As Violet started off on another story about her perfect husband and daughter, Amelia’s cell phone started buzzing. She took the call eagerly, hoping it was her way out of the house.
She nodded through the conversation while the old woman waited patiently, eavesdropping on every word. It was Leo, he needed her to visit Kale White when she was done with Mrs. Stream.
When she hung up, Amelia excused herself and thanked the woman again. She promised for the second time she would return with the memory card.
Crossing the road, she headed for the White household, nervous about seeing Kale again. She always had Leo with her before, he always knew what to say. Amelia, not so much. She hoped he wouldn’t start crying on her shoulder. There was no way she could deal with that.
Kale answered the door. “Ms Landau, Detective Michaels said you were coming. Thank you.”
“Detective Michaels said you had something on Renee’s cell phone?” Amelia entered the house, standing in the foyer while he paced back and forth. Something was clearly on his mind.
“I was going through the phone, trying to see if there was anything on there I needed.” He stopped pacing long enough to look at her, holding up the phone. “I came across this file, I didn’t know what it was until I opened it.”
“And what was it?” Amelia held her breath, barely allowing herself to hope it was the evidence they were looking for. A cell phone may have been a strange place to store it, but it took them this long to find it. Perhaps Renee was a genius.
“It was a recording of a conversation. I didn’t listen to it all, I thought it might be important so I called Detective Michaels straight away.”
“Can we listen to it?”
Kale replied by pressing the play button. Renee’s voice filled the room.
“… I don’t know how many more of these I can get you, my boss is onto me.”
“Well, you’re going to have to find a way,” a male voice replied. He sounded distant, like they would have been standing a few feet away from each other.
“I’m not a magician, I can’t just pull drugs out of my hat. You’re going to have to find another supplier.”
“You know I can’t. It could cost me everything if anyone finds out about this.”
“It’s not just your drug habit you’re trying to hide.” Renee was holding her own, there was no weakness in her voice. Amelia couldn’t help but have some admiration for the woman. She was a smart cookie, just not smart enough to stay alive.
“Do not go into that now,” the male was threatening her, his voice both closer and more menacing. “I am not having that conversation with you again. You agreed to keep your mouth shut if I paid for my mistakes.”
“He’s not a mistake.”
“Yes, he is.”
Silence passed for a few moments, the only sounds on the recording were the shuffling of feet. Then Renee came back on. “You have to find another dealer, there’s no option here.”
“You need to find another job and don’t get caught this time.”
“I can’t leave the hospital, no-one else is hiring.”
“You’ll have to work it out.” The male ended the conversation. The sound of a door slamming and then a car engine roaring to life were heard just before the recording clicked off.
Amelia looked at Kale, wondering if he understood every nuance of the taped conversation. “Do you know what she was talking about?”
“I guess she was trying to sell him some drugs?” Kale was on the verge of anger, he was done with tears. The amount of her life his wife kept from him was heartbreaking. And he didn’t even know the half of it.
Amelia nodded, noting he missed the part that could have been about Jordan. If her hunch was correct, Renee wasn’t just talking to her best customer, but the father of her five year old son too. “Was it just the one recording?”
“There are a few more, I haven’t listened to any of them. I don’t really want to, if you can understand.”
“I do. Do you recognize the male voice in the recordings?” Amelia asked, ever hopeful.
Kale’s shaking head was a letdown. “No, never heard him before. Not that I know of, anyway. The recording isn’t exactly clear.”
“Can I take the phone to Leo? I’m sure he’ll just get the recordings and then return it to you.”
“Do what you want, I’m done with it,” Kale sighed. She could tell he was telling the truth, the man was tired with hearing of his wife’s lies. It was understandable.
When she first met Kale, Amelia knew he suspected his wife was having an affair. The good news was they hadn’t found any evidence of another man currently in Renee’s life but the bad news was she was up to so much more. She wished she could tell Kale the good news, but she had learned about the affair through his lies. There was no easy way to tell him that might keep her own secret safe.
“Better get going, I’m sure Leo will want these as quickly as possible,” Amelia said as she inched toward the door. “Thanks for this, it helps up to get closer to finding the person who hurt your family.”
“I just want all of this over.”
“I know, and it will be soon,” she tried to reassure him before leaving. The last image she had of Kale White was standing by the doorway, his face a picture of perfect misery. His lonely silhouette filled the space before he closed the door and retreated into his empty house.
On impulse, Amelia didn’t return immediately to her car. Instead, she crossed the road again and knocked on Violet’s front door. There were two lonely people in the street, living mere yards away from each other. Perhaps they could keep one another company.
“Oh, you’re back?” Violet said as she answered.
“Yeah, I just visited Mr. White across the road. I’m kind of worried about him,” Amelia said, trying to let the concern filter through to her voice. “I’m hoping you could do the police department a favor and keep an eye on him? Perhaps you could have a cup of tea with him sometime?”
Violet looked over her shoulder to the White’s house before a smile spread across her face. “I can do that for you. The poor man, he’s been through a lot.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Stream. I appreciate it.” Amelia returned her smile before leaving. She felt good, she had done a good deed and got Leo some new leads. She was on a roll and not once had she let Lane creep into her head.
Sitting in her car, Amelia scrolled through Renee’s phone, checking to see whether there was anything else interesting in there. She knew she shouldn’t, she could destroy evidence. But she had seen Leo do it before and figured it would be okay if she was careful. She was starting to get into the cop thing, despite how inept she felt about the whole deal.
She started with the text messages. There were texts exchanged between Renee and Zoe Mason, Renee and Kale, and a few other numbers in her address book. They were all mundane, the boring quick message you send someone to tell them you were on your way to meet them, reminding a husband to pick up milk, confirming a dental appointment.
Amelia sighed, she should have known better. It wasn’t like drug dealers would exchange text messages with their customers. They would know better and not risk anything betraying their illegal activities.
She moved onto the dialed numbers, scrolling through the list of names and being careful not to touch anything she shouldn’t. The dates and times of each call could be important, she didn’t want to taint anything that may be needed for the case later on.
That particular list seemed to be equally as boring. Renee called her husband, friends, and family. The number of calls increased after the date Jordan went missing. She was probably keeping them updated with how the kidnapping was progressing and whether there had been any news.
There were five calls that were made that didn’t have a name programmed into it. Amelia took out her own cell phone and started dialing them. Her curiosity was piqued more than anything. She wanted to be able to return to the station and tell Leo she had already checked the numbers. A
nything she could do while he worked would be a help.
She fished a pen out of her handbag, she didn’t have a notebook so the back of an envelope was going to have to do. She dialed the first number and waited.
The First State National Bank was the first to answer. Amelia couldn’t remember if that was the same bank on Renee’s mystery account. It could have been, but either way it wasn’t suspicious to be calling a bank.
She moved onto the second number and waited for someone to answer. It was a women’s only gym. She hung up before speaking to the receptionist.
The third number was for a funeral home. The thought pained Amelia. Renee was probably organizing the funeral for her son, it was probably dialed with the utmost of trepidation and sadness. She moved on quickly.
An overly happy voice answered the fourth call. It was a dry cleaner’s store, Amelia could place the shop in town. She hung up on them after muttering something about a wrong number. She couldn’t just hang up on them without saying anything after they sounded so cheery on the other end.
With the last call, Amelia crossed her fingers and hoped for something good to come her way. She wanted another lead, something she could do to keep herself occupied. She was at risk of returning to the police station and then having the rest of the afternoon free.
The call was answered by a man, not pleased with the interruption of the phone. His business was a florist, Amelia hung up without saying anything. No doubt Renee was organizing flowers for Jordan’s funeral.
Running out of numbers, Amelia stared at the list. The only number that didn’t seem to be easily explained was the gym. Renee didn’t seem like the kind of woman to spend copious amounts of time working out. Between her job, her alternative income-earning activities, and being a mom, Amelia wondered where she would get the time to spend at the gym.
She thought back to Renee’s keychain. She had more keys on there than a prison warden, perhaps one of them was for a gym locker? She was prepared to try anything to avoid going home to her empty house.
CHAPTER 22
“Leo, I need Renee’s keys. Where are they?” Amelia asked into the phone. She hadn’t exactly told him everything about her plan, but enough to convince him to give up the information.
Typical for a cop, his first question was: “Why?”
“I have a hunch. I think I know what one of the keys opens. Where are they?” She was impatient, she wanted to get moving before it started to get too late. Amelia had never actually stepped foot inside a gym before, but she figured they probably started getting busy after five o’clock – knock off time. Dealing with a crowd of people was not something she wanted to do.
“Wait until I get off work and I’ll come with you,” Leo sighed, fearing she would get into something she was unprepared for.
“It won’t take me a minute, please?”
“At least tell me where you’re going.”
Amelia figured it would probably save time if she told him some of the details. “To the Free Yourself Women’s Gym downtown.”
“Renee had a membership?”
“I don’t know. Where are the keys?”
It took Amelia another four minutes before Leo finally caved and told her the location of Renee’s keys – they were inside his house. She started the engine and lead-footed it to the Michaels residence.
Checking under the fifth rock on the left, Amelia found the spare key to his home. She still couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to leave a key lying around in the garden. Being a cop, he should have known better.
“Harley won’t let anybody in,” he had defended himself. Even with a Labrador that could probably take a large bite out of anyone who crossed him, he was still taking a risk.
She let herself in, so much for the guard dog. He didn’t even bark when Harley saw her. He merely rolled over for a belly rub.
“I don’t have time, Harley. I’m sorry.” She gave him a quick scratch behind the ears and found the keys in the kitchen. She was in and out in under five minutes, making sure to lock up after herself. Not that she believed it was of any use. She put the key back underneath the rock.
Almost twenty minutes later, Amelia walked confidently into the Free Yourself Women’s Gym. She tried to look like she belonged there, following a few other women through to the locker room. She didn’t have a good excuse if anyone called her up on her reason for being there.
Stepping into the room, lockers lined each of the walls. Amelia suddenly wondered if she had been right to follow her hunch. There were so many keys on the keychain that any of them could open one of the doors.
She looked around cautiously at the other women, there were four others in the room. They had their locker doors open, keys were still dangling from the simple locks. They appeared small, with square heads. She flicked through the keychain, trying to find one that matched.
Nestled in the middle, she found one that could have been similar. Engraved on the head were the numbers 24. She started slowly walking along the aisle, trying to find a matching number. All the doors on her side seemed to be odd numbers. She stepped over the bench in the middle of the room and started on the other side.
At the end of the row, the bottom locker was numbered twenty-four. She crouched down, glancing around to make sure nobody was paying any attention to her. The number of other women had dwindled down to three, all seemed occupied with changing into their exercise gear.
Amelia slid the key into the lock, praying it would turn. She held her breath as she moved it clockwise. It turned. She pulled on the door and it opened.
Closing her eyes for just a moment to thank her lucky stars, she looked inside. She had been expecting gym clothes, running shoes, or a towel. But there was nothing like that.
Stuffed inside the small locker was a wad of paper, held together by a rubber band. She reached in and pulled it out carefully. She had seen movies where just moving something caused an explosion. Even though she didn’t truly believe the locker was booby trapped, she couldn’t stop the thought crossing her mind.
She sat on the floor, no longer caring who else was in the locker room with her. She couldn’t take not knowing what the papers contained for even another moment. She slid off the band and started reading.
From the outset, Amelia knew the information was important. There may not have been an explosion in the paperwork, but it sure was explosive. Renee had meticulously detailed her dealings with a man she referred to as Mr. X. She provided him with prescription drugs while he blackmailed her into doing it. He had threatened her life and that of her family on every possible occasion, making her terrified not to obey.
Renee listed the drugs Mr. X was addicted to, the same ones she was forced to steal from the hospital. She wrote about the depth of his habit, his need for the illegal substances. If he didn’t get them, if she didn’t deliver, he would become violent. She didn’t get a chance to refuse, it was never an option.
Along with the details of Mr. X, Renee also discussed how upset she was about the situation. She hated what she had become, what she had gotten herself into. She wanted out but could see no way. The only thing she could think of was going to the authorities.
Even that posed a problem. Mr. X was apparently in a position of power, Renee was certain he would find out about it if she went to the police. One wrong move and Mr. X would make sure she was silenced. He had too much to lose, apparently.
Amelia’s heart went out to the woman. She could feel the desperation and fear leaping from the pages of the documents. It was clear she was terrified of Mr. X and what he could do to her. His threats were not empty, she believed in every single one of them. He haunted her twenty-four hours a day, every single day. Amelia couldn’t even begin to imagine what that must have been like.
The door to the locker room banged close, making Amelia jump. She had been so engrossed in the documents she forgot where she was and who else was around. She quickly stuffed the papers into her handbag.
“Excuse m
e, can I see your membership card?” The woman loomed over her, looking down from above at Amelia sitting on the floor.
“I, uh, don’t have it with me.” She stood, trying to remain calm. It wasn’t like she was doing anything illegal, right? Just hanging around the women’s locker room. She hoped it wasn’t an offense.
“What’s your name? I’ll look it up.” Every expression on her face screamed her disbelief. The muscles on her arms rippled, Amelia was certain she would be able to do some serious physical damage to her.
“You know what, I was just leaving, there’s no need for that.”
The woman’s arm shot out to block her path. “Your name?”
“Renee.”
“Renee what?”
“Renee White,” Amelia tried to sound confident but there was still an unspoken question mark to her answer.
“I need to look it up, come with me.” The woman started walking, checking to make sure she was being followed with every few steps.
“You know, I’m a paying member here and you’re being quite rude. I think I should just go.” Amelia tried her luck, acting like an indignant customer. The customer was supposed to be always right, correct?
“I’m sure you can appreciate that we must keep our members safe and our facilities for members only. This will only take a minute.”
Amelia didn’t have a minute. If the woman looked up Renee’s name and there was a big deceased beside it, her fate would be doomed. She looked around carefully, trying not to make it obvious she was looking for an easy exit.
The reception counter was across the foyer from the front sliding automatic door. If there was no-one to get in her way and the doors didn’t have to think about opening, then she might just make it. Of course, if she didn’t then the woman would probably make mincemeat out of her. She wondered if Leo would bail her out of jail when she was arrested for trespassing.
“Look up Renee White, please,” the woman barked the order at the young girl behind the counter. She was probably only just of working age.
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