Sabre visited with her for awhile before she broached the subject of her mother's disappearance. "Alexis, I need to ask you some things that may be painful for you, but I really need to know. Do you think you can help me?"
"Probably."
"Do you remember the day your mom disappeared?"
"Nope," she said quickly. Then she added, "I just remember she used to play with me and read to me a lot. And then one day she wasn't there anymore."
Alexis looked so sad. Maybe she didn't remember anything about that day. So, Sabre let it drop and finished her visit, with Alexis continuing her account of the Jordan Receiving Home news. As she listened, Sabre continued to be amazed at the intelligence and maturity of the ten-year-old girl.
When Sabre got into her car to leave, she felt the car leaning to one side. She stepped out, walked around to the back. The rear tire on the passenger side was flat. Sabre, frustrated, hated inconveniences. She much preferred to deal with a major crisis, for which she had an abundance of patience. Little things like this annoyed her. She removed her cell phone from her bag and dialed the number for the Auto Club. They informed her the wait would be about forty-five minutes. Sabre walked over to a bench at a bus stop about twenty feet from her car, sat down, and called Bob.
"I'm close," he said. "I'll be right there."
Within ten minutes, Bob arrived. He parked two car lengths behind Sabre's car on the same side of the street and walked to where she waited. "Thanks for coming," Sabre said.
"No problem. I was driving back to my office from court when you called. I had just stopped to buy a pack of cigarettes at my little corner store." Bob took a drag off his cigarette as he walked over to the car to look at the tire. "Aren't these new tires?"
"Yeah, I got them about a month ago. Remember? You were with me when I first went to look for them. I went back the next day and bought them."
"You must've picked up a nail or something."
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
Bob looked at the tire, feeling it with both hands, the cigarette hanging from his mouth, smoke seeping out. "I don't see or feel anything, but that doesn't mean much. They'll check it when they get here." Bob took another drag off the cigarette, dropped it on the ground, and stepped on it. Sabre cocked her head, raised her eyebrow, and frowned at Bob. He reached down, picked up the cigarette butt, and carried it with him as they walked back to the bench.
The tow truck took close to an hour before it arrived. The driver, a thin wiry man with mechanic's hands, stepped out of the truck. He checked Sabre's card and did the necessary paperwork. He put air in the tire and checked for leaks. "I don't see anything wrong with the tire. It could've been a slow leak, but I don't feel any air coming out anywhere."
"So I can drive on it okay?"
"Oh, yeah. It's fine. I'd take it back in where you bought it and have it checked, but it looks to me as though someone let the air out."
Sabre's heart lurched. She looked at Bob and caught a glimpse of the worrisome look on his face. "Probably some kid walking by, who just decided to have some fun at someone else's expense," she said, in an attempt to reassure herself.
It may have convinced the tow truck driver, but Bob didn't look satisfied, and neither was she. "I don't like it," Bob said. "There are just too many strange things happening to you."
"But nothing that can't be explained. It's not as if someone has shot at me or mugged me."
"No, but they may as well if they're going to scare you or annoy you to death."
"We don't even know for sure about the tire. I'll have it checked tomorrow." Sabre dismissed any thought of sabotage. She signed the paperwork, thanked the tow truck driver, and said, "Come on, Bob. Let's get out of here."
"Where are we going?"
"I need to go to the office for a little while, and then I'm going home."
"Are you sure you won't reconsider going to JP's place to stay?"
"No. I'll be fine," Sabre said, still refusing to be run out of her home. "Thanks so much for coming by to wait with me." She gave Bob a little hug and asked, "Where are you going now?"
"Back to my office. I'll be there for a couple of hours. Just call me if you need me." Bob walked with Sabre to the driver's side of her car. She got in and started the engine. The window open, Bob put his hand on the door, tapped with his finger, and said, "Lock your doors." She hit the lock button, the click sounding especially loud.
Sabre drove off, anxious to get to the office. She had wasted too much time today, and she already lagged in her work due to the hospital stay.
Elaine and Jack were still at the office when she arrived. She spoke with them briefly before going into her office. She had a multitude of phone calls to return and cases to prepare for court, so she buried herself in her files and tried to forget about everything else. When she came across a fax from the Atlanta Police Department, she called to Elaine, "What's this?"
"Oh, that came the other day. I thought you already saw it. It's the mystery page–page eight–from Peggy Smith's file. Remember, we couldn't read the one we had? This one is much clearer."
"Good, I must have missed it before. Thanks."
"I'm sorry. I thought you'd already seen it."
"Don't worry about it. It's not a problem," Sabre said.
"Okay. I'm about to leave. Is there anything you need before I go?"
"No thanks. You have a good evening. See you tomorrow."
Sabre dialed the number for Detective Carriage's office. His voice mail answered. She left a message for him to call her at home that night or in the early morning. She tried his cell phone, but it went directly to voice mail. "That's odd." She made a mental note to call his office in the morning. After putting the form inside the Murdock/Smith file, she placed it in the stack of things she planned to work on the next day, and resumed work on the cases she'd been neglecting because of her concentration on the Murdock case.
She had worked for almost another hour when Jack, the attorney in the front office, stopped in her doorway. "You ready to go, kid? Bob made me promise to chase you out when I leave. He doesn't want you staying here alone and I agree. I told Elaine the same thing; I don't want her here alone, either. That bat thing may have been a sick prank, but we don't know. If it was meant for someone in this office, it may or may not have been you."
"True, although you have to agree I'm the most likely suspect. You don't create too many enemies with your trust and estates practice, and anyone who knows David knows he's never here, especially on the weekends."
"True enough, but until we know more, we need to be careful."
"You're right. Let me just grab a few things and I'll be out of here," she said. "And, Jack . . . thanks for looking out for me."
He smiled at her with a paternal kind of smile. "Hey, I've grown fond of you, kid. I certainly don't want any harm coming your way. Besides, you've brought some life back into this office, all bubbly and enthusiastic. You keep us in stitches with your weird stories and crazy remarks."
"Thanks, I kind of like you too."
Sabre gathered up her files. Jack walked her to her car. He checked her tires. No indication of a leak. As she pulled out of the alley, she noticed a car across the street pull away from the curb and maneuver into the lane behind her. She drove straight for about three blocks and turned right. The car did the same. She made two more turns before she drove onto the freeway, continuously glancing in her rear view mirror; the car remained behind her. Sabre, alert but not scared, knew the majority of traffic was headed toward the freeway this time of night. Though the rush hour traffic had subsided a bit, the highway remained crowded, requiring some maneuvering to merge over to the middle lane. The car merged over as well. It stayed behind her for a couple of miles. Sabre, uncertain at this point if it was even the same car, decided to take the next exit off the freeway to see if the car would follow her. She changed lanes. The car did the same. Her heart beat faster. She checked her doors; they were locked. She checked her phone.
It worked. Trying not to panic, she decided if the car followed her off the freeway, she would go straight to the police department. She could call them on the way and alert them. Thank God for cell phones.
Sabre saw the sign for the next off ramp. With her blinker on, she eased off. Glancing in the rear view mirror, she saw the blinker flash on the car behind her. Someone was after her, and she had already exited off the freeway. Too late to change now. Her heart pounded as she watched the car follow her. When she reached the street, she turned right. She picked up her cell phone to dial, glanced in her mirror again, and saw the car make a left-hand turn. Sabre took a long, deep breath, made a u-turn, and drove back onto the freeway. When she reached for her water bottle she felt herself tremble. She took another deep breath and tried to calm down. She had frightened herself again, jumping at every little thing. She knew she had to get it under control. Maybe that was the plan; maybe someone was trying to keep her in constant fear. No, this is silly. I have to take my power back. I'm imagining things and making myself paranoid. That's it. I'm going home to have a nice cup of hot tea and forget about everything.
CHAPTER 21
Sabre drove to the office, looking forward to a full day to catch up on her work. Bob arrived about five minutes later, carrying two large cups of coffee.
"Good morning, Sobs." He smiled as he handed her one of the cups. "I thought you might want to start your day with a mocha – decaf, light on the coffee, extra chocolate, no whipped cream or foam – just the way you like it."
"Thanks." She took the coffee and sipped it. "It's perfect and still nice and hot. You must've read my mind." She took another drink of coffee. "So what are you doing here so bright and early this morning?"
"I knew you didn't have court and neither did I, so I thought I'd just come by to see you."
"Oh, fess up. You knew I'd be in early, and you weren't sure Jack would be here so you stopped by just in case."
"Well, that was my plan initially, but I called and Jack said you were on your way, so I decided to bring you some coffee anyway," he confessed. Bob looked at his watch. "May I use David's office for a minute? I need to make a phone call."
"Sure. Help yourself."
Sabre picked up the Murdock/Smith file and pulled out the fax she had received the day before. She read through it, not really expecting to find anything significant, when suddenly she let out a yelp. Bob dashed into her office.
"What's the matter?"
Jack ran in right behind him, "Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry. I'm fine, just startled by something I read."
Jack went back to his office, but Bob remained. "What is it, Sobs?"
"Peggy Smith has another child. I can't quite make out the name, but it looks like a girl. I wonder where she is."
Sabre reached for the phone and dialed the direct line for Detective Carriage's office. He answered it on the first ring. "Joe Carriage."
"Joe, it's Sabre Brown."
"Sabre, I'm glad you called. I planned to call you when I got in this morning, but I got tied up. You know how it is.”
"No problem," she said. "Joe, I got the page you faxed me yesterday on Peggy Smith's family history. It looks like Peggy has another child, a little girl. Do you know anything about her?"
"Just a minute; let me grab it." He found the file in the stack on his desk. "Here it is." He paused. "She's five years old, just turned five in September. It says she's living with her mother, but you're telling me she's not there?"
"No, this is the first I've heard of her. Can you make out her name?"
"It looks like Honey . . . Honey Stone."
"Honey? Are you sure it's Honey?"
"Yes, why?"
"Alexis always becomes upset when you call her 'honey.' She says things like, 'I'm not Honey' or 'Don't call me Honey.'" Sabre paused for a minute. "The letter Alexis wrote to Mattie, I saw the greeting. It read, 'Dear Honey.' I wonder if she was writing to her. And where is she? Where is Honey?"
"I don't know. I'll see what I can find out about her and call you back in a few."
Sabre hung up the phone and turned to Bob. "Did you get that?"
"Yeah. So Peggy's little girl is named Honey and right now no one knows where she is."
"Right." Sabre reached for the phone again.
"You calling Marla?"
"Yes. I'm sure she must know."
"But if she does, why haven't we seen it in any of the reports?"
"Good point." Then she murmured, "I should've read her letter."
"Sobs, I need to run to my office to pick something up. I'll be right back, okay?"
"Sure. See you in a bit." Sabre dialed Marla's number and left a message for her to call back.
Bob left her office, returning about ten minutes later with the Murdock/Smith file. Sabre was just hanging up the phone with Marla. "So what did you find out?"
"Marla didn't know anything about Honey Stone. She's looking into it right now, and she's beating herself up for missing it."
"That poor woman. She works so hard, but there's never enough time to do everything she needs to do," Bob said. He liked Marla too, and that said a lot. Bob had little respect for most of the social workers, but Marla was different – diligent and reasonable at the same time – a combination Bob found lacking in most of the others. "What about Carriage? Has he called back yet?"
"No," Sabre responded. "What's this?" she asked, as Bob lay a piece of paper in front of her.
"It's the letter Alexis wrote to her friend."
Wrinkles formed across Sabre's forehead and her eyes frowned at him. "Where did you get this? And what does it say?"
"How should I know? I haven't read it. I copied it the day I copied your Murdock report. You said you weren't going to read it, and I thought if I made a copy then you'd have it if you ever needed it."
"You're so smart. I probably should've done that, but it didn't seem right."
"Well, you're not as twisted as I am, or as jaded." He smiled at Sabre. "But keep working juvenile and it won't take long. You'll be just like me."
Sabre picked up the letter and looked up at Bob again. She still felt uncomfortable reading Alexis' private letter. Bob spoke, "Just read the damn thing, or I will."
"Okay, okay. I'll read it." She commenced reading it to herself, then started over, and read aloud so Bob could hear it too.
Dear Honey,
I'm sorry I didn't teach you your ABCs. It's all my fault.
I'm not living with father and Peggy any more. There are lots of people here. You would be safe here with me.
We have a new baby sister. Her name is Haley Murdock, like my last name. But she's real pretty like you and she can hear real good, just like Jamie.
I miss you. I love you.
XXOO
Alexis
P.S. I asked God to bring you this letter. I hope you get it. And I hope you're not too hot.
Sabre marveled at how well she wrote. Alexis was a precocious little girl. Sabre surmised everything she had written had been given a lot of thought; now she just needed to figure out what it meant.
The phone rang. It was Detective Carriage. "Hi, Joe, what did you find out?"
"Well, Honey is Peggy's daughter all right. The best I can tell, she last lived with Peggy and Gaylord. She apparently hasn't started school yet. She should've, though, based on her age. Sabre, here's the kicker."
"What's that?"
"She's deaf. Peggy's boyfriend beat her when she was two years old and caused her to lose her hearing. The son-of-a-bitch is sitting in prison, but that doesn't help Honey," Joe growled.
Some of the pieces started coming together for Sabre, but the puzzle was still far from complete. She read the letter to Joe. "For some reason, Alexis must be calling Honey 'Mattie.' She's never mentioned Honey. In fact, none of them have, as far as I know. Why wouldn't she just call her Honey? Why did she say she was her friend and not her sister? She always calls Jamie her brother."
"I don't know. I check
ed to see if a missing person's report had been filed on her. There wasn't, at least not in Atlanta, but I'm expanding the search. I also have someone checking to see if a death certificate has been filed."
"I've tried not to think of that possibility. I better be careful when I talk with Alexis." Sabre cringed. If she's not alive it could explain why no one talked about her. It might just be too painful.
"There's obviously a lot we don't know. I'll investigate further, and you'll be the first to know if I come up with anything."
"Thanks for everything, Joe. I really appreciate it."
Sabre thought she should tell him what she had learned from Ruby Sterling. Before she could, Joe spoke up, "Sabre, there are some other things I need to share with you, but right now I have to run. Just do me a favor."
"Sure, what?"
"Be careful. Don't take any chances, okay?" he said, his voice tense.
"Okay, but you're scaring me. Is there something I should know?"
"I don't really know a whole lot yet. It may be nothing and it may not even affect you. Just be cautious, okay?"
"Sure thing."
"By the way, my cell phone is working again if you need to reach me."
"Thanks, what was wrong with it?"
"Long story. Tell you next time." She heard the dial tone.
Sabre hung up the phone and shared the conversation with Bob, except the last part about being careful. It would only make Bob more nervous, and he already drove Sabre crazy with his concern for her safety.
"So what's next?"
"I need to call Marla, give her the latest bit of information, and see if she has learned anything new. I'm sure she'll be talking with Peggy and Gaylord very soon to see what they have to say," Sabre said. She drew a deep breath, "I need to talk with Alexis." She didn't cherish the thought of broaching this subject, but she wanted to talk with her before Gaylord or Peggy did, in case they were hiding something.
"Well, if you don't need me, I'm taking off. I'm meeting with a client in twenty minutes," Bob said.
"Go ahead. I'm fine. I'm going to hang out here for a few hours, do some work, and see what turns up. Then I'm going to pay a visit to Alexis. I'd like to take her out of Jordan for awhile, but ever since I spoke with her grandmother, I'm afraid to. I guess I'll just speak with her there."
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