by F J messina
Without thinking, Burnett’s hands went to his lapels. Jet didn’t try to stop him. “Listen, I’m sort of a detail kind of guy. I guess it goes with being an accountant. I’ll go, and I’ll try to look as carefully as I can at every place and person that makes sense.”
Jet was quick to speak. “Are you sure, Burnett? Really sure?” Her concern for him showed through to everyone else at the table. Sonia knew that, given how uncomfortable Burnett often was with other people, what he was offering was almost heroic.
Sonia picked up the thread in a totally businesslike fashion. “Excellent. Tomorrow morning we’ll get you some sort of letter of credential from LPD and send you up north as soon as possible.”
Jet spoke up. “What else can we do?”
Brad was about to speak, but Sonia beat him to it. “Well, we’ve got to know more about this Ron Harris. I’ll go online and sniff out everything I can learn from his electronic footprint. You know, where he went to school, who he’s worked for.” She looked at Brad. “What his finances look like.”
Brad turned to Jet. “With Burnett looking into that farm up in New York and Sonia already having made contact with Downstream farm right here in town, we still need someone to go poke around in Florida. Do you think you could get on a plane and get down there,just to talk to folks?”
“I guess. Sure.” Jet looked at Sonia, then back to Brad.
Brad ran his hand over his short, brown hair. “Now, Summer Wheat came up with a broken shin just yesterday. Everybody’s going to be minding their Ps and Qs for a bit. Maybe you should wait a day or two before you go, then start by asking questions around town first, working your way toward the farm itself.”
Sonia turned to Brad. “And what about you? What are you going to be doing?”
“Babe, sometimes there’s just no substitute for good, old-fashioned surveillance. I’m guessing that Ron Harris’ office is here in Lexington, home of the industry. I’m going to find him and stick to him like glue. I might even let him figure out that I’m tailing him. Sometimes, a guy who’s got something to hide can’t stand it if he thinks he’s being watched. Trying to be extra careful, he runs out and does something stupid. If he does. I’ll be there to catch him at it.”
When the meeting wrapped up, Brad insisted he walk Sonia to her car. After what had happened the other night, she was more than willing to have his protection. In addition, she loved that he had come to care so much about the case. She loved that he had come to care for Jet, even for Burnett, to a degree. There was only one thing that she hated . . . the reason the investigation had shifted focus.
52
On Monday, Sonia walked into the BCI offices at ten o’clock. She’d already been downstairs at Magee’s, so she had coffee and two pastries in hand─and a dull ache in her heart. She was surprised to see that Jet was not standing in her own office, but rather, in Sonia’s. “Hey.”
“Just standing here thinking. One of those pastries for me?”
“Sure, take whichever one you want.” Sonia held out the two cinnamon rolls and let Jet choose. “What are you thinking about?”
Jet turned and looked at Sonia’s whiteboard. On it were the names of all the different people they had spoken to in an attempt to locate Mariana. “I don’t know. It’s so hard accepting that we’re no longer trying to find Mariana alive. And look at this list.” She pointed. “Every single name has been crossed off except for one.”
Sonia took a seat at her own desk but swiveled the chair sideways in order to continue her conversation with Jet. “And where does she live? Timbuktu, I imagine.”
Jet’s eyes were still on the whiteboard. She pointed. “No, look. She lives right down in Danville.” She turned to Sonia. “From what I understand, she’s a server in one of the small restaurants there. I spoke to her on the phone, but she was kind of squirrely.”
“She wasn’t completely honest with you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Jet turned back to the whiteboard.
Both girls were silent for a minute. Just as Sonia was about to speak, Jet turned to her. “Listen, I know we have to accept what’s happened to Mariana. But still . . . . And this girl, she’s right down in Danville. When I spoke to her on the phone,” she shrugged, “I don’t know, it’s hard to put my finger on it.”
Sonia looked at her watch. “You know, we could be in Danville by eleven thirty.”
Jet looked at Sonia. “You mean try to find her right now?”
“Why not?” Sonia popped another bite into her mouth then went on. “If she is trying to avoid you, we may just be able to find her and surprise her. After all, Danville’s a pretty small city, almost just a great big town. How many places are there where she could work?”
Jet thought about it for a moment then nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
Sonia got up, wiping her hands together without benefit of a napkin. “Okay, then. Get your stuff. Looks like we’re going to Danville.” She glanced down at Jet’s uneaten pastry sitting on her desk.
Sonia and Jet got their purses and moved toward the outer door of the BCI offices. Sonia reached for the doorknob but was surprised when it opened away from her, as if on its own. A moment later, an attractive Hispanic woman stepped past the swinging door, into the room.
Sonia stepped back. “Gabriela. What are you doing here?”
Gabriela half-squinted her dark eyes. “Is that any way to greet the woman who went all the way to Florida just to help you?”
Jet stepped in front of Sonia, defensive. “Now, as I recall, you decided to go to Florida all on your own, without even talking to us about it.”
Gabriela slipped past both Sonia and Jet and into the BCI waiting area. She looked around as she spoke, the sound of her high heels clicking off the wooden floor and brick walls. “At least I took the time to call you and tell you I was going.” She walked over to the glass walls that separated the girls’ offices from the rest of the room and looked into each office. She turned to face them. “Anyway, it was worth it. At least I found out that pendejo, Santiago, wasn’t behind all this.”
Sonia and Jet stood silent, just slightly apprehensive.
Gabriela walked around the waiting area and back toward the girls, checking out every inch of the space, her fingers running along the top of the leather couch. “So, have you learned anything else? Do you have any idea what has happened to my cousin?”
Sonia looked briefly at Jet, then her eyes fell downward for a moment. She took a deep breath and looked directly at Gabriela. “I’m sorry. Things are not looking good. One of the members of our team, someone with a lot of experience in these things, has advised us that we should probably be focusing on who hurt Mariana rather than where she might be.”
Gabriela’s face was totally still, but little flushes of red appeared at her neck. Her eyes darted back and forth between the girls.
Jet picked up the conversation. “We’ve looked everywhere we can think of─spoken to everyone we can find. It’s just that she’s been gone eight weeks now, and, well, you know . . . .”
Sonia reached out her hand to comfort Gabriela, but Gabriela stepped back just enough to be out of reach. “So, where are you going now, out on some other case─something more important?” Her voice had a real edge to it.
Sonia stepped forward, again reaching out toward Gabriela. “No, no. It’s not like that. We’re sending our colleague Burnett up to New York.” She nodded toward Jet. “Jet’s going to Florida, to check on a horse farm down there. We’re still trying─trying as hard as we can.” Her voice was emphatic.
“What do you mean going to Florida?” Gabriela shifted her gaze to Jet. Her question had come quickly. “I just got back from there.”
Jet stepped forward, again getting her shoulder slightly in front of Sonia. “We’re not sure, but something happened to another young girl down there and we’re just trying to see if there might be a connection.”
Gabriela was silent, though Sonia could see from her furrowed brows
that she was mulling something over.
Eventually, Jet put her hand on Sonia’s shoulder and turned her toward the door. “Now, if you don’t mind, we have an appointment down in Danville─someone we need to talk to about another case.” Jet tried to move the group toward the door.
Sonia obliged. “Really, we’re so grateful for what you did in Florida, Gabriela. And we can’t even imagine how difficult this must be for you.”
Gabriella hadn’t moved. Finally, she relented. She followed Sonia and Jet out onto the landing at the top of the stairs.
Jet raised her hand to reach out to Gabriella but stopped in mid-motion. “And I promise, as soon as we hear anything we’ll let you and your whole family know.”
“Yes, we promise.” A sad look crossed Sonia’s face.
Gabriela looked at the other two women standing at the top of the stairs with her. “You understand how important this is to me?”
Sonia nodded. Jet said, “Absolutely.”
Gabriela started down the stairs. “Gracias, señoritas. Thank you.” Her high heels clicked down the wooden steps.
Sonia and Jet stood at the top of the stairs and watched as Gabriela descended, never looking back. Sonia half-whispered, “I assume I know why you didn’t tell her what we hope to find in Danville.”
Jet kept her eyes on Gabriela. “And why is that?”
“Because you’re not sure we can trust her.”
Jet put her hand on Sonia’s shoulder, indicating it was time for them to start down the stairs as well. “You got that right, girl. I don’t know why, but I just don’t trust her.”
53
It was a pleasant drive from Lexington to Danville. The weather was nice and driving through the rolling hills of central Kentucky always seemed to quiet Sonia’s spirits.
Pulling into town, Sonia was struck by the fact that they were looking for someone they didn’t know, working at a place they couldn’t name, in a city with which they weren’t very familiar. Danville seemed much larger than she had imagined.
They were in Jet’s Camry. Her eyes roamed the scene in front of her. “Okay, now what? I guess we tool around town once or twice just to get the lay of the land?”
“Uh huh.” Sonia looked at Google Maps on her phone, trying to get a sense of things. “Then we just park somewhere downtown and play the part of tourists.”
Jet looked sideways at her friend. “Tourists?”
“Yeah,” Sonia spoke while looking sideways out the passenger window, “we can stop almost anyone on the street and tell them we’re looking for someplace to eat lunch. Nothing fancy, just clean and decent.” She turned back to Jet. “These are nice folks here. I’ll bet they’ll go out of their way to tell us about a number of places we could go.”
Jet pulled to a full stop at a traffic light. “Alright, but then how will we know which one to choose?”
“What did you say that girl’s name was?”
Jet gave Sonia a wry smile. “Catch this. Jennipher Alston, with a ph.”
“What?”
“Jennipher Alston, and she spells it J-e-n-n-i-p-h-e-r.”
Sonia turned her eyes forward again. “Huh. Anyway, we could say something about having an old college friend who lives in town and works in one of the restaurants. Heck, in a town this small, someone might even know exactly where she works.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice.” Jet looked at different storefronts as she drove carefully down the main street. “And before we left I found her picture on Facebook.”
“Really? Well, I guess there’s not that many Jennipher’s with a ph in Kentucky.”
“You’d be surprised. There were several Jennipher’s with a ph, but mostly they were all in showbiz or modeling careers. When I added Danville, I’m pretty sure I got the right one.”
“Let me see.”
Jet kept her eyes on the road but grabbed her phone off the dashboard and handed it to Sonia. Sonia quickly opened it to the picture of Jennipher Alston that Jet had saved. Red-haired and freckled in her thirties, Jennipher was attractive but used little makeup to enhance her natural beauty.
After driving through town twice, Jet chose a parking spot on 3rd Street. It was right outside a quaint little place called the Hub Coffee House and Café. “No rule says we can’t get lucky and find her in the first place we look.”
Sonia slipped out of the car. “Or not. Only one way to find out.”
Together, the girls stepped inside. One quick look around the rather small shop and Sonia felt certain that unless Jennipher was in the back, cooking, she was not working at The Hub at that moment. A quick conversation with the college-aged boy behind the counter confirmed that she didn’t work there at all. Sonia turned to leave.
Jet moved with her, but then stopped and turned around. “Do you have any idea where our friend might be working?” She showed him the picture of Jennipher. His answer sent them out the door, wondering where they should try next.
The girls walked a short distance and turned left onto West Main Street. Within a block, they were standing in front of a place called Cue on Main. Jet put her hand on Sonia’s back and nudged her through the door, into the restaurant. They stood still, taken by the exposed brick, golden oak-tinted tin ceiling and brass rails. As they stared, an older man who appeared to be the owner, or perhaps just a significant employee, walked up to them. Within moments he was telling them about the history of the place, a former billiards hall with a three-lane bowling alley in the basement. It was all very fascinating. However, there was no Jennipher to be found there.
Out on the street again, Sonia sighed and turned to Jet. “Any idea where we try next?”
“Damned if I know,” Jet rubbed her stomach, “but I hope the next place is decent. I need to eat something.”
Sonia thought about the cinnamon roll still sitting on her desk back in her office. Then, before they could take off in search of a “decent” place, she noticed two young men, again, college-aged, walking up the street toward them. She assumed they attended the very fine liberal arts college in town.
Just as the young men were abreast of the girls, Jet stepped out and stopped them. “Excuse me, guys.” She gave them her best smile, gently pulling her blonde ponytail down in front of her shoulder and stroking it. “We’re looking for an old friend of ours from Mayweather College, outside of Midway. Either of you guys know Jennipher Alston?”
The taller of the two boys was quick to shrug his shoulders. But the shorter, rounder boy raised his eyebrows. “Jennipher Alston? Went to Boyle County High School?”
Sonia jumped in, reaching out to innocently touch his arm. “Actually, we don’t know where she went to high school, we know her from college. But we’re pretty sure she lives around here.”
The shorter boy gave his friend a quick look, a smile spreading across his face. “Yeah, well, kind of around here. I’m pretty sure her folks own a farm, five or ten miles outside of town. But I know Jenn. We went to high school together; she was a year or two ahead of me.”
Jet picked up the conversation. “We think she’s working at one of the restaurants here in town.” Her voice was just a bit syrupy. “You wouldn’t happen to know which one, would you? We’d love to walk in and surprise her.”
“Yeah, sure. She’s down at The Homestead, just down the block here. I don’t know if she works lunch or not, but I’ve seen her down there once or twice working the dinner shift.”
Sonia gave the boy one of her best smiles and a sincere thank you. As they walked away, she saw the tall one punch the shorter one in the arm; it was one of those “Way to go,” punches. Apparently, the young men had thoroughly enjoyed their passing conversation with two very attractive, “older” women.
A few minutes later, Sonia and Jet walked into The Homestead, a restaurant whose ambiance recalled the pioneer days of Danville. A large mural representing the first settlers in the area filled the main wall on the side of the room. Artifacts from those early days were artfully displayed on sm
all shelves and in cupboards around the room. All the dining furniture had a rustic look.
Most of the ambiance of the room went quickly past Sonia’s senses. What she zeroed in on was the freckle-faced female server who was helping customers at the corner table make their selections. Sonia turned to Jet, but Jet’s smile indicated that nothing need be said. Fearful of being seated in the wrong section of the room, Sonia moved directly to a table she believed would clearly be in Jennipher’s section. She and Jet took seats as Jennipher turned toward them and smiled an, “I’ll be with you in a moment,” smile.
It took a few minutes, but eventually, Jennipher came to their table. “Sorry. We’re running a little behind today. What can I get you ladies to drink?”
Sonia was taken a little off guard. She’d been so focused on finding Jennipher, then on sitting at one of her tables, that she hadn’t even thought about whether or not they were going to actually eat lunch. She looked over at Jet.
“Just bring us two white wines and your menus.” Jet let out a small sigh. “We’ll take it from there.”
Jennipher was gone in a moment, and Sonia looked back to Jet. “We’re eating?”
“Honey, it’s been a rough couple of days.” Jet unrolled her cloth napkin, taking out a heavy knife and fork, each with an engraved H at the end of its handle. “Now, what say we drink a glass or two of wine and eat some lunch while we watch and get a sense of who Ms. Jennipher with a ph is.”
Sonia looked around, truly absorbing the room’s motif for the first time. Before she could speak, however, Jennipher was there with the two glasses of wine and the menus. “Here you go, ladies. Would you like to hear our specials?” Without conferring, both women shook their heads in the negative. “Okay then, I’ll be back in a minute to take your orders.”
Sonia looked at the menu, then across the table at Jet. “Let’s just get salads and keep it light.” Her voice was soft, conspiratorial. “If Jennipher gets off before we’re done, I want to be able to get up and follow her. We need to ask this girl some questions.”
