After taking a couple of drags off of his cigarette, Kent called his voice mailbox and retrieved his messages. The year before, the department had installed a whole new telephone system with a voice mailbox for every officer, instead of group mailboxes for each team. This way, a message could be left for every cop in the building and it would be sure to get to them when they called in for their messages. This also ensured that every individual message was secure from outsiders and crooked cops, because in order to retrieve messages, a PIN number had to be entered. There were two messages in his voice mailbox.
The first message was from his girlfriend reminding him of their dinner date at 8:00. He made a mental note not to forget. He knew that if he stood her up at the restaurant, she would be pissed. Not just pissed. More like a friend of his used to pronounce it. “PEEEEEEESED”. This was basically the equivalent of super pissed.
The second call was from a Dr. Bornley at Southwest Hospital. He wanted Kent to call him back as soon as possible. Kent’s heart skipped a beat. The worst possible thoughts crossed his mind. Nina Dyer must have died, he thought. It was a call he did not want to make, but it was imperative to the investigation. Kent picked up the phone and called the hospital. After asking for Dr. Bornley, Kent was informed that he was with a patient. When asked to leave a message, Kent declined, making a mental note to call back later. This was possibly a break, or possibly bad news. He would know soon enough.
After hanging up the phone, Kent put the cigarette out and took the elevator to the second floor. He was surprised to see Pete standing on the other side of the elevator door after it slid open.
“Kent! I heard that you were in and I was just coming up to see you. I have some dirt for you.”
“I hope it’s something I can use. I need something to go on.”
“Every little bit helps. Let’s go over to my desk and I’ll fill you in.”
Kent followed Pete to his desk and sat down. He pulled out another cigarette and lit up.
“Well, let’s see, where to begin…” Pete pondered. “First of all, I contacted the Department of Motor Vehicles. The vehicle plate you gave me is registered to Maxwell. According to them, it is the only vehicle registered in his name, which leaves out another vehicle, unless he borrowed one, bought one, or stole one. I also pulled up a copy of his credit report and it gave me a little information on him. He has a MasterCard with Chase Bank with a credit limit of five thousand dollars on it. The balance on the account is twenty-seven dollars. He also has an American Express with a zero balance on it. Also a variety of department store cards such as Home Depot and Sears all with very low or no balances on them. The most interesting find of all was a Visa issued by Pacific Bank here locally. It’s not the Visa that is significant, but by checking with the branch manager I was able to obtain information that Maxwell has a savings account there. It has over two hundred thousand dollars in it.”
Pete stopped and watched Kent carefully as he made that last statement. His interest was rewarded. Kent choked on the cigarette smoke as he was inhaling.
“You’re kidding!” Kent exclaimed in shock. “Where on earth would someone that works in an electronics store get that kind of money?”
“I don’t know,” Pete said, “but here’s the interesting part. It seems that Maxwell withdrew fifty thousand dollars from his account yesterday morning. With that much money, he could do anything or go anywhere.”
“He sure the hell could. Now I’m really wondering where the hell he went. Check with all the airports, bus stations, and taxi companies. I want to know if he jetted town through any of those avenues.”
“I’m one step ahead of you,” Pete interjected. “I checked with everybody and he wasn’t a fare on any public transportation.”
Kent scratched his head in thought. “What about credit card transactions?”
Pete shook his head. “Nothing. At least so far. We will be notified if there is any activity. With fifty G’s in cash, I doubt he will be using his credit cards at all though.”
“Good enough, Pete. Thanks for all of your help!”
“Oh, there is one more thing. I checked with his cell phone company and they are pulling his phone records. They’ll let me know as soon as they have them. I’ll let you know if there is anything suspicious on them.”
Kent shook Pete’s hand. “Thanks! Keep me posted.”
“Of course,” Pete responded.
Kent headed upstairs and returned to his desk. The money thing was bugging him. All that money. Dom could be anywhere. Anywhere! Kent reached for the phone and called Dr. Bornley again. This time he came to the phone.
“Detective Perry! Thank you for returning my call.”
“Hi, Doctor. What do you have for me?”
“Good news today, Detective. While she’s not out of the woods by any means, Nina Dyer came out of her coma today. She isn’t really talking yet and seems to be a little dazed and confused. She’s stabilizing a little bit more now and should be responsive soon.”
“I see,” Kent said, feeling lucky. “When do you think she might be able to talk to me so that I can find out who did this to her? I really want to get this bastard, Doc.”
“I know exactly what you mean, Detective. I will call you when I feel she’s up to talking. She wouldn’t do you a bit of good right now.”
“Thanks, Doc. You’ve just made my day!” Kent said, smiling into the phone. He gave Dr. Bornley his cell phone number and asked him to call him as soon as he could see Nina Dyer. Hanging up the phone, Kent slapped his palm on the desk.
“Prove me wrong Dom, you bastard. Please prove me wrong,” he whispered.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
For the second time in as many days, Dom woke up from the talons of a nightmare that had been clutching at him while he slept. He’d had nothing but pleasant thoughts the night before. But when he startled himself awake, he remembered more dreams. Dreams of a terrifying nature.
He looked at the empty space beside him and wondered where Jenny was. He figured that she probably had to relieve herself. He laid his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. The memories of the dream vividly filled his head again. He remembered dreaming of Jenny sitting on top of him, pinning him down and kissing his face. He had closed his eyes, letting his sense of touch take over. When he opened his eyes again, he was looking back at himself instead of Jenny. He had an evil grin on his own face, a face that belonged to him, but wasn’t his, and then the hands reaching, reaching, coming at him, his own hands, but not his, reaching towards his throat, grabbing, closing around his neck, choking him, all the while wondering why he was being killed by his own hands. That was when he woke up. I must really be messed up, he thought.
After being only partially successful at pushing the bad dream out of his head, Dom thought about the night before. What a wonderful night. He couldn’t hope to be with a more wonderful person. If the circumstances were different, it would make him more comfortable with everything. He felt bad for dragging Jenny into this when it really wasn’t fair to her. Here she was, a sweet, innocent girl, and he was bringing her into a terrifying situation. At the same time, he was very thankful that he wasn’t alone at a time like this.
He never knew quite what companionship was until he had met Jenny. It must be true when they say you never miss something if you’ve never experienced it. He would definitely be lost if Jenny were to ever walk out of his life. It seemed so strange to be so attached to someone that he had just met the day before, but that was the case.
Dom decided to get up and go look for Jenny. Crawling out from under the sleeping bags, he unzipped the tent flaps. The sun was up and judging from its location in the sky, he estimated that it was around 10:00 A.M. He couldn’t believe that he had slept so late. The past day must have caught up with him.
The day felt warm, but there was still a slight chill in the air from the night air and from being so close to the water. Dom looked around and, for the first time, took in the scenery fully.
It was indeed beautiful, as Jenny had said. The air smelled so clean and fresh. There was no noise pollution. He was in seventh heaven.
He walked towards the water’s edge and peered in. The surface was still and perfectly crystal clear. He could see the bottom which was only about two feet deep in this particular area of the river. A couple of fish were swimming near the bottom and he could see that one was a catfish. The other one was definitely a carp. Looking further down the river, he could make out a school of fish in a deeper pocket about ten feet down the river. Should have bought a pole, he thought.
Dom looked up and down the river, but still did not see Jenny anywhere. Finally, looking up, he saw her on a rock ledge about fifteen feet above him. She was lying on the ledge, in a bikini, soaking up the sun.
“Hey, Gorgeous!” he called up to her.
Jenny bolted upright. “You scared me! I didn’t know you were up.”
“I’ve only been up a few minutes. I thought I’d look for you.” Staring at her beautiful body, Dom said “I don’t remember you buying a bikini yesterday.”
Jenny smiled. “Surprise! When I went back and bought the knives yesterday, I stopped and got the bikini too. It was a last minute thought. Do you like it?”
Dom smiled and said, “Does a snake have an ass?”
“I don’t know,” Jenny said, laughing. “Does it?”
“In this case it does,” he complimented. “You look very nice.”
“Thanks, Babe. After cuddling with you last night, I feel nice.”
“You know, it’s funny,” he said, “but for some reason, so do I.”
They smiled at each other for a minute and then Jenny got up and climbed down via a small trail that led from the ledge. When she reached Dom, she slid her arms around his neck and kissed him on the forehead. Their lips met and he kissed Jenny deeply, his tongue slipping between her lips. She kissed him back with the same passion, the same desire.
Finally they pulled away from each other. “I don’t want to break this up,” Dom said, “but I really need to see a man about a dog.”
Jenny laughed and Dom found a tree to relieve himself on.
When they rejoined at the tent, Jenny started to get breakfast out. Together, they fixed scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, the latter not quite achieving a toast-like quality. Neither one talked about the ugliness that lay at the root of their relationship. For the time being, they both pretended that the world was perfect. That utopia was existent within the realms of their togetherness. But such, of course, was not the case.
After breakfast, Dom went swimming in the river. He was lucky enough to find a swimming hole that was at least twenty-five-feet deep. Most places on the river were shallow, some as shallow as six inches, but occasionally, the water would carve the bottom of the river bed out in certain spots creating a deep hole the depth of a small lake, not a small river. After a while, Jenny joined him in the river.
“It’s freezing,” Jenny screamed.
“You’ll get used to it once you get wet all over,” Dom said, splashing her playfully. Screaming again at the cold water that landed on her, Jenny decided to go for broke and jumped cannonball style into the deep part of the river, splashing Dom in the process. When she came to the surface, she swam over to him and put her arms around his neck.
“You’re right. It’s not quite so bad once you get used to it.”
Before he could answer, Jenny jumped on his back and they played around in the water for a while. When they got tired, they crawled out, laid a couple of beach towels on the sand and lay out to dry. They were there about forty-five minutes when Jenny got up.
“Where are you going, Jen?”
“If we stay in the sun too long, you’ll get sunburnt and be miserable.”
“Good call,” Dom said getting up. “Oh. By the way, Jenny…”
“Whaaaaaaaat?” she said, looking back over her shoulder.
“Well,” Dom said, “your one flaw has sand all over it!!” He lowered his head and hid it with his arms to protect himself as Jenny ran back and jumped on him, wrestling him to the ground.
“You think that’s funny, Mister? I’ll show you!”
As Dom turned over on his stomach to protect himself, Jenny grabbed a handful of sand and poured it on his butt.
“Looks like we’re in the same boat now, Mr. Sandman!” she said, laughing.
When they had cleaned the sand off of themselves, Jenny and Dom changed into dry clothes, made lunch, and then went for a walk. Everywhere that they went, there was more and more beauty. He never wanted to leave.
After their walk, Dom suggested they practice with the Glock. He grabbed the gun and ammo while Jenny grabbed some empty cans. They walked down the river a little bit to a place that had a big hill that wasn’t too rocky. The spot was ideal as they had a clear view of where they were shooting and there was no way for a stray bullet to hit anyone. Jenny set the cans up on rocks and joined Dom. He ejected the magazine from the handgun and checked it. It already had shells in it. He had shot a gun many times in the past when he and Billy had gone target shooting, so he was no stranger to them. He plunged the magazine back into the Glock and fired off six rounds, missing two times. He then went back to the cans, set them back up, and handed the Glock to Jenny. She fired off six rounds and hit all six cans. Dom turned and looked at her with shock on his face.
“What? Can’t a girl know how to shoot without her man getting all jealous?” Jenny smirked.
“Oh I’m not jealous, but I may be a little scared,” he bantered, laughing. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?”
“My dad, of course,” she said, smiling.
Jenny removed the magazine from the gun and racked the slide to clear the gun. They reloaded the magazine and practiced some more, repeating the process three times. After a while, they decided to go back to camp and relax.
As they sat there, Dom became lost in thought. Spending his time here with Jenny was wonderful, but he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on back home. Had Nina died, or had she come out of her coma? If she was recovering, had she fingered her attacker and cleared Dom?
A touch on his arm brought him back to the present.
“Thinking about your sister?”
“Yeah. I just wish I knew what was going on. I tried to get a signal on the throwaway cell phone and I can’t get one down here. Tomorrow morning, let’s get up and head into town and call the hospital. I need to know if anything has changed.”
“It’s a deal,” Jenny agreed. “Don’t you worry, Dominick Maxwell, you’re not alone in this. Whatever happens, I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, Honey,” he whispered, kissing her forehead. “That means a lot to me.”
“Well you mean a lot to me!” she said.
Dom held Jenny tight as the sun slipped its way westward.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Kent Perry lit up another cigarette, got up from his desk and headed back towards the elevator. I must really be stressing over this one, he thought, looking at the lit cigarette in his hand.
Disregarding the “No Smoking” sign in the elevator, Kent headed down to the parking garage and walked out to his car. He had no idea where he was going. He just needed to think and he could do that better if he was out driving.
After driving around for about an hour, Kent decided to get something to eat. Driving through a Wendy’s, he ordered a double stack, large French fries and a Frosty. The latter always seemed to give him headaches from the cold, but he really liked them, so he suffered.
As he ate, Kent decided to head back to Dominick Maxwell’s house and go through it one more time. The boys had obtained a search warrant in the meantime even though it was after the fact of his “unofficial” search. At least now, if someone asked, there was a search warrant definitely issued.
Arriving at the house, Kent let himself in through the side door again and started combing through each room, more carefully this time. When he got to Dom’s bedroom, he lo
oked under the bed, through all the drawers and in the closet.
Just as he was closing the closet door, Kent’s eye was caught by something sticking out from under the edge of the carpet in the bottom of the closet. His curiosity peaked, Kent grabbed the edge of the carpet and pulled it back to reveal a photo album underneath. He pulled it out, sat on the edge of the bed, and opened it. The first page was nothing that Kent would call totally abnormal, but as he turned each page, he was in shock as the story unfolded before him. By the time he had turned to the last page, he was in a frenzy, the attempted murder case solved in his mind. He didn’t know why, but he knew who.
As Kent closed the book, his cell phone startled him. Pete Stamsford was trying to get a hold of him. Kent answered the call.
“Boss, you might want to come back to the station right away. We have a lead.”
“On my way, Pete,” Kent returned, grabbing the photo album and running out the door. After throwing the photo album into the trunk for safekeeping, he raced back to the station as fast as traffic would allow. Running from his car and up the stairs, not wanting to take the time to wait for the elevator, Kent found Pete at his desk.
“Give me the news, man!” Kent demanded.
“You’re gonna love this, Kent. It seems a girl up in New River disappeared yesterday. Her parents got worried when she texted them that she wasn’t coming home and she was quitting her job. She stopped texting immediately afterwards and calls to her phone go straight to voicemail. They called her employer to see if they could find out more. Her employer informed them that she had just walked out in the middle of her shift, not telling anyone where she was going.”
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