by Laina Turner
She leaned back in the seat. “What a day!”
“That bad?” I said, putting the car in gear and pulling away from the curb.
“Not bad, just busy. If I wasn’t teaching a class, I was talking to students and answering questions. Which honestly, I don’t mind but when they keep asking the same question and the answer is located in their syllabus, I know they didn’t read it even though they insisted they did. It gets a little tiring.”
I laughed. “Isn’t that the truth.”
We drove in silence for a couple minutes; The Stoddards’ house wasn’t that far away. In fact, the president’s house used to be on campus and when Stoddard took over, he turned the house into special quarters for visitors and bought a property a few miles down the road.
“How do you think she will react to us popping in without calling first?” Chloe asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know. If you’d asked me last week if I’d be stopping by her house for a visit, I would have said you were crazy. But then I would have never expected her to come talk to me about her husband’s disappearance. So, I really have no idea. If we had good information, like we found her husband, she might be happy to talk to us. But for this reason? I’m not so sure she won’t be defensive.”
“Yeah, she might not be too happy that we know she never called her husband while she was supposedly frantic that he was missing.”
“Who knows; maybe she has a good reason,” I said, wanting to give Candy the benefit of the doubt for some reason.
We finally pulled up in front of a white brick house, or rather what I would call a mini-mansion. It was probably five or six thousand square feet and beautifully decorated.
I looked over at Chloe. “Are you ready?”
“More importantly, are you? You’re the one that knows her and you’re the one that’s going to have to do the talking. Not me. I’m just tagging along.”
“There’s only one way to find out. Let’s see if she’s home,” I said, steeling myself for the conversation. My gut told me Candy probably wasn’t going to be overly receptive.
I assumed she was home since both the Escalades sat in the driveway. They had a five-car garage; you would think one of them would be parked there. It made me wonder again why she was driving his car the other day when she had her own same exact vehicle.
We took the three steps up to the front door and I pressed the doorbell. I could hear the chimes from the doorbell sound throughout the house and a few seconds later, footsteps coming toward the door.
“What are you doing here?” Candy asked crossly when she flung open the door. I found her behavior a little odd since just yesterday she asked me for help. Had she conveniently forgotten? She must have noticed by the look on my face I found her tone off-putting because she quickly added with a smile, “Forgive my manners. Please come in.”
“Candy, I don’t know if you’ve had the pleasure of meeting Chloe yet. She’s a new professor at the law school. She replaced Bill Peterson.”
Candy barely gave her nod, not seeming to find it strange that I’d brought someone with me.
“Did you come because you’ve heard something about Thaddeus?” she finally asked as we followed her into the kitchen. It took me a second before I could think about answering her as I was gazing at her gorgeous kitchen. White shaker cabinets with glass doors, beautiful stemware, stainless steel appliances, a big rack of copper pots over a huge island which had a counter made out of the most beautiful swirls of white and silver granite. While I had been in her house before I’ve never been in the kitchen. If I had a kitchen like this, I might even be more inclined to cook. Though this kitchen was so spotless it didn’t look like anyone cooked in it.
“So, have you?” she asked again, looking hopeful and I kind of felt bad that we weren’t here with good news, but rather more questions of our own.
Chloe and I looked at each other and I could tell she didn’t want to start the conversation any more than I did, but it had to be done.
“Well, no, but I haven’t given up. I have a few questions. Like why you didn’t really try calling your husband the entire time he was missing?”
Chapter 12
“What are you talking about? And why is she here?” Candy snapped, finally noticing Chloe. It didn’t escape me that she hadn’t paid attention to Chloe until she was put on the spot. Was she now trying to deflect the attention from herself? If so, was that really behavior becoming of an innocent person?
“Chloe helped me dig up some information. I assumed you wouldn’t mind if I brought in extra help since you are so worried about your husband,” I responded sweetly. Why wouldn’t she want all the help she could get? Her behavior was puzzling and made me question her motives somewhat. My guard was up. I didn’t want her to think she could take advantage of me.
“Oh, of course not. Forgive me if I sound rude,” she said, changing her tone to a nicer one. “I’m just rattled these days. So, what was your question again?”
“The phone records show—”
“Where are my manners? Can I get either of you something to drink? I just mixed up a pitcher of Bloody Mary’s.”
I glanced at the microwave clock behind her. It wasn’t even three-thirty yet and she was already drinking?
Apparently, she could read my mind because she started talking again. “I don’t normally drink this early, but it helps calm my nerves. Plus, it’s five o’clock somewhere and a bloody Mary is really just like a salad, right?” She tried to joke but it fell flat, and I felt very uncomfortable. Glancing at Chloe, I could see she did, too. Candy was acting strangely. This behavior was almost manic. Why was she so worked up?
“I’m good, thank you,” I said, and Chloe said the same. “So, as I was saying.” I started up again once Candy sat back down, a drink in her hand, “Phone records show you talked to him when he first got to the conference, but then you didn’t try to call him the rest of the time. I thought you told me you tried calling him multiple times and left voicemails.”
There was a short pause and then she gave a nervous laugh. “I lost my phone and had to get a new one. They said if I wanted the same number, I had to wait forty-eight hours, so I had them give me a temporary number and I haven’t called to make the switch yet.”
“Can you show me which number is yours, then?” Chloe pulled out the call records from her purse and setting them on the counter.
Candy grabbed the papers and pulled them toward her. “It’s this one.” She pointed to a 614 number that I could see had tried to call many, many times.
“Do you recognize any of those other numbers?” I asked.
Candy ran her finger down the paper and at one moment I saw her stop with her finger on one of the numbers and frown lines furrowed her brow.
“Whose is that?” I asked.
“What?” She looked up at me, seemingly startled.
“The number you just paused on?”
“Oh nothing. I thought I recognized a number, but I didn’t.” She pushed the papers back to Chloe. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t see anything familiar.” Chloe put the papers back in her purse. Candy got up, giving me the feeling she wanted us to leave. We all walked to the front of the house and I remembered I wanted to ask her about the car.
“By the way, who were you having lunch with the other day at Tiny’s Tacos?”
“That was my sister,” she said slowly with a frown.
That explained why they looked so much alike. I didn’t know she had a sister, but I didn’t know she was rich either and why would I? It wasn’t like we were friends. “Why were you driving your husband’s vehicle?”
A flash of annoyance flit across her face but she quickly plastered her smile back on. “Mine was being serviced. So I drove his.” We were at the front door by this time and she opened it, making it clear she wanted us to leave.
“If we find anything else out, we’ll let you know,” I said.
“Thanks.” She shut the door the minute we stepp
ed outside, and Chloe and I looked at each other.
“Is it just me or did it seem like she wasn’t thrilled we were questioning her?” I said.
Chloe nodded. “It wasn’t just you. The losing her phone story seems odd.”
“Why would she ask for my help if she didn’t really want it?”
“Maybe to take the pressure off her? Make it look like she was worried. You know in cases like these, it’s usually the spouse who did it.”
“I’ve always heard that, but does she seem the type to off someone? If that’s what happened.” Maybe I was naïve, but while I didn’t feel she was being entirely truthful or genuine about her missing husband, she also didn’t seem evil or capable of hurting him.
“You never know. What I do know is I want to check out the number she paused on and then claimed she didn’t know whose it was.”
“You caught that, too?” I said. “I’d bet my next paycheck she knows who it was and doesn’t want to tell us.”
“So, let’s find out who it is.”
Chapter 13
We decided to head to Chloe’s house to try to see if we could figure out who that number belonged to that Candy claimed she didn’t know.
“Can I get you anything to drink? Water or a glass of wine?” she asked once we’d arrived and were inside.
“Well, it is five o’clock somewhere, you might as well pour me a glass of wine,” I said with a laugh mimicking Candy. Though even as I said it, I kind of felt bad. Drinking was no way to cope and if she was doing, it was a problem.
Chloe grabbed two wine glasses and a bottle of red that sat on the counter, pouring us both a little.
“Although in all of the social settings I’ve seen her in she’s never drank to excess or if she did, she hid it well. And she is certainly under a lot of stress right now, especially if she had something to do with her husband’s disappearance. I almost can’t blame her for pouring an early cocktail,” I said.
“Me either. Do you think she had something to do with it?” Chloe asked.
“Honestly no, but I’m not sure why I feel that way. More evidence points to her doing it than not.”
“Statistics show these types of crimes are usually carried out by people the victim knows.”
Chloe grabbed her laptop and we took our wine into the living room and had a seat on the couch. Chloe sat the laptop on the coffee table, opening it up and typing in a URL for a reverse phone number lookup site. She got back up to get the papers from her purse and then came back to the couch typing in the number and hitting search. And in a few seconds, a name popped up. It never failed to amaze me what you could find on Google.
“That didn’t take long,” I said.
“It doesn’t always work like that, but I’m glad it did for us this time. C. Smith. Does that ring any bells?” Chloe asked.
I shook my head. “Never heard it before. Do you think it could be Candy’s sister? You know, because the name starts with C,” I said, realizing it was pretty far-fetched since many people’s names started with C.
“That could very well be, but why didn’t she want to tell us if it was her sister? Which begs the question, did she not know her sister was calling her husband? Or did she and didn’t want to tell us why her sister would be calling her husband?”
“I don’t have a sister and I’m not married, but would it be that weird for a sister to call a husband?”
“I don’t have a sister either; I just have brothers. I guess it would just depend on what kind of person your sister is and the kind of relationship everyone has. My first instinct would be to say no, but there has to be a reason she didn’t want to tell us. If it was no big deal, why would she hide it? That’s what we need to find out.”
“Are you suggesting we go talk to the sister?” I asked.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Somehow I don’t think it will thrill Candy.”
“But we’re trying to help find her husband. How could she object?” Chloe said with a sweet grin.
“Good point. So how do we get her address?”
Chloe typed in another URL and then typed in C. Smith. An address popped up connected to a Colleen and a Chad.
“How do we know which one it is?” I asked
“We don’t know for sure, but my guess is she lives in the area if they were doing lunch together, so we just start with whoever is closest and work our way out. Want to head out now?” Chloe asked.
“Since neither of us finished our wine, I don’t see why not.”
Chloe printed it off the addresses and we grabbed our things and headed back out to my car. Since I knew the area better, I volunteered to drive.
“Where to first?” I asked.
“2374 Shadow Lawn Dr. in Holland.”
“Holland is a town just north of Spencer’s, so not that far at all.”
I typed the address into my phone’s GPS, backed out of the parking space, and headed out onto the road, jumping on the interstate that would take me around to where the Holland exit was. Soon we were pulling into the subdivision and GPS told us the address we were looking for was just up the street.
“So just what exactly are we going to do here? Walk up to her front door and ask why she was calling Candy’s husband if this is indeed the right Colleen?” I asked.
“Pretty much.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve found the easiest way to get the answer is to just be direct with the question.”
“And you don’t get punched in the face for your directness?” I joked.
“Not usually. Surprising, I know.”
I slowed the car down and pulled up in front of the house. This was a pretty subdivision in one of the more affluent subdivisions, which if this was the right Colleen wasn’t surprising based on what I knew about Candy’s background. There were two cars in the driveway, so hopefully that meant she was home.
“Ready?” I asked, unbuckling my seatbelt.
“Yep.”
As we walked up to the front door, I got nervous. This could be the wrong Colleen and we could look like stalkers. Or it could be Colleen and she had been calling President Stoddard for the wrong reasons and it opened up a big can of worms. But I had to admit the curiosity I felt made me want to go through with it regardless of what might happen.
We got to the front door and I pressed the doorbell. We waited a few seconds and when we didn’t hear anything, I knocked.
No sound came from the inside. Seemed strange since there were two cars in the driveway, but maybe they were a family who had a lot of cars or maybe whoever was home was taking a nap or just didn’t feel like opening the door.
“Should I knock again?”
Chloe nodded, so I did. Finally, as I was about to give up, the door flung open and the person I’d seen at the Mexican restaurant with Candy stood in front of me. Bingo. We got the right house on the first try. Luck was on our side so far. Hopefully it would hold out and she’d give us some useful information.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked in a not-so-friendly tone that was a perfect match to Candy’s. If you weren’t looking at them, their voices would be indistinguishable. They apparently had more than looks in common.
“Are you Colleen Smith, sister of Candy Stoddard?” Chloe said in what I assumed was her lawyer voice. Firm and not one to be argued with. I was impressed. I bet her students listened when she used that voice.
“If you’re reporters, then I have no comment,” she said and attempted to shut the door. I put my hand up to stop her. Reporters? I hadn’t thought about this being in the media and I didn’t usually read our small town paper unless I expected something to be in there, but I guess for our small town it was big news.
“We’re not reporters. We’re friends of Candy’s and we have a few questions we’d like to ask,” Chloe said.
I couldn’t read Colleen’s expression, but it seemed somewhere between annoyance and anger. Though I could certainly understand being annoyed that tw
o strangers showed up on her doorstep asking questions. Especially with all that was going on.
“Listen, I know it’s weird with us dropping in like this, but we’re trying to help Candy figure out where President Stoddard is. We both work at the university,” I quickly added when my explanation seemed to throw her. We probably didn’t look like Candy’s regular friends. Though I had no idea what they might look like; I’d never seen her with any.
She stepped aside and opened the door. “Come in. But I won’t promise you I can answer anything you ask,” she said in a biting tone.
Chapter 14
At least we got in the house, even if it was begrudgingly. A house that was a little smaller but every bit as beautiful as Candy’s. They also seemed to share the same great taste in home décor.
We followed her into the living room where she motioned for us to have a seat. “You don’t look like the type who would be friends with Candy,” Colleen started off, confirming my suspicions. She didn’t need to be rude about it.
“Candy is very upset obviously, and we said we would try to help in any way we could.” I thought maybe if I didn’t directly acknowledge her comment about us being friends, we could just move past that without further clarification. Did it really matter?
Colleen looked like she wanted to say something, but she refrained. Why, I wondered? Not wanting to speak out of turn about her sister?
“We noticed there were a few calls from your number to President Stoddard in the past week and we’re curious as to why you were calling him?” I asked.
“Let me guess. Candy tried to tell you some nonsense about how I was having an affair with Thaddeus and please, call him Thaddeus. That President Stoddard crap is way too pretentious.”
Candy had mentioned no such thing, which I wasn’t going to tell her, but maybe that was why she didn’t want to tell us that her sister had called him. Could Colleen be having an affair with her sister’s husband? She also hadn’t answered my question, simply deflected again like her sister. They had so much in common.