Missing - Mark Kane Mysteries - Book Five: A Private Investigator Crime Series of Murder, Mystery, Suspense & Thriller Stories...with a dash of Romance. A Murder Mystery & Suspense Thriller

by John Hemmings

  “I’m going to go take a look,” I said. “You wait here.”

  2067 was a two story duplex. It was impossible to tell from a distance whether anyone was home, but out back there was a dark gray Toyota SUV. I checked the license. If the vehicle was there it was a good bet that the regenerators were inside. I walked back to the Ford and climbed in; then I drove a few hundred yards further down the road, and dug out my cell phone.

  “We’re going to need some backup,” I said to Lucy.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  The House on Farm Road

  Shakes and Tommy pulled up alongside the Ford less than thirty minutes after I made the call. They parked their bikes and climbed into the rear seats behind Lucy and me.

  “Now listen to me guys – if this is our lucky day the assholes we’ve been looking for are in a house back there; number 2067. So here’s the plan. I’m expecting to find three guys and two girls inside. We’re going in around the back – I’ve checked the rear door and it’ll be a cinch to bust in that way. I’m not worried about the noise – the more the better probably. Lucy here has my 38. She’ll be out front just in case anyone tries to make a bolt for it. It’s not loaded but I doubt anyone will want to take a chance on that. I’ve only got two sets of cuffs, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Our job is to neutralize them and then call the sheriff to take over. We could call the sheriff now to get some boys over here but that’s not the way I want to play it. I may want a word or two with those assholes first. I don’t want any rough stuff – at least no more than’s absolutely necessary. We’re not here on some kind of vendetta, we’re here to make a citizen’s arrest and secure the scene. I’ve no reason to believe that any of them are likely to be armed, and from experience I can tell you that when you have the element of surprise on your side there’s unlikely to be much resistance. Any questions?”

  No-one had any questions. Nobody said anything.

  “Okay, Shakes, Tommy follow me down there. The house is on a corner, so just past the house we’ll make a right and park about a hundred yards down.

  Tommy and Shakes got out. I did a U-turn and drove back down the road. Just past the house I made a right turn, drove past the rear driveway and pulled over to the curb-side, level with the end of the lot; Shakes and Tommy pulled up on their bikes behind me.

  “Okay Lucy,” I said. “As soon as we make our move towards the rear door I want you to drive around and park out front. Stay in the car, roll down the window and watch the door. If anybody comes through the door you know what to do. Just like we practiced, okay.”

  Lucy took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Okay, I’m ready,” she said.

  I got out of the car and was walking towards Shakes and Tommy when the rear door of the house opened and two men walked out and climbed into the Toyota. I recognized Charlie as he climbed into the driver’s seat. As the Toyota left the driveway it turned left towards Farm Road and then right in the direction of Springfield.

  “Change of plan, guys,” I said to my Scouts. “Follow them and the first chance you get call 911. I want both of you on their tail in case they split up someplace. I don’t want to lose anybody, got it? I’ll handle everything here.”

  Tommy and Shakes climbed onto their Harleys and in a near-deafening roar they were gone.

  “911, okay?” I shouted after them as they sped off in a cloud of dust, but my voice was swallowed by the roar of the Harleys.

  Lucy slid over into the driver’s seat. “Please be careful,” she said to me through the open window. I blew her a kiss as I headed for the back door and the Ford pulled out and disappeared around the corner.

  I walked up to the back door and peered through the adjacent window into an empty kitchen. The kitchen door was slightly ajar. I pulled open the screen, turned the door handle and stepped inside, into the total silence of what appeared to be an empty house. I walked over and pushed open the kitchen door. There was a narrow hallway leading to the front door and a room on either side. The door to the room on the left was closed. I opened it and looked inside. It was empty apart from a few sticks of furniture. I pushed open the other door. Doren was asleep on the couch. I walked over and stared at him for a moment and then leaned over and slapped him hard on the side of his face. He sprung up into a sitting position.

  “Jesus,” he said, rubbing his cheek, “What the…”

  “Get up and put your hands against the wall,” I said.

  “Who the hell are…?”

  “Get up and put your hands against the wall,” I said. “Don’t make me say it again.”

  He was shaking. I stepped back a couple of paces and he stood facing me.

  “Look man, I…”

  “Don’t make me say it again.”

  He turned and put his hands against the wall. I pulled back his right arm and cuffed his wrist and then I took hold of his other arm and cuffed his wrists together. I turned him around and pushed him back onto the couch.

  “What do you want, man?”

  “Where are the girls?” I said.

  “What girls? I’m here alone man. Ain’t nobody else here.”

  I walked out of the room, opened the front door and waved to Lucy. I beckoned her to come inside.

  I walked back into the living room. Lucy came in a few seconds later.

  “Lucy, go take a look upstairs,” I said.

  After a few minutes she was back. “There’s nobody else in the house,” she said. “The basement door’s locked though.”

  “Where’s the key to the basement?” I said, to the forlorn figure on the couch.

  “I don’t know, man; I don’t live here I just…”

  “I know almost as much about you as your mother does, Doren – now where’s the goddam key?”

  At the mention of his name his demeanor changed as suddenly as a stop light.

  “It was Charlie man, it was all Charlie, I…”

  “Save it,” I said. “Where’s the key?”

  “It’s hanging over the refrigerator. Look man you gotta believe me…”

  “Watch him Lucy,” I said.

  Lucy pulled out the 38 and aimed the empty gun at his stomach. I walked out to the kitchen and lifted the key off its hook. I walked over to the basement door and opened it. There was a steep flight of stairs leading down, and at the bottom of the stairs was another door. I put the same key in the door and opened it. It was pitch black inside. There was a light switch outside the door and I flipped it on. I found myself looking into a room which was empty apart from a bed against the far wall. Sitting on the bed was a young girl with her mouth slightly open and an expression which may have been surprise or shock or fear or a combination of all three. The girl had long brown hair, elfin features and eyes the color of an Arctic sky.

  I smiled at her. “Hello Marisa,” I said.

  *

  I walked over and took her by the hand. “Your dad’s been worried about you,” I said. “You missed his birthday call. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

  She got up from the bed and her knees buckled slightly. I steadied her.

  “You okay?” I said. “You’ve had quite an adventure.”

  “Who are you?” she said.

  “A friend; come on.”

  She walked past me and up the flight of stairs into the kitchen. I called out to Lucy and she came into the kitchen, the gun hanging loosely by her side and stopped in her tracks. “Marisa,” she said.

  “This is Lucy,” I said. “She’s my assistant − we’ve been looking for you for a long time.” I took the gun from Lucy. “You won’t need that anymore,” I said. “I want you to take Marisa to the hospital.”

  “No, I’m okay,” Marisa said.

  “I’m sure you’re just fine,” I said. “But I think you should go anyway. Lucy will stay there with you and I’ll be over to see you later. Okay?”

  “Okay, thanks,” she said.

  “I’m going to call
the sheriff,” I said to Lucy. “They’ll want me to make a statement so I’ll need to go back to the sheriff’s office. Might take some time, but I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

  Lucy was smiling broadly, but she had tears in her eyes too. “Come on kid, let’s go,” she said, and they disappeared through the front door.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Honorary Scouts

  It was after six by the time I arrived at the Ozarks Community Hospital on North National Avenue and Marisa was already tucked up in bed. She had been examined thoroughly and apart from mild dehydration was found to be fit and healthy, but it was nevertheless decided that she should spend a precautionary night in the hospital.

  Shakes and Tommy had grabbed Charlie and Max outside a local delicatessen and detained them until the police arrived. Charlie had lost a couple of teeth in the process.

  “He resisted arrest,” Tommy explained to the sheriff.

  I saw them at the sheriff’s office and told them the good news about Marisa. I hadn’t told them earlier about the finding of remains which were suspected to be Marisa’s. I needed level heads and, remembering what Tommy had said about his temper, I’d been concerned about Tommy’s reaction to the news. In the circumstances I think it was a wise decision on my part.

  “I haven’t called your dad yet,” I said to Marisa, “but we’ll do that just as soon as we get back to the hotel. We’re going to leave you in peace now, but we’ll be back tomorrow to pick you up when you’re discharged. You’ll be flying back to Boston with us, but the police are going to want to take a statement from you tomorrow, so we’ll probably book a flight for the day after. Jillian’s going to pick up Vicky tomorrow afternoon from the hospital in Clinton and she’d like you to spend tomorrow night at her place with Vicky – okay?”

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said. “It’s still like a dream. But I’m lucky, I guess. You know it’s my fault, what happened to Bliss and Serene. I can’t get it out of my head. They were just ordinary girls; they didn’t deserve to die like that.”

  I hadn’t intended to ask Marisa about her ordeal. It was a matter for the police now and I thought she’d already been through enough, but I needed to know.

  “What happened to them, Marisa?”

  “When we came back…after they took me to call Jillian…” Tears suddenly welled up in Marisa’s eyes.

  “It’s okay Marisa. Whatever happened wasn’t your fault,” I said.

  “Charlie was furious – he went crazy. He thought they’d let Vicky go. I didn’t tell him they’d been drugged; it wasn’t their fault. I was still thinking that maybe I could use the drug again to make my own escape. Then afterwards he went out to buy gasoline and when he came back he told everybody that they had to burn the place. He told Bliss and Serene to go down to the basement to douse everything in gas; then he just tossed a match down there…it was horrible. I can still hear their screams. I’ll never forget those screams.”

  “You’ve been though a dreadful ordeal and it’s still raw,” I said. “But life goes on, Marisa and gradually you’ll come to terms with it. I’ve seen some terrible things in my life too, and my own father had to cope with dreadful things he witnessed in Vietnam, but the brain has ways of helping us all to cope and in time you’ll learn how to deal with those memories. And you must balance things in your mind too. You couldn’t possibly have anticipated what Charlie would do. You were understandably thinking of your own safety. And Vicky’s probably alive today only because of your help, you mustn’t ever forget that.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “It’s been torturing me –even more than my own situation.”

  “You get some rest now and we’ll see you tomorrow,” Lucy said.

  Back at our old hotel I called Dean Roberts. I was relieved when Timpson answered the phone. “Ah, Mr. Kane, I’ll put you though to Mr. Roberts.”

  “No, it’s you I want to talk to. I’ve called to tell you that we’ve found Marisa and she’s safe and sound. I’d like you to pass the message to Mr. Roberts if you would. He’s not a well man, Timpson, and even good news can be a shock to the system. I think it better that you deal with it if you don’t mind.”

  “It will be my pleasure, sir.”

  “Marisa’s in the hospital for the night – it’s strictly routine and I assure you she’s fine. If you have a pen, I’ll give you the number to call. We expect to be back in Boston the day after tomorrow.”

  “Very good, sir; I’ll let Mr. Roberts know.”

  “Did you really think that Marisa was dead when we left Clinton this afternoon?” Lucy said after I hung up.

  “Yes, I did – though I was still hoping against hope that I was wrong.”

  “Somehow I didn’t believe it,” Lucy said. “Even then. I could sort of sense that she was still alive.”

  “Maybe you’re clairvoyant,” I said.

  “That’d be a good name for an actress, don’t you think?” she said, as she disappeared into the bathroom.

  “What?”

  “Clare Voyant.”

  Lucy came back into the bedroom to dry her hair.

  “I wonder why they let Marisa live,” she said.

  “I was wondering about that myself. Perhaps we’ll find out more once the police have interviewed Charlie and his brothers.”

  “His brothers?”

  “Oh yes, I forgot to tell you. Charlie, Doren and Max are brothers. Charlie’s the oldest apparently. It may be that the younger brothers mediated on her behalf. From what Vicky told us Charlie was the real badass. And then I guess in Charlie’s eyes she’d done nothing to deserve to die. In Charlie’s warped mind the girls had double-crossed him; he didn’t know they’d been drugged. But I think it may be simpler than that. If Charlie believed that Bliss and Serene were complicit in Vicky’s escape, then he must have been worried what their next move would be. After all, if they’d helped Vicky escape, knowing she’d go to the police, then Charlie must have considered them a real risk to his safety. He wouldn’t have been concerned about his brothers. Apart from being family they were apparently firmly under his control; and he wouldn’t be worried about Marisa because she was firmly under his control as well – although in a different way. He may have seen the girls as loose cannons. From the little I know about Charlie I suspect that his actions were carefully considered rather than the result of a sudden fit of pique.”

  “But that degree of ruthlessness would cast doubt on Sally Bowman’s opinion that they only used willing donors for their transplants wouldn’t it?”

  “Well we may find out more when the police investigation’s complete. I reckon Doren will be chomping at the bit to tell everything he knows to try and divert blame from himself. After all, from what Marisa told us neither he nor Max were involved in the murder of Bliss and Serene."

  During our meal with Jillian, Shakes, Tommy and Jacky, I thought what an important part our dinner companions had played in bringing Marisa home. And chance, that elusive element, had played an important part too: the picture that Marisa had sent to Jacky; the cryptic call from Marisa which almost went unnoticed; the discovery of Cindy’s body which led us to Clinton and Vicky; and Fooks, because by chance Lucy had seen a movie about a hypnotist. But four women had needlessly died, maybe more for all I knew.

  “Do you think Marisa and Vicky will be alright now?” Jillian said. “Even though they’re safe their ordeal is likely to haunt them for a long time to come.”

  “I’m more worried about Vicky than Marisa,” I said. “Marisa has a loving father and a comfortable home to return to and college or a career to focus on. Vicky has none of those things.”

  “Well she’s welcome to stay with us as long as she likes,” Shakes said.

  “It’s a shame Marisa can’t stick around a while longer,” Tommy said. “She’s a great kid.”

  “She’s got a father who dotes on her and can’t wait to be reunited,” I said. “But I’m sure she�
�ll want to come back and see you guys sometime.”

  Our celebration dinner was a great success, and culminated in Lucy and I being made honorary Scouts.

  “Do you think that means I’ll have to get a tattoo?” Lucy said as she drove us back to the hotel.

  “I think that’s only de rigueur for fully-fledged members,” I said.

  Chapter Thirty

  The Complaint

  It was a week after our return from Springfield and we’d just got back from morning tea with Dean Roberts and his daughters.

  “I send you off to find my missing daughter,” he said, “and you bring me back two. What man could ask for more than that?”

  It had been Marisa’s idea, warmly embraced by her father.

  “Vicky needs to put down some roots,” Marisa said. “She’s never really had a proper family so I want her to be part of ours now.”

  Dean Roberts thought this a wonderful idea and was already making plans to find a college for her to attend and making inquiries about a formal adoption.

  “So I’ll have a sister,” Marisa said. “How cool is that?”

  Vicky was overwhelmed at first but had gratefully accepted the kind offer.

  As for the police investigation Max and Doren were heaping all the blame on their elder brother, as I’d expected, and Charlie had offered to give up the surgeon who’d operated on the dead girls in an attempt to escape the death penalty. That matter was still under consideration but was likely to be accepted in the circumstances. If so it would result in a plea of guilty by Charlie and perhaps Vicky and Marisa would be spared the ordeal of having to testify in court. Time would tell.

  As I was thinking about all these things and Lucy was cooking lunch for us both in my kitchen my cell phone rang.

  “Hello, Kane,” I said.

  “It’s Florence Cartwright,” a voice said, somewhat indignantly.

  “How may I help you Mrs. Cartwright?”

  “Help me? You can’t help me. I’m calling to make a complaint.”