She’d had a hard time since Lauren’s funeral. She and Jake had struck out on every lead so far in trying to locate Jerome Wexler, the man she felt was responsible for Lauren’s murder. She had a low frustration threshold recently. Working cases made her feel like her old self again. This is good, she thought. This is what I’m supposed to be doing. This is where I’m supposed to be, she thought as she sped to the location.
7
Day 1
It took Harri only fifteen minutes to get to the address Detective Tom Bards had given her. She pulled up behind several police cruisers and the coroner’s van. She flashed her badge to the uniform standing behind the yellow crime scene tape at the end of the long drive.
“Is Detective Tom Bards inside?” she asked.
The uniform nodded. She ducked under the tape and climbed up the steep driveway. She stepped into the house and found Detective Tom Bards in the living room talking with the coroner.
Dr. Leanne Grimley turned toward Harri and smiled.
“Detective Harper. So glad to see you. My condolences on your sister.”
“May she finally rest in peace,” Tom said.
“Thank you so much, Dr. Grimley. Detective Bards. That means a lot.”
They stood awkwardly for a beat and then got to business.
“Have we made a positive ID as Sophie Lambert?” Harri asked. She’d been surprised by the fast ID.
“One of the uniformed officers showed me the missing person photo when we opened up the plastic sheeting and saw her face,” Tom explained. “He’d been called out on the original missing person’s call, I guess.”
“She was a very distinctive looking young lady,” Dr. Grimley said.
“Distinctive how?” Harri asked.
“She looks a lot like Megan Fox,” Tom said.
“The actress Megan Fox?” Harri asked.
“A younger version of her. Sophie Lambert was only seventeen and looked it,” Tom said.
“How did you connect her with Addison James? I didn’t see her name in Addison’s file,” Harri asked.
“They didn’t connect the two girls initially,” Tom replied. “When we called her parents to make the official ID, her mother asked if we’d also found Addison James.”
Dr. Grimley left them to talk as she worked on the body.
“How did you know that I was on the Addison James case?” she asked.
“Everybody knows you’re on that case, Harri.”
And by everyone, he meant Richard Byrne. It must really chap his hide to know that Harri Harper, disgraced girl cop as he’d once called her, was investigating another prominent case after all he’d done to try tanking her career.
“Thank you for calling me on this. I just finished interviewing Addison James’ mother right before you called, and Mavis James is positive the girls disappeared together.”
“That's Elle Lambert’s take on it, too.”
“She have any idea where they were going?” she asked.
“She was supposed to be at Addison James’ house.” Tom shook his head. “The old crisscross.”
“That is precisely why I am happy not to have children,” Harri said under her breath.
Tom nodded without a word.
“Do you have a cause of death?”
“Too early to tell. From Grimley’s initial review of the body, there are no apparent signs of violence. The body was in advanced decomp so that’s not saying much. She’s scheduling the autopsy for the next available.”
“How long has she been dead?”
“Grimley says four days,” Tom said.
“She was kept somewhere for the last three weeks? The girls went missing on October 18th. It’s now almost Thanksgiving.”
“It appears that way,” he said.
“Is this the scene of the murder?” she asked. “Who found her?”
“A couple who was supposed to be spending the weekend here. It's a B&B rental, much to the delight of the neighbors. They all call it the party house.”
“Does the host have a record of who stayed here four days ago?” she asked.
“Their records show the place was empty. Paul Lancel, the owner, says he has no idea how she got into the wall. He hasn’t been on site for over a month. Doesn’t mean much as the key is right outside the door. Any guest who knew the code could get in.”
“No wonder his neighbors hate him,” Harri said dryly.
“Makes me never want to stay in a B&B,” Tom said.
“Are you thinking this is the primary crime scene? Any signs of a struggle?” Harri asked.
“I’m thinking no,” Tom said. “I don’t have proof of that, though. Just a hunch.”
“How did RHD get this case anyway?” Harri asked, curious. Sophie wasn't someone famous and wouldn’t garner too much media attention. There were a lot of seventeen-year-old girls who disappeared from Los Angeles every day.
“It's her connection to Addison James, I think. Now that there's a body and daddy is so connected, they decided to call in RHD.”
Harri nodded and turned back to the activity going past the kitchen. “How do you want to work this? Do we talk to the parents next?” she asked. “Do I stay on Addison?”
“We’re formally interviewing them tomorrow. They’re coming in tonight to make the official ID. I don't think I need you there for that.” Tom glanced at his watch. “Listen, it’s already almost five. Maybe it's better for you to start fresh tomorrow morning. We can go together to their house for the interview.”
Harri liked the sound of that and nodded. “Happy to be working with you again, Tom,” she said.
“Likewise,” he said.
“See you in the morning,” she said and waved to Grimley, who was hunched over the body.
“See you soon,” Dr. Grimley called out.
Harri climbed into her car and texted Jake Tepesky to tell him she was on her way. It was her turn to stay over at his place.
As she drove to Jake's house, her thoughts scrambled through the day’s events. Getting the Addison James case just like that and then having Sophie Lambert's body turn up. It was almost too much of a coincidence, but it happened.
Harri felt the adrenaline kicking into gear. She hadn’t felt this way about the cold cases she’d been assigned when she returned to work. This case, however, had struck a chord. Teenage girls gone missing. Like her sister.
There was hope she’d find Addison still alive. They’d kept Sophie for weeks. If they could find her in time, another life could be saved. A family taken from the brink of despair.
She pulled onto Jake’s street within minutes. She hadn’t realized how close he lived to the party house.
8
Day 1 -Night
Harri pulled into the little parking space in front of Jake’s home. She grabbed her purse and locked up the car. Looking ruefully up the massive set of stairs, she sighed. Jake's home was perched on top of a canyon and the only way to get to his front door was up four flights of very steep stairs.
Harri hated those stairs.
She grunted and started on the first set. Even though they were splitting time between her home and his, it would be so much easier if he came to hers. She didn’t have stairs.
Better yet, he might as well move in. Even though they’d only been together since Oregon, which was a month plus some days, she’d known him all her life.
Harri was prepared to take the next step with him. She thought he was ready as well, but she was too afraid to broach the subject with him.
Because it had only been a month.
But boy, did she not want to do these stairs again. She trudged up one flight and then another flight and had to stop to catch her breath.
Damn these stairs. Her thighs burning, she ran up the last flight of stairs, her breath coming out in short gasps. The door opened as she hit the last stair. Jake stood silhouetted in the doorway. She could make out a grin on his face.
“You really need to get into better shape,” he quipped as Harri fi
nally got to his front stoop and instead of giving him a kiss on the cheek, she punched him in the arm.
“Ouch,” he cried in mock pain. “And here I made you a nice cup of tea to welcome you home after a long day of work,” he said and held up his FBI profiler mug filled with steaming green tea in front of her.
Harri smiled then and gave him a kiss. “You know me so well,” she said. As she pulled away, she caught a whiff of mesquite smoke and smiled.
“Have you been making those ribs all day?” she asked.
Jake put his arm around her and gave her a big hug. “They came off the grill only a half hour ago. They've been waiting for you,” he said.
Harri smiled and leaned into him as he closed the door behind her. She took the steaming mug of green tea out of his hand and he took her bag and jacket and put them on the chair next to his front door. Harri took a long deep sip of tea and let the warmth travel through her body.
“I so needed this,” she said.
“I figured,” Jake said. “When you didn't call me after your meeting with Addison James’ mom I figured something was up.”
Harri nodded, but she was more interested in his phone calls to Interpol. Jake knew what she wanted. Grinning, he led her into the kitchen and with a flourish of his arm showed off his spread of corn on the cob, potato salad and delicious smelling baby back ribs.
“Wow. This looks beautiful and smells divine. I never knew what kind of an omnivore I was,” she said.
“I am the grill master,” Jake declared.
As Harri washed her hands in the sink, her mouth watered at the delicious food behind her. “What happened with the Interpol call?” she asked.
“Why don't we eat first,” Jake said.
Harri could tell by the tone in his voice it wasn't going to be good news. She turned back to him and frowned as she dried her hands.
“They had no information on Jerome Wexler?” she asked.
“Even worse than that,” Jake said.
Harri stepped back in surprise. “What could be worse than that?”
“They have no record of his private jet landing anywhere in the Netherlands on that date or any time after.”
“What? How can that be?” Harri was shocked. “Oh, Jake. Honey I’m so sorry. I know what hell it was to get those flight manifests.”
Jake nodded. “It was like a punch to the gut, I gotta be honest,” he said.
Harri pursed her lips. Another dead end.
“Where does that leave us?” she asked.
“We stick with the plane,” Jake said as he pulled a bottle of red wine from the rack. “The flight manifest was correct as far as the beginning part of the journey. We just need to track down where it really went. If we find some of the people who worked at the air strip back in ’94, see if they might remember anything about the guy. The good thing going for us is he’d run for governor only a few years before that. He would be recognized.”
“I'm sure if an employee at some rinkydink airstrip got to deal with the almost governor of Oregon, he might remember a conversation he had with him, even if it was twenty-five years later,” she said.
“It's a stretch, I know, but it's all we have right now,” he said as he polished off a rib.
Harri pulled plates and silverware out of the cupboards and handed one set to Jake. She loaded up her plate with potato salad and grabbed a buttered corn cob and three ribs. He did the same and they left the kitchen.
They sat next to each other at the dining room table, the lights of the LA basin twinkling behind them.
“What happened after your mother interview?” Jake asked.
“She couldn’t give me much.” Harri shook her head. “Levi Monroe had already given us all they both knew. Mom looks to have been a former actor or entertainer. She’s maybe fifty and still stunning. Completely distraught over Addison's disappearance. Said the same thing Monroe did. Just couldn’t believe she would ever run away and leave her guitar behind. Addison is an incredible guitar player. She was accepted to Julliard for early admission.”
“That doesn’t sound like she ran,” he said.
“Right? I still haven't been able to talk to Jorge Hernandez. He was the lead detective on her disappearance three weeks ago. He's not returning my calls and I hope it's not because I stepped on his proverbial toes. He didn’t do much investigating, though.”
“Is that not like him?”
“No. It’s not. He really is a good detective.”
“What are you not telling me?” he asked.
“You haven't seen the news?” she asked.
Jake shook his head as he nibbled on a rib. “I was out enjoying the grilling and stayed off my phone.”
“Sophie Lambert's body has been found. She was the girl Addison James was with when she disappeared. Best friends forever.”
“Let me guess. Each of them told their parents they were sleeping at the other’s house,” he said.
“Ding. Ding. Ding. I don't know how parents even fall for that anymore,” Harri said. “Anyway, I got a call from Detective Tom Bards.”
“Really?” Jake asked.
“That was my reaction.” Harri smiled. “Imagine my surprise. I have no idea how he convinced Richard Byrne to allow me to be anywhere near this case.”
“Byrne probably didn't have a choice,” Jake said.
“Anyway, Tom said the two cases were connected, which they are, and received formal approval for me to work under him and RHD.”
“How long has Sophie been deceased?” Jake asked.
“Coroner thinks four days dead. She's expediting the autopsy. The parents want to make a positive ID tonight and there's still an unknown cause of death.”
“How was she found?” he asked.
“People staying at the house. They found her in a wall,” she replied.
Jake grimaced and put his rib down. “How in the world did she get into a wall?”
“That was my thought. She was wrapped in plastic, but not tightly enough. The remains leaked decomp fluids. The odor alerted the B&B guests who thought it was a dead rat.”
“Shocking to find a body,” he said.
Harri nodded and dug into her food. She didn't want to talk about decomposing bodies until, at least, after dinner.
They polished off the delicious meal in relative silence.
As they were cleaning up, Jake said, “You have another shot at RHD.”
“Can you believe it?” Harri asked. “After what happened up in Oregon and that FBI prick calling everybody he knew, I thought I was toast. If it wasn’t for Violet Howard, that might’ve been the end of me.”
“No, Harri,” Jake said. “You wouldn't be on this case if it wasn't for the Oregon case. Levi Monroe came to find you because of that case.”
“I forgot to tell you.” Harri turned to face him. “When I spoke to Addison’s mother, she actually said she was the one that got Levi to come and find me. She followed the case on TV and when Addison went missing, she called Levi and told him about me.”
“What’d I tell ya? A direct connection to the Oregon case,” he said.
Harri nodded. Although she was happy to get another shot at getting into RHD, she wished it hadn't been from an outside source like Levi Monroe pulling strings to force Violet, and Gilead, and then Richard Byrne to give her the case. She would take it, though.
“You ready to hit the sack?” Jake asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“I think you can convince me of that,” she said as the dimpled smile he gave her sent shivers up and down her spine.
For the millionth time, she wondered what Lauren would think about them together? Her little sister and her best friend getting together after all these years. Harri hoped she’d have a good laugh about it.
She followed Jake up the stairs.
Harri lay in bed listening to the coyotes howling outside. She checked her phone and saw that it was 3 a.m. This was typically the time the coyotes woke her up every single time she stayed at Ja
ke's place. He never seemed to be affected by them and from the soft snoring coming from his side of the bed, tonight was no different.
Harri quietly slipped out of bed and padded across the room and down the stairs. She went down to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water and grabbed the tub of ice cream she’d stashed there for just these nightly insomnia jags.
She sat down on the plush sofa and looked over the sleeping city. Where are you Addison? She sent her question into the night. And what did you two girls come face-to-face with? Her mind wandered over the last 48 hours’ events and how different the life of girls who live in LA were compared to how she and her sister had lived in El Segundo.
El Segundo was part of the South Bay and was like a small, sleepy beach town. Very different than being in Hollywood. Where Addison James lived in Los Feliz was Hollywood adjacent. The surprising thing was that most of these girls tended to be very street smart because, after all, they grew up in a big city.
Something had made them comfortable enough to drop their guards. She thought of Sophie Lambert and her headshot. If Sophie had stumbled into some sort of opportunity as an actor, Harri could easily imagine Addison going along to support her friend. It was definitely an angle to research because two girls who’d lived in LA all of their lives wouldn’t so easily fall prey to the predators out there, even if they were only seventeen.
She opened the top of the ice cream and took out a big scoop. It was French Vanilla, her favorite. She sat and ate the ice cream and stared out into the city. Typically, she'd be up for hours until sun rose over the horizon and turned everything pink and orange. Not this time. She had a big day ahead of her and needed to get some sleep. She put the top back on the ice cream and took a big gulp of water. She’d have to try some of the breathing exercises from the app she’d put on her phone to get back to sleep. As she headed back upstairs to bed, she hoped she wouldn’t dream of Addison James or Sophie Lambert.
9
Day 2
The Broken Trail: A Chilling Serial Killer Thriller (Harriet Harper Thriller Book 3) Page 5
