“Like what?”
“How long has this pity party been going on for?”
“Quite sometime.”
“Can I ask why?”
Ryan looked in Tracy’s direction with a confused look on his face. He was not sure what she meant and he simply raised his eyebrows at the question.
“What do you mean?”
“Why on earth are you mourning for that wicked witch?”
“That wicked witch, Tracy, was the mother of my two very beautiful kids.”
“Now I get it,” Tracy let out a sarcastic chuckle before going on. “You mourn because somewhere in the pit of your stomach, you pray that neither of your kids got Rita’s wicked fiber.”
Ryan took a moment to decide whether or not he should take offence at the statement but simmered on the words before taking another sip from his glass. He saw the sense in it and did not comment on Tracy’s words. He however turned his attention to her and gave her a searching look.
“Why are you here?”
“You know why I am here.”
“No, Tracy, I don’t.”
Tracy moved closer to him and formed a half-seductive smile showing her stained teeth. Ryan could not help but notice how much she had changed – she looked older, tired and far less attractive than he remembered her.
“Can I ask you something, Tracy?”
“Shoot.”
“What happened to you?”
“What the hell do you mean?”
“You look different, totally beat down, not the Tracy I remember. You look tired and resigned.”
“I know.”
“Then what happened to you?”
“A lot.Life,” Tracy answered before moving closer to Ryan and letting her hand rest on his left thigh. She waited for him to react and push it off but Ryan did nothing about it. She then proceeded to stroke his thigh, her hand running up and down it in a simple rhythm and Ryan still did not react. She looked him straight in the eye and moved closer to him. She let her lips touch his and loved how she could feel him breathe in and out. There was still no reaction from him and she decided not to move from her position.
Ryan out of nowhere grabbed her and pinned her down on her back; he then went on to plant a kiss on her waiting lips as his hands travelled over her body. He cupped her sloppy breasts in his hands as he went to kiss her; he pulled back for a few seconds before nibbling on her neck as his other hand travelled down to her pelvic region and spread her legs apart.
“Ryan, I have missed you,” Tracy mourned.
These words that escaped her mouth had an opposite reaction from what Tracy had expected. Ryan sat up on his side of the sofa and all of a sudden looked withdrawn. He indulged in a calculated silence and threw a side glance at Tracy who was still looking at him expectantly.
“Why the hell did you stop?”
“I don’t know.”
Tracy looked at the expression on his face and recognized it. She had seen it one too many times and had sometimes envied it.
“I know why you did,” she said as she got to her feet. “You still love her. You always did.”
“Tracy.”
“Shut up,” Tracy barked. “And you know what? I wish you never find her body! That bitch deserves everything that is coming her way.”
“Tracy.”
Ryan tried to call after her but she was many steps ahead of him. Given that he had not eaten the night before and had woken up to a glass of scotch, he was slightly imbalanced and slow. He could not grab her by the arm and try to stop her from walking out the door as he wanted. The thundering slam of the door sobered him for a good two seconds and he let his weight drop to the cold floor. He did not know what was wrong with him this time, he could not really tell which emotion to give in to. He however could not doubt one thing: he loved the kiss he had shared with Tracy and hoped it was not the liquor thinking for him.
****
Sam sat in his office with his partner and went over the files in front of him. Lohan was watching a funny clip of a cat playing the piano on his computer while gobbling down a sandwich. He let out a few chuckles as he replayed it a few more times before looking in Sam’s direction.
“You seem to have a lot on your mind today,” he commented.
“I do,” Sam said.
“Care to share?”
“I don’t know, you seem to be quite busy over there,” Sam answered teasingly.
“I was,” he confirmed in an equally teasing tone. “But that does not mean I can’t squeeze in a few seconds for you.”
“Okay, here goes. I am looking at Rita’s personal file and there is something here that doesn’t make any sense.”
“What’s that?”
“There is somewhere she was going every Wednesday at 2:00pm but I just can’t figure out where.”
“Have you tried pulling her credit card records?”
“Yes, I have but there is nothing here that says she paid for a service every Wednesday at the time in question.”
“What do you think she was doing at that time?” Lohan asked curiously but he was not taking it as seriously as Sam was.
“I have ruled out an affair because she was divorced and wouldn’t bother hiding the fact that she was seeing a man.”
“Okay, what else have you thought of?”
“I don’t know, maybe a spa, trying to get her own time and breathing space.”
“That can’t be it, not for a mother of two in this harsh economic reality. Remember it has to be something she is ashamed of enough not to let it be on the books.”
“Therapist,” Sam said excitedly.
“That could be it, but why would you suspect that?”
“After meeting her sister Tracy and hearing about Rita’s wicked witch testimonials, I think that might be it.”
“Well done, Sam” Lohan answered. “Now you only have to look for the few places in the city that offer private therapy sessions.”
“That should not be hard,” Sam answered with a wide smile spread on his face.
“Technology has really made detective work easier on you guys these days. Back in the day we used to do the real detective work where we would go out in the field and had to be smart about getting information,” Lohan complained. “But now, information is simply a click away.”
“What’s so wrong with that?”
“It limits your creativity, my friend,” Lohan went on. “Did I tell you about the time we had to be regular clients in a brothel so that we could get to the bottom of a case?”
“I think you may have mentioned it.”
“See what I mean?Those were the days when people would get real work done,” Lohan went on to say.
“It sounds like you had a lovely time at the brothel,” Sam said before throwing a look in Lohan’s direction and going on. “I think I have narrowed down the two places within the vicinity that actually offer private therapy sessions.”
“See what I mean?” Lohan started to complain. “The internet has totally changed the investigation game.”
“I think I will go find out about this for myself. Do you care to join me?”
“No, I am busy looking at this,” Lohan answered and pointed at his computer screen. The kitten was still playing the piano and looking utterly ridiculous.
“Okay, I will keep you posted.”
“Will you be back before lunch?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Bring me a boneless chicken sandwich, please.”
“Okay, Lohan,” he said and walked out of the office. He thought about his partner and wondered what was currently bothering him. He had been so detached from work of late and was worried about pointing it out to him. He thought of the silly clip he was concentrated on and knew he would eventually have to talk to him about it.
He got into his car and was about to decide which facility to visit first before an idea crept up on him. He took out his cell phone and placed a phone call.He listened to it ring and hoped she
would not be in her usual foul mood.
“Hello,” a grumpy voice on the other side of the receiver echoed.
“Hello, Tracy.”
“Who is this?”
“Detective Sam.”
“Detective who now?”
“We met the other day at the morgue. I helped you to clean the place,” Sam tried to explain.
“Oh, that pushover guy. What do you want?”
“I was wondering if you were free right now, I could buy you lunch?”
“Will you pick me up too?” Tracy asked in the same grumpy voice.
“Yes, please text me your address,” Sam replied with an inner smile. He had known she would be demanding and her request had not come as a shock to him.
He waited for the text to come through and felt really happy when he realized she was not far from the station. He started his car and drove off the station’s parking lot and onto the main road. Locating Tracy was not hard as she stood on the road waiting for him to arrive. He took in her appearance as she approached the car and realized she would look much better if she paid more attention to her looks.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Sam answered and gave her a wide smile.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“No reason, just happy to see you.”
“Why are you happy to see me?”
“Because you are going to help me out on the case,” Sam went on and tried to maintain the mood. He needed her to be in the right mood before she started giving out information.
Tracy did not seem to have any answer for him and looked on ahead on the road.
“What would you like to have for lunch?”
“Beef burger served with fries and a shake. Maybe ice cream later.”
“Alright.”
“What?” Tracy barked unexpectedly.
“I did not say anything,” Sam answered confused.
“But you thought it.”
“Are you a mind reader now?”
“I might be,” Tracy answered. “I know what you thought.”
“No I don’t, tell me.”
“You thought I should watch what I eat, it’s not good for my body and all that crap.”
“I sure as hell did not think that,” Sam corrected but did not give her time to revert. “I was actually thinking about the closest place from here with the best burgers.”
“Were you now?”
“Yes I was, I don’t really care whether or not you eat so many burgers,” Sam snapped back. “From what you just said you already know that burgers are not good for your health.”
“So why are you buying me one?”
“Just one?” Sam said with a funny glare spread on his face. “Are you sure you don’t want more than that?”
“Okay, smart guy,” Tracy answered. “What information do you want to get from me?”
“A lot,” Sam answered and had a hopeful smile on his face. They drove towards the burger joint and as expected it was packed with people. Sam got Tracy what she asked for and only got a shake for himself.
“Aren’t you going to eat, too?”
“Are you concerned?”
“No, just curious,” Tracy answered.
“I am good with this,” he answered and shook the milk shake. He looked at how Tracy was attacking her burger and wondered when she’d last had a meal.
“So? Get right to it,” Tracy urged.
“I want to know about your relationship with Rita when growing up.”
“What exactly do you want to know?”
“The kind of upbringing you both had, basically reasons why she would want to see a therapist.”
“She was still seeing that old shrink?” Tracy asked in between mouthfuls.
“What do you mean,‘still seeing’?”
“She had been seeing the shrink for a long time,” Tracy went on to explain before taking a sip from her shake. “I didn’t see how it helped her because she was still the same old mean bitch.”
“How long had she been seeing her for?”
“About five or six years.”
“But I thought the last time you said you saw her was her wedding day? And she had been married longer than that,” Sam pointed out.
“That is true,” Tracy answered. “You make keen observations, I see. There was a time she tried to reach out to me to get me to join her in one of the sessions.”
“Did you go?”
“Hell no! I am not a retard.”
Tracy went on to bite into her burger and sip from her shake. She seemed to be enjoying her burger and Sam could not help but notice how the burger was diminishing from sight.
“So why do you think she wanted you present at the meetings?”
“She said we had to deal with our childhood issues.”
“Was she specific about the kind of issues?”
“We grew up without a father figure and our mother was a slut,” Tracy explained. “She said such experiences made us they way we are today.”
“Do you think that is true?”
“Well, it may be true.”
“In what way?”
“I think I could have turned out much better than the way I am right now,” Tracy said and for the first time since he had met her, Sam could see a hint of emotion on her face.
“I do not blame life choices and mistakes on anyone but I know if circumstances were different things would be slightly different for me, too.”
“Was your mother abusive?”
“That is an understatement,” Tracy replied before letting out a slight chuckle. “She would abuse us both physically and mentally and also emotionally.”
“Did she run her business right in front of you?”
“What do you think?”
“So how did you finally get away from her? How did you finally break free and get away?”
“We both decided to get jobs after running away from home when we were sixteen.”
“So you both finished high school?”
“Yes, we both did.”
Sam shifted slightly in his seat before taking another sip of his shake. He looked up at her and wondered how he would ask the next question.
“How did you end up being a janitor and her a nurse?”
“That must have been very uncomfortable for you to ask,” Tracy let out before sipping again on her shake and looking up at Sam.
“I was not always a janitor,” Tracy started to explain. “I actually got a scholarship to study psychology.”
“What made you take a different route?”
“I got a contract with a local modeling agency and decided to give up on the scholarship,” she went on to explain. “I was big and huge, I was everything.”
“What about Rita?”
“Rita of course was more focused than I was; she got a scholarship too, to study nursing and later on got married.”
“Was she always wicked?”
“Not really,” Tracy said. “But after being married for a good number of years to Ryan she started losing it.”
“Losing it?”
“Yes, Rita was once raped by one of my mother’s clients after she attempted to protect me,” Tracy went on explain. “I think the demons started haunting her when she finally got married. She had erratic behavior for quite some time before being advised to seek professional counsel.”
“Was she on any type of medication?”
“I wouldn’t know, I didn’t keep track of that,” Tracy answered. “You will have to ask Ryan about that.”
“Okay,” Sam said before taking out a small yellow notepad from his inside jacket pocket and looking at Tracy. “Do you happen to know the address of the shrink she was seeing when she asked you to join her in her sessions?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I thought you said that was about seven years ago?”
“I have a good memory.”
“What was the name of the therapist?”
“Dr. Peter Mathews.”
Sam took out his phone and cross-referenced the name from the information he had obtained online. He felt an exciting feeling creep up on him when the name popped up from one of the private practices he had listed.
“I seem to have made you happy?”
“You have.”
“Can I come with you?”
“To see the shrink? Why would you want to do that, I thought you said you were not a retard?”
“Think about it, the doctor might be more lenient about giving you the files if he knows who I am. I am sure my name must have popped up somewhere in his files.”
Sam thought about it and knew Tracy was right although he suspected there was more to the reason why she wanted to show up at the shrink’s office with him. He looked at her empty cup and plate and got to his feet.
“Let’s go then,” he said and slowly started walking out of the burger joint. The crowd that had been there before they got in had now cleared. They walked on to the parking lot with Sam leading the way and Tracy following suit. Sam got into the driver’s seat as Tracy sat right next to him. He pulled out of the parking lot and his mind thought back to Lohan back at the office and wondered what he was up to. He didn’t think Tracy would want to make any small talk and was grateful instead for the awkward silence that befell them.
“Are you always this boring?” Tracy asked out of the blue.
“Yes, most of the time.”
They went back to being silent and Sam’s concentration was on the road ahead. He kept looking at the address of where he was going on his phone and paid no attention to Tracy.
“Are you always this quiet?” Tracy tried again this time on a softer note.
“You are not always this pleasant,” Sam pointed out with his eyes still fixed on the road. “In fact, you have always been vile and bitter ever since I met you which makes me curious as to why you would want to make small talk with me.”
“I hardly talk to anyone,” Tracy answered.
“Why is that?”
“I can’t really answer that question.”
“Why not?” Sam probed on. “You are the one after all who wanted to make small talk.”
“I have no friends.”
“Does that have anything to do with your very foul attitude?”
“Maybe.”
Sam negotiated a corner in front of him and could see a building in the distance. He pointed at it and said, “I think that’s it.”
Mystery: Missing Rita: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) Page 7
