by Kathi Daley
“I will. Thanks for reminding me. I’ve been waiting for confirmation on the big Memorial Day sale the hardware store has every year.”
Gus and I chatted for a few more minutes. After I hung up with him, I called the newspaper to listen to the messages. There was one from the florist, confirming an order I was having sent to my mother, whose birthday was next week, one from the hardware store confirming the copy for their big, two-page ad, one from Brooke Johnson letting me know that the feature for the community theater schedule looked perfect, and one from a woman named Eloise Palmer, telling Jack that her cat had delivered a litter of an unheard-of twelve kittens if he wanted to take a photo of them for next week’s edition. I was sure that Jack would want a shot of the miracle litter, so I called Brit, who sometimes took photos for us when we needed extra help, and asked her if she could pop over there this weekend.
“Yeah, no problem,” Brit said. “How is the mystery going?”
“So far, we have uncovered two bodies we believe to be Jessica Oswald and Kim Houston. We are waiting for the remains to be authenticated to know for certain, but Sam led us to the bodies and those are the names of the missing girls we’ve been researching, so we are thinking there is a good chance that we are correct as to the identities of the bodies.”
“This whole thing is just so odd. I still don’t understand why this guy is giving you these remains after all this time.”
I glanced at Kizzy to make sure she hadn’t wandered off and then responded to Brit’s comment. “I don’t suppose we can ever really know why anyone does what they do unless they tell us. I am curious about why Sam is suddenly revealing the locations of the bodies of the people he killed, but I wonder just as much why he killed them in the first place.”
“Maybe because he is a deranged psycho killer.”
“Maybe,” I agreed. “But his emails to Jack, while brief, seem to be coherent, and he has demonstrated both a willingness to be flexible and a desire for us to understand why he killed them. I think he is looking for support, and possibly empathy.”
“Empathy? The dude killed two young girls who had barely had time to get started in life. Why on earth would this person think that anyone would feel empathy for him?”
I shrugged even though Brit couldn’t see me. “I don’t know. That is just the vibe I am picking up. I suppose I might just be playing into his net of deception, but I find myself wanting to understand the guy.”
“What about the victims? Do you have a feeling for how they’re connected?” Brit asked.
“They were both young. Both were blond and both were beautiful. Jessica dropped out of high school and became a drifter who seemed to prefer to be alone, while Kim was a popular student who was a cheerleader and was elected homecoming queen, so I guess they differed there. They also lived in different towns, so it doesn’t appear they knew each other or had common friends.”
“I think I will see if I can look into their social media presence. I might find a link that isn’t immediately obvious.”
“Thanks, I would appreciate that. Jack did a quick search for Jessica’s social media accounts and didn’t find anything, but he didn’t put a lot of time into it.”
“I’ll dig around to see what I can find. By the way, I spoke to Jax today. He was just sitting on the beach staring out at the sea like he has done pretty much every day since he has been here. I told him that I’d noticed that he spent a lot of time on the beach and asked him if there was a reason, and he told me he was waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t say, and when I asked, he didn’t answer. You know, I think he has gotten even thinner since he’s been at the resort. He isn’t sick, is he?”
“Not that I know of, although he does look as if he might be. If he is ill, he hasn’t shared the fact with me.”
“I guess he might just have something on his mind. You did say that he moved to Gull Island after a lifelong friend died. I suppose he might still be grieving. I’ll see if I can get him to come into town with me tomorrow. Maybe I can introduce him to a few folks.”
“That would be nice. Let me know how it goes.”
By the time I got off the phone with Brit, it looked like Jack had finished fueling the car and completed his call, so I called Kizzy to my side and headed back to the car. Jack seemed contemplative as we pulled back onto the highway, so I asked him about his call with his mother.
“She is heading to Atlantic City this weekend with her new guy. She invited us to have dinner with them so we could get to know one another.”
“I guess we could take a side trip to meet him.”
Jack frowned. “I guess. This whole thing is just so odd. My mother hates Atlantic City. She finds it garish. I was stunned when she told me that she and Antonio were going to be there for five nights.”
“Is she still planning on going to Europe?” I wondered.
“She is, but not for a few weeks, I guess.”
“I think we should try to meet up with them,” I said. “If your mother really is serious about this man, we should make the effort.”
“Mom said that they will be arriving there tomorrow and will be leaving on Wednesday morning. I figured we would head to Maryland as we planned tomorrow and then take it from there. I suppose we can take a short break from our quest to have dinner with them on Saturday or Sunday.” Jack sped up and passed the car we had been following. “How did Gus do today?”
“He said he did fine. He seems to know what to do and has been very reliable to date. I’m really glad we found one another. I think working for the paper gives him a sense of purpose, and we really do need his help.”
“He has been a godsend. I know he doesn’t want to work full time, but when we get back, I am going to talk to him about a raise and maybe a bit more responsibility.”
“I also spoke to Brit. She is going to look into the social media presence of our victims. I gave her Jessica and Kim’s names but didn’t think to have her take a look at Patricia. I’ll call her later. Actually, having her do the social media thing before we begin investigating tomorrow could be helpful. I know you did a quick search on Jessica, but Brit has a way of finding things that might have ended up buried.”
Once we reached Forest Springs, we looked for the motel I had found and booked online. We planned to get more takeout and eat in the room with Kizzy. Not only did I not want to leave her alone, but Jack had some work he wanted to do this evening and we both agreed it would be beneficial to do an initial search for Patricia before we dove into our investigation the following day. Jack and I were getting tired of fast food and sandwiches, so we were thrilled when we found out the hotel offered a full room service menu, including gourmet doggy dinners.
“This salmon is really good,” I said as I chewed slowly to savor the flavor. Jack had ordered a steak and we elected for a doggy chicken and rice with veggies dinner for Kizzy. I speared a piece of broccoli. “I don’t mind fast food once in a while, but it is nice to have something green for a change.”
“This food is surprisingly good,” Jack agreed.
“Have you spoken to Rick? I know he planned to pull the police report for Patricia Fields.”
“Not yet,” Jack replied. “I’ll call him after we finish eating. I’m hoping we can find out what we need to about Patricia tomorrow and then head to Atlantic City to have dinner with Mom and her new guy the day after that.”
Once we had finished dinner, I took Kizzy out while Jack called Rick. When I returned, they were chatting, and Jack put the phone on speaker so I could listen in.
“Patricia Fields was reported missing in June 2016,” Rick was saying. “Patricia, who was nineteen when she went missing, had moved to the area after graduating high school and had only been a resident in Forest Springs for about a year. According to the police report, she was friendly and well-liked by her customers and coworkers.”
“And where did she work?” Jack asked.
“A gas station minimart. She was last seen when her shift ended at ten o’clock.”
“Did anyone have any idea what happened to her?” Jack asked.
“A fellow employee, Bob Jordan said that he noticed Patricia arguing with a woman in the parking lot when she went out to her car on her break. He didn’t recognize the woman, who he estimated was probably in her late fifties or early sixties, although he admitted that it was dark and he saw them from a distance, so he couldn’t make out any features. Bob said the argument looked pretty heated. When Patricia came back inside, he asked her what it was all about and she simply replied that the woman was confused and thought she was someone else.”
“Did the woman leave after she argued with Patricia?” Jack asked.
“According to Bob, she did. He also said that there were a lot of people in and out of the minimart that evening, and when pressed to pick out anyone who might have been behaving oddly, he identified the woman in the parking lot as well as three men who came in at different times. He didn’t know the names of any of the men, but he was able to provide descriptions. The first of the three was a young man who looked to be in his twenties. When Patricia asked him how she could help him, he replied with sexually explicit suggestions that were completely inappropriate. Bob said he tried to step in, but Patricia told him that she could handle it. She leaned forward, whispered something in the man’s ear, and he left.”
“Did Bob know what she whispered?” I asked.
“No, but from the expression on her face, he thought she had threatened him.”
“That makes a sexually aggressive male at all three locations where a woman went missing,” I pointed out.
“I noticed that as well,” Rick said. “I’m trying to get more information on all three men, but it doesn’t seem like any of them were known by name to Bob, who was the only person who reported seeing them. If I find new information, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay, what do you know about the other two men?” Jack asked.
“One was older. Tall and thin. Bob told the police that he had a creepy vibe going on. He didn’t act in a threatening way, but he loitered around for a good twenty minutes, walking up and down the aisles, before he left without buying anything.”
That did sound suspicious. “Did he approach the counter? Or attempt to speak to Patricia?”
“Not according to the police report,” Rick said. “The guy could have been casing the place with the idea of shoplifting or even attempting to steal cash from the register. He never did either, but perhaps he was there with the idea of taking action later.”
“Or maybe he’d spotted Patricia and was loitering while he came up with a plan to abduct and kill her,” I suggested.
“Perhaps,” Rick agreed.
“And the third man?” Jack asked.
“Middle-aged and balding. He had on a trench coat even though it was warm and the sky was clear. He asked Patricia if they had Skittles. She told him they were out. He walked back over to the candy aisle and looked around for a couple of minutes, then came back to the counter and asked about Skittles again. Patricia repeated that they were out. He repeated this behavior two more times before Bob stepped in and escorted the man out. According to Bob, it seemed as if the man was high.”
“High on what?” I asked. “Was he being violent?”
“No,” Rick answered. “Bob didn’t mention that he said or did anything that could be interpreted as being violent, or even aggressive, but he was definitely out of it. When Bob left to go home, he noticed this same guy in the trench coat sitting on a bus bench not far from the store. He thought about approaching him and asking about his intentions but decided not to because he wasn’t hurting anything and continued on his way.”
“In my mind, that behavior alone makes him a strong suspect,” I said.
“Were the police ever able to track him down and interview him?” Jack asked.
“No,” Rick answered. “They didn’t have a name and were never able to identify him from the vague description Bob came up with.”
“The police don’t seem to have identified anyone close to the victim as being a viable suspect in any of the three cases we’ve looked at to date,” I pointed out. “Doesn’t that seem odd to you?”
“If someone known to the victim was the one to kill them, chances are the cases would have been solved,” Rick said.
I supposed Rick had a point. As far as I was concerned, any one of the three men in this instance could have been the guilty party. I had no idea how we were supposed to solve the case so long after the fact.
Chapter 10
Friday, May 10
As we had for dinner, we ordered breakfast from room service the next morning. After we’d eaten, I took Kizzy out for a walk and then we loaded Jack’s car and drove to our first destination for the day, the gas station minimart where Patricia Fields had worked and from which she had disappeared. As it turned out, Bob Jordan, the man who had worked with her on the night she was last seen, not only still worked there but had been promoted to manager and was there today.
Jack introduced us to him, and Bob invited us into his office.
“I’m not sure that I have anything to add that I haven’t already told the police,” Bob said.
“That’s okay. We are just trying to get a general feel for what happened. Can you start by telling us what you remember about that night?” Jack asked.
“It was busy. Patricia and I were both supposed to get off at eight, but the third person who was supposed to work that night and was scheduled to close never showed up. I stayed until nine thirty and Patricia agreed to stay until closing, at ten. Looking back, I realize I should have stayed and let Patricia go, but I had a date and she volunteered to cover, so I let her.”
“Was it standard practice to have two employees close?” Jack asked.
“No, but the boss always scheduled a male employee to close. He didn’t want any of the females to be left here alone. I can see now that his policy made sense.”
“I understand there were several people acting suspiciously before you left,” Jack said.
Bob nodded. “There were, but we get a lot of eclectic people here, especially later in the evening, so I wouldn’t say that anyone was unusually odd. I never for a minute thought that Patricia might be in any sort of danger. Like I said, we get our share of odd eggs in here. I guess it is just part of the job. The police officer asked me to describe some of the customers we had that night, and I picked out a few whose behavior stood out.”
“If you had to guess, which of them would you most suspect of being responsible for Patricia’s disappearance?” Jack asked.
Bob paused. “I guess the man in the trench coat. Not because he necessarily seemed threatening, but he was still hanging around outside when I left.”
“You mentioned to the police that he was middle-aged and balding and kept asking the same question over and over,” Jack said.
Bob nodded. “That’s right. The guy was on something. I don’t know what, but he was really out of it. I asked him to leave, and he did, but when I was on my way out, I noticed him sitting on a bus bench not far from the store.” Bob shook his head. “You have no idea how badly I wish I had done things differently that night.”
“Other than the man wearing the trench coat, can you think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt Patricia?” Jack asked. “A customer? A boyfriend? Anyone at all in her work or personal life?”
Bob paused. “Patricia wasn’t in to serious relationships. She dated a lot, but I wouldn’t call any of the men she dated boyfriends. She partied a lot, but I wouldn’t say that she had any close friends. She was actually sort of shallow and self-absorbed.”
“What do you mean by that?” Jack asked.
“For one thing, she was on her phone all the time, and I mean all the time. She wasn’t using the phone to talk to anyone necessarily; she seemed obsessed with tweeting and posting and doing whatever else it is young women do on social
media. She had thousands of followers, but, as I said, she didn’t seem to have any real friends.”
“Can you think of anyone Patricia would have confided in?’ Jack asked. “Perhaps not a close friend but maybe a pastor or a neighbor?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. I can’t think of anyone that Patricia would have shared her thoughts with. Although there was this one guy. A neighbor. I guess you could say he was as close to her as anyone. His name is Devon. He still lives nearby. I can get his phone number if you’d like to speak to him. The last I heard, he worked at the community college.”
“If you have his number that would be great,” Jack answered.
Bob found Devon’s number and we headed back to the car, where Kizzy was waiting. Jack called Devon, who said that he could meet him during his lunch break. Jack agreed, and Devon gave him the name of a fast-food restaurant close to where he worked.
“We don’t need to meet Devon for another hour,” Jack said. “I noticed a nice park at the north end of town. Maybe we can let Kizzy run around while we make a few calls. I want to have Rick talk to the police officer who investigated the disappearance to see if he ever got a line on the man in the trench coat, and then I am going to call Gus to check in with him.”
“I should call Clara to see how she and Garrett are doing. I wonder if the poor dear had another nightmare.”
“I hope not. The dreams she has had this week sound really awful.”
I nodded. “They seem to have really upset her. I can tell that Garrett is worried about her. He told me that she isn’t sleeping well and her appetite has been almost nonexistent. Clara puts on a brave front when I talk to her, but those dreams have really messed with her head.”
“The dreams do seem pretty specific,” Jack commented. “Maybe if she can figure out what they mean, she will stop having them.”
“Maybe.”
At the park, I let Kizzy off the leash and then walked around with her while I spoke to Clara. I tried to approach our conversation in an upbeat manner, but I could tell she was exhausted by the dreams.