Lost and Found: Sara Martin Series

by Danelle Helget

  “I do. I need to go to the Nisswa station with the team and get some paper work, then head back to the department and tear into this,” he said. “Do you want to stay longer or are you coming back too?”

  “I don't know,” I said, trying to process everything I'd just heard. “I guess I'll go home, too. There's really no reason to stay.”

  “Okay, let me go talk to the men quick, and you start packing. You can follow me back later.”

  I went straight to the bathroom and threw up. Then I headed to the bedroom and tossed my stuff in my suitcase. I gathered all the things from the kitchen and set the cooler by the door and then grabbed my bathroom stuff. Derek came back in and took two seconds to get his bag. He packed my stuff in my Jeep, then headed to Nisswa with the boys in tow. I paced the cabin and patio while he was gone.

  Three hours later, Derek was back. He came in and got the garbage and the litter box. I grabbed Faith and locked up.

  At my car, Derek leaned in the window, “Drive careful and stay focused on the road.”

  “I will.”

  He smiled, tapped the window sill, walked to his car and slid in.

  I followed him out of the driveway, and as we started down the road, all I could think about was poor Carrie. It had to be her. What could have happened? I called my mom and told her that I was coming home. An hour into the drive, Derek called and said that we were stopping to eat, to help us stay focused. He left me no room to argue. I thought about the fact that I had no makeup on, and I really didn't want to go out in public. He said to follow him, so I did. We pulled up to a pizza and beer joint in a tiny little town that desperately needed to have a sale on paint.

  The two SUVs from his team were in the lot when we pulled up. Derek parked on the street, so I pulled in right behind him. He got out and waited for me.

  “I'm really not hungry,” I said.

  “You have to eat. No one is hungry after a day like this, but you have to stay strong. And the boys and I are going to be pulling an all-nighter, so we need to eat,” he said, holding the door open for me.

  The place was old and in need of updating. It smelled like old smoke and stale beer. The lighting was horrible, which was good for me in my current condition. We joined the C.S. unit sitting at a big table in the middle of the room. They were the only ones there. We walked up to the table, and Derek introduced me to everyone. They were all drinking pop and said they’d ordered a few pizzas. We took off our coats and joined them. Everyone started talking about the case, and Derek told them about the research I had done the day before. He asked if he could have a copy of my notes. When the waitress brought the pizzas. I asked if they had a copy machine. She said yes and that I could use it. We ate, and it tasted surprisingly good, but I didn't have much of an appetite. When we were done, I asked Derek if I could talk to him for a second. We stepped away from the table.

  “Hey, I’d go out to my Jeep and grab my notebook, but I'm afraid of the dark. Will you walk with me?” I said, smiling. He looked at me like he was confused. “Really, I know it sounds dumb, but it's true.”

  “Okay, sweetheart,” he said. He looked amused.

  I took my notebook and met up with the waitress, she led me to the back office, and I took a copy of the five pages I’d written on and brought them to Derek. After he thanked me, we all got our jackets on, and Derek walked me to my car.

  “Follow me back to the cities, and then I'll touch base with you in the morning and let you know what we find out. If you need anything or want to talk, you have my number. Don't worry about bothering me. I'll be up for a while yet tonight. And I'll be in the office a lot this week. Just call if you need to,” he said. “Oh, and none of this information is public yet. I need you to keep it that way.”

  I stood there leaning on my Jeep. I nodded and thanked him. He put his hand on my shoulder.

  “Are you going to be okay?”

  “Yeah, I'm just tired. Thank you again for all your help and for your company,” I said. “I'll talk to you soon.”

  I angled in my Jeep and pulled out behind him. An hour and some later, I was pulling into my lot, exhausted. Faith looked tired, too. It took two trips to get everything in. I threw the food in the fridge and fell onto my bed, fully clothed and not caring. I was just about to fall asleep, when my phone rang.

  “Hey, are you busy Saturday night?” Kat asked.

  “I'm free.”

  “Keep it open,” she said and disconnected.

  I called my mom and told her I was home safe. After I turned all the lights off and climbed into bed again, I though about Kat. I should have told her, then again I wasn't sure I should. Derek said to keep quiet. Ugh, I just wanted to sleep.

  19

  I was on the hill again. It was foggy and dim. I was sitting by the cave entrance crying. I look up and saw the two ghosts. It was Lily and Carrie, both in long, white dresses. They were just standing there looking at me. They didn't say anything, just looked like they were softly smiling. Slowly they grabbed hands, turned and walked away, fading into mist as they went.

  I woke up calm. It was still dark out. I looked over at the clock. Two. My face was wet from tears, but I wasn't out of breath or scared. Faith was asleep next to me. She picked her head up and looked at me, then went back to sleep. I lay there wondering what that meant. Now I really felt that Lily was dead. With every passing day, I thought that more and more. I also wondered if I could be wrong about Jake and Mark. I didn't know what to think anymore. It didn't seem fair to even think that, I had known them so long. The facts were just so few and far between and there was no body. Where was her body if she was dead? There's no way it was Jake and Mark because they wouldn't have had time to move a body. I was only asleep for three hours, and she got in her car and left . . . ugh, I didn't know what to believe. And I didn't know what the dreams meant. So far they had panned out, so I wanted to trust them, but I didn't want to believe that Lily was dead. It was like a bad movie. I closed my eyes and tried to fall back to sleep.

  The next time I opened my eyes, it was eight-thirty. Friday already. Did I just hear my phone? I got out of bed and checked it. Two missed calls, one from Mom just checking in, the other from Kat, wondering about a lunch date. She didn't even know that I'd dropped to part time. I should probably catch her up on my week. I felt like a bad friend. There was major drama going on and I wasn't keeping her informed. Plus, I'd gotten a divorce lawyer from work, and it wasn't her. I had told her right away I didn't think she was a good idea because she was friends with Jake, too. And if the divorce got messy it would be really hard for all of us. She'd probably called because she wanted to do lunch to prep me on the events planned for Saturday night. On the rare occasion that she did get me to go out, she had it all planned, and it was usually tons of fun. I was actually looking forward to getting out and getting this mess off my mind for a bit.

  First things first, I called Kat back and told her that I'd meet her for lunch and that my mom was coming, too. We agreed on Buffalo Wild Wings at one. I jumped in the shower and did the jeans and sweatshirt look with tennis shoes and hair as usual. That's the one nice thing about my new look. I didn't have to figure out what I was going to do with my hair. I could really only wear it one way now. Limited makeup too. I wasn’t feeling up to much primping today. The whole situation had been so exhausting. I'd just gotten up and already I felt tired, and my headache was back. I tossed back some Tylenol and spent some time on the couch with Faith until it kicked in. After I ran the vacuum through the apartment, I did a once over with the glass cleaner and surface cleaner. I was quickly reminded of how big the apartment was. It didn't got nearly as dirty when it's just me.

  Next, I grabbed the number to my investor’s office and sat at my nice, new table with a pen and notebook.

  “Hi, can you transfer me to Blake Connor, please?”

  “Sure, can I tell him who's calling?” the receptionist asked.

  “Yes, it's Sara Martin.”

  “Hey,
Sara. How are you?” Blake said, in a friendly voice when he came on the line.

  “Hello, Mr. Connor,” I replied. “I'm good. How are you?”

  “Please, Sara, call me Blake. If you're calling, you must have more questions or the money came in.”

  “Both actually.”

  “Well, let's see, I'm free for lunch at twelve-thirty. We could meet somewhere and go over details,” he said. Wow, this was not what I was expecting, but sounded nice.

  “Actually, I have lunch plans with my mom and a friend,” I said.

  “How about dinner? Are you free for dinner? My treat,” he offered.

  “Ummm, yeah. I’m free. Sure. Where should I meet you and when?” I asked, smiling.

  We agreed on seven at Applebee's, which was good because I didn't want anything too formal. It almost seemed like a date. Maybe I was way out in left field. Professionals took clients out for meals all the time. I was sure he was just being nice.

  I yanked my purse onto my shoulder and headed out the door for lunch. Kat and my mom beat me there. They both were set up with tall beers, so I ordered one, too. Mom jumped right in.

  “Spill it. I want all the details about the trip, and that includes the details on the detective.”

  Kat put her glass down and almost choked on her beer. “What trip? What detective? What did I miss?”

  “Okay, “ I said, then I took a long pull on my beer. “Here's the story.”

  I spent the rest of a two hour lunch filling them in on everything from my dreams, to Reggie, to the library, to the actual cave, to the sleepover, and the emotions that fit with everything that happened. They told me I shouldn't trust Jake and Mark and agreed that I should keep my distance from both until things were figured out. Then they informed me that I was falling for Derek, to which I responded that they were wrong, but they both said they could see it in my eyes. Whatever.

  “I think you should talk to Lily's parents and tell them what you know before the police do,” Mom said.

  I thought about it. “I’ll check to see if there are any new details first.”

  “You should go there personally to check and then you could say hi to Mr. Detective,” Kat added.

  “Stop.” We all laughed, which felt good. I swore them to secrecy until further notice. Then after taking care of the bill and collecting my hugs, I drove home.

  When I got settled in, I called Derek to see about any new details.

  “Hey, Sara, how are you feeling?” he asked.

  “I'm okay, thanks. Have you got any labs back or found anything out yet?”

  “We are still waiting on the labs. They’re backed up. They told me within the hour, so I’ll let you know. We did a phone interview with Bill and Nancy Sanders this morning, and they said Carrie and her childhood friend played and walked around that area a lot, but they never knew of a cave and doubted that Carrie did either,” he said.

  “Did they seem upset?”

  “Yeah. It's never easy to ask more questions when you have no more answers for them. I told them to hang in there, that I’d call them later,” he said.

  “What about Lily's parents? Do you think I should talk to them?”

  “That might be a good idea. It’d be better coming from you than a cop they don't know,” he said.

  Derek instructed me on what I could tell them because the case was still under investigation. He also asked me to see if they knew her blood type and to call him with it right away. Otherwise he would get an order for release of her medical records.

  I jumped in my Jeep and drove to the Kowalski home. I sat down with them and told them that I had just spoken with detective Richards, and he was wondering about blood type. Debbie went to the office to see if she had it in a file. I decided not to tell them anything about my trip to the cabin. I wasn't sure where to start or stop and I didn't want to worry them if I didn't have to. I talked to them a little on what they had been doing, and they said Lily’s credit cards had not been used and her cell records had no outgoing calls since the day she left the cabin. They seriously thought that something was terribly wrong. They both looked horrible. I told them that Derek put an APB out on her car, but they hadn't had any sightings yet. Debbie gave me a copy of her medical bill from years ago that included her name and blood type. I left and told them if I learned anything new, I’d let them know. They thanked me and gave me hugs.

  I drove to the police station and walked right into Derek's office. “Here ya go.” I said, setting the paper in front of him. He hadn't seen me coming because he was busy staring at his desk and the mess of papers on it. The bulletin board to his left was even more filled up with details of Lily. He looked up at me and smiled.

  “Hey, you! You're a breath of fresh air,” he said leaning back in his chair. He looked awful.

  “Have you been here all night?” I asked.

  “Yes, but I'm heading home for a recharge in about an hour, I'm just waiting on labs,” he said, just as his phone rang. He gave me a “wait a minute” finger and pointed to the chair. I sat as he took the call. He was listening intently, then reached for the paper I’d given him, scanned it and said, “It's a match on blood type.”

  He hung up and looked at me with concerned eyes. “The blood in the cave was the same type. It’ll take a bit for DNA to confirm that it's Lily's for sure. We have her hair sample from Mark's apartment so the lab can get started right away, but we won't know for about a couple days.”

  I nodded, and he continued, “We got a search warrant for Mark’s apartment. We took information on cell and credit card records, and it showed a lot of calls back and forth between Lily and Jake starting back five months ago.” I nodded again. It felt like someone had a fist around my heart and was squeezing it.

  He moved to the chair next to me. “I'm sorry,” he said and patted my leg. “If there is anything I can do, let me know.”

  I stood up and reached for my purse. “Okay,” I said with a deep breath and a forced, tight-lipped smile. “Thanks, for telling me. Will you call as soon as you hear?”

  “I will,” he said with a small smile.

  When I walked out, the receptionist said goodbye and called me by name. I got home and watched TV for a while, not sure what to do with myself. I knew if I sat still, I'd cry, so I had to keep my mind busy. I checked my watch. Six. I went to my room and switched the sweatshirt out for a blouse with ruffles on the front. I added cute heels and jewelry, and tossed on some extra eye make-up. Voila!

  I arrived at Applebees at ten after seven and checked with the greeter. She said she hadn't seen a single guy come in for a while. I grabbed a spot at the bar, by the door and ordered a drink. While sitting there, I was trying to think of questions to asked about money stuff, in case we didn't have anything to talk about. I was kind of nervous and excited. Geez, it's not like it was a date.

  I felt a hand on my back. I turned, and it was Blake. Gosh, I could smell him already. Yum. How do men smell so good all the time?

  “Sara? Hey, you look amazing,” Blake said from over my shoulder.

  “Thank you,” I said. “So do you,” noticing he was in a black dress shirt and jeans. He'd lost the suit.

  “I changed. I hope you don't mind the business dinner being more casual. I actually hate wearing a suit,” he said with a wink.

  I smiled and giggled. “Nope, I don't mind at all. You look fine.” Mighty fine. “I didn't know where you wanted to sit, so I just grabbed a drink here.”

  “That's great. Sorry I'm late, I got stuck on the phone. How about we move to a table in the back,” he said, grabbing my drink for me and offering me his arm. I smiled and took it. Chivalry was not dead. We got a table in the back of the restaurant near a window.

  “How about we go over paperwork and enjoy a drink, then order dinner,” Blake suggested.

  “Sounds perfect.”

  We spent the next forty minutes or so talking money and strategy. I felt really comfortable with him, like I was in charge, too. We agreed
that, with a portfolio of this size, it’d be good to meet at least once a month and take a look at what was going on with the investments and make any changes we needed to make in a timely fashion.

  “Do you want to set it up month by month or set a specific day of the month?” he asked me.

  “How about the last Friday of the month,” I said with a wink.

  He smiled and suggested that we make it a dinner meeting just like tonight. We both wrote it down in our planners and then reached for our menus.

  Blake ordered a chicken pasta bowl, and I ordered the same. We were talking about his office and how long he'd been there, when I noticed Jake at the bar. I hoped he hadn't seen my Jeep in the lot. He looked really tired and appeared to be alone. I kept peeking at him and noticed that he ordered three shots of something. When they arrived, he paid the bartender. I expected him to take them to a table. Instead he shot all three in a row and walked out. What the heck? I had never seen this side of him. He must not be handling things well. Dressed in old raggedy sweats and tennis shoes and a dirty t-shirt. I hoped he was going straight home.

  When I turned my attention back to Blake. I realized he must of noticed that I was watching Jake.

  “Do you see someone you know?” he asked.

  “Yeah, but he’s gone. Sorry,” I answered. The waitress brought our food and refreshed our drinks.

  “It's okay. You just looked so sad all of a sudden,” he added. “So tell me more about yourself,” he said, taking bite.

  “Well, I was born and raised in the area,” I started. I gave him the shortened life story all the way up to college. Then I pondered continuing, I did. What the heck? I liked him and I trusted him with my life savings. Why not my life story? He listened intently, nodding here and there, tipping his head and adding puppy-dog eyes once in a while. So cute. I liked how he made me feel so comfortable, so confident, so important. I skipped all the day-to-day stuff lately and ended with a simple separation/divorce story. “And that's about it,” I said. “That's me in a nutshell,” I added with a wink.