Jack Ryder Mystery Series: Vol 4-6

by Willow Rose

  The corporal nodded, wiping off sweat with the back of his hand. "She's been missing since last night. The parents say she went onshore with two friends to go shopping and that she disappeared at the Straw Market. She was last seen walking into a restroom. No one's seen her since."

  "And she's American, huh?" The commissioner looked at the corporal, who nodded. Then his eyes landed on me. "Looks like we’ll be needing your assistance after all, Detective Ryder."

  Chapter 20

  Nassau, Bahamas, October 2018

  There was a lot of commotion at the front desk. I could hear voices yelling at one another and recognized the worry and anxiety in the voice of the man I assumed was the father of the missing girl.

  The commissioner walked out, and I followed closely behind. "Mr. and Mrs. Elkington," he said and reached out his hands toward them. His corporal had told him their names on their way out, and I noticed it brought comfort to the parents that he at least knew who they were. This wasn't his first time dealing with parents who had lost their child when vacationing in Nassau.

  "I am Commissioner Maycock. My corporal here tells me your daughter is missing?"

  Mr. Elkington looked at us with flustered eyes. His wife was standing one step behind him, her face torn in anguish.

  "We've looked everywhere," he said and glanced quickly back at his wife like he wanted her to confirm. She nodded in agreement, and he continued. "Sh-she went with her friends to the market to buy…"

  "A shirt for her boyfriend," Mrs. Elkington took over. Her cheeks were blushing in agitation. "They ate at the Hard Rock Café, then went to the market afterward. That's where she disappeared. She never came back to the ship with the others."

  Mrs. Elkington squirmed when saying the last part, leaning forward like her stomach was cramping.

  "We've been everywhere, talked to everyone, but no one seems to care," Mr. Elkington took over. "All they keep telling us is that she'll show up eventually and that it happens all the time."

  "It does," the commissioner said. "People get lost, or they stay out partying with people they met. Sometimes, they're sleeping somewhere. With men they've met. We even had one girl who went missing, and we searched all over for her, but she turned out to still be on the ship sleeping in a guy's cabin. They were so drunk they had slept through the entire ordeal."

  Mr. Elkington stepped forward, his cheeks blushing. "I don't care if it happens often. These people are not my daughter. Nancy would never do anything like that."

  "That's what all parents say," the commissioner said.

  "Our daughter is missing," Mrs. Elkington said. "Why won't you take it seriously? Our ship leaves tonight. We need to find her."

  The commissioner nodded. "I know. And to show you that we do take this very seriously, we have called in special assistance today." He turned and looked at me, then signaled for me to step forward. "Detective Jack Ryder from Florida is here to assist you and find your daughter, isn't that right, Detective?"

  I felt confused. Two sets of very hopeful yet anxious eyes were fixated on me. I thought about Emily, who I had left back at the hotel. How was she going to feel about this? I was, after all, on this vacation to help her and be with her, not to work. But still. How could I refuse to help those poor parents in their time of need? That wasn't something I was very likely to do. I felt slightly ambushed, but that wasn't the parents’ fault. They just needed all the help they could get right now, and apparently, I was it.

  I nodded and stepped toward them, reaching out my hand.

  "Yes, that's correct. I'll help you look for your daughter."

  Chapter 21

  Nassau, Bahamas, October 2018

  I called Emily from the car and filled her in on the details. She wasn't too fond of the idea of me being dragged into a case while we were supposed to spend time together, and while I was supposed to focus on helping Sofia, but I think she understood.

  "She probably just wandered off, and we'll find her in a couple of hours," I said to her, trying to sound reassuring. "Meanwhile, keep digging into those articles we found. See if anything stands out; make a note of anything that comes off as strange to you."

  "Okay," she said just as I stopped the car in front of the Straw Market and we hung up.

  I put the phone in my pocket, then got out and met with the Elkingtons outside the entrance. They were with an officer from the Royal Bahamian Police, who had driven them there from the station. We walked inside, and I was immediately overwhelmed. So many colors, so many people, and so much noise. Every little stand was packed with so many things you could buy, funny cups, hand-carved souvenirs, hats, scarves, and T-shirts. So many bags and small trinkets, I became almost exhausted just trying to find my way through.

  I followed the Elkingtons across the market, zigzagging our way through the crowds of people, going toward the restroom where Nancy had last been seen by her friend Maria.

  Her parents stopped outside. The mother opened the door and peeked in, then nodded to me.

  "It's okay. There's no one in there. You can go in."

  I walked past her into the restroom and closed the door behind me. I opened the first stall and looked inside while holding a hand to my mouth and nose to shield myself from the terrible stench. You had to really need to go in order to use this restroom, in my opinion. But that fitted well with the description they had given me. Nancy's friend Maria had told the parents that Nancy felt sick to her stomach and that she had rushed to the restroom. That was why she had left the others, even though her parents had told them always to stick together, no matter what. But when you had to go, you had to go.

  I opened the second stall, and it smelled even worse than the first. I used my sleeve to cover my mouth and nose while peeking in. The toilets were old and looked rusty. There was no seat on any of the bowls. I turned to walk away when I noticed something was wrong with the door to the stall. The door couldn't close properly and seemed to have taken a blow to it. Plus, there was something else. Scratch marks on the bottom of it. Like nails had been digging into the paint. Like someone had tried to hold on.

  Because she was being dragged away.

  I shook the thought, then knelt by the door. I looked at the floor beneath the door and spotted three drops of blood that had dried up on the tiles. I looked around, then spotted the trash can next to the sink. I walked to it and looked inside, then using two fingers, pulled out a purse from underneath used tissue paper and banana peels.

  The door opened behind me, and Mrs. Elkington came in.

  "You find anything?"

  "Guess it's to our advantage that they don't clean this place very often," I said out loud, then turned around and showed her the purse.

  "Does this belong to your daughter, by any chance?"

  Mrs. Elkington didn't have to answer. Her sudden pallor and the hand clasped to her chest were more than enough.

  Chapter 22

  Bahamas, July 1983

  It didn't take long before it was discovered that Gabrielle had run away. It was maybe two hours after they had returned from the playground when The White Lady started to ask questions. She started with Carla, whom she confronted in the kitchen.

  "Where is she?"

  Carla was bent over the stove, making her famous Bandeja Paisa that The White Lady loved so much. She froze as she came up behind her and asked the question. The girl was sitting in the corner when it happened. Her heart sank when she saw how Carla winced.

  "I said, where is she?" The White Lady repeated. She was wearing a completely white dress, as usual, and a white scarf around her head to cover her hair so the sun wouldn't ruin it. The White Lady loved her hair and went to the hairdresser many times a month to make sure it was always perfect. The girl didn't quite understand why she insisted on covering it up when she spent so much money making it beautiful, but then again, there was so much she didn't quite grasp about her.

  When Carla didn't answer, The White Lady grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her ti
ll she faced her. Carla stood with her head bent when the slap fell, then another, and then another. The girl saw it happen and shrieked from her corner.

  "Where is she, stupid girl? Where is she?" the lady continued, still hitting Carla till she fell to her knees, her ear bleeding.

  The girl stood to her feet, staring at them with eyes wide.

  "Did she run away, huh? Did she?"

  Carla whimpered and held a hand to her head, expecting another blow to fall from The White Lady's strong hands.

  "Did she run?" she asked again, almost yelling this time.

  Finally, Carla nodded.

  The answer didn't please The White Lady, and she grabbed the cheese grater lying on the counter next to her, then grabbed Carla's arm and started to grate her skin.

  "Where did she go? Tell me; where did she go?" The White Lady asked while peeling the skin off Carla's arm. Carla let out a deep ear-piercing scream and pleaded with her to stop.

  "I don't know," she yelled. "I don't know where she went."

  "You're lying, you little rat. You're lying," The White Lady growled, then continued to grate her arm.

  The girl lunged forward, screaming for her to stop. "She doesn’t know. She's telling the truth!"

  The White Lady stopped, then turned to look at the girl, her eyes ablaze. "So, you knew about this too, did you?" She let go of Carla's bloody arm and walked toward the girl, pointing the grater at her. Pieces of Carla's skin fell to the floor.

  "You knew about this, and you didn't come and tell me. I’m very disappointed with you, my child. I am very disappointed indeed."

  The White Lady then grabbed the girl and pulled up her shirt. She held the screaming girl down while beating her back with the grater. She didn't let go till the girl became limp in her hand, then fell to the ground, bleeding and unconscious.

  Chapter 23

  Nassau, Bahamas, October 2018

  "You found blood on the floor?"

  Commissioner Maycock's brown eyes looked down at me. Standing up, he was about five inches taller than me, and he had broad shoulders. He was a big guy, almost as big as my former colleague, Mike Wagner, who had been six-foot-eight.

  Thinking about him made me feel a chill go down my spine. I realized I wasn't really ready to be working again. This was supposed to be a time of vacation and relaxation. Those were Weasel's orders back home when I left.

  "Promise me you'll come back rested," she had said.

  The way things were going, that wasn't going to happen. I had been with the Bahamian police all day searching for the girl, and now I was telling the commissioner about my findings in the restroom and showing him the pictures of the blood on my phone.

  "Yes. There were small drops of blood and scratches on the inside of the door. The door was also pulled almost off its hinges like someone had clung onto it while being dragged out. And then I found the purse in the trash can by the sink."

  "And now you want me to do what?"

  "Seal off the restroom. I told your officers to do it after I was in there, but they said it wasn't possible. Then they had us driving all over town and looking for Nancy Elkington when there could be valuable evidence going missing inside that restroom. It needs to be sealed off and everything secured by your crime scene techs."

  The commissioner looked at me skeptically. "Because of a little blood?"

  "And the scratches and the purse," I added.

  Commissioner Maycock shook his head, grinning.

  "What's so funny?" I asked, getting annoyed with his obvious indifference.

  "Girls," he said. "They have their…you know. Blood. Sometimes it drips…on the floor."

  Oh, dear God, the man is an idiot.

  I felt like screaming, but held it back, trying to behave myself.

  "Listen to me. You need to seal off the restroom. Something happened to Nancy Elkington in there. I see all the signs of a crime. She's an American citizen. If this reaches the mainland, you're in trouble; your tourism is in trouble. If she turns up dead on your watch, then no Americans will ever come here again. This would be the second time a young girl died here, a young American girl died here, within seven months. Even if the two deaths aren't related, you know very well how it will look to the Americans. They won't feel safe here anymore. No one listens more to fear than Americans. If you can't guarantee their safety, they won't come back. Do you understand what we're looking at here? Do you understand what is at stake? The media will gobble it up and then it's over."

  I was laying it on thick, but I got the feeling that was the only language he would understand. And I could tell by the change in his expression that he was getting there.

  "Yes," he simply said.

  "All right. I need you to seal off that restroom before more people walk all over the evidence. Evidence we can use to solve this case and maybe make you look like you actually know what you're doing, okay?"

  The commissioner nodded seriously. "Yes."

  "Good."

  "Tomorrow," he added.

  "Excuse me?"

  He looked at the clock behind me, nodding and smiling. "We will seal off the restroom tomorrow. It’s five o'clock now."

  I stared at him, then shook my head. Without saying anything else to him, I walked to the front desk and asked for some police tape. Then, as soon she handed me some, I left for the Straw Market where I sealed the darn door off myself.

  Chapter 24

  Nassau, Bahamas, October 2018

  Emily was lying on the bed watching Netflix on her computer when I entered the hotel room. She didn't take off her headset as I came in and sat down next to her. I leaned over and kissed her forehead. When she still didn't react, I leaned over and pressed the spacebar on the keyboard to stop the video.

  "It was just getting to the good part," she moaned and looked up at me.

  "Hello to you too," I said. "How was your day?"

  She sat up and took off her headset. "I got some research done. Did you find the girl?"

  I shook my head. "I’m afraid not."

  "And what about the parents? Isn't the ship leaving tonight?" she asked.

  "Yes. They got off and are staying at a hotel downtown not far from here. The two friends that they brought went back with the ship."

  "Yikes. That’s gotta be tough."

  I exhaled. "I know. I told them to be hopeful but also prepare themselves that something had probably happened to her, that now all we can do is hope to find her alive. Seeing that look in their eyes as I said the words broke my heart. I couldn't wait to come back to you and count myself lucky that I still have you. So…what did you accomplish?"

  She turned the screen so that I could see. "I found lots of stuff about Ella Maria Chauncey."

  I nodded. "I didn't have much time to go through the autopsy report, but I had a few minutes this afternoon after everyone left the police station. You wanna compare notes?"

  She smiled and nodded.

  "You go first," I said.

  "Okay, so what I know is that Ella Maria Chauncey had snuck out on the night she was killed. Her parents didn't know she was gone. She went to see her boyfriend, Henry Sakislov, whom her parents didn't want her to be with because of some dispute between the parents. The father, Henry's father, is one of the new rich Russian oligarchs and a partying playboy, the type the rest of the neighborhood doesn't care for. Nevertheless, he owns the biggest mansion in the gated community, and they even named the point after him."

  "That's really good, Em," I said, very impressed. "What else have you got?"

  "Henry took her boating that night with two other friends and afterward she walked home alone. According to Henry's testimony, Ella didn't want him to escort her home since she was afraid someone would see them together. He said she told him she felt safe enough to go home alone since it was a gated community. Those were the final words she said to him before she left his house. He is the last one to have seen her alive, except for the killer, of course."

  I nodded. "So,
he must naturally have been a main suspect, right?"

  "That's what's strange," Emily said. "There are no records of him being arrested or even of him being a suspect in any of the newspapers."

  "That sure is strange. You're right about that. That doesn’t mean he wasn't a suspect at some point, though, just that they didn't say it in public," I said.

  "Okay, my turn. According to the autopsy report, Ella Maria Chauncey was found floating in the family's pool at six o'clock the next morning by one of the maids, Sofia Rojas. The cause of death was asphyxiation, that is suffocation."

  "I know what asphyxiation means," Emily said, annoyed.

  "Time of death isn't very definite, but somewhere between midnight—when she left Henry's house—and six the next morning, when she was found. And there was another thing…"

  I looked up, and my eyes met Emily's. She nodded to let me know she was listening.

  "Her tongue was cut out."

  Chapter 25

  Bahamas, October 2018

  Nancy felt her bruises. She was still in severe pain from the beating she had received. The person hadn't shown up since, for which she was very grateful. She still didn't know how this person managed to get in and out of this strange room since she had been unconscious when the person left. Maybe it was purposefully.

  Nancy sat up on the couch, touching her sore lip. Her mouth felt so dry, and she rose to her feet. There were bottles of water in a fridge leaning against the wall, and she grabbed one; she let it touch her swollen eye for a second to cool it down before she opened it and drank greedily.

  I just want to go home. Will I ever see my mom and dad again? Will I ever see Billy again?

  Nancy exhaled and looked around the room with her one good eye with which she could actually see. She ran a hand across the natural stone wall, seeing if there was anything indicating that there was a door somewhere when the tip of her fingers touched an edge of some sort.