Sisters By Choice
Page 3
Something was wrong.
Patti bit her lip and moved over to where Sabrina sat in front of a huge Victorian-style doll house. It was obvious Jamie had spared no money when she’d purchased it. It was as elegant as the house she stood in at the moment.
Sabrina looked up at Patti. “Want to play with me?”
“I do.” She eased herself down on the floor, wishing she were a bit more limber. She needed to get back to exercising regularly.
6
Patti sat on the most comfortable sofa she’d ever experienced. Money might not be able to buy love, but it sure could buy comfort.
Across the room, Sabrina still played with the huge doll house, oblivious to the adults in the room.
Anna had to know more about Jamie’s comings and goings.
“Jamie may have told you not to talk about her private concerns, but I think this constitutes an emergency.”
Instead of answering, Anna turned on the baby monitor sitting on the coffee table and stood. “I take you up to your room. You must be very tired.”
Anna walked over to Sabrina. “I be back in a few minutes, sweet baby. Then, we make dinner and eat.”
“I’m not a baby. I’m a big girl. Aunt Patti said so.” Sabrina waved goodbye to Patti and moved to the rocking chair with her baby doll.
Anna led the way down the hall. At the end of the hall, she pointed at a door. “This is the guest room, you can sleep there. Jamie is your sister. You go in her room, borrow clothes, do whatever you want.”
“Thanks, Anna.” Patti patted Anna’s shoulder. “I know you must be worried, but Jamie has always been irresponsible. I’m sure she’s fine.”
Anna looked at Patti with sorrow in her eyes. “No, she is not fine. Miss Jamie never leave Sabrina like this. And she would always call once a day when she was gone, sometimes two times in a day. Something is very wrong.” Anna’s lips thinned. “Miss Jamie is not irresponsible. It has been a long time since you see her. You do not know Miss Jamie, now.”
Patti’s stomach clenched. She didn’t want to acknowledge the truth in Anna’s words, but she was right. She had no idea what kind of mother Jamie was. Who was she to make the judgment Jamie was a bad mother?
Patti fought the overwhelming urge to explain to Anna it wasn’t her fault.
Jamie was the one who betrayed Patti, not the other way around. Her twin walked out of her life.
Instead, she agreed with her sister’s biggest fan. “I suppose you’re right, Anna.”
Anna nodded, satisfied, and scurried back to Sabrina.
Patti stood in front of the guestroom, but instead of entering, she went back to Jamie’s room. For several seconds she stood there, feeling the need to knock, but knew it was ridiculous. She opened the door and walked inside.
The room had a homey feel to it, unlike the living room downstairs. The furniture, including the bed, was a simple California Mission style with a rich oak color. The soft green wallpaper was complimented by pink curtains and carpet. There were tons of pillows on the unmade bed.
Other than the bed, the room was spotless.
Patti smiled and shook her head as she stared at the unmade mess.
Jamie hadn’t changed much.
Their mother forced them countless times to make their bed.
Jamie argued it made no sense when it would get messed up again that very night.
Patti stood in the middle of the room, not sure what to do. Maybe she could find a clue as to her sister’s whereabouts.
The computer was a logical place to start, so she walked over to the desk in the corner and booted up. While waiting for the computer, Patti rummaged through the drawers. She found the expected stamps, pens, paper clips and other such items, but nothing personal.
No address book. No pay stubs. Nothing to tell Patti where Jamie worked, or who her friends were. However, she did find a checkbook.
Patti opened the cover, and then closed it. It felt like a violation of privacy. She fingered the embossed initials and then flipped it open once again.
Patti blinked at the numbers.
Wow. What could Jamie be doing to make that kind of money?
She set it aside and continued her search. In the third drawer Patti opened, she hit the jackpot. It was stuffed full of papers. Hopefully, she’d could find a clue to Jamie’s job in the mess.
Patti pulled out the papers and put them in piles. Some were health insurance statements, while others were old bills and an assortment of documents. She came across statements from a stock company.
She shuffled through the papers until she found the most recent statement. Patti shook her head and stared at the numbers.
Her sister was a wealthy woman.
Her own savings account barely contained three thousand and she didn’t own any stocks.
Ashamed, she shrugged off the jealousy and focused on Jamie.
Among the statements was a piece of paper with a user name and password written on it.
Patti snorted.
The password was “Sabrina.” How obvious.
Patti hit the keys and within seconds, she was logged in. She looked through the document files. Having found nothing of interest in them, she searched through every file on the hard drive, but again, she found nothing to help her find Jamie.
She walked over to the closet and stuck her head in. Not a closet, but more like a dressing room. It was huge, but mostly empty. One side held shelves for shoes and purses. Most were sneakers and simple sandals with a few dressier pairs. On the opposite side hung Jamie’s clothes.
Curiosity got the best of her. Patti browsed through them. Again, nothing fancy. Considering the mansion Patti stood in, Jamie’s clothes weren’t what she expected.
She walked over to boxes sitting on the far side of the walk-in. She looked through each of the boxes and was disappointed to find nothing.
She turned to leave, but her gaze fell on a purse thrown haphazardly in the far corner.
Her stomach clenched.
Women didn’t leave their purses—for any reason. She’d heard of women running back into burning buildings to get them.
Maybe Jamie was using a different one at the moment, Patti reasoned, trying to reassure herself.
Patti opened the Gucci handbag. Just the usual things: a brush, makeup, some gum.
She opened the billfold. Her breath faltered. Inside were several credit cards and a driver’s license. The license showed the address of the house Patti was sitting in at the moment.
It was Jamie’s current purse.
Patti’s concern moved up several notches from mild anxiety to apprehension.
Why would Jamie walk out of the house without her purse or her child? She stared down at the license, barely able to breathe.
Her heart reached out to Jamie’s.
Where are you, sis? Are you in trouble?
Nothing. No answers. No connection with her twin. Tears dripped on the license she still held. It didn’t matter. She knew the answer.
Jamie hadn’t left this house willingly.
7
After Patti pulled herself together, she went to her own purse for the number the policeman had given her. What was his name? She found the note.
Carter Caldwell, Sergeant.
She would not wait until Monday morning to file a missing person report. She didn’t care about the rules. It was crucial Jamie be treated as a missing person now. Every minute her sister was gone, made it less likely…
She shook the thoughts away.
No, I refuse to think like that. Not going to do it. Only positive thoughts.
She pulled out her cell phone out and hit the numbers, hoping he’d be reasonable.
“Caldwell here.”
“Sergeant Caldwell, this is Patti Jakowski, Sabrina’s au—”
“Did your sister come back, or have you heard from her?”
“No, she didn’t come back. I was calling because I found her purse.”
“And?”
There was silence on the other end. “I see what you’re getting at, but I hardly think finding her purse indicates foul play.”
“If Jamie was on some business trip somewhere, she would need her ID. I…I don’t think she planned on leaving.”
There was a long silence. Finally he spoke. “I’m on my way, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
The detective hung up before Patti could tell him he needed to file a missing person report.
She rummaged through Jamie’s closet and picked out a simple sundress to wear.
Patti went to the guest room and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were red and swollen and her hair was a mess. She felt dirty and grimy from the airplane ride. She peeled off her clothes and jumped in the shower.
Anna knocked on the door. “The policeman is here. He said you called him.”
“Thanks, Anna.”
Patti picked up her own purse, as well as Jamie’s.
Anna waited for Patti outside the door. “Sabrina is ready for bed. Would you like to say goodnight before she falls asleep?”
Patti nodded.
Anna smiled at her. “I will be in my own room if you need me.”
“OK. Can you tell Detective Caldwell I’ll be down after I tuck Sabrina in?”
Anna nodded and walked away.
Patti couldn’t decide if the woman was upset at her for calling the detective. Probably not. It was an awkward situation for both of them.
Patti walked into Sabrina’s room. It was a room fit for a princess. It was all pink and lacy with a canopy bed. The walls had a continuous mural that extended to all four of them, with castles, a pretty garden, and princesses. A little girl’s dream of what a bedroom should be.
Jamie had made sure Sabrina had the luxuries their parents hadn’t been able to give them.
Sabrina was propped up on the bed amid a mountain of pillows with her thumb in her mouth.
“Hi, sweetie. Are you ready to go to bed?”
The little girl nodded but said nothing. Her dark brown gaze followed Patti’s movements.
“It’s been a long day, huh.”
Sabrina removed her thumb. “Where’s mommy? Her didn’t say goodbye.”
Out of the mouth of babes.
“I don’t know where she is, but you’re not to worry about it, OK? Your mommy loves you.”
Another tiny nod, but tears pooled in Sabrina’s chocolate brown eyes.
Patti leaned down and hugged her niece. Her own worry moved up another notch. “Now are you ready for a story?”
A little smile.
After Patti read two stories, Sabrina’s little eyes fluttered closed and she slept.
Patti removed the little girl’s thumb from her mouth and left the room.
She walked down the winding staircase.
In the snowy-white living room, a man stood in front of the Picasso staring intently at it. He looked over at her. “Is it real?”
Patti examined the stylized picture of a woman looking in the mirror at a reflection. It was eerie the way it reminded her of Jamie and her. They looked the same on the outside, but not the inside.
“I don’t know a thing about art.” She turned away. The painting disturbed her for some reason. “I’m Patti Jakowski, by the way.”
He turned towards her with a smile as sunny as a Florida afternoon pasted on his handsome face.
Carter Caldwell looked more like an actor playing a cop than a cop, handsome and rugged. And it was hard to miss his muscles in his tight-fitting blue polo shirt.
She glanced at his left hand. No ring. When she looked up he was watching her with intense green eyes. Her face grew warm as he grinned at her.
“So, this is quite the place, isn’t it?” He ran a hand over the marble mantle.
“Not exactly what I pictured for Jamie’s house when you called.”
“So, she didn’t buy it with old family money?”
The last time Patti saw Jamie, she’d been trying to break into the acting business. Being a waitress at a bar on Broadway didn’t pay for these kinds of houses.
“Hardly. Our parents died when we were teenagers and any money they left us was long gone before I graduated from college.”
Jamie had gone to college, but quit. One more thing she hadn’t seen through to the end.
“According to the nanny, she’s not married, so she didn’t get rich that way. Any ideas how she can afford this lifestyle?”
Patti stared at the man. Could she trust him? Should she tell him what she’d found in Jamie’s room? She made her decision. “I was looking around Jamie’s room, and I found a checkbook and some other financial accounts. If those accounts are any indication, it could be an original.” She pointed at the Picasso.
She paused, not wanting to ask the next question. “Are you thinking she might have made her money illegally?”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions, yet. We really don’t know anything at this point.”
She sat on the white leather sofa.
He sat in a chair opposite her.
Patti held up Jamie’s purse. “Something’s wrong. I know you believe it’s silly, but women don’t leave their purses behind willingly. And how can she be on a business trip without money, or ID, or credit cards. It doesn’t make sense. As far as I’m conc—”
“The police need a little more to file a missing person report than a purse that was left behind. After all, she’s an adult and—”
“The nanny insists Jamie would never leave Sabrina without saying goodbye. The security guards have no record of her leaving.” Patti took a breath and groped for her next words. “Someone must…must have made her leave. It’s the only explanation.”
“I can think of others.” He shrugged.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Your sister pays Anna’s wages. What else would you expect her to say? Of course, she’s going to defend her employer.”
She felt warm anger creeping up her neck. She opened her mouth. “You can’t just ignore the fact she seems to have disappeared into thin air.”
“I’m not ignoring it, really, I’m not. I know this is a tough situation, but waiting is always the hardest part. She’ll probably show up sometime tonight with a logical explanation of where she was.”
“So, you aren’t going to do anything about it?” Her eyes challenged him.
“I didn’t say that.” His green gaze was serious. “I’ll go back to the station and do some checking.”
****
Carter went into his office at the police station, and tripped over two books he’d forgotten to pick up earlier. He retrieved them and walked towards the bookshelf, but stopped. No room there. He had to get this place more organized, if he could only find the time.
He stacked the books on a pile of reports that also needed filing. The books slid off the pile, taking several reports with them. He shook his head. What a slob he’d become. He was sure a psychologist could explain this new behavior.
Not that it took a genius to figure it out.
With a sigh, Carter opened the computer file. Enough time may not have elapsed for a missing person report, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t do a little preliminary research.
Something felt wrong about the way Jamie Jakowski disappeared in the middle of the night—without her purse or cell phone.
Of course, there could be any number of explanations, but his mind kept thinking of the worst ones.
An old boyfriend, even Sabrina’s father, could have come back with revenge on his mind and kidnapped her.
Drugs or alcohol could be another reason.
Jamie might be an addict. She wouldn’t be the first addict to abandon a child.
Maybe, she’d been on the wagon, but as he knew too well from his d
ays in the vice squad, once an addict always an addict.
Perhaps, the pressure of being a single mother was too much for Jamie Jakowski, and she’d succumbed to an old demon.
As Carter finished filling the name and address into the missing person report, he wondered what the story was between the sisters. Twins were supposed to be close. Patti Jakowski hadn’t even known her niece existed.
He thought of Patti and her turquoise-blue eyes. He was attracted to her, but he wasn’t looking for a relationship. He didn’t need the aggravation or the pain. Besides, any woman would have to be crazy to get involved with a cop.
His thoughts went to the two sisters. Families shouldn’t stay angry at each other. Life was too short for such nonsense. One never knew when something bad would happen, and then it would be too late to repair the relationship.
He clicked the mouse on his computer. He typed in Jamie Jakowski’s name and hit the enter button. In seconds, the database came up.
Carter’s heart sank.
Jamie had been arrested a number of times, but only on misdemeanors. The charges showed a definite drug connection. No felony charges, but it didn’t mean this woman wasn’t involved in the drug business in a big way. That could explain a lot, including her million-dollar house and why she happened to be missing.
Carter sighed. Time to ask Patti some hard questions.
****
Patti paced around Jamie’s kitchen. It was hard not to compare the ultramodern, ultra-expensive kitchen to her tiny one back in Ohio.
Her nerves jangled, there was no way she’d be able to sleep. She picked up Jamie’s keys.
Anna told her she’d need the key card to get back in the gate leading out to the beach.
She opened the door, surprised at the warmth.
Turn left on the road in front of the house and it would lead to the beach. Those were Anna’s instructions when she’d asked.
Her footsteps slowed when she heard a car behind her.
Sgt. Caldwell, with his charming smile and twinkling green eyes, stepped out of the SUV. He waved and jogged towards her. He gave her another charming smile, but his tone was serious. “We need to talk.”
Patti’s stomach clenched. “I was taking a walk to calm my nerves.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The beach was less than ten minutes from Jamie’s house.