“Might not be a problem. They can’t find them. I’m sick about Tyler. But you’re right. I was kind of surprised too. She always kept herself in good shape. If she hadn’t told me I wouldn’t have even known she was pregnant. Just like with Tyler. She hardly showed.”
“I was the same way. I was always slender and in good shape. Susan was only five pounds five ounces. When did you talk to Susan last?”
“She called to tell me she was short on money and I gave her two hundred dollars extra to get by until pay day. She lost her job. The company downsized, she said. Did she tell you that?”
“No, but I’m not surprised. She kind of went crazy when that new baby came. She was working most of the time until he popped. I don’t know about that worthless guy that got her pregnant. I think he’s big trouble. Why couldn’t you two just stay together? That baby wouldn’t be here, and she might be alive.”
“Stephanie, do you remember that it wasn’t my choice? She asked me to leave. She wanted more freedom. All I know is that I want my son back. That baby is Javier’s problem. Put the seat back and try to get some rest. We have about five hours to go, and it’s going to get emotional when we get to Key West.” Carl was speaking evenly, but his eyes narrowed behind the sunglasses as he watched the road and thought about Javier Trujillo.
She tipped the seat back and closed her eyes. “What a mess. Ever notice that the people who make messes usually just walk away from them and leave the world for others to clean up?”
It was a rhetorical question, so Carl just quietly drove on, but he couldn’t help but think that Susan didn’t walk away from this one.
* * *
Back in Key West, Rex Jamison, local crime author and former forensic psychology professor, met Detective Sharkey in the lobby of the police station.
“Rex, thanks for coming.”
Rex nodded. “Sounds like you have your hands full again.”
“Yeah, it’s going to be a difficult one. The ones with kids are always difficult for everyone,” Sharkey said, holding the door to the office open for Rex.
“I remember when Enrique was taken. It’s the most horrendous feeling and the most helpless I’ve ever felt.”
“We were lucky and blessed that time. This could be worse. We haven’t a clue about the mother or the situation behind the taking of the kids.” They entered the office and Harris was setting out yellow tablets at the conference table.
Sharkey made a fresh pot of coffee and set the cups on the table and started to fill Rex in on what they had so far.
“Sounds like this one is particularly time sensitive,” Rex noted.
“Yeah. We’re waiting for the mother of the victim and the separated husband to arrive this afternoon. They’re driving down from Miami. What I need to know is what our options are.”
“Of course, your first option is a parent. But you said the two children have two different fathers. The father could have taken the baby or the boy. But it feels a little unusual for taking both unless the mother was unfit.”
“We don’t know that and there are no immediate indicators like drug use or deviant behavior,” said Sharkey. “She physically looks pretty clean and in good shape. But that’s a question to ask the mother and husband.”
“If your missing fathers are cleared, then the next most likely option is that the children are victims of child trafficking. That’s less likely but certainly an option. It’s early in the investigation but it can’t be ruled out yet. Typically, abducted children are brought into the country, there is more money here, but given that, you could have abducted children leaving the country. If that’s the case, they will have to have some venue to get the children out of the country. Passports would be needed for both children, assuming they’re both leaving.”
Sharkey and Harris looked upset.
“That’s the worst scenario,” Sharkey said, sounding like he was trying to comfort himself.
“No,” said Rex, “Things could be worse. But we don’t want to go there yet. I would say that you might not want to confront the relatives with those possibilities until you have more information. I’m somewhat familiar with kidnapping. I had a big case involving victims and it’s one of the most difficult cases to deal with. Counterfeit papers are always a concern, but the good news is the system is much more sophisticated now. But with child trafficking in the news so much now, it’s something that the family will probably consider.”
Rex took a long sip of his coffee and then continued. “Talk to the relatives and see what you’re dealing with. Keep in mind that it’s always possible that they may be involved in the children’s abduction.”
Harris said, “We have two different fathers involved. The father of the baby child may be a foreigner who is different than the father of seven-year-old. We’re checking for him now.”
Rex was nodding. “After you talk to the husband and the mother-in-law, and if you think I can be of help, just let me know. It will be very emotional. Death of a daughter, a husband’s wife, plus the disappearance of the children, is a lot to deal with for both of them. You might want to talk to Sloan and get familiar with the legal end of this.”
“Good idea. I’ll give him a call.”
“In the meantime, I’ll look into the child trafficking in this area. One thing to consider is that if this is child trafficking, and we don’t know that yet, then someone who knows how to traffic people is involved in the time and place of the abduction. People who sell people are not nice people, so be prepared to be careful. Very careful.”
* * *
Later that afternoon, Sharkey got a call that Carl Abbott and Stephanie Williams were waiting in the lobby.
“I’ll be right down. Harris, the family is here. Turn the murder board around and grab some soft drinks from the refrigerator.”
“Will do.”
Harris grabbed the pop out of the refrigerator and set out cups, then arranged the murder board so that it was facing the windows. He turned the pictures of the crime scene over.
Sharkey walked back into the room, showed the couple to the meeting table and they sat down. Harris came out from behind the murder board as Sharkey said, “Detective Harris, this is Stephanie Williams, and Carl Abbott.”
Harris did a double take. “Stephie? What are you doin’ here?”
His face turned bright red then blanched. “No…”
“You…bastard,” she shouted. Her eyes bored into Harris.
Sharkey looked both confused and alarmed for a moment, and then got Harris a chair as he stood there staring and holding two cold cans of soda.
“Sit down, take a deep breath.”
“This is my ex-wife,” Harris said. “Remarried, I assume.” The words came out in a raspy voice.
“Take it easy,” Sharkey said, pushing one of the cans of soda toward him.
“That ‘victim’ is our daughter, you jerk. Why didn’t you call me?” Stephanie’s head was sticking forward like a vulture.
“I didn’t know…”
“That figures. You never did know crap.”
“Stop.” Sharkey cut her off with one short word. His voice had changed to sharp and commanding.
She froze. Carl Abbott sat staring at his mother-in-law, his mouth slightly open.
Sharkey walked around in front of the woman. Her face was red, and her mouth was twitching. He knelt. His voice was now soft, and he looked directly at her.
“Detective Harris and I had no idea who the victim was. She had no purse and no ID. Even if she had ID, we wouldn’t have known who she was. She has a different name and I understand that it has been many years since he has seen her or heard from her.”
Stephanie glared at Harris. Sharkey pushed a beverage towards her, and she finally looked away and down at the can.
“Drink,” Sharkey ordered. “Let’s try to be civil. You’re both in shock. You need to come to grips with some unpleasant realities. Your grandchildren are in great peril. If we don’t get them back soon, we ma
y never get them back. We don’t have time to play stupid blame games.”
“My son is in great peril?” shouted Carl, who had been sitting watching the revelation of Harris and his ex-wife.
“Mr. Abbott, let’s give Stephanie and Harris time to deal with meeting unexpectedly.”
“Yeah. Sure.” He sat back down.
Harris took a deep breath. “You’re right. But now I got a big problem. I’ll have to recuse myself from the case.”
“Why?” Stephanie demanded in disbelief. “You hate us so much you won’t even try to find your daughter’s killer?”
“Because it’s personal,” Harris said through clenched teeth. “I can’t work a case that involves my family. Department policy. Every police department has that rule. They won’t let me work it. Look, I gotta get out of here. I can’t get involved.”
Sharkey held up his hand. “I’m calling Rex. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“There’s something that I gotta do, Sharkey. Tell Rex I’ll meet him in an hour downstairs.”
Sharkey stepped away and spoke quietly on the phone and then returned. “He’ll be here to pick you up in an hour.”
“Yeah.” Harris looked like he was close to tears, then he took a deep breath. “I’m okay. I’ll go take Rex to lunch…or dinner…a drink. I gotta go.”
“Call me if you need anything,” Sharkey said.
“Will do, buddy.” He turned and walked out, closing the door behind him.
* * *
Harris walked out quickly to his car and drove directly to the morgue. Frank met him at the door.
“Harris.”
“Yeah, I need to see the body of Susan Abbott.”
Frank looked at Harris with a question on his face.
“I just learned that she’s my daughter, Frank.” Harris fought to control his voice.
“Oh, my God, Harris. I’m so sorry.”
“She was estranged. I hadn’t seen her for years. She married and changed her name. I need to see her now.”
“Give us a few minutes and we’ll have her ready.”
Frank returned a few minutes later and led Harris to the viewing room. “Just take all the time you need.”
“Thanks.”
Harris walked over to the table where she lay. His throat tightened up and his mouth went dry. He swallowed hard and reached out and touched her hand.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I wasn’t there for you…You’ve grown up into such a beautiful young woman. I failed you, but I will find out who did this to you, and I will find your sons. Forgive me if you can… I promise you I will not fail you again and those boys will have a home and all the love I have.”
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I love you, Susan. I have always loved you and always will.”
He turned and headed for the door.
“Thanks, Frank.”
“I’m here for you. Anything you need.”
“Thanks. I gotta go now.”
“I understand. Take care. Remember, anything.” Frank said as he led Harris to the front door.
* * *
Stephanie had excused herself and headed for the ladies room, then returned to Sharkey’s office with a look of stony resolution on her face.
She marched over to Sharkey’s desk and demanded, “Well, is there anybody that can work it?” Stephanie asked, her hands on her hips.
“Mrs. Williams, the entire police department is alerted to this case. We have volunteers that have stepped forward to work overtime because of the time sensitive nature of abductions. We have people working on the forensic clues from the crime scene. What I need from you is to focus on sharing with us what you know about the father of the baby, and your daughter.”
“I know that she got knocked up by that Hispanic man. I told her she was crazy to take up with foreigners. I told her. She was never an easy child. I could have wrung her neck when she turned up pregnant. She never had good sense in men. Nothing personal, Carl.”
Carl was sitting at the corner of the table now and just waved his hand in dismissal of her comment like he had heard these opinions before.
“However, I must say that she knew how to put out beautiful children.”
“Okay, tell me about Javier.”
“Susan told me that he’s wealthy. Don’t know if that’s true. He bought her some nice things, but it wouldn’t be the first time some guy bought things they couldn’t afford to get what they wanted from a woman. He supposedly lives in Chile and travels for business. She was pretty tight lipped about him. I met him last Christmas. They were seeing each other after she had moved Carl out. My grandson Tyler was very taken with him. He seemed nice enough to me, but I don’t trust foreigners. Nothing personal,” she added quickly.
Sharkey nodded.
“We have the local police going through your daughter’s house. Do you know if he stayed with her any length of time?”
“He was there for Christmas. I think he stayed two or three weeks and left after New Year’s. After that I’m not sure. I tried to tell her to end it, but she refused. Never really understood her. I didn’t see her again till the baby was born. She wanted her freedom from Carl but seemed content to tie herself down with another baby. Go figure…”
“Okay, thanks. I’d like to talk to Carl alone, so I’m going to have one of our officers take you down to the cafeteria and get you some refreshments. We shouldn’t be too long.”
“Okay. I think I need something to steady my nerves.”
Sharkey called to have her escorted downstairs to the cafeteria.
* * *
Carl stood and Sharkey motioned him over to his desk.
“Sorry about that,” Carl said. “She’s a unique combination of opinions and a tendency to be pretty outspoken without thought of the consequences.”
“These are very emotional times for everyone. I understand. I do ask that you be truthful as you can about everyone involved. To do our job we need your help and being protective of people or their histories doesn’t help. I need to know as much about your wife’s demeanor, activities, and plans as you can tell me. When did you last talk to her?”
Carl took a deep breath. “It was last week. She called frantically looking for more money. She had lost her job and couldn’t keep up with the bills. Mostly hospital bills and baby costs, she said. I was pissed. That kid isn’t mine. But I relented and sent her a couple hundred to get her through the month. I’m not a very good hard ass.”
“When did you know she was pregnant?”
“She had the baby in late August. She never really told me. She didn’t show. She didn’t gain weight, just wore looser clothes. I couldn’t believe that after he got her pregnant, he never came back to see her. I don’t know why.”
He changed the subject and continued. “She was the love of my life. She just had a hard time settling down after Tyler was born. Eventually she asked me to leave. I didn’t want to but didn’t want to create a war in Tyler’s house. So, for the kid, I left. I visited often to see Tyler. When I found out that she was seeing someone I wanted to make sure that Tyler was okay, not being ignored or being abused by the guy.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I came to pick up Tyler once and he was there. I didn’t trust him. Maybe it was just personal, but he seemed kind of…I don’t know…too smooth. But you know those foreigners can be emotional.”
Sharkey chuckled softly. “Yeah. So, you didn’t have any further contact with him?”
“I was able to find out a little from Tyler. He told me that he lives in Santiago, Chile. He showed me some of the toys that he bought him. They were from Chile. Tyler said Javier wanted to have him and his mother visit him in Chile. That sent red flags up for me.”
“Why? Were you afraid you might not see him again?”
“I thought I didn’t like him, but yeah, I guess a lot of it was that I was afraid Tyler might be swept away to where I might never see him again. He was smooth, a silver-tongue
d devil, that might take them all away.”
“Anything else that you can tell me about him?”
“You gotta find him. I’m sure he killed her.”
“What makes you so sure about that?”
“Just a gut feeling. Who else would?”
“That’s what we hope to find out.” Sharkey’s eyes held Carl’s.
“You need to go now and get some rest and food. I’ll be in touch with you again tomorrow. We need you to officially do a positive identification of Susan’s body,” Sharkey said.
Carl took a deep breath. “All right, in the morning. I’m not sure how much more I can take today. I really like Stephanie, but she can be wearing. It was a long drive down here.”
“I understand. Here’s my cell number. Just call if you think of anything that might be of help.”
“Thanks, Detective. I appreciate everything you’re doing.”
Sharkey smiled. “Get some rest.”
Carl Abbott nodded as they headed for the cafeteria to collect Stephanie Williams.
* * *
Harris went to meet with Rex, who drove them to the waterfront.
“I feel like I just got hit by a Mac truck, Rex. I don’t know what to do. I feel like a fool. I didn’t recognize my own daughter. And now she’s dead.” His face was racked with pain.
“How long has it been since you saw her the last time?”
“She was seven. She was so beautiful, with those big blue eyes and that smile.” Tears returned to Harris’s eyes. “Why didn’t I see it? Why didn’t I know my own flesh and blood? Stephanie’s right. I was never a good father…or husband.”
“I know that right now that’s all you can think about, but you need to move past those thoughts.”
“You don’t understand. She said she never wanted to see me again the last time I talked to her. She was married and had a baby boy. She was about eighteen. She said I would never see my grandson.” Harris fought back the tears. “So much heartache I caused her, and her mother.”
Key West Gone into the Night Page 4