by J A Whiting
The owner of the construction business stroked his chin. “Think about what unique and valuable thing you can bring to the operation. What can’t they do without you? What can you do better than anyone else? Work on the answers to those questions and you’ll be golden.”
Robby nodded. “I’ll start working on my presentation. I might even sing part of it.”
“More power to you.” The construction head high-fived Robby.
When they returned to the chocolate shop’s kitchen to prepare the store for the morning rush, Robby took a cake from the cooler and began to cut it into slices. “Tell me what happened yesterday when you left to drive around those two towns.”
“We were in the car going up and down the streets,” Nicole said, “All of a sudden, Claire told me to stop. She wanted to investigate a dumpster that was set in the front yard of a Victorian house being renovated.” Nicole slipped a pan of muffins into the oven.
“A dumpster?” Robby held the knife over the cake. “You two go above and beyond the call of duty. So was Clairvoyant Claire correct? Was there anything of importance inside?”
“Claire climbed into it,” Nicole said.
Robby raised an eyebrow and teased. “I hope you showered after that.”
“I did,” Claire reassured him. “Don’t you want to know what we found?”
“Well, since they’re renovating a house on the property, probably nothing but old wood and broken up cabinets.” Robby set the slices of cake on a tray.
“Shoes,” Nicole said. “Athletic shoes.”
Robby stared at his boss. “And?”
Nicole watched for Robby’s reaction. “They most likely belong to Jade Lyons.”
The young man almost dropped the knife he was holding. “No way.” He looked at Claire. “You’re kidding. You found the missing girl’s shoes? Her sneakers? She was wearing those shoes on the night she disappeared?”
“Supposedly,” Claire said. “We haven’t heard for sure if they belonged to Jade.”
“Who else could they belong to?” Robby asked. “A pair of sneakers matching the description of the missing young woman’s shoes were tossed into a dumpster. I can’t believe you found them. This is amazing. This is big news.” The music school student’s jaw dropped as a look of horror washed over his face. “Wait. Does this mean the girl is dead?”
“Not necessarily,” Claire said.
Robby and Nicole exchanged a look.
“Why would Jade remove her shoes and throw them in a dumpster?” Robby asked gently.
“It could happen,” Claire said. “Maybe she and whoever she was with were playing around. Teasing each other, running in people’s front yards. Maybe they’d had a few beers. You know, hijinks, nonsense, playfulness. It’s possible, isn’t it?”
“Possible, yes,” Robby said. “Likely, no.”
Claire trained her eyes on Robby. “Why not?”
Seeing the sadness in his co-worker’s face, Robby tried to hide his doubtful mindset from her. “You’re right. I’m being a pain. What you described could have happened. Maybe Jade was with some guy she’d fallen for. They were flirting with each other. They stopped in front of that house and started to play around, chase each other. Maybe they decided to leave town together for a while.”
Claire poured batter into a loaf pan. “You don’t for one minute believe a word of what you’re saying ... but thanks for saying it anyway. I intend to cling to hope a little while longer.”
“Where are the sneakers now?” Robby asked. “Did you bring them to the police?”
Claire explained how a Hadwen police officer pulled up and asked them what they were doing standing by the dumpster. “By now, the police must have asked Bonnie Lyons if those shoes belonged to her daughter. I hope she said no.”
“Jade must have been in a car with someone she knows,” Robby guessed. “Let’s talk about suspects. Did Mrs. Lyons tell you anything about her daughter’s friends or boyfriends?” Robby loved true crime shows and internet websites where citizens shared information with one another to try and solve cold cases. “Was she depressed? Worried about anything? Overly stressed?”
“Bonnie didn’t say anything about that kind of thing,” Claire said as she wiped flour from her hand onto her apron. “She did talk to us about a boyfriend and her friends. Jade went out with a friend to a bonfire across from the college campus. Jade left with someone and the friend later got a text from her asking if she would come pick Jade up in Hadwen. When the friend called Jade, she didn’t answer.”
“Does the friend know who Jade was with?” Robby asked.
“We don’t know yet,” Nicole answered.
“What about a boyfriend?” Robby questioned.
Claire nodded. “There’s a boyfriend. His name is Kyle Vallins. The mother and sister seem to like him. He graduated last May and has a job in Boston as a physical therapist.”
“Had there been any trouble between Jade and Kyle?”
“No one mentioned anything about that,” Claire said. “Bonnie seemed to imply they were happy together and getting along fine.”
“Would Jade go riding around with someone she’d just met?” Robby narrowed his eyes hoping that wouldn’t be the case. “There are a lot of nuts out there. Let’s hope she kept her wits about her and didn’t make a foolish choice.”
“Jade’s sister told us that an old boyfriend of Jade’s had recently got in contact with her again,” Nicole said. “It seems she met him for coffee. She broke up with him about two years ago because he hit her.”
“He hit her?” Robby’s eyes flashed with anger. “Why meet up with him after he’d done that? She should never speak to him again, let alone get together with him. I’m worried Jade isn’t making good decisions. I think you need to talk to this woman’s friends. Get them to talk to you. Figure out what Jade was thinking.”
A knock on the shop’s front door caused the conversation to pause.
“Who could be knocking this early?” Nicole went to the doorway into the front of the store, saw who was standing outside peeking in, and before going to unlock the door, called back, “It’s Tessa.”
Claire went out to see why their friend had come to the shop before it opened.
“You’re not angry with me for giving your name to Bonnie Lyons?” Tessa Wilcox asked. In her late fifties or early sixties, the woman had auburn hair and dark brown eyes and was wearing a colorful dress and an orange cardigan. Tessa used Tarot cards to give readings and worked with clients who wished for guidance. She had many friends with paranormal abilities and had helped Claire to better understand her newly-developing skill.
“Of course not.” Claire prepared a latte and brought it to the table where Tessa had taken a seat.
“I thought you might be able to help her.” Tessa sipped the warm liquid and sighed. “The early part of a disappearance is crucial. The longer it goes on, well….” She moved her hand around. “The outcome often isn’t good. I thought if you talked to Mrs. Lyons, you might sense something.”
Nicole told Tessa about finding the sneakers the previous evening.
“Oh, my. Oh, dear.” Tessa looked out the window. “I was hopeful the young woman went off for a few days with a new boyfriend.” She looked at Claire and Nicole. “I fear the worst.”
Tessa’s words ran cold down Claire’s spine and she said, “Maybe the shoes don’t belong to Jade.”
“Will you continue to help if Mrs. Lyons asks you to?” Tessa asked.
Claire nodded. “I could never abandon the woman.”
Tessa cleared her throat and gripped her mug. “I don’t think you’ll find Jade alive.”
A little gasp escaped from Nicole’s throat.
Claire clasped her hands in her lap as her heart pounded like a drum.
“Your work will focus on finding the young woman’s body, and helping to find the person who is responsible.” Tessa looked down at her coffee. “I’m sorry to be so blunt, but I believe this is the reality of t
he situation.”
“Poor Mrs. Lyons,” Nicole managed to squeeze the words from her tight throat.
Claire blinked away the moisture gathering in her eyes. “I think Bonnie already knows. I think her goal is to bring Jade home.” The muscles in Claire’s face tightened. “And to find her daughter’s killer.”
5
The late afternoon turned chilly despite the sun shining bright in a clear blue sky. Claire and Ian jogged around the periphery of the Boston Common as Bear and Lady chased after them and occasionally stopped to play in the grass with a few other dogs. The Corgis were careful to keep the two runners in their sights.
“Tessa thinks Jade Lyons is dead.” Claire ran alongside her boyfriend as they made their way up Tremont Street.
“What do you think?” Ian asked, being sure to keep an even stride while running up the slight hill.
“I think I’ve felt the same way from the beginning.” Claire moved easily beside Ian over the hard sidewalk. “I think I’ve felt Jade was gone since the first time I talked to Bonnie Lyons.”
“It doesn’t look good for the young woman,” Ian agreed. “It’s been days and no sign of her.”
“Except for those shoes Nicole and I found,” Claire pointed out.
“The investigators concluded that the sneakers belonged to Jade,” Ian said.
The two runners moved down Beacon Street and took a left on Charles when the Corgis came charging down the hill on the Common to run parallel to the couple.
Claire and Ian called to the dogs and their little tails pumped back and forth as they ran and jumped and play-nipped each other.
“Those are the two happiest dogs I’ve ever known.” Ian smiled as he shook his head.
“Their personalities are infectious,” Claire said, a wide grin on her face.
When the young people slowed to a walk and kept going around the Common to cool down, the dogs took off again up the hill to greet a Great Dane and a beagle.
“Is there any other news on the case from your law enforcement friends?” Claire asked.
Ian looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “You know I’m not supposed to share that information with anyone.”
“That means there isn’t anything new.” Claire ran her arm over her forehead to brush away some perspiration and her comment caused Ian to laugh.
“I guess you know me too well,” he said.
Slipping her arm through Ian’s, Claire smiled. “I have very strong intuition, you know.”
“I’d forgotten that important fact.” Ian put his hand over his girfriend’s. “I need to be careful because I can’t fool you about anything.”
“Have the police been focusing on the Hadwen area? Is that where they’re looking for Jade?” Claire tried to find out some new information.
“Hadwen, yes,” Ian said. “Other places, too.”
“Smithtown,” Claire said.
“Yes,” Ian told her. “And Bayside as well.”
“Is there anyone in the family who could be a suspect?” Claire asked.
“The mom and sister were where they said they were during the time of the disappearance and into the morning. The sister, Jeena, lives in New York City. She was reluctant to go back. She didn’t want to leave her mother. But, her job is demanding and she couldn’t be away any longer.”
The corners of Claire’s mouth turned down. “Are there people who can corroborate their stories? It’s not just Bonnie and Jeena telling the police they were both at home then? They could be lying about their whereabouts.”
“Both women have people who vouch for where they were and who they were with at the time of the disappearance,” Ian said. “I haven’t talked to my buddy in the Bayside police department for a couple of days, but if anything big came up, he would have contacted me or we would have heard it in the news.”
“So that means Jade is still out there somewhere,” Claire said quietly and she reached for the comfort of Ian’s hand as they called the dogs to join them on the short walk back to Claire’s townhouse.
After showering and changing clothes, Claire and Ian heated up leftovers and took their plates outside to sit at the patio table under the twinkling white lights strung between the branches of the tree. Bear and Lady rested in the patch of grass, their noses occasionally lifting up to smell something interesting on the evening air.
Ian asked about the chocolate shop renovations and Claire gave him an update. “It won’t be long before the wall between the spaces comes down. It’s going to look great. Come by some day and we’ll give you a tour. Tomorrow Nicole is interviewing two people with catering experience to see how they’d fit in with the rest of the team.”
“Everything’s moving fast.” Ian sipped from his coffee mug. “Just in time for that wedding contract Nicole secured.”
“She’s a nervous wreck. She thinks we’ll never get another contract if things don’t go well.”
“She doesn’t need to be concerned. With you two in charge of the recipes and you, Nicole, and Robby doing the baking, it will be a huge success,” Ian said with confidence. “Are you and Nicole still thinking about doing some cookbooks?”
“Yes, but right now, it’s on hold due to the renovation work and that wedding,” Claire said. “We also have to train the new people who get hired. We don’t want to bite off more than we can chew.”
Ian nodded. “Has Bonnie Lyons been in contact with you?”
Claire said, “Only once, after we found the sneakers. She called to thank us. Bonnie told me she was sure the athletic shoes belonged to Jade, but she had to wait for the investigators to give the final assessment.”
“Does Bonnie think Jade will be found alive?”
With a sigh, Claire said, “She hasn’t come right out and said it, but other things she talks about … it’s the way she words it, I don’t believe she thinks Jade is alive.” Claire looked up at the branches of the huge tree. “But that fact doesn’t diminish Bonnie’s determination to find her daughter and bring her home. I can tell she won’t rest until she finds out what happened to Jade. She wants to find the person responsible for hurting her daughter.”
Ian looked into Claire’s eyes with concern. “She’s not going to go all vigilante, is she? She won’t try to do anything to the person she thinks hurt Jade?”
“I don’t know the woman at all, but somehow I get the sense from her that she’ll leave it to the courts to punish the perpetrator,” Claire said.
“That’s good to hear,” Ian said. “It can cause big trouble when someone goes on a mission of revenge.”
“I don’t think revenge is one of Bonnie’s goals.” Claire shrugged. “But like I said, I don’t know Bonnie and I don’t know what she might consider if and when someone is arrested for what has happened to Jade.” Claire filled her water glass from the pitcher. “Do you think the person Jade left the bonfire with is the perpetrator?”
“Not enough to go on,” Ian said. “Jade and whoever she was with were gone from the bonfire and the outdoor party for almost two hours when she gave her friend a call. A lot can happen in two hours.”
Claire didn’t want to think about it.
The buzz from Ian’s phone almost made Claire jump. She watched her boyfriend take the call, get up from his seat, and pace around the small yard as the dogs trotted back and forth behind him.
The detective clicked off from the call and set the phone on the table. “It was my pal, George, over at the Bayside Police. Some items of clothing, a license, and a phone have been found near some businesses in Bayside. It seems they belong to Jade.”
Claire’s heart sank into her shoes not wanting to believe there could be more evidence pointing to the probability of Jade’s demise.
Both dogs growled low and deep.
“George asked me if I’d come by,” Ian said. “Would you like to come along?”
Claire didn’t have to be asked twice.
Ian pulled his car to the curb and parked, and then he and Claire
walked over to a man in street-clothes speaking with an officer. When the man looked up, he noticed Ian approaching.
“Thanks for coming over.” Detective George Paulsen was introduced to Claire and then he walked them over to the far side of the rectangular parking lot that fronted a series of brick buildings set back from the road. Paulsen knew Claire had been instrumental in assisting law enforcement in several recent cases so even though it was out of the ordinary to allow a private citizen to listen in, he didn’t mind that she was tagging along.
Detective Paulsen pointed to the last parking space in the far left of the lot. “It’s got tree-cover to protect it from being seen by anyone on the main street. It’s tucked here in the corner away from the businesses. Pull in, get out of the car, place the items on the ground, and take off.”
Claire wanted to ask some questions, but knew better of it and remained quiet.
“A license was found?” Ian asked.
“It belonged to Jade Lyons. Also a purple fleece jacket and her cell phone.” The detective kicked at the ground. “Right here. In a carefully arranged pile, the fleece on the bottom, the cell phone next, with the license perched on top of it. Either someone was careful with the items because of feelings of regret or shame, or he’s thumbing his nose at us and at Jade for what he did.”
“Odd.” Ian imagined the things being left in a stack, one on top of the other, in the corner of the lot. “They were meant to be found.”
Claire looked quickly at Ian. She hadn’t thought of that possibility.
“Seems so,” Detective Paulsen said still focusing on the ground.
Claire spoke up. “Could Jade have left her things like that? Could she have been the one to leave her things stacked on top of each other?”
Ian and Paulsen stared at her.
“Jade?” Ian questioned. “I suppose she could have.”
Paulsen stroked his chin. “Suicide? It crossed my mind, too.”
“Was she in a pact with someone else to take their lives?” Ian tried to make sense of it.
Looking down at the spot where Jade’s things had been discovered, Claire was sure when she said, “No, definitely not. She didn’t take her life. Jade did not commit suicide. Someone else put those things there.”