by H K Christie
"Thanks."
I watched as he looked expectantly at me. "What? What else do you have?"
He gave a lopsided grin. "I thought you'd never ask."
"What is it?"
"I think in this instance, I'd rather show you than tell you."
I wondered if it was Vincent's youth that made him cocky, or the fact that he was incredible at his job and he knew it. He handed me a case file. I accepted it and placed it on my desk and flipped open the cover.
I read the details of a missing person from five years ago—a year before the other three girls. Iris Richmond, aged nineteen and a student at the community college, living at home. She had an on-again, off-again boyfriend. One day, she didn't come home from school, and her mother reported her missing. I turned the page, exposing an 8x10 of Iris Richmond. Blond hair, blue eyes, and a killer smile. She was thin—thin enough to have been a patient at Delta Hospital's eating disorder clinic. I continued reading the file until Vincent cleared his throat, rather loudly, obviously trying to get my attention. "Sorry, man. Thanks, this is good." I shook my head. It wasn't good that there was another missing person who had never been found, but it was good if she was connected to the others, so we could find her and bring her home. "I can't believe there's another one."
"Yeah, one of the other guys found it, so I can't take all the credit, but they're still looking. I'm guessing you want us to keep looking. How far should we go?"
How far, indeed. "Keep going at least ten years back. It should give us plenty to work with."
"So this helps?"
"We suspected the last three girls weren't the first to be taken. I think Iris may confirm it. It will depend on if we can link her to the others. Nice work."
"Thanks, if there's nothing else, I'll get back to it." He turned to leave but stopped. "Oh, one other thing. Did you want me to start CCing Martina on anything I find for Jonathan Day?"
"Yes, please do."
"You got it. Good luck, Hirsch."
I waved as he sauntered off through the cubicles. I continued to study Iris Richmond's file. There was no mention of her being an aspiring actress or that she had an eating disorder, but as we learned with the others, that didn't mean that she didn't. With all these different leads, I began to wonder if we needed more hands on the case. We now had four potentially connected missing women, one lead suspect dead, and one down in Los Angeles.
Something still niggled in my gut. In a year, four blond-haired, blue-eyed young women approximately the same age, similar-looking, disappeared within a thirty-mile radius and nobody connected them?
It didn't sit right with me. I pushed myself off my chair and headed back to Sarge's office. I stood in the doorway as he looked up at me and then held up a finger. Sarge hung up the phone and then peered over at me. "Yes?"
"Do you have a few minutes?" I asked.
"For our star detective, of course."
I shut the door behind me and took the seat directly in front of Sarge. "I have a few questions about the station five years ago. Were you here back then?"
"No, I came in about three years ago. Jeff Kinsey was my predecessor. He was the head detective in the sheriff's department."
"What's he doing now?" I asked.
"He's retired."
"Do you know if he's still in the area?"
"Yeah, we got to talking when he was transitioning out. He told me he had a small family farm out in Byron, past Brentwood. He said he was looking forward to the quiet life out in the country."
The country was a perfect place to keep hostages. "Are you still in touch?"
"No, not since he left. We weren't close. We only overlapped for a few weeks."
"What about the detectives around that time? You know anything about them?"
"That time?" Sarge asked.
"Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself." I explained to Sarge that we potentially had another missing woman connected to our current case. "Can you tell me anything about the detectives who worked the cases back then?"
Sarge leaned back in his chair. "Four in a year? Was it the same detective investigating all the cases?"
"Three detectives, four cases—so far. Vincent and his team are continuing to look through cold cases back ten years to determine if there are any more women matching the description of our missing persons."
Sarge scrunched up his face. "I mean, it's possible they weren't playing nice and not talking to each other, but it had to come up during staff meetings, right?"
"That's what I think. What do you know about Jeff Kinsey's management style? Did he run a tight ship or a raft that floated out to sea?"
"Between you and me, what I heard, it was more the latter and that Jeff Kinsey was more concerned with his golf game and retiring than running a department."
"What about the detectives who were under him? None of them working four years ago are here anymore. That's a lot of turnover, don't you think?"
"It is. Give me the names of the detectives, and I'll see what I can find out."
"I'd appreciate it."
"Sounds like there're all kinds of different branches on this tree. You have enough personnel?"
"I was just contemplating that myself. With this new missing person added to the mix, that's a lot of angles to investigate. Martina will want to interview the family and friends of Iris to get more details and see if there're any links to the other three women. We need to notify Jonathan Day's workplace and see if his coworkers can give us any additional insight into Jonathan's life that they were too afraid to tell us when they thought he was still alive. We have the list from Vincent on frequent contacts from his computer, but it's all we have right now. Plus, we need to go down to Los Angeles to interview Jordan Day, who we think is the infamous Jordan Starr."
Sarge tapped his pen on his desk. "I could probably get you a couple more hands. Let me call around."
"That would be appreciated. Martina will want to interview Jordan Day, but more hands could interview more of the girls’ friends, family, coworkers and put all that information together faster."
"All right, I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you." I stood up to exit.
"Hey, Hirsch."
"Yeah?"
"Nice work."
"Thanks." I headed back to my desk, my head swirling with ideas. This investigation seemed to grow by the minute. We needed a war room. Martina should arrive soon to head over to the clinic. But before we leave, the two of us should start putting the board together, especially if we were bringing more people in. Who knew when Martina handed me that first case, it would have turned into the huge investigation it was now. I shook my head. I bet Martina knew.
17
Detective Hirsch
Martina finished the last note on the whiteboard. "I think that's about it, right?"
Before answering, I studied the board for the missing girls’ case. The photos of Raquel, Willow, and Layla stared back at me. On the far side, Iris's photo with a question mark. A chill ran down me. How many others were there?
Lines connected the girls’ photos to Delta Hospital's eating disorder clinic, Jonathan Day, and the brother Jordan Day, presumably also known as Jordan Starr, the talent agent.
Each one needed to be investigated fully for any and all clues. We had questioned most of the friends and family of Raquel, Willow, and Layla. We now had a pretty good picture of the young women and were nearly certain they were in danger or dead. We hadn't even scratched the surface with Iris Richmond's case. There were still a hundred open questions regarding Jonathan Day and his involvement. So much to do. Despite the cold case status, I felt a sense of urgency to solve it as quickly as possible. "To the side, I'll add a few more folks we may want to question." I walked up to the board and recorded in block letters JEFF KINSEY and underneath that, the names of the three detectives who had investigated the cases when the girls had first gone missing. "Now, I think that's it."
Martina nodded. "All right, I propose I take on the interview of Ir
is's friends and family. Do you want to take on Jonathan Day's friends and family?"
"What about Jordan Day? Didn't you want to go down to LA with me?"
"Yes. I wouldn't want to miss that for anything."
"Are you ready to go to the clinic?"
"Just about. Any way to get a warrant for patient records?"
"Yes, but it could take some time. What were you thinking?"
"Since we'll be there, I figure we could ask about Iris."
I shrugged. "We can ask. Worst case, she tells us no and that we have to come back with a warrant."
"Okay, I'll drive."
We sat across from Patsy once more, delivering the news that her employee, Jonathan Day, was deceased. Tears escaped, which she quickly blotted with the tissues from her desk. "I can't believe he's gone."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Martina added.
I could learn a few tips on empathy from her. "My condolences."
"Thank you," she said, tears still in her eyes.
"We need to re-question you and your staff. We need to know everything we can about Jonathan."
Surprise filled Patsy's dark brown eyes. "Why? Was his fall not an accident?"
I explained. "We're still trying to figure that out. It's looking suspicious."
"I guess so. I mean, one day you're here saying he's connected to missing girls and then the next he's found dead on a mountain he climbed fairly regularly. My gosh, how did Isaac take it?"
Martina and I exchanged glances. "Who is Isaac?" And why hadn't she mentioned him before?
"Oh, dear. He doesn't know. Oh, gosh. Isaac and Jonathan were a couple. Adorable. So in love. They had their one-year anniversary just last month. They went to Big Sur to celebrate."
The photos in Jonathan's home, where he had his arm around another man, was likely Isaac. I'd have to check the list, but I'm sure Isaac's name would be on my email. I took my phone from my pocket and pulled up the email from Vincent. I scrolled down the list. Sure enough, Isaac Clark was on it. I glanced back up at Patsy. "Isaac Clark, is that his full name?"
"Yes."
"You didn't mention him the last time we were here. Is there a reason why?" I asked.
Patsy lowered her voice. "Jonathan wasn't in the closet, but he didn't share the details of his love life with everyone."
I turned to Martina and said in a low voice. "Maybe I should head over to Isaac's, and you could do the interviews. I'd hate for Isaac to be the last to hear about Jonathan." Not to mention, if anyone knew Jonathan's secrets, his boyfriend would.
"Agreed," Martina said.
"Patsy, I'd like to go and notify Isaac. Martina will finish up interviewing the staff, but before I go, is there anything else you can tell me about Jonathan? Did he and Isaac fight? Did he have any enemies?" Darn it. I hadn't even considered that Jonathan's death may be a hate crime.
"Jonathan was so in love with Isaac. They were a cute couple. I never heard of any rockiness in the relationship. Everyone liked Jonathan. I can't imagine who would want to hurt him, but then again, you said he may be connected to those missing girls—which I find hard to believe too. I guess we don't really ever know another person," she said with sadness.
"No, we don't." I paused and faced Martina. "I'm going to go. Call me with anything urgent."
"You got it."
I stood up. "Patsy, again my condolences, and thank you for your time."
I exited the clinic with adrenaline pumping through my veins. I checked the address for Isaac Clark and hoped I'd get to him before another one of our potential witnesses was silenced.
18
Martina
My thoughts were swirling. If Jonathan's boyfriend, Isaac, knew about his connection to the missing girls, he could be in danger—which was probably why Hirsch felt it urgent enough to leave the clinic to notify him and likely try to protect him. I was a little jealous Hirsch was going to interview him. Isaac could have important answers to our questions.I refocused on Patsy.
She shook her head. "I don't envy the detective having to give Isaac the news."
She had a point. Okay, I wasn't jealous anymore, plus I'd get the full low-down as soon as Hirsch finished interviewing Isaac. "I agree. It's not easy news to deliver. If there is anything else you can think of that may help us figure out if someone would want to hurt Jonathan, please let us know."
"I will. Now, I should get the staff so you can start your interviews. With just you, you'll have a busy afternoon."
"That I will, but actually, before you go, may I ask you to look up a name that may have been a patient here and if it overlapped with Jonathan's employment?"
She gazed across at me. "The warrant didn't cover patient records."
"I know, and we probably don't even need you to look it up. It's just that I have to interview the family of another missing girl that I think may be related to the others. It would be nice to know that information before meeting with the family because if she is connected, we'll be reopening the case."
Patsy deflated. "Another missing girl?"
"I'm afraid so. She went missing five years ago."
Patsy sat back down in her chair. She focused on her computer monitor. "What's the name?"
"Iris Richmond. It would've been five or six years ago."
Patsy tapped on her keyboard without looking at me. "Do you have a date of birth?"
I provided it to her and waited on pins and needles.
She stared into my eyes and said, "I can't disclose patient records without a warrant." And then she nodded.
And then there were four. Raquel wasn't the first. How many young women were taken before her? I glanced down and shut my eyes. My stomach churned at the thought. "Thank you."
"You have a tough job, don't you, Ms. Monroe? Emotionally, I mean."
"It can be. In my job, I cross paths with the worst of humankind, but I also get to meet some truly remarkable humans as well."
"It sounds like it. I'm glad I could help. Now, let me get the staff ready so you can check this off your list."
"I appreciate that."
I watched as she hurried out. If Raquel wasn't the first, it was likely Layla wasn't the last.
19
Detective Hirsch
I knocked on the door one more time. There was no car in the driveway, and I didn't see any movement through the windows. I stepped back and examined the neighborhood. It was a newer complex, filled with beige and white townhouses. There was plenty of green lawn and shady trees with luxury cars parked in most of the driveways. I retreated from the front door and dialed Vincent's number. He picked up after just one ring. "Hey, Hirsch. What can I get you?"
"Hi, Vincent. Yeah, I'm outside of Isaac Clark's house. He was on the list of contacts I gave you. Do you know his employment information? If not, could you look it up for me real quick?"
"I don't have it, but give me a few minutes, and I'll find it and call you right back."
"Thanks." I slid my phone back into my pocket.
On the right, I spotted an elderly woman walking up the steps to the front of one of the townhouses. What the heck. I had a few minutes to kill. I jogged over. "Hello, ma'am."
The woman, who wore her gray hair in a neat bun, turned around and studied me from head to toe. "Hello, there, may I help you?"
I pulled out my badge and showed it to her. "My name is Detective Hirsch, with the CoCo County Sheriff's Department. Do you live here?"
"I do."
"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your next-door neighbor?"
"About Isaac?" she asked with surprise in her voice. "I can't imagine him being in any trouble. He's a doctor, you know."
Maybe I wouldn't need Vincent to get back to me. Apparently, his neighbor knew all about Isaac. I'd bet money she knew where he worked. "No, he's not in any kind of trouble, but I was hoping to get a hold of him. You say he's a doctor. Does he work around here?"
"He works just down the road at Memorial Hospital."
"What kind of doctor is he?"
"He's an orthopedic doctor. With my back, he's the perfect neighbor to have." She chuckled.
"It sounds like Isaac's a pretty nice guy."
"Oh, yeah, he is. His boyfriend, Jonathan, is too. They're such a cute couple."
Jackpot. "Do you see the two of them together often?"
"Fairly regularly."
"Did you see Jonathan here yesterday?"
"No, I don't think that I did."
"How about Isaac? Was Isaac here yesterday?"
"Well, I saw him leave for work and then I saw him come home from work. I'm retired so I catch a lot of what's going on in the neighborhood."
"Is there anything else you can tell me about Isaac?"
"No." She paused. "What is this about?"
"We think he may be a witness to a crime. You've been very helpful. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"You have a good day now." I turned and headed back to my car. Memorial Hospital was literally less than a mile down the road. I called Vincent back and told him I no longer needed a rush order on Isaac's records.
I strode through the hospital doors, and the frigid air conditioning hit me right in the face. It was cold and smelled like sick people. I hated hospitals. I stepped up to the guard's desk. "I'm here to see Dr. Isaac Clark. My name is Detective Hirsch, and I need to speak with him right now."
The receptionist looked at my badge and then focused her attention on her computer monitor. "He's on the third floor. I don't know if he's in surgery or if he's with a patient, but that's where his office is."
"Thanks." I headed toward the bank of elevators and entered after a small group of people. Hopefully, he wasn't in surgery. I didn't want to be in the hospital any longer than I had to. I reached the third floor and stepped out into the waiting area for the orthopedic wing of the hospital. I walked up to the receptionist in blue scrubs. "Yes, I'm here to see Dr. Isaac Clark. I'm Detective Hirsch from the sheriff's department." I showed her my badge.
