Shadow Of Pretense

by Nora Kane

“That doesn’t narrow it down much.”

  Tommy shrugged.

  “How about you tell us where he was the last time you saw him.”

  “It’d be a waste of time.”

  “Do it anyway,” Mal told him.

  “Like I said, his location isn’t going to show up on the GPS. I’m going to have to draw you a map.”

  “I’m fine with that,” Margot told him.

  “Alright, follow me. The dog looks scary, but he won’t do anything. If anyone broke into my place, he’d make friends.”

  They stepped inside and Tommy said, “You wait in the kitchen, I’ve got to find some paper.”

  “Is this your house?” Mal asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you mind if I ask what you do for a living?”

  “You’re looking at a young guy like me living in this neighborhood and you’re thinking it must be illegal, aren’t you?”

  “The thought has crossed my mind.”

  “You and all my neighbors, but the sad fact is, I developed an App and sold it for a shitload of cash.”

  “Jimmie and Mick develop Apps too?” Margot asked.

  Tommy laughed. “Nah, they’re just my loser friends from high school. What fun is it to have a bunch of money if you don’t have friends to hang out with while you spend it?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Mal replied, “I’ve never had a shitload or even a bunch of money.”

  “Yeah? Well, I recommend it highly.”

  Tommy found some paper and drew a map.

  “Can you maybe put the last three or four places you remember as well?”

  Tommy shrugged. “I guess so, but I’m not sure what good it will do.”

  Margot reached in her purse and palmed on the c-notes Randy’s mom paid her with. “It’d be nice if you kept this to yourself.”

  “You just heard me tell your partner I have a shitload of money and you’re offering me a hundred bucks?”

  “A hundred bucks is a hundred bucks,” Margot told him.

  “It beats the alternative,” Mal added.

  Tommy took the money.

  “I’m going to need a description of the motor home, too,” Margot told him. “Everything you can tell me.”

  “You ask a lot.”

  “I know. If you have a picture of Terry, that’d be helpful as well.”

  “Sure, but one more favor. Promise not to bring my name up.”

  “You worried about blowback from your own brother?”

  “Like I said, he’s got issues.”

  Chapter 8

  Tommy was right: the last place Terry parked his motor home certainly was off the grid. He’d been parked behind an abandoned gas station east of the city. The second stop was actually a decent property that belonged to a friend out in the mountains. The third one Tommy was aware of was a Walmart parking lot.

  Margot cruised the parking lot checking out some of the RVs taking advantage of Walmart’s policy of letting people use their parking lot. None of the motor homes were Tommy’s. Margot circled the parking lot and then parked where they had a good view of the back corner of the lot where the RV’s were allowed to park.

  “What are we doing?” Mal asked.

  “I thought we’d sit and watch awhile.”

  “In case Terry comes back?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you really think he goes to the same place twice?” Mal asked. “If I were him, I’d be halfway up the coast or even halfway across the country.”

  Margot shrugged. “He could be, but looking at the three places Tommy told us, all of them within a twenty-mile radius, I doubt it. He’s moving around, but he’s not straying from his home base.”

  “Or he never left and Tommy’s sending us on a tour of low rent East County. He lied to us once.”

  “Always a possibility. Assuming he’s telling the truth, Terry will be back to one of these spots.”

  “Yeah, I can see it, but he might have ten of these places mapped out. He might come back to this Walmart, but it might be months. We can only cover two places and I don’t think your client is going to pay us to sit behind a broken-down gas station for a couple of months.”

  “No, she won’t. Maybe we sit on two spots for a couple of days and get lucky.”

  “Or maybe we buy lottery tickets and become millionaires.”

  “Yeah, but what else do we have?”

  “We could press Tommy a little harder. Didn’t you scare up a best friend?”

  “Yeah, but that seems like a long shot.”

  “That’s all you’ve got at this point. Besides, detective work is about due diligence. Running down leads you know are bullshit is half the job.”

  Margot sighed. “I guess we ought to at least check. We can always come back.”

  “You can, anyway. I’m only signed up for the fun parts or this gig.”

  Margot was pulling away when she saw a familiar dark blue sedan pull into the lot and park near the front.

  “That’s him,” she said as she pointed it out.

  “You sure? It could just be some shoppers?”

  “Could be,” Margot replied as she drove down the aisle where the blue sedan parked.

  “If some middle-aged lady gets out with her kids, you’re going to feel silly.”

  “Unless a middle-aged mom is following me.”

  Mal laughed as they cruised slowly by. Both of them made sure not to look directly at the vehicle.

  “Mom likes tinted glass,” Margot said as they passed by and turned up the other aisle so they could get another look from the front side.

  “Yeah, they aren’t exactly in a hurry to get out are they?”

  “No.”

  Coming around, the view of the blue sedan was blocked by a truck parked in the opposite spot.

  Margot pulled into an open parking spot. “Should we ask them if they’ve been following us?”

  “If they’re not, we’re going to feel dumb.”

  “I’ve felt dumb before. I got over it.”

  Mal nodded and took his Colt Python out of the glove compartment.

  “If they are following us, chances are this gets really ugly,” Mal told her. “You ready to shoot it out with a couple of cartel hitmen in the Walmart parking lot?”

  Margot took her pistol out of her purse and chambered a round. She swung her purse over her shoulder and left it unzipped. She put her hand in the purse with the pistol still in her grip.

  “Yeah, I guess I am.”

  Mal checked to make sure all six cylinders had a cartridge and then grabbed his jacket front he back seat and draped it over his arm. He’d look a little odd walking out with his jacket over his arm on a hot day, but he figured he’d rather look funny and live. No one looked cool after they’d been shot to death anyway.

  “You want the driver of the passenger?” Mal asked as they got out of Margot’s Prius.

  Margot shrugged then said, “Driver.”

  They started toward the blue sedan but it backed out and drove away. The side windows had the same tint as the back so they couldn’t see who was inside. They stood and watched the car drive out the parking lot. They kept watching until the blue sedan drove out of sight.

  “Maybe they just changed their minds and decided to go to Target?” Mal said.

  “You really think so?”

  “No. I’d say they didn’t want to shoot it out in the Walmart parking lot.”

  “I have to say I didn’t really want to do that either.”

  “Yeah, but it might be better than what they have planned. At least this way we would have had an opportunity to shoot back.”

  They walked back to the Prius.

  “Should we go harass a teenager?” Mal asked.

  “Yeah, but first I need to make a call.”

  “Did you get the plate?”

  “Of course, didn’t you?” Margot replied as she called Detective Doreen Gomes, one of her few friends still with the police.

  “No, I
was thinking there was going to be a shootout.”

  “Hey, Margot,” Doreen answered, “is this going to be something I’m going to regret?”

  “I hope not. How have you been?”

  “Cut the small talk, I’m working.”

  “Can you run a license plate?”

  “I shouldn’t, I almost got in trouble last time…but yeah, I can do that for you. I may need you to return the favor in the very near future.”

  “I will gladly do so.”

  “You may not be so glad when you hear what it is, but we can talk about that later. What’s the number?”

  “California plate RJO- 202.”

  “Okay, you know the drill. I can’t do it until my shift ends.”

  “No problem, thanks Doreen.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Now can we go harass a teenager?” Mal asked after Margot ended the call.

  “Maybe I should do that one by myself. Parking lot shootouts and hostile app developers are more your thing. I can handle the teenage girls on my own.”

  Mal nodded. “Yeah, I can see that, but what about the blue sedan?”

  “I think we scared him off for now. If not, I’ll watch my back and keep your number handy.”

  “Okay. But promise, no shootouts without me?”

  “No problem.”

  Chapter 9

  Danielle lived in the same complex as Chrissie. Margot passed by their house and the police tape was still up. Any hope Jennifer and Chrissie just came home was dashed by the dark house with yellow tape across the front door.

  No one was parked in Danielle’s driveway, so Margot pulled in. She’d hoped to come by around dinner time since that increased the odds everyone would be home, but by the time she got Mal back to his place and made the drive across town, it was getting closer to nine o’clock.

  A lady a little bit older and a lot heavier than Margot answered the door.

  “Mrs. Dandridge?”

  “I haven’t been a Mrs. anything for a long time. Who’s asking?”

  Margot smiled and handed over her P.I. license.

  The lady looked it over and then handed it back.

  “The name’s Caldwell. I used to be a Dandridge, but that was a long time ago.”

  “Sorry to bother you, Ms. Caldwell, is Danielle home?”

  The lady shook her head. “She’s not here. What did she do?”

  The lady said it like Danielle had done something to bring a detective to the door in the past.

  “Nothing, I actually wanted to ask her about her friend, Chrissie.”

  “Chrissie? Then it’s definitely some kind of trouble. What did she do now?”

  “Nothing I know of. She and her mother are missing.”

  “Yeah, I know. I also know they found a dead man in their house. I can tell you Danielle is no angel, but there’s no way she had anything to do with that mess.”

  “I didn’t say she did. I just want to talk to her to see if she has any idea where Chrissie would run to.”

  “You think Danielle would know?”

  “I’m assuming you’re Danielle’s mom?”

  “Yeah, you assume correctly.”

  “You know both of them better than I do. So, let me ask you, is that something Danielle would know?”

  Danielle’s mom pondered the question for a second before saying, “For better or worse, and believe me it’s mostly worse, they are best friends. They have been since Chrissie moved here like five years ago. So, while I don’t think Danielle knows anything about this, I will say if Chrissie were to confide in somebody…it would probably be Danielle.”

  “Do you mind if I talk to her?”

  “I don’t mind at all, but I wasn’t lying when I said she wasn’t here.”

  “Is there a better time to come by?”

  “No, not until next week. She’s staying with her dad up north for a while. That’s why I’m Caldwell and she isn’t. She kept the loser's name and I didn’t. She wasn’t here when all that stuff happened over at Chrissie’s house.”

  “Up north like San Francisco? Or up north like L.A.?”

  “Up north like Riverside.”

  “Can I get an address or maybe a phone number?”

  “You really just looking for Chrissie?”

  “Yes.”

  “And when you find her, you're not going to do her any harm?”

  “My job is just to find her and make sure she’s okay.”

  Danielle’s mom looked Margot over for a second before saying, “Yeah, I guess I can trust you. I’ve got to warn you though, if you go up there, her dad is kind of a lowlife.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “He probably won’t let Danielle talk to you. He doesn’t think too highly of detectives.”

  “I’m private, I’m not a cop.”

  “He might not be bright enough to make that distinction. You might be better off waiting until next week.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Ms. Caldwell nodded and then went inside, leaving Margot on the doorstep. She came back a few minutes later with a piece of notebook paper. On it were an address and two phone numbers, one belonging to Danielle and the other belonging to Devin Dandridge.

  “I doubt Devin will answer the phone. If he sees an unknown number, he tends to think it’s someone he owes money.”

  “I prefer to do these things in person.”

  “Good luck with that. I hope that girl and her mother are okay. I can’t say I’ve always liked either of them, but that doesn’t mean I want either of them hurt.”

  “I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  “I’m sure you will. If you can come up for a reason to throw Devin’s ass in jail, go ahead and do it.”

  “I’m not a cop.”

  “I know, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

  Chapter 10

  The next morning, Margot got up, plugged Devin Dandridge’s address into her GPS, and headed for Riverside. It was about a two-hour drive from Margot’s place to the Dandridge house. Like her other visits this week, she timed it to get there mid-morning.