“You have got to be kidding me,” he said, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter as he covered his mouth so the mall denizens wouldn’t see him laughing before a vigil for a missing girl. “Was it like … rage sex?”
“Pretty much,” I said. “They wished each other dead and then jumped on each other and stuck their tongues down each other’s throats. Then they climbed in the car, which was rocking when Eliot and I made our escape. It was a little car, too, so they really got some movement going in it.”
“What does Eliot think?”
“Eliot thinks they’re white trash,” I replied. “He’s more worried about me and how I’ll react if Sierra turns up dead.”
“He loves you,” Jake said.
“I … love him, too.” I wasn’t sure I should say the words in case they hurt Jake. I had a feeling he already knew, though.
“Of course you do,” Jake said. “It’s written all over your face when the two of you are together. You have fun together. He gets you. He enjoys all the kooky things you do.”
“I wouldn’t say he enjoys them,” I clarified. “He does accept them.”
“That’s just as good.”
“What about Cara? How are things with the two of you?”
“She’s trying to put her jealousy aside. She’s been good the past few days,” Jake said. “I tried to look at things from her point of view. I’m not sure I would be okay if her ex-boyfriend spent as much time with her as I spend with you.”
“Our time together is innocent, though,” I protested.
“In some ways it is,” Jake agreed. “In other ways there are still feelings tied up with everything we do together. It’s not the same feelings we used to share, and it will never go anywhere, but there’s still something between us. You can’t deny that.”
I couldn’t. “I hope you get everything you want with Cara,” I said, surprised to find I actually meant it. “If she wasn’t so insecure and worried all of the time I would probably like her. She can be good for you if she moves past this stuff.”
“I hope so,” Jake said. “I can see myself caring for her, but I’m not going to live a life with someone who doesn’t trust me, and I’m not cutting you out of my life. That’s my line in the sand. If Cara can’t accept that I will wish her well and move on.”
“I hope that doesn’t happen.”
“I do, too,” Jake said. “For now I have two lives in limbo, and one of them is more important than the other.”
“We have to find Sierra, Jake,” I said, instinctively grabbing his wrist. “I have to know.”
“We’ll find her,” Jake said. “Just like Eliot, though, I need you to be careful. If Sierra is dead, it’s going to devastate a lot of people. I would prefer you weren’t one of them.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will,” Jake said. “Come on. Let’s get this vigil going. I’m sure these people have shopping to get to.”
“You’re getting as cynical as I am.”
“Now that is a frightening thought.”
25
“I picked up Chinese,” Eliot announced as he walked into my house later that night. He widened his eyes when he saw me on the couch in my fuzzy Jaws pajama pants and a tank top. “Is this a hint that we’re going to bed early? If so, I applaud your decision.”
“This is a hint that I want to be comfortable,” I countered, closing my laptop and moving it to the coffee table. “Did I hear something about Chinese?”
“You did,” Eliot confirmed, shrugging out of his coat before carrying the bags of food to the table. “Why do I feel like I’m being set up for something?”
“Because you’re a suspicious person and it’s in your nature to disbelieve the purity of my motivation,” I replied. “Get plates and silverware. In fact, make them paper plates and plastic utensils so we don’t have to do dishes.”
“You have a lazy streak I can’t help but adore,” Eliot said, disappearing into the kitchen and returning a few moments later with the items I asked for and two Diet Cokes. He settled on the couch next to me as I searched through the offerings. “I got all of your favorites. I got the chicken with vegetables, sesame chicken, beef with broccoli, vegetable lo mein, those crab puff things you like and a bunch of eggrolls.”
“What about you?”
Eliot raised his eyebrows. “Are you going to eat all of that by yourself?”
“No,” I answered, chuckling. “You didn’t get your favorite, though. You like that shrimp in lobster sauce thing.”
“I went to your favorite Chinese place,” Eliot said. “It doesn’t have that dish.”
I stilled. I knew that. When I saw the food I didn’t realize that he’d given up his favorite meal to make me happy. “You could’ve gone to your favorite place,” I offered. “I can find my favorites anywhere. I’m not picky.”
“You’re definitely picky, and I wanted to make sure you ate,” Eliot said, climbing to his feet so he could shed his jeans and shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m joining you,” Eliot said. “You said you wanted a comfortable night. For me that doesn’t include clothes.”
I waited until he settled next to me again and grabbed a carton of the sesame chicken. I speared a piece and waved it in front of Eliot’s face. “I’ll feed you if you do me a favor later.”
“I knew it,” Eliot hissed, grabbing the fork. “You lulled me into believing we were going to spend a night together on the couch and now you’re going to make me do something illegal, aren’t you?”
I frowned. “No, I’m going to ask you to help me conduct a search on your computer while we watch a movie,” I clarified, tugging on my limited patience as I reminded myself he’d gone out of his way to get my favorite foods because he was so worried. “We’re not leaving.”
“Oh.” Eliot’s cheeks flushed. “I … am really sorry for jumping on you.”
“I’m fairly certain I’ve done enough over the past year to earn it,” I said. “Eat your dinner.” I handed Eliot the sesame chicken and reached for an eggroll, biting one end off and chewing as I thoughtfully watched him. “I saw Jake today.”
“I know,” Eliot said, passing a piece of sesame chicken in my direction. “He called me after he saw you. He’s worried about you. He also wanted to make fun of me because of the shoe situation.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. That probably wouldn’t be a good thing given Eliot’s mourning period over the lost shoes. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” Eliot scoffed. “You think it’s funny, too. Don’t deny it.”
“I might think it’s a little funny.”
“I told Jake not to worry about you,” Eliot said, grabbing the container of Crab Rangoon and offering me a piece. “I told him I would take care of you and you would be fine. Don’t make a liar out of me.”
“I try really hard not to make a liar out of anyone.”
“That right there is the biggest lie in the world,” Eliot countered. “I’ve watched you take particular glee in taking down several politicians who lied. You love catching people in lies. I don’t know why you would even bother denying that.”
“That wasn’t me. That was karma.”
“Ah,” Eliot said, smirking. “Other than talking to Jake, how was the vigil?”
“Pretty much what I expected,” I answered, pushing Eliot’s legs so he was leaning against the end of the couch and I could settle between his knees. “Everyone said that it was a tragedy and they were praying for Sierra. None of them came out and said she was dead, but you can tell they all believe it.
“No matter what you believe, I’m not getting my hopes up about Sierra being alive,” I continued. “I just … something isn’t right here, Eliot. Something doesn’t fit.”
“Okay,” Eliot said, struggling to keep his legs on either side of me and lean forward at the same time. He rested his chin on my shoulder as we ate. “Why don’t we break this down fro
m the beginning, huh? That seems to help your mind work.”
“Are you saying my mind doesn’t always work?”
“I’m saying your mind is always busy,” Eliot clarified. “I think when you’re tired and frustrated you miss things. So you have food and the most handsome man in the world. You have shark pajamas on, and I’m going to put a bad horror movie in as soon as we’re done eating. Go back to the beginning.”
“Meaning?”
“Go back to when you were in the baby store,” Eliot ordered. “Tell me about the first time you saw Sandy Jackson. What were you doing?”
“Arguing with Carly about how I didn’t want children. She got angry because she wanted me to have one right away so I would be fatter than her while pregnant,” I answered.
Eliot snorted. “You left that out of your first retelling. I’ll just bet I know why. What do you see when you first see Sandy? Close your eyes. Don’t think. Just tell me.”
I did as Eliot asked and searched my memory. “She came in from the door that led to the rest of the mall.”
“Why is that important?”
“Because the baby store is the farthest store on that side of the mall,” I answered, running the geography through my head. “The mall has only one other store down that last corridor since the anchor store closed on the other side.”
“What other store is down there?”
“It’s one of those salon places that does fingernails and eyebrows.”
“Good,” Eliot said, sticking his fork in my container and coming up with a big hunk of baby corn, which he promptly shoved in my mouth. “What else do you see when you look at Sandy?”
“She’s looking around the store.”
“Why? What is she really looking at?”
I pursed my lips as I tried to envision the baby store layout. “The main doors for the store are behind us.”
Eliot stilled. “Describe it to me.”
“The baby store has two entrances,” I said. “The main one goes outside and the secondary one is inside. Most people use the outside door because the baby store lost the other anchor and that hallway is so empty. I remember because Carly told me to park outside the baby store and when we were done shopping we could drive down to the next entrance to enter the regular part of the mall for dinner.”
“That’s good,” Eliot said, this time selecting a piece of chicken to feed me.
“I feel a little weird about you shoving things in my mouth when my eyes are closed,” I admitted.
“I know,” Eliot said, chuckling. “I promise not to put anything but Chinese food in there until we’re done with this, though. Relax. You can trust me.”
“I do trust you.”
“Go back to the store,” Eliot said. “You said Sandy was looking at the other doors. Do you have any idea why? What was over there?”
“I wasn’t paying attention,” I admitted. “I was arguing with Carly about kids. I was freaked out when I realized another mother was looking at a package of nipples – freaking nipples, man – and I couldn’t get it out of my head. Then I thought I was holding up a speaker but Carly informed me it was a breast pump. That was horrifying, too.”
“Yeah, you’re going to give me nightmares if you’re not careful,” Eliot warned, giving me more food. “Was anyone in the store who wasn’t supposed to be there? Did anyone look out of place?”
“You mean other than me, right?”
Eliot snorted. “I do mean other than you.”
“I … .” I bolted forward, my eyes flying open. “There was a man.”
“Good,” Eliot said. “What did he look like?”
“He was in his late fifties or early sixties. He wore jeans and a coat. It looked like a Carhartt, but I can’t be sure. It could’ve been off-brand.”
“Why did your eyes gravitate to him?” Eliot asked.
“Because he wasn’t with anyone,” I answered. “I didn’t belong in that store and people could see that, but I was with Carly. There were a few other men who looked nervous, but they were with wives and girlfriends. This guy was alone.”
“Did he make eye contact with anyone? Maybe Sandy?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “He stood next to the door when Sandy came in. I saw him right before I turned to see her. He was gone before Derrick showed up, though.”
“So he disappeared from the mall right before it went into lockdown,” Eliot mused.
“Yes.”
“Could you recognize him on video if it became necessary?”
I nodded. “Yeah. How are we going to get the video, though?”
“I got it this afternoon,” Eliot said. “I searched for Sandy’s parents like you asked, but I ran into a dead end. I’m don’t know whether they purposely went off the grid or whether I’m missing something in the search, but I can’t find them.”
“Could they have left the area?” I asked. “We didn’t really press Boyd on the situation, and he didn’t volunteer anything about his parents. We let it go when we heard Sandy wasn’t speaking to them.”
“I’ll keep at it tomorrow,” Eliot said, kissing my cheek. “For now you need to eat your dinner.” He shoved an egg roll in my mouth. “You did well. We’ll find this guy. He’s our next lead. You were right about us missing something. I have faith he’s going to lead us where we need to go.”
“You’re putting an awful lot of faith in my intuition,” I pointed out.
“That’s because you’re annoyingly right all the time,” Eliot said, wrinkling his nose. “Now eat your dinner and we’ll go through the security footage. Our mistake was looking for Sierra. We should’ve been looking at everyone else.”
“OKAY, this is where we should be looking,” Eliot said, navigating through the security footage.
He sat on the couch and leaned forward so he could work the computer on the table. I sat on the floor between his legs while he rested his chin on top of my head.
“There you are,” Eliot said, slowing the footage and pointing. “I see you with Carly. Can you figure out where this is in the chronology?”
I narrowed my eyes as I watched the tiny me on the screen say something to Carly that caused her to roll her eyes. “I think that’s relatively early,” I said. “I’m pretty sure I just told her that someone would have to be crazy to have a baby.”
“I’m sure that put her in a good mood,” Eliot said, forwarding the video. We watched as a woman gave me a dirty look … and then another woman gave me a dirty look … and then Eliot slowed the footage again when I told him I would move to the front of the store soon. We watched in fascination as I explained the meaning of life to Carly, my gaze flicking toward the back door.
“There.” I pointed. “He’s by those doors now.”
“Okay,” Eliot said, checking the time stamp. “Let’s see what we’ve got outside the main door at right about that time.” Eliot clicked over to another set of cameras and we watched as the man in question walked out of the store, his pace leisurely, and headed toward a white van.
“No way,” I said, leaning forward. “Is that a … ?”
“White van?” Eliot finished. “Yup. Let me zoom in on this guy’s face so you can be absolutely sure it’s him.”
I nodded and waited for Eliot to work his magic. When he brought the face up I was convinced I was looking at our suspect. Of course, I was so desperate to find Sierra I was starting to wonder whether I could convince myself of almost anything. “That’s him.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” I thought Eliot would freeze the frame and isolate it so he could blow it up, but when I shifted he was going through a paper file. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not sure you’re going to believe this, but that guy looks really familiar and I think … yup … he’s here.” Eliot pulled a photograph out of the file and handed it to me. It was an older snapshot and the man in question had aged at least twenty years since it had been taken. It was the same man, though.
>
“Who is he?” I asked, my excitement building.
“His name is – or at least was at the time the first photograph was taken – Stanley Newman.”
I froze, the ramifications of Eliot’s words washing over me. “Are you saying that man is Sandy Jackson’s father?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Eliot said, kissing my cheek before pushing himself to a standing position. “Crap. You need to call Derrick right now. This is beyond us now, Trouble.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. This wasn’t a situation we could handle on our own. We needed help.
26
“This had better be good,” Derrick grumbled, trudging into my house a half hour later and glancing around at the multitude of takeout containers on the coffee table. “Were you guys eating dinner?”
“Eliot brought Chinese home,” I explained.
“I’m starving.” Derrick grabbed an eggroll without asking and shoved it into his mouth, causing me to narrow my eyes. “This is good, but that place on the corner is better.”
“I told you,” Eliot said. “It’s a testament to what a great guy I am that I went to your place instead of my place, the better place.”
“You two are bugging me,” I said.
“What else is new?” Derrick asked.
“Help yourself to whatever food you want,” Eliot said. “I bought enough to give her options for days.”
“Does she ever cook for you?” Derrick asked, reaching for the sesame chicken. “It seems to me that you constantly take care of her and in return she mouths off and gives you fits. How does that work in a relationship?”
I was pretty sure I should be offended. “Excuse me?”
“I’m only saying that he’s a better boyfriend than you are a girlfriend,” Derrick said, sitting in the armchair across from the couch and digging into the food. “I’m really starving. This couldn’t have come at a better time.”
I shifted my eyes to Eliot. Was that true? Oh, who was I kidding? Of course it was true. “I … .”
“Don’t let him get to you,” Eliot said, the corners of his mouth tipping up. “You’re a very good girlfriend.”
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