by Lisa Olsen
“Why did you guys break up, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Actually, I do mind,” he replied with a slightly bewildered smile. “Miss Morgan, I’m doing my best to take a missing person’s report and I think you’ve asked almost as many questions as I have. Did you want to take over?” Gabriel thrust the notebook in her direction.
“No, you’re doing a bang up job so far.” Lexi kept her hands neatly folded in her lap, though she was a little curious as to what he’d scribbled down in that little book about her family. “I noticed you called it a report though and not an investigation. Do we have to wait forty-eight hours or something until it’s considered an investigation?” She could see in his face that he wasn’t used to getting such direct questions in his line of work, but she couldn’t help it. “I’m sorry, I know this is old hat to you but this is my first missing person. Even if it is a tool like Neil, Allie wants him back, so…”
This time his smile was a little easier and he tucked away the notebook with a sigh. “No, you can report someone missing at any time; it doesn’t have to be forty-eight hours from the time he’s missed. The thing is, it’s not a crime for a guy to stay away for a while or even decide not to come home ever again. Without any signs of foul play, there’s not a whole lot I can do. Normally a call like this would get a uniform out here to ask a few questions, we’d file a report and that’s pretty much the end of it, there’s not even a follow up with a detective. The only reason I responded was because I recognized Neil’s name when the call came through and I was in the area, so I thought I’d check it out. I didn’t even remember that Allie married him,” he spread his hands. “I tried explaining that to your sister but…”
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like news she wanted to hear.” Lexi chewed on her bottom lip, eyes shifting when Allison returned to the living room.
“I don’t think any of his clothes are missing, I was careful going through everything though, just in case,” Allie addressed Lexi directly before turning to the detective. “I don’t know how to check about the bank account though; I can’t remember the online password.”
“Oh Allie…” Lexi groaned, how could anyone be so clueless?
“What? Neil handles all of the finances; I can’t remember the last time I had to get into any of that stuff.”
“If you call the bank they should be able to assist you with that,” Gabriel supplied helpfully.
“But I don’t know the account numbers…”
Lexi resisted the urge to facepalm, forcing a neutral smile to her face. “We’ll figure it out Allie, I’ll help you, okay?” There had to be a paper trail around the house somewhere to dig into that stuff, and if not, calling the bank should do the trick like Detective Ryan recommended.
Allison gave her a grateful smile, “Thanks Lexi, you’re so good at those kinds of things.”
Lexi bit back the sarcastic retort that leapt to her lips, leaving the bland smile there while the detective got to his feet. Now that he stood she could see just how tall he was, easily over six feet which meant he would tower over her five foot four frame but he was well matched to Allie’s five seven height. Once again she wondered what things would have been like if her sister had married someone she could get along with reasonably well. But then again, it was probably for the best that her brother in law wasn’t someone she could drool over…
Detective Ryan was all business now that Allison rejoined them, no sign of that laid back quality in the set of his impressive shoulders. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ve got the list of Neil’s friends and associates; I’ll make a few calls and see if I can come up with anything, okay?”
“And you’ll call me? Either way, whether you find anything or not?” Allie pressed.
“I will,” he nodded, edging towards the door and Lexi took pity on him.
“Okay, thanks; we’ve got it from here. I’ll see the detective out and I’ll be right back Allie,” she smiled, scooting past him to the front door before she spoke again. “Thanks again for the help, Detective. It’s really nice of you to offer to call around, but I can do that too if you’re busy.”
“It’s no trouble, a few calls won’t take up much of my day,” he shrugged it off. “I have to say I’m a little surprised to see you pitching in so eagerly to track him down though,” Ryan paused on the front porch.
“Yeah well, she’s my sister. Sure he’s an asshat, but he’s her asshat,” she gave him a lopsided grin. “Besides, if he skipped out on her I wanna know before he cleans out the bank account.”
Gabriel’s smile was back as she followed him out onto the porch. Turning to lean a little closer to her, he dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “You know, off the record, I always thought Neil was kind of a tool too, but I think I like asshat better. Let’s hope for your sister’s sake he comes back in one piece though.”
Lexi stared after him for a moment, at a loss for words. “Are you sure about that? That would leave Allie off the market,” she called after him.
“She’s not my type,” he replied with a wink so fast she thought she might have imagined it. The question remained, just who was his type?
Chapter Two
“Allie?” Now that Ryan was gone, they could get down to the real reason she’d been summoned.
“Lexi, you have to find him, I don’t know what I’ll do if something bad really happened to Neil. God, how am I going to tell Chloe?” The tears were already starting to fall and Lexi pulled her into a hug, knowing from experience not to even bother offering words of comfort until the storm subsided.
When the worst of the sobs faded, she tried reason. “Allie, it’s gonna be okay. Like I said, you would have heard by now if he’d been in an accident.”
“But what if he bumped his head and has amnesia?”
Yeah cause that happened every day… “Then they’ll check his wallet or run the plates on the Audi or Detective Ryan will find him in the hospital as a John Doe, right? Hey, speaking of hot detectives, how random was that running into him again? I can’t believe you dumped that guy.”
“Oh Lexi, that was a hundred years ago, I can’t even remember why it didn’t work out.” Allison had dated pretty steadily through high school, never without a boyfriend for very long. Lexi by contrast had not gone on a real date until college. Considering some of the losers Allie went out with, Lexi almost thought she’d gotten the better bargain.
“How soon till Chloe gets home?” Lexi asked, getting them back on task again.
“She’s got gymnastics after school, so not until six thirty,” Allie sniffed.
Wanting to stem off another flow of tears, Lexi let go of her, preferring to get it over with. While most of the time she didn’t mind using her ability, in fact sometimes it was even entertaining, Neil wasn’t her favorite subject. “Okay, that should give me plenty of time. I’ll start in his bedroom, that should have the most recent contact. Unless you think I should start in the den?”
Allie shook her head, “No, you’re right, the bedroom is best. I think it’s been a few days since he spent any time in the den. I could give you the remote though; he holds that a lot while he’s watching TV.”
“No thanks, all I’ll probably get from that is what he’s thinking about beer commercials,” Lexi shot her a quick grin. “I’ll start upstairs, why don’t you go look on his desk for any bank statements?” Allie nodded, withdrawing to the den.
It didn’t give Lexi much pleasure to wander through the house on her own. Not that she objected to older houses; the old Victorian she shared with Paul and Maddie was in a constant state of disrepair and Allie’s house was in much better shape cosmetically by comparison. Peeling wallpaper, exposed plumbing, the constant smell of paint stripper; those were all things she’d gotten used to at her own place, but something about this house… Even with all the windows the place seemed gloomy. Maybe it was the canopy of shade from the mature trees on the property, or the fading paint on the walls, but Lexi never felt co
mpletely comfortable there. She’d always chalked it up to her difficulties with Neil, but even now with him nowhere in sight, she felt uneasy.
The master bedroom was to the left at the top of the stairs, a guest room and Chloe’s room to the right with a bathroom in between. Despite the faded structure, her sister’s decorative touches were evident in the master, the crisp white linens and colorful throw pillows brightened the room considerably, as did the fresh flowers carefully arranged on the bedside tables. One thing you could say about Allie, she did try to set the stage for a peaceful home. Too bad it was a guarantee that Neil never noticed any of it.
Built before the concept of walk in closets, an entire wall had been renovated in a deep mahogany to match the wainscoting, providing plenty of storage space, giving them each hanging and drawer space. Neil’s shirts were arranged by color from light to dark, as were the suits. Shoes lay neatly arranged in little cubbies built expressly for that purpose.
Tugging off her gloves, Lexi stuffed them in her back pocket, out of the way while she got to work. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, she closed her eyes as her hand connected with the shirt sleeve directly in front of her. As always, the corresponding blur of images washed over her quickly and she let them go without trying to decipher them, opening her eyes as she tried to find the uppermost layer of memory on the material. Staring sightlessly ahead, focused inward, Lexi got an image of Allison hanging the clean shirt on the hangar, putting away the laundry.
Digging deeper, Lexi peeled back another layer of memory, getting images of Neil getting ready for work. After spending a few more seconds pushing back farther, she was treated to boring scenes of him at work, but nothing to give any clue as to what happened to him or where he was now.
That was the problem with trying to read a random object like a piece of clothing. Without any real strong connection to the object, she wouldn’t get much more than surface thoughts or scenes. If she had something like his watch or wedding ring, something that he wore every day, there was a good chance she could get a much stronger picture, maybe even a connection to where he was in the present, not just the past.
But Lexi doggedly worked her way through the closet, hoping that she’d stumble upon something more interesting than watching Neil surf the net at work. When a break finally came, she was so shocked, that she actually let go of the belt she’d grabbed hold of, breaking the connection. The image of a blonde woman fumbling with the belt buckle still burned bright in her mind though and Lexi forced herself to take hold of the belt again to see what she could learn. It was easier to hone in on the images this time, now that she knew where to look for them, so to speak.
Mouths crashed against each other, hands roaming boldly; he knew what she liked. In the middle of the day at the office was tricky but that lent some of the thrill of discovery. Neil sprawled in his chair with the blonde sitting across his lap, dropping his hand lower to slip under the tight fitting skirt that drove him nuts.
“Ah, ah, ah, not so fast…” she clamped her hand over his, drawing it up to her warm, waiting mouth.
A thrill went through him as her tongue snaked around his finger. “Don’t make me beg, Monica.”
“You promised we’d go out today,” she pouted prettily.
“We will, we will, but if I don’t have you soon, I’m gonna die…” It was all he could do to keep from bending her over the desk whether she wanted him to or not.
Monica’s hands moved lower, making him groan. “Well, we wouldn’t want that, now would we?” Slinking down to the floor with an arch smile, she knelt between his legs…
Lexi pulled herself from the vision with a start, cheeks flaming as she struggled to catch her breath. Sometimes it was like that, caught in her own private picture show, experiencing things from the point of view of whoever owned the object she was holding. Instead of fuzzy images or vague feelings, she was treated to a feast for all the senses, in bright Technicolor with surround sound and more. In this instance, it was enough to make her feel sick to her stomach to have shared what Neil was up to with that Monica at the office.
“Allie’s gonna kill me,” she sighed, stepping away from the closet to run her fingers through her hair. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d told someone something they didn’t want to hear, only to have them blame the messenger. The sick feeling stuck with her as she sat down on the bed; could Neil really have run off with another woman without even so much as saying goodbye to his wife and daughter? She knew he was a scumbag, but that seemed cold and callous even for him.
But then again, she’d learned not to read too much into any one single vision; out of context, it rarely gave the entire picture. Staring down at her hands that lay upturned on her lap, she reached out to touch the coverlet on the bed, centering herself to try again. Images of Allie tossing and turning in the bed were fairly steady and regular, along with Neil sleeping soundly beside her. Methodically she worked her way back through the layers of memory, trying to steel herself for any sign of bedroom activity other than sleeping, but there didn’t seem to be any lovin’ going on, at least in that bed. Lexi was just about to give up when she stumbled upon an argument between husband and wife.
Neil sat on the edge of the bed while Allison clutched the coverlet, knuckles standing out white from her tight grip. “Answer me!”
“I was working late,” Neil replied, his voice devoid of inflection.
That’s what he always said… “I just don’t understand why you have to be at the office so late? You’re the VP of Sales, what clients are still in the office at ten pm?”
“You obviously don’t know anything about how sales work. During the day I’m in the office, but sometimes at night I have to take clients out and get a drink or two into them before they’re ready to sign on the dotted line.”
She hated it when he talked to her like that, as if she was a child, incapable of understanding. “Yes, sometimes, but you’ve been staying out more and more…”
“I told you, I’m trying to put together a big deal right now and we can really use the money. Chloe’s braces don’t exactly grow on trees, you know. And you wanted a master bathroom added to this place too, don’t forget that.” Neil tossed his dirty clothes in a heap on the floor beside the bed.
“I’d rather have you around more and shower out in the hall bathroom,” Allison replied glumly, her eyes on his back. He wouldn’t even look at her anymore. How could she know if he was telling her the truth if he wouldn’t look her in the eyes?
“Look, it’s not for too much longer.” Neil turned and pulled back his covers, climbing into bed with a tired groan. “I’m doing this for us, you know. All of us.” Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“I know,” her eyes slid shut at that kiss, some of the worry slipping away at the tender touch. “I know you are, and I’m sorry, I just miss you.”
“I know, I miss you too. Just… you gotta stop nagging me about every little thing, okay? You’re driving me nuts. One of these days, I’m just gonna snap,” he sighed.
Was that what happened? Had Neil snapped? As Lexi tugged her gloves back on, she struggled with what she should and shouldn’t tell her sister about what she’d seen. Without real proof as to why Neil had gone missing, would it do any good to clue her in to his affairs? It might not have anything to do with his disappearance at all. But didn’t she owe it to her sister to tell her what a rat bastard she’d married in case she wanted to divorce him? Not that her visions were exactly admissible in divorce court, but Allie might want to at least start gathering evidence against him. But knowing her sister, she would probably want to make excuses for him, or wait for him to come up with an explanation as to how it wasn’t his fault. Maybe it was better to wait and gather concrete evidence before she told Allison what she knew?
At the end of the day, Lexi knew her reluctance to spill the beans stemmed more from her cowardice than anything else, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell Allie about the blonde coworker.
As she came down the stairs, she put on her best game face, heading straight for the den where her sister sat behind the massive wooden desk. “Hey, did you find anything useful?”
“I don’t know, there’s a stack of statements, but nothing that looks like it’s a password,” Allie replied. “What about you though, what did you find?”
Her sister looked scared, like she was half afraid of what Lexi might say, so she offered her most reassuring smile. “I wasn’t able to get a line on what he’s currently doing, sorry.” Not a lie…
“You didn’t pick up anything at all?”
“Oh no, I picked up plenty but it was all him at work,” not a lie, “nothing that tells me where he is now,” also not a lie.
“Oh,” defeat crumpled her features.
“If I had his watch or his wallet I might be able to get more. I’m sorry sis,” Lexi came around the desk to wrap her arms around Allison. “I’m sure he’ll turn up soon though.” Only the good die young. “Now, about these bank records…”
For the next half hour, Lexi pored over the bank statements with her, trying to make some sense out of the accounts they held together. In the end, they had to call the bank, explaining the situation to three different people before they would give her the account balance and confirm that there had been no large cash withdrawals in the past couple of weeks.
“See, that’s a good sign,” Lexi soothed her, thinking maybe there was still time to safeguard some of her assets.
“How is that good? It just proves something awful happened to him,” Allison groaned, head resting in her hands as she massaged her temples.
“Why don’t you go lie down for a little while? Try and get some rest? I’m betting you didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night, am I right?”
“I was up pretty late once I realized he hadn’t come home yet,” Allie nodded. “Do you think you could pick Chloe up from gymnastics for me? I want to be here in case Neil calls.”
