by Marci Bolden
“May I forward these to my e-mail? I won’t share them with anyone else, but I might need to review them more than once,” she explained.
“Sure.”
After forwarding the messages to herself, Holly handed the tablet back to Gary. “I’ll find whoever this is and let you know what I learn.”
“I’ve tried to think of any other reason that she would be meeting someone, but I can’t. Can you?”
“I will find out. Is there anything else you can think of that I might need to know?”
Gary sighed. “No. Jack knows everything else.”
As she stood, she pulled a business card from her pocket and held it out. “Will you please reach out if that changes?”
“Sure.”
“I’m sorry for all you’re going through,” she said as he accepted the card.
“Ms. Austin? You’ll keep this between us, right?”
She nodded. “I will. But you should tell the police. Also, Elvis is still adjusting. Give him a chance to figure out the potty thing.”
A smile curved his lips. “I will. Thanks.”
Jack leaned against Holly’s car, grinding his teeth, as she left the Nelsons’ house. Pissed as he was about her dismissal of him, he couldn’t help but take in the commanding way she walked toward him. The woman was confident, maybe a bit too much so at times, but he liked that she wasn’t afraid to take control. Even if she had just kicked him out of an interview.
“Well?” he demanded when she neared him.
“Nothing.”
She walked around the front bumper as the car chirped to notify him she’d unlocked the doors. He climbed in and slammed his door, much like she’d done after their interview with Fredrickson.
“Bullshit,” Jack stated.
She didn’t look at him. Didn’t argue. She started the ignition and pulled from the curb. “Do you have time to check the shelter with me?”
He glanced at his watch. He had other work to do. Real work. As in his job, but he wasn’t about to let Holly take over this case. He suspected she’d be more than happy to if he didn’t stand his ground. “I’ve got time.”
“You sure? I don’t want you to—”
“I’m a big boy, Austin. I can look out for myself.” He realized what he’d said and glanced over in time to see her lip curve into half a smile.
“Just looking out for my partner,” she said.
“Suck it,” he muttered. Her laugh took the edge off his anger. “He told you something.”
She was quiet for a moment before saying, “In confidence. I can’t share it with you.”
“Why?”
“Because you are his neighbor’s son and he is protecting his pride.”
Jack considered her answer for a few moments. “She was having an affair.”
Holly didn’t answer, but the way she jerked her face to him confirmed his suspicion.
“With whom?”
“I didn’t say she was having an affair.”
He blew out his breath. “We don’t have time for games.”
“And I can’t risk losing the trust of a witness.”
“What about my trust?”
Holly’s movement was subtle, but she tightened her hold on the steering wheel and clenched her jaw as if forcing the words to stay inside her mouth.
“We are working on this case together, Austin. I took you to Gary.”
“He spoke to me in confidence, Tarek. You know I can’t break that.”
“Yeah, you can. Who the hell am I going to tell?”
She tightened her jaw again and then exhaled loudly. “Penelope volunteered at the shelter.”
Jack drew a breath. “Julia volunteered at the shelter on Tuesdays before going to the store.”
“Bingo.”
Jack shook his head. “Changing the subject is a pretty lame tactic, Austin.”
“You’re just mad that you missed that.”
“Drive,” he muttered.
Tense silence hung in the car as she drove them toward the dog shelter on the outskirts of the city. She’d barely parked in the gravel lot before he jumped out. He slammed his door and marched toward the shelter entrance.
The little blonde behind the desk plastered a smile on her face as she glanced between the two. “Hi, I’m Bailey. How can I help you?”
Jack wasn’t there on official business, but he flashed his badge anyway. “Detective Jack Tarek. Who can I talk to about your volunteer program?”
Bailey blinked. “You…you want to volunteer?”
Holly snorted. “He’s not so great with animals. They can sense his lack of trust.”
Smirking, he faced her. “That’s rich coming from you, Austin.”
“Actually,” Holly told the girl, “we’re trying to help locate Penelope Nelson and Julia Fredrickson. Do you know them?”
Her face sagged. “I know Penelope. She is such a sweetheart. I hope nothing bad happened to her.”
“But you don’t know Julia?” Jack asked, refusing to let Holly dominate the interview.
Bailey shook her head. “I don’t recognize the name.”
“She volunteered here on Tuesday mornings,” Holly interjected.
Confusion clouded Bailey’s eyes. “No. If she did, I would know her. I organize the volunteer schedule. We don’t have a Julia. Haven’t ever had one that I know of.”
Jack glanced at Holly. If she was surprised, she hid it well. “Who does volunteer Tuesday mornings?”
Bailey hesitated before she pulled out a notebook and flipped a few pages. “We have a few local businesses who rotate through. They give their employees paid time to volunteer.”
“Can we get a list of those businesses?” Jack asked. Holly had become unusually quiet, and he didn’t blame her. She was clearly trying to make sense of the hole that had been punched in her theory that Julia Fredrickson’s life was perfect.
As Bailey lifted the lid off the big copier in the corner, Jack whispered to Holly, “Did Eric lie about Julia volunteering at the shelter, or did she lie to him?”
She scoffed as she turned to look around the shelter. Dogs had barked incessantly since they’d entered, but this was the first time he’d noticed her looking toward the area where there were cages. They couldn’t see the dogs from where they stood in the lobby, but they couldn’t be too far away.
“Here you go,” Bailey said, drawing their attention back to her.
Jack accepted the list and tucked it in his pocket. “Ever notice anyone hanging around Penelope who she seemed uncomfortable with? Or anything like that? Anything ever make you wonder if she was okay?”
“No. She always happy to be here. She really loves the dogs. I hope you find her.”
“Me too,” Jack said.
Holly turned and headed for the door with Jack right behind her. He nodded his thanks at a man in a dark gray uniform when he stepped aside and held the door open for them. The embroidered tag on the shirt identified him as staff of the shelter. Jack muttered his thanks, but Holly ignored the man.
Holly headed for the driver’s side, but before she could open the door, Jack put his hand against it. She turned slowly in the space between his puffed-out chest and the car. He hadn’t considered how he’d be violating her personal space by confronting her like this, but the moment she tilted her chin and arched her brow in warning, he realized just how close they were.
If he weren’t so damned irritated with her, her tempting lips and piercing blue eyes might have lured him in. But right now, he just needed to get his point across. “We are working this investigation together.”
“I’m aware.”
“We have to be honest with each other.”
She drew a breath before pressing her lips together.
“Any idea where Julia might have been going on Tuesday mornings if she wasn’t walking dogs?”
“No.”
He narrowed his eyes and leaned a bit closer. “You sure?”
A grin played across Holly�
�s lips. “Are you trying to intimidate me, Tarek?”
“Of course not.”
“Then stand down,” she warned.
He didn’t move, but he did ease his posture in an attempt to come across less threateningly. Not that she appeared to be threatened by him. In fact, she seemed amused that he was challenging her like this. Damn it. This woman was so damned infuriating. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me what you know.”
“Detective Tarek,” she said in a cool voice, “landing face first in the gravel will hurt a hell of a lot worse than on the floor of my conference room. Stand the fuck down.”
He stared at her for another few seconds before lowering his hand from her car door and taking a step back.
Holly relaxed her posture as well. “I have no idea why Julia would lie to Eric about volunteering at the shelter. I’ll go through her file again and see what I can find. As for Gary, I’m not trying to shut you out, but I have to respect his request. Let me look into this lead he gave me. If there is anything to it, I’ll let you in. Right now it’s just the speculation of a desperate man looking for answers where there might not be any. Okay?”
Jack licked his lips before biting them hard. “If the tables were turned, you’d be pissed too.”
“Yeah, I would be. But I’d also know that my hurt feelings were secondary to earning and keeping the trust of a witness.”
He jerked back with disbelief. “Hurt feelings?”
“Isn’t that what’s going on here? You’re upset because he talked to me instead of you.”
“No. I’m upset because you don’t trust me.”
She didn’t deny his accusation. Instead she took a breath and looked toward the shelter. “Trusting you isn’t my priority, Jack. My priority is finding Julia and Penelope. I’m not going to burn Gary Nelson the first time he trusts me. If this turns out to be something of importance, you’ll be the first to know. Until then, it’s something I was told in confidence and will keep in confidence. You don’t have to like it, but you have to accept it.”
Jack scoffed before walking around the car and climbing into the passenger side. She wasn’t going to budge. She wasn’t going to tell him a damn thing. He’d just have to find out what she’d learned another way.
5
The next morning, Holly scanned the coffee shop until she spotted a man hunched over a table with a mug cradled between his palms. Heading right for the table, she stood over him. “Dallas Kirby?”
He looked up and gave her a weak smile. “Ms. Austin. Have a seat.”
She did, pulling her notebook from her pocket as she sat. “Thanks for meeting me.”
“Any news on Penelope?”
“Not yet. No.”
His frown deepened as he sat back. “I’m worried about her.”
“How do you know her?”
Tapping his fingers on the table, he seemed to be putting his thoughts together before he sat forward again. This time, he pushed his mug aside and crossed his forearms in front of him. “We go to the same church. She taught Sunday school to my daughter. A long time ago.”
Holly pulled a page from Rene’s book and simply sat, waiting for him to continue. Clearly there was more to it than that. The e-mails they had shared made it clear that Mr. Kirby wanted to see Penelope and she was worried about her husband catching on.
Her tactic worked. Kirby started rambling to fill the silence. “I ran into Penny a few weeks ago. She’d come to the church office to talk to our pastor, but he wasn’t in. She was upset, so I sat with her. She’s had problems with depression in the past, and she was worried she was starting to have another episode, but she didn’t want to get on medication. I guess it made her gain weight the last time she was on a prescription. Gary is a nice guy,” Kirby said. “I’m not disrespecting him, but he is very concerned with outside appearances.”
Holly recalled how the outside of his house was pristine but the inside, the part few people would see, was a mess. She nodded to encourage him to continue.
“My daughter, the one Penny taught at Sunday school, has battled depression too. I sat with her for a while, and we talked about her symptoms and what she was going through until she felt better. She didn’t want Gary to know she was struggling again. He…he wasn’t the most understanding about her condition. So many people think depression is just something you can get over, you know?”
“I know.”
“It’s not like she can turn it off.”
“I get it.”
“I was trying to convince her to get counseling. I think I almost had her convinced.” He looked at his mug. “But then she disappeared.”
Holly leaned forward. “Mr. Kirby, had Penelope ever talked about hurting herself?”
He jerked his eyes to hers. “She didn’t kill herself, if that’s what you’re thinking. She would never do that.”
Instead of pointing out that no one could ever know what another person would do, she redirected. “Would she run away? Try to hide from her problems?”
“No. She wanted help, Ms. Austin. She just hadn’t figured out what help she needed yet.”
“Did she ever talk to your pastor?”
He shook his head. “No. We started meeting a few times a week. Sometimes here, sometimes at the church, sometimes at a park.”
“But always in the open?”
He eyed her, obviously picking apart the secret meaning of her question. “Yes. We weren’t doing anything that we’d have to hide. I was supporting a friend. My sister in Christ, Ms. Austin. She was struggling, and I did what any good man would do. I reached out to help her.”
“I’m not accusing you of anything, Mr. Kirby. I simply need to clarify some things to help me find your friend. The last e-mail you sent to Penelope was a thinly veiled threat to tell her husband that she’d been seeing you. Why did you feel the need to threaten her?”
“It wasn’t a threat. I… My concern for her was growing. She’d started getting paranoid. I saw that happen to my daughter before…” Kirby sat back. “My daughter did attempt to hurt herself. I saw the signs and I ignored them. I wasn’t going to do the same with Penny. When she started displaying symptoms of paranoia, I knew I needed to force her hand before something bad happened.”
“What symptoms had you so concerned?”
“She thought she was being followed.”
Holly’s heart dropped to her stomach. Penelope was being followed. Just like Julia. Penelope had had a previous bout of depression. Just like Julia.
The similarities between the women just kept growing.
“Did you ever notice anyone following her?” Holly asked.
Kirby shook his head. “No. But I didn’t take her seriously.”
Another box to check. Both women knew something was wrong, but nobody would listen.
“Is there security surveillance at the church? Videos I could look at?”
“Not that I know of.”
“You said you met her here sometimes?”
He nodded.
“Do you know the dates? Times?”
He narrowed his eyes. “You think she was being followed?”
“There is another missing woman I’m looking into. She and Penelope are eerily similar. She also felt like she was being followed before disappearing. Do you know Julia Fredrickson?”
“I’ve heard her name on the news, but no. I never met her.”
“Do you know if Penelope reached out to anyone else? A crisis line or group counseling? Anywhere that she might have met others having the same problems.”
Anywhere that she might have met someone who targeted her was Holly’s real question.
“Not that I know of. She was just starting to accept that this wasn’t something to be ashamed of.”
“And you are confident she didn’t do anything rash.”
“She didn’t hurt herself. She was seeking help. She was trying to figure out where to turn.”
Holly smiled. “Well, I’m glad she was able to turn
to you.”
“I should have told someone sooner. She begged me not to.”
“It’s impossible to fully understand how deeply someone else is struggling, Mr. Kirby. You were there for her. That’s what matters. Can you think of anything else that I should know? Anything that gave you pause.”
“No.”
“If you do, will you call me?”
He nodded. “Of course. Please, call me if you need anything else. I’m really worried about her.”
“I can see that. Thank you.” Holly tucked her notebook away as she stood. When she turned, her eye caught briefly on a man tucked away in the corner of the café. He quickly moved his head down, hiding behind his ball cap. She pretended she didn’t notice as she walked out but did casually glance over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being followed.
Jack followed the man who had met with Holly from the café, keeping enough distance between them to not be obvious in his actions. As soon as the man climbed into a dark blue sedan, Jack subtly snapped a photo of the license plate so he could run a search on his identity.
Tucking his phone into his pocket, he headed across the street toward where he’d parked his car. He had just reached for the door handle when a thin arm moved around him and a hand pressed the door shut. He knew who it was without turning around, but even so, he slowly spun.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Holly said, trapping him between her body and the car, much as he’d done to her at the dog shelter.
He took a sharp breath and got a whiff of the subtle scent that had surrounded him the day she’d pinned him to the floor. She didn’t wear perfume, but there was a distinct sweetness that drifted from her skin. Or maybe it was her hair. He smiled at the idea that he’d have to get even closer to her to determine which. “What’s up, Austin?”
“Just a little coffee break.”
“With Penelope Nelson’s lover?”
She jerked the ball cap off his head and shoved it into his chest. “Maybe he’s my lover.”
“Maybe I’d believe that if you weren’t so easy to read.”
She lifted a brow at him. “Am I?”
“Your stiff posture, sympathetic smiles, encouraging nods. You only use those when interviewing witnesses.”