Deadly Relations

by Alexa Grace

  The living room was a study in white, white walls, drapes and fireplace. Several large oil modernistic paintings provided splashes of bold color in red, royal blue and black. Jennifer and Blake sat down on a red sofa in front of the fireplace while Sasha sat in an armchair near them.

  The maid who answered the door appeared with a tray of coffee mugs, cream, sugar, and a hot pot of coffee that she laid down on the black coffee table before she rushed out of the room.

  “Mrs. Chase...” Jennifer began softly.

  “Please call me Sasha. Mrs. Chase is my mother-in-law.”

  “Sasha, we’re here to talk to you about Tiffany.”

  Sasha gasped as her hand flew to her chest. “Oh, my God! Has something happened to Tiffany?”

  “Tiffany was reported missing from Rocky Cliff State Park last night.”

  “What in the world was she doing there?” The mother seemed incredulous.

  “It appears she was camping.”

  Sasha sighed with relief. “You have the wrong Tiffany. You couldn’t pay my Tiffany to camp.”

  “Mrs. Chase...” Jennifer began.

  Sasha held up her hand. “No, I’m serious. If you looked up ‘spoiled princess’ in the dictionary, you’d find Tiffany’s photo. She’s an only child and her daddy and I have always pampered her. Tiffany is the last person on earth who would be camping. You have the wrong girl.”

  Jennifer pulled out a small pink leather Coach purse in a plastic bag from behind her and showed it to Sasha. “Does this purse belong to Tiffany?”

  Instant tears appeared in Sasha’s eyes. “I bought the bag for her for Christmas. Was her driver’s license inside?” Reality slammed into her and she choked back a sob.

  Blake nodded. “Last night between eleven and midnight, Tiffany left the campsite to use the public restroom facility a short distance away. She hasn’t been seen since. The police were called at one-thirty this morning, and have been searching the area for her ever since.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Sasha said, but the terror in her eyes revealed she did. “Who was she with? There is no way she would have been at that park alone.”

  “She was camping with a young man who attends ISU with her by the name of Lance Brody. Is that name familiar to you?”

  “What? Lance who? Tiffany is engaged to Evan Hendricks. Why was she with this Lance boy?”

  Jennifer jotted Evan’s name down in her notebook. “Do you know where we can find Evan?”

  “He’s the youth minister at the Methodist Church in town.”

  Blake nodded toward a photo of Tiffany on the fireplace mantel. “May we borrow that photo?”

  “Yes, anything you need.”

  “Does Tiffany have a computer?” asked Blake.

  Sasha nodded. “Yes, she has it with her on campus.” She began sobbing, rocking back and forth in her chair.

  “May we borrow the laptop? There may some information on it that will help us find her.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Is there anyone we can call for you? Anything we can do?” Blake asked as he and Jennifer stood, ready to leave.

  She wiped the tears from her face with her hands. “Yes. You can find my daughter and bring her home to me!”

  <><><>

  Jennifer backed the SUV out of the driveway, while Blake opened his laptop to get into Tiffany’s bank and credit card information.

  “That poor woman was devastated,” Jennifer said. “Now I know what my parents went through when I was missing.”

  Blake glanced at her and said, “I’d never known your dad to be anything but calm and controlled until the day he called to ask me if I would take the dive team to Monroe Lake to look for your car. I could literally hear the fear in his voice.”

  “It kind of makes you want to not have kids. How can you ever hope to protect them twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?”

  “Not me. I want kids someday. I want to be the kind of parent to them that my parents never were for me.”

  Jennifer looked at him thoughtfully and said, “C’mon, Blake, I’m sure your parents love you.”

  “Not unselfishly, like your parents care about you. I felt more like a bargaining chip during their divorce,” Blake said, as he pulled up Tiffany’s VISA information. “No luck. Tiffany hasn’t used her bank or VISA card in the last forty-eight hours.”

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking? I mean, we’ve got another girl who is taken from a state park. Maybe that’s his M.O.”

  “We need to talk to the boyfriend first. But am I thinking Tiffany may have been taken by the same guy who abducted and killed Catherine Thomas? Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. If we’re right, we don’t have much time to catch him. He kept Catherine for five days before he killed her.”

  Blake put in a call to Lane requesting a deputy get Tiffany’s laptop at the ISU campus.

  “Let’s talk to the boyfriend, Evan Hendricks. Maybe Evan found out Tiffany was hot for another guy and didn’t like it.”

  <><><>

  As soon as he heard Julie back the car out of the garage, Fred Thomas moved into the living room, sat in his favorite chair and grabbed the remote to flick the television on.

  Ever since his heart bypass surgery, Julie had been treating him like a ninety-nine-year-old invalid and he was over it. Damn it, he wasn’t even in his fifties yet. He was sick of the bland food and tired of Julie walking on eggshells around him. Julie had even gone so far as to choose what television programs he could watch. So what if the doctor told her to not let him get overexcited? What good is life if you can’t make your own damn choices?

  He flipped channels until he came to the local news. The weather guy predicted rain tomorrow or the next day. Fred was holding the remote, ready to change the channel when suddenly an anchor appeared with a news bulletin. “Tiffany Chase, an ISU student, went missing from a campsite in Rocky Creek State Park.”

  Perspiration beaded his forehead and his heart jumped to his throat. Another missing girl? Just like his Catherine, another girl had gone missing!

  Fred wondered if Tiffany Chase had been abducted by the same man who killed his daughter. He prayed to God that the police found her before she had the same fate as Catherine. Fred knew what Tiffany’s parents were going through and he was sorry for them. But at the same time, he was angry. The damn cops still hadn’t found his daughter’s murderer, and with this girl missing, they’d take their focus off Catherine and place it on Tiffany.

  He pulled out his cell phone and called Detective Stone. Getting his voicemail, Fred left a message, “What the fuck are you doing to find my daughter’s killer?”

  Fred focused back on the television where the news was now being broadcast live from the state park. Searchers were seen scouring the woods and campgrounds looking for clues for the whereabouts of Tiffany Chase. A photo of the girl appeared along with a phone number for people to call if they’d seen her. Fred remembered the day he and Julie had pleaded on television for the same information about Catherine. No one called. He’d never felt so lost and helpless in his life.

  Fear and anger knotted so tightly inside him that his chest began to ache. He flipped to CSN, Crime Story Network, and listened as Grace Cohn discussed the efforts being used to find a missing child in Tennessee. Fred listened as Cohn debated with a local sheriff on whether or not he was using all the resources he had to find the missing child. The next scene was Cohn’s interview with the missing child’s parents, where she promised she would use all of her broadcasting resources to find their child. A ticker tape at the bottom of the screen listed a phone number for Grace Cohn. Fred reached again for his cell phone.

  Later, Fred leaned back in his chair, staring at Catherine’s framed photo on the wall. “I haven’t forgotten you, honey. Your daddy will never give up the search for your killer. I’ll find him, Catherine. Even if it’s with the last breath I take, I promise I’ll make him pay.”

  <><><>

  Jennifer pulled
into the parking lot next to the red-bricked church where Evan Hendricks worked as the youth minister. She’d called him earlier to make an appointment to talk with him in his office. As instructed, she and Blake entered by using a side door. They walked down a short hall to Evan’s office, where he was waiting for them.

  Evan stood to greet them when they entered his small office. His eyes were reddened and he was obviously upset. They’d barely sat down in his guest chairs before he asked, “Are you here to ask about Tiffany?”

  “Yes,” answered Jennifer. “I apologize that you had to hear about her disappearance from the news media.”

  Evan shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. How can I help you find her?”

  “When’s the last time you saw Tiffany?” asked Jennifer.

  “Last weekend. She helped me with the Red Cross charity event. We saw a movie that night.”

  “So how did she seem? Did she seem happy?”

  “Of course, she seemed happy,” he answered abruptly. “We’ve dated for a long time. We’re engaged. She’s very happy. Why do you ask?” He averted his eyes from her as he answered, letting Jennifer know he was not being truthful. She began to doubt the pretty picture he was painting about his relationship with the missing girl.

  “I ask because she was camping with a guy she met in one of her classes at college.” Jennifer paused for a second then added, “Since you were close, you probably already knew that though.”

  Evan shot her a hostile glare, then put a damper on his emotions. He cleared his throat then answered softly, “No, I did not know of her plans last night.”

  “Now I have to ask this, Evan. Where were you last night between ten and midnight?” Jennifer watched his body language carefully to determine if he would tell her the truth.

  “I was home reading my Bible, thinking about my sermon for this Sunday.” Again, he didn’t meet her eyes when he answered.

  Jennifer stared at him for a long moment, then asked, “Do you have anyone who can verify that?”

  “I was home alone,” answered Evan, gritting the words between his teeth.

  Blake had been listening as he studied Evan’s office and noticed there were no pictures of the missing girl. There were plenty of photos of Evan hiking and camping, and one trophy for running a marathon. He picked up one of the photos and held it up. “I see you like to hike and camp, Evan. I do, too. Where are some good spots around here?”

  “My parents have a cabin at Bear Lake, so I like to go there. Of course, we’re lucky we have two state parks in the area. I go to those, too.”

  “Is that right? What about Rocky Cliff State Park? I hear some of the trails there are pretty rugged.”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “What about Tiffany? Did she like going camping with you?”

  “Actually, Tiffany and I have never gone camping. Camping was not her thing.” Evan shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

  “You know that’s the second time we’ve heard that. Yet, there she was out camping with Lance Brody last night. Odd.”

  Evan’s face reddened and a muscle clenched along his jaw. “If you have no further questions, I have a meeting with a parishioner in five minutes.”

  “No further questions right now,” answered Blake as he stood. “But, Evan, like they say in the movies, don’t leave town. We may have some additional questions that only you can answer.”

  <><><>

  Jennifer and Blake didn’t speak until they were in the vehicle. Jennifer said, “He’s got no alibi and he tried to hide how angry he was that she was with another guy.”

  “When I referred to Tiffany camping with Lance, I thought the guy was going to jump out of his chair.” Blake opened his laptop and typed up some notes.

  “Anger issues, anyone?”

  “No kidding,” Blake said. “Did you notice that there were no photos of Tiffany in his office? I mean if you’re engaged to someone for two years, you would have photos, right?”

  “For some reason his name is familiar, but I don’t know why.” Jennifer pulled out Catherine Thomas’s file folder that was tucked next to her car seat. She thumbed through the file until she pulled out a piece of paper. “Here’s the list of Catherine’s friends, and look who’s number ten.”

  “Evan Hendricks. So there is a connection between this guy and both Tiffany and Catherine. Let’s call in for surveillance on him.”

  Jennifer’s cell phone signaled a text had arrived. Soon Blake’s did the same. Lane’s message was simple. Come back to the office ASAP to meet with the sheriff and him about the Tiffany Chase case.

  <><><>

  They were a couple of blocks from the sheriff’s office when they noticed a large group of people, some carrying signs, gathered in the front lawn.

  “What the hell?” asked Blake.

  A woman with a baby carried a sign that read, “Your daughter could be next.” Other signs blasted the police for not finding the missing girl and Catherine Thomas’s killer. The group chanted, “Sheriff Brennan, what’s going on?”

  Jennifer pulled into a side street that led to the back entrance of the building. A deputy was waiting at the door for them. He ushered them in and told them their meeting was in the conference room near Lane’s office.

  When they entered the room, Lane and Tim were standing near the window facing the front of the building watching the crowd below. Both men joined Jennifer and Blake at the conference table.

  Tim looked at the group at the table, his expression reflected a war of emotions he struggled to hide. “I’m going to talk to that crowd in a few minutes. I’m hoping you’ve learned something I can tell them about Tiffany Chase’s disappearance.”

  Jennifer began. “Here’s what we know. Last night between eleven and midnight, Tiffany went missing near the restroom facility at the Rocky Cliff State Park camping area. There were tire prints of an ATV pulling a cart on the service road nearby. We followed it and discovered one of the park’s ATV and carts had been stolen. The perp emptied trash cans to avoid suspicion. He disabled Tiffany somehow and probably hid her body under the black garbage bags,” she said.

  Blake continued the review. “Then, he parks the ATV and cart back at the maintenance building, where he originally stole them. He then transports her body to his own vehicle, about 100 feet away in the parking lot,” Blake said, as he tiredly ran his fingers through his hair. “We have no description of him or his vehicle. The campers were the only people inside the park. No one noticed a man emptying trash cans, nor did anyone venture to the parking lot that late at night...”

  Lane interrupted. “What about her cell phone? Did you contact the phone company? Do you need a warrant?”

  “Tiffany’s cell phone was in her purse so we can’t track her that way.” Jennifer responded.

  “Damn it!” Tim pounded the table angrily with his fists. “Do you think this is the same son of a bitch who killed Catherine Thomas?”

  Blake spoke up. “We can’t be one hundred percent certain. We interviewed the guy Tiffany was engaged to — Evan Hendricks. A couple of his responses were obvious lies. He has no alibi for last night. There may be a connection between Evan and Catherine. We’ve got him under surveillance.”

  “What about the kid she was with? Lance Brody?” asked Tim.

  “Took his official statement, photographed his body for suspicious injuries, and took his DNA sample. He’s being very cooperative. Seems genuinely concerned about Tiffany. The fiancé has more motive to harm Tiffany than Lance does.” Blake glanced at Jennifer who nodded in agreement.

  Tim stood up and peered out the window. “Press conference time. I’m going to ask for the community’s help to find this girl.” He picked up a file folder and a photo of Tiffany Chase from the table, then said, “Don’t hesitate to ask if you need any additional resources to find this girl or Catherine’s killer.” With that, he left the room.

  <><><>

  Blake and Jennifer took statements from friends of both
Catherine and Tiffany until nightfall, and sleep deprivation set in. They picked up some take out from a local Italian restaurant and headed to Jennifer’s house.

  Pulling up to her driveway, they waved at Steve Brooks, the deputy assigned to surveillance for the night. As they opened the front door, they both drew their weapons and prepared to search the house. Deputy outside or not, they were dealing with a clever killer and were not taking any chances.

  “I’ll take the upstairs,” said Blake as he headed toward the staircase.

  Jennifer cleared the living room, dining room and kitchen, and was certain no one had been in these rooms in their absence. She couldn’t remember when she was more tired or hungry. Returning to the small table near her front door, she retrieved the food bags and returned to the kitchen. Pulling out eating utensils and plates, she set the table in the dining room. Taking off his suit jacket and rolling up his shirt sleeves, Blake entered the kitchen and washed his hands at the sink. He pulled out a bottle of Chianti, grabbed two wine glasses out of the cabinet, and joined Jennifer at the dining room table. After he opened the bottle, he poured wine in their glasses, and held out Jennifer’s chair as she sat down. Then he filled their plates.

  “This ravioli looks melt-in-your-mouth amazing. How did you know about this restaurant?” Jennifer asked Blake.

  “Seriously? What kind of an Italian would I be if I didn’t know where the best Italian food was cooked?” He grinned as he pulled apart the garlic bread and placed a slice on each of their plates.

  They dug in and were quiet the rest of the meal, until Jennifer asked, “There’s a Lady Gaga concert on TV in thirty minutes. Want to watch it?”

  “Sure.”

  “Great, that gives me time to take a shower, then join you in the living room.” Jennifer bounded up the stairs and before long, Blake could hear the shower running.

  He cleared the table, putting the dirty dishes in the kitchen, trying not to imagine what it would be like to join Jennifer in her shower, washing every inch of her sexy body with soap. Working days with her and sleeping at her house on the sofa was playing havoc with his libido. He remembered their only kiss like it had happened an hour before. Beneath her serious work suit was a passionate woman who he wanted more than anything.