” he said. “We may be in for quite a ride.”
Pete nodded. “Probably smart. And what about you? How you holding up?”
“I’ll be fine,” Chance said. “But I’ll be better when I put a bullet into the head of the bitch who did this.”
* * *
Chance called Gabriella's mother, who promised to come as soon as she could get there. He was just about to join everyone else in Peterson’s office when he got a text from Josie.
Caught a break. Come to the security office ASAP.
He sent a response that he was on his way and then went looking for a security guard to escort him to the office. In a stroke of luck, he found the head of the security department, who had already been apprised of what was happening and was happy to help Chance find where he had to go. He found Josie sitting in front of a cluster of computer monitors, including her own laptop.
"I'm glad you're here," Josie said when she saw him come in, and then she pointed to a chair beside her own. "Sit."
Chance did. "What did you find?"
"The footage of your poor Gabriella being dumped outside, but more importantly, the plates of the vehicle she was in."
"Show me, please."
Josie did, and Chance found himself watching footage of an older Ford minivan pulling up to the Emergency Room entrance, and then someone dumping Gabriella out the door before closing it and speeding off again. Doctor Peterson could clearly be seen dashing to her aid first.
Josie froze the image and zoomed in on the van's rear license plate.
"JLM 5514," Chance said, reading the digits aloud. "You ran this, right?"
Josie nodded and pointed to a new screen that had just popped up, showing a woman’s driver’s license. "Indeed, I did. Meet Laura Hightower, originally from Midland, Texas."
"What do you mean, 'originally'? When did she get here?"
“About seventeen years ago, with her husband, Jason—from the looks of things, they bought a house just after they got here, which is good, because their firstborn showed up on the scene a few months later. Apparently, Jason already had a car under his name, so Laura bought the van and registered it under her name. Huh, that’s odd."
"Talk to me."
Josie called up yet another screen, and they were met with an image of an older teenage girl. She was beautiful, but something about her just seemed… troubled.
"This is Melinda Hightower, the firstborn of the family," Josie said, speed-reading the information in front of her. "The van was passed down to her when she turned sixteen last December."
"So all of those records should be in her name now," Chance realized. "Are they on file?"
"Probably. Would you like me to get them?"
"Not necessarily, Josie. Does Melinda still reside at her parents' address?"
Josie scanned the screen again, her fingers flying over her keyboard keys. "Yes, and the information will be arriving to your phone momentarily."
Chance’s phone dinged with the information, while Josie’s words were still hanging in the air.
"Thanks."
Josie bobbed her head in acknowledgment. "What else can I do for you?"
"I need pictures of the license plate, so it's readable, and pictures of Gabriella and the van. Maybe on a tablet, I know you keep a spare one in your gear bag for times like this."
"That’ll only take a moment."
A minute later, Chance was handed a tablet with all of the requested photos on it.
"Thank you, Josie." He got to his feet.
"Are you going to see Gabriella?” Josie asked. “Try to jog her memory?"
Chance shook his head. "She’s sleeping right now, doctor’s orders. She was a mess when Max and Carol went to see her earlier, and it seems like she's forgotten about the last fifteen years. In her mind, she’s still a little girl and her big sister is still alive."
"God, that would be terrible." Josie shuddered and made the sign of the cross across her body with her fingers. "What did she say about Max and Carol?"
"With Max, she said the last thing she remembered was being excited to see him come home from college for a weekend—which probably happened about fifteen years ago, not long before Annabelle killed herself. She didn’t have any memory of Carol at all, but she does seem to like her.” He ran a hand over his face. “She doesn’t seem to remember me at all, and she doesn’t remember her own children."
"Wow. That’s got to be terrible."
Chance nodded. "I tried talking to her, but then Gabriella got spooked after a few minutes. Carol and Max stayed with her to calm her down, and then the doctor insisted on giving her a sedative."
"Is she sleeping now?"
"Yep, and hopefully, she’ll start to remember some of what she's forgotten."
"She will,” Josie said, putting a hand on his arm. “You just gotta have faith, Chance. Gabriella is pretty strong, she’ll come through this."
"I know it. Hopefully, our kids will grow up to be just like her."
"Did Gabriella say anything else?" Josie asked.
"Not a lot. She doesn’t really know any of us, and seeing Max so much older than she remembered was a shock. I think she realizes that she’s a lot older than she thinks she is, too, but she doesn’t seem to want to talk about that just yet."
"Oh, boy. Is she up for visitors?"
Chance patted Josie's shoulder. "Your heart is in the right place, but let's hold off on that for now, okay? Gabriella's been through a lot, but she's literally in pain and still being brave."
"But she could have another meltdown, or freak out on me?"
"Bingo. Why don't you pack up here, go back to the office with Pete, and do some research on the Hightowers' van?"
"I can do that."
"Very good. Thank you."
Just as Chance started to leave the security office, he was met by Jake, who was obviously looking for him.
"What's up?" Chance asked.
"Peterson is getting ready to check on Gabriella again, and everyone but Carol and Max is going back to the office. Pete sent me here to back your play on whatever your next move is."
"Josie just found a lead, but she's about to go to the office to hammer some things out."
"What was the lead?"
"Let’s wait to see Gabriella first,” Chance said. “I'll explain on the way."
* * *
Gabriella was in better spirits when they saw her a couple of hours later, and she was sitting up to eat lunch, which meant that her appetite was back. Her mother, Mariana, was with her, and Chance hoped she would be in a better mood now.
Both mother and daughter perked up when they saw the visitors. Gabriella even put her food aside and made herself presentable.
"Chance!" she chirped. "And Carol, too! Wow!"
"You remember?" Carol asked hopefully.
"No, but Mama has been showing me pictures, and telling me a lot of things that I don’t remember."
“I see,” Carol said. “Is it okay to come in?”
“Yes, please,” Gabriella said. She was watching Chance, and while she had a smile on her face, it was obvious she was still nervous about him.
Marianna chimed in, "What's up, you guys?"
"We've had a small break in the case," Chance said. "And since even small breaks can mean something, we wanted to come and have a talk with Gabriella about it."
Gabriella sat up straighter. "Well, the doctor says I'm not going anywhere for awhile, so go ahead. What is it?"
Chance handed Gabriella the tablet, showing her the picture of the license plate.
"Is this from the car that had me?" Gabriella asked after staring at it for several seconds.
"Yes. Doesn’t mean anything to you?"
"No." She shook her head.
"Alright. Go to the next picture."
Gabriella swiped to the next image and then promptly dropped the tablet.
"Gabriella?" Carol said cautiously, picking the device back up.
Fear mounted in Gabriella's chest, and her breathing already felt hazy. "I-I remember that van! I was there!"
"What happened?" Carol pressed.
"She blindfolded me, kicked me, and screamed at me!"
"About what?"
"She said that she was going to let me go as a courtesy, but she wanted to have some fun first…"
To their horror, Gabriella suddenly dissolved in to a full-blown panic attack, upsetting the tray of food on her bed. It spilled all over the floor.
Frustrated, Marianna said, "Chance, come on! She was happy!" and pressed the 'CALL DOCTOR' button beside the bed before going to comfort Gabriella. Chance wasn't paying much attention to her as he was trying to apologize.
Carol quickly dragged Chance out to where Jake was waiting in the hallway, dodging Doctor Peterson, who had come running.
"Chance, focus," Carol told him. "Come on."
"How can I? Gabriella is upset because of something we showed her, and now she's in there having a panic attack!"
"But she's being taken care of,” Jake said, “and she's given us a big clue!"
Chance’s brain caught this tidbit and he forced himself back under control. "She did? I must have blanked out. What did she say?"
"She confirmed that the kidnapper is a woman, and I can tell you that female kidnappers are usually more driven and ruthless than their male counterparts. Just the fact that she let Gabriella go says this is not a normal kidnapping. This is just the beginning of something, but I don’t know what."
Pleased that they were on the same page, Carol nodded. "Precisely. Gabriella also recognized the van."
"That, I do remember—will you call Sherilyn Roberts and ask her to put out an APB?"
"Of course, Chance. I just needed to pull you out of the rabbit hole first."
"Thanks, Carol; I really appreciate that." Chance rubbed his hands over his face as he tried to pull himself together again.
“No problem,” she said. “You just hold it together, okay? I’ve got to go, Pete needs me. Will you be all right for now?”
“I’ll be fine,” Chance said. “Go ahead, I’ll be all right.”
“All right, then,” she said. “Pete called a minute ago to say that he and I are going to head out to visit the Hightower family. Josie got their information, so he wants us to go and see what we can find out about the daughter, Melinda.”
“Good,” Chance said. “I’ll take any information I can get at this point.”
* * *
The Hightower house was in a quiet neighborhood, not too far from downtown Las Vegas. It was very cute, and Carol recognized quite a few signs that this was a family with children. There were bicycles in the yard and a basketball net hanging from the garage door.
Pete rang the doorbell.
A girl about ten years old answered the door and looked up at them with a disappointed look on her face. “Oh, hello,” she said. “I thought it was somebody else.”
"Hi," Pete said to her. "Well, I'm sorry it wasn’t who you thought it was. Would your parents happen to be home?"
"Oh, sure, yeah. Just a moment, please," she said breathlessly, then she turned and looked back into the house. “Mom! Dad! There’s some people here.”
Her parents came to the door together, and they seemed to be surprised to see two strangers standing there. They were both neatly, if casually dressed and smiled politely.
“Hello,” the man said. “How can we help you?”
"Jason and Laura Hightower?" Carol asked.
"Yes," Jason said, nodding.
"I'm Pete Dixon, private investigator, and this is my associate, Carol Musgrave." They showed the Hightowers their identification. "Is your daughter, Melinda, here?"
The couple looked at each other, and then Laura asked them to step inside and closed the door behind them.
"The thing with Melinda is kind of complicated, Mr. Dixon,” she said. “Is she in trouble?"
Carol shook her head. "We’re not actually certain about that yet, but we do need to ask her some questions."
"That's going to be a little difficult," sighed Jason. "I'm afraid Melinda is currently in London. She left about a month ago, and we try to keep a little bit of lid on this, but—well, I'm afraid she’s in a long-term drug rehab facility."
"Drug rehab?" Pete asked. “I'm sorry to hear that.”
Laura twisted her hands together and smiled sheepishly. "We love Melinda,” she said, “but she's always been kind of wild and rebellious. I'm afraid she’s reached the point lately where she’s become an emotional menace to just about everyone around her, including herself. When regular rehab didn’t work, we searched all the possible options and the Crittenden Clinic’s six-month program seemed to be the best. Is it possible Jason and I can help?"
"Is there a place we can talk privately, perhaps?” Carol asked. “We don't want to take up too much of your time, but we do have some questions we need to get answers to."
The Hightowers looked at one another, and then Laura smiled. “Sure,” she said. “Why don’t you come on in here?”
Pete and Carol followed the Hightowers to a study and they sat down on a small sofa. Jason and Laura sat opposite them, in armchairs.
"What's this all about?" Laura asked. “Do you think Melinda has done something?”
Pete showed her the pictures of the license plate and the vehicle. "Is this the Ford Aerostar you bought years ago?"
Laura looked at the picture and her eyebrows rose. "Yes, it is, but we gave it to Melinda when she turned sixteen last year." Laura passed the tablet to her husband. "Everything checked out fine with transferring the registration and ownership to her name, but she actually didn’t have it very long. Can I ask why you’re interested in it?"
"I'm sure you heard about the young women who have been murdered around the city in the last few weeks? I'm afraid the van was used in the abduction of another woman yesterday morning, and it seems to be related."
"This woman?" Jason was holding up the tablet, and a picture of Gabriella, taken at the hospital, filled the screen. "We saw her on the TV in a news bulletin yesterday. Is she okay?"
"Yes,” Pete said. “We’re not sure why, but the kidnapper seems to have let her go. She was driven to the hospital in your old minivan and thrown out, which is how we got the pictures. The hospital’s security cameras managed to get them.”
Carol looked at the couple. “You said Melinda didn’t keep the van very long. Can you tell me what happened to it?"
"She sold it,” Jason said bitterly. “We had always kept it in pretty good shape, but apparently she got to the point she needed drugs and that required money. I'm afraid she sold it to her scumbag boyfriend."
Laura took the tablet back from her husband to look at the next photo. Then she looked at the first
ones again, and shook her head.
"This thing shouldn’t have our license plate on it anymore. I was furious when she sold it, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. We told him to make sure he got it out of our names before he started driving it. Doesn’t look like he bothered."
Pete asked, "Can you tell me her boyfriend’s name? The guy who ended up with it?"
Laura scowled, the look on her face suggesting that even mentioning his name was distasteful to her. "His name is David Lampley, but I'm afraid we haven’t seen him for a couple of months, now. Right after he bought the van, he and Melinda got into some kind of a fight and we haven’t seen him since."
"What was the fight about?” Carol asked. “If you don’t mind telling me?"
"Melinda and David have known each other since kindergarten, and they were always best friends. I guess we always kind of figured they would end up becoming a couple sooner or later, but we never dreamed it would go the way it did. About a year ago, they were caught using drugs at school and got suspended, but David's father was a cop until he came down with a bad heart. His dad called in favors and got him off completely, but only by accusing Melinda of supplying the drugs to their son."
“It was the other way around,” Jason said. “Everybody around here knows David is a drug dealer, but the cops won’t touch him because his daddy used to be one of them.”
Carol's phone rang at that moment, and she excused herself and took the call out in the hallway. Jason got up and went to the desk on the other side of the room and came back a moment later with an envelope. He handed it to Pete.
"Here’s a fairly recent picture of David, and the most recent address I have for him. Like I said, if you have any issues with David, you’ll need to watch out for his father."
Pete grinned. “I don’t think it will be too much of an issue,” he said. “We just need to find out where that van is now, but if David happens to be involved, his daddy’s police connections aren’t going to do him any good at all.”
Laura shook her head. “Look, David is—well, a waste of breath, in my opinion, but I don’t think he would be involved in kidnapping and murder. That just wouldn’t make any sense to me.”
“And I hope you’re right,” Pete said. “We just have to follow every lead.”