The Vanishing of Olivia Beck

by Sara L Foust

  “We need him.” Milt rose.

  “Who?” Zach whispered.

  Milt put his hand on Zach’s shoulder. “Your father.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  If Zach hadn’t been sitting already, he would have collapsed into the chair. As it was, he felt himself shrink a few inches, as if he was puddling into the fabric. “My what?”

  “Open the envelope, Zach. Your father isn’t who you think he is.”

  Before any of Milt’s words could fully register, Annalise rose from the chair and exited the office. A few minutes later she returned and handed him the envelope.

  The sound of him ripping the paper echoed loudly in the silent room.

  Son,

  Zach huffed. Really? Son?

  Annalise patted his arm.

  Let me start with I’m sorry. I know, no matter when you read this, it won’t make it any better, but I did what I had to do to keep you and your mother safe. Believe it or not—

  Not. Definitely not. Whatever was coming at the end of that sentence, Zach didn’t believe it.

  The two of you are my world. Always will be. As much as it hurts to leave, it would hurt worse seeing you suffer because of me.

  But that’s exactly what had happened. Suffering. For him and his mom, for more years than he cared to admit.

  I am not who you think I am. My job is much too dangerous for me to continue being a presence in your life. I will be watching. Always. From a distance. I love you both.

  Zach handed the letter to Annalise, who quickly read it and handed it back. He didn’t take it from her. He couldn’t move. No, this wasn’t what he expected at all. No, the words didn’t help dull any of the pain. In fact, the things he thought he’d dealt with years ago simply awakened and began to throb once more.

  He looked to Milt, unsure what his expression was but knowing he must look like a lost puppy.

  “Your father is CIA.”

  “How do you know this?” Annalise voiced the question Zach couldn’t formulate.

  “We were best friends.”

  What? How? When? Had he said any of those words aloud?

  “I—I don’t understand, Captain. I’ve known you for all this time, and you’ve been keeping two huge secrets from us.” Annalise’s voice shook as she spoke.

  “I was sworn to secrecy.” Milt shrugged, unapologetically. “But I need both of you on board now.” He scratched a number onto a scrap of paper. “Call your father, Zach.”

  “No.” Zach’s veins burned as he fled from the room. Call his father? Milt couldn’t be serious. There had to be hidden cameras somewhere. Or he was having a nightmare.

  He stopped on the front walk and leaned onto the metal railing, begging it to lend him support and keep him upright.

  Annalise’s pearberry shampoo gave her away before she touched him.

  “I can’t just call my father. I haven’t seen or spoken to him in—”

  “I know. I don’t understand what just happened either.” She looped her arm around his left elbow and leaned against his shoulder. “Joanie is alive. Senator Marcum’s case isn’t really closed. The Juarez Cartel has migrated to East Tennessee. I’m pretty sure this is a bad movie.”

  Zach chuckled. “No joke.”

  “Or, yeah, a bad joke.”

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his side. He planted a kiss on the top of her head and closed his eyes. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Let’s pray about it.”

  He bowed his head.

  “Lord, please show us what to do about Zach’s father. We want to find Olivia, of course, but this whole situation hurts. Give Zach clarity, and if he is meant to reach out to his father, help him be courageous and strong. Amen.”

  He kissed her head again. “Amen. Thank you.”

  “Do we have any other viable leads? Options? Tiny little rabbit trails of hunches to follow?”

  “Nope. Not a one.”

  “Guess we’d better update Kirk, eh?”

  “I think so.”

  Zach dialed and put Kirk on speaker phone. After Zach explained the situation, Kirk’s response was simple. “Call your father. I know it’s a sticky situation emotionally for you, man, and I’m sorry. But we have to do everything we can to find her.”

  Sticky emotional situation didn’t begin to describe all the thoughts bouncing around like spear-studded foosballs in his mind.

  “Thanks, Kirk. Please do not make any of this public information. Obviously, there is much more to this case than we initially thought,” Annalise said.

  “We had another case come in today. I’ll handle it, and I’ll keep Blu off your case as long as I can. You two run with this.”

  “Yes, sir.” Annalise hit end on the phone in Zach’s outstretched hand.

  He was again frozen in place. The next call he made would change everything. And he wasn’t ready.

  EVERY MUSCLE MILT HAD felt tight. He watched from the corner booth while Annalise and Zach whispered to each other a few tables over. Henry Leebow should be on his way. What was running through Zach’s mind? Milt could imagine, and he felt badly about the situation, but what choice did he have? Olivia needed him, and he needed Henry.

  The old-fashioned brass bell dinged as the front door swung open, and Henry stepped through. His hair was more silver, the wrinkles deeper, but his tall, muscular frame looked like it did when they were in their thirties. Henry nodded, barely perceptibly.

  Milt gestured to Zach and Annalise. Once Henry was seated opposite them, Milt surveyed the periphery and then moved to join them. They really should’ve had the forethought to get a table instead of a cramped booth. But, oh well. He awkwardly shook hands with Henry. “Long time, no see.”

  “That was the plan.”

  Henry’s voice sounded gravellier than Milt remembered. Had the man never stopped smoking cigarettes? “Good point. Well, we wouldn’t have reached out had we not needed some serious help here.”

  Henry’s small grin faded. “What kind of help, Milt?”

  Captain Brooks glanced across the table. Zach’s cheeks burned a brilliant red. Annalise’s expression remained neutral, but Milt had a suspicion just barely. “Joanie’s gone. You’re the best at finding gone people.”

  Henry’s mouth set into a hard line. “Tell me everything you know so far.”

  Annalise leaned in. “What about the case? If we solve the why, won’t we find the who?”

  She was smart. One of the reasons he’d fought so hard to bring her to Norris in the first place. “But, listen, Annalise. That ‘case’ doesn’t exist anymore.”

  “How is that possible?”

  Milt and Henry exchanged glances.

  Henry cleared his throat. “We always suspected someone on the inside, within our own ranks, made it all slowly fade. At the time, evidence disappeared. We’re lucky we even got a conviction against Senator Marcum.”

  Milt picked up where he left off. “And even then, it wouldn’t have stuck had the person behind the mask not wanted it to.”

  “Do you have any ideas about who it might be?” Annalise asked.

  “We each had our suspicions. Nothing that stuck.” Milt took a sip of the fresh coffee the waitress had brought a moment ago.

  Zach still sat rigidly with a blank expression on his face. When he spoke, Milt had to lean in to listen. “Are we really going to ignore the proverbial elephant?”

  All movement at the table froze.

  “We are going to sit here and pretend this man that I haven’t seen in twenty years is a hero come to save the day?” He pinned them with a gaze, each in turn. “I won’t do that.” And disappeared out the diner’s front door.

  Milt couldn’t say he blamed him.

  ANNALISE EMERGED FROM the diner expecting Zach waiting on the sidewalk. She scanned the length of the street, but there was no trace of him. What now? A moment’s indecision kept her lingering on the corner.

  Where had Zach gone? She stopped, her br
eath pausing in her chest. And why was there someone in that parked car, watching her every move? She tucked her hands into her pockets and walked farther from the restaurant entrance, a shiver creeping up her spine. The car didn’t follow. She ducked around the corner, pressed her back to the brick building, and whipped her phone out to text Captain Brooks. “We have a peeping Tom. Gray Buick.”

  She drew her weapon and peeked around the corner. The man’s profile stood out black against the open space in the roomy old car. Still with no sign of Zach, she crossed the street casually and ducked into a clothing boutique’s open doorway. In the front window, she rummaged through the front rack’s selections of spring wear, but her focus was on the man in the car. From this angle she could see most of the license plate. She snapped a photo on her phone.

  Come on, Captain Brooks, get out of there.

  She eased down the sidewalk, sticking close to the building fronts to avoid the guy’s passenger side mirror. But when she was within a couple feet, the car started, smothering her with a cloud of dark exhaust, and zipped away. Great.

  She jogged back across the street and into the diner. Captain Brooks and Henry were gone. Apparently they were better at this whole slipping around unnoticed thing than she was.

  A warm hand clamped onto her shoulder, making her jump and spin simultaneously.

  “Geez, Zach, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

  He grinned. “Sorry. Mind pointing that elsewhere?”

  She lifted an eyebrow and, for a moment considered refusing until her heart could have a chance to regain its balance. “Where did you go?”

  “For a walk. Needed to clear my head.”

  She tucked her weapon into its holster. “You see the gray Buick guy?”

  He nodded. “Just as he was pulling away. What happened?”

  “Nothing. He was watching the diner though. Let’s get back to headquarters and run the plate.”

  “Deal.”

  “And we can talk about your dad on the way,” Annalise said as she led the way out of the diner once more.

  “No deal.”

  “Come on, Zach. We have to talk about this.”

  “Umm, no we don’t.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “You didn’t tell me when you were all worried about Dave last summer. We didn’t talk about that.”

  “Yes, we did.” She chuckled. “In fact, you practically pried it out of me. Remember?”

  “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  She peered at him over the hood of his truck. “You don’t, huh?”

  “Not a single little chime.” His mouth split into a wide grin. “Come on, nosy. Get in.”

  “Nosy!”

  Zach disappeared into the cab.

  “I am not nosy. I just care about you.” She was talking to an empty street. “Oh, fine.” Maybe she was a little nosy, but wasn’t she allowed to be with him after all they’d been through together? He’d helped pull her through the ugliest months of her life recently, and she wanted to return the favor. Besides, if Milt thought they needed Henry’s help, then they needed Henry’s help. She expelled a massive sigh. It felt so good to be confident in Milt’s motivations once more. She settled into the passenger seat and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Don’t be mad at me.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Oh, yeah right.”

  “Let’s just get back to the office. Maybe by then Milt and Henry will have some sort of plan formulated.”

  Zach growled.

  “We need him, Zach. You don’t have to like it.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Olivia is priority number one. These guys ruined my and her life once already. Let’s not let them do it again.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Someone’s found me. She hadn’t been fast enough. Olivia quickened her stride. She could see the bus station ahead, feel the pressure from the mystery person behind. Almost there. The gravity of her pursuer grew stronger, heavier, until a cold sweat trickled down her back. She glanced over her shoulder and a short burst of surprise fled from her lips. Too quiet to beckon for anyone’s help, the sound disappeared beneath the roar of the Greyhounds.

  She searched her memory for the face following her. Hispanic features with light eyes. Nothing set off any alarms in her head, but her heart pounded harder as the sound of his heavy breathing grew closer. Too close.

  Olivia kicked into an awkward sprint, her backpack bouncing against her hips and back. If she could just make it to the safety of the open bus door, the driver would see her, would know she was in danger, and slam the door behind her, closing her assailant out.

  A hand gripped her backpack strap and pulled, hard. Olivia spun to face him, raising her palm to the soft flesh beneath his chin.

  The man’s hand fell from her. He, obviously, hadn’t expected her immediate reaction.

  Olivia backed farther toward the bus.

  But the man recovered quickly.

  He lifted his shirt and withdrew a pistol from his sagging pants.

  It had been so long since someone aimed a loaded gun at her chest. She froze and whipped her hands into the air.

  “Atta girl. Now, come with me and no one gets hurt.”

  Had this goon taken his lines directly from a B-rated action movie? “Oh, yes. I believe you completely. I can tell by the look in your eye and the mannerism in which you carry yourself, you mean me no harm whatsoever.”

  He paused, a momentary eyebrow quirk lending confusion to the look on his face. “Just come with me, Ms. Sarcastic.”

  “Officer Sarcastic.” She was pushing his patience and stalling for...what? She didn’t have a plan here. But she knew if she followed him anywhere, she’d be dead before the next dawn.

  The bus she’d been aiming for started, expelling a massive cloud of dark exhaust, covering her for a brief moment. She sprinted for the door and leaped through.

  The driver looked up with wide eyes, glancing from her disheveled appearance to the man waiting behind her. “Ticket, ma’am?”

  She handed it to him and ducked into the first seat behind the driver. “Please do not let him on the bus. In fact, call 9-1-1 if he even takes one step this direction.”

  “I understand, miss. Men shouldn’t ever treat their women that way. You sure you don’t want me to call it in now?”

  She shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. Let’s just go, please.”

  “My pleasure.”

  As the bus pulled from the station, her heart rate slowed. But there was no guarantee the man wouldn’t follow. She would have to duck off somewhere, disappear somehow. Again. And never reappear again.

  “WE’VE BEEN WATCHING the Juarez Cartel for years,” Henry said from his perch atop the corner of Annalise’s desk.

  Zach waited in the corner, mere feet away from the interaction but miles away from the emotional ramifications. If he was cautious with his expectations, could he avoid letting his emotions concerning his father out of their box? He was certainly going to give it a good try.

  “There are a lot of local names, little men in the big picture, but a lot of the people we need to speak with are still in Memphis.” Milt continued, “I suppose we will split them up and begin questioning each and every one.”

  Zach snickered. “Yeah, that’ll work.”

  Milt spun a tense gaze upon him. “You got a better idea?”

  Only one thing kept recycling through his thought processes. And it was ugly and nasty and a whole host of other things, but it needed out of his mind. “Yeah, get rid of my paternal DNA donor and let Annalise and I help you.”

  Henry rose from the desk and, in a few long strides, stood nose-to-nose with Zach. “You have a problem, you say it directly to me. Do not disrespect me, son.”

  His heart leaped into his throat. He put his hands on his father’s chest and shoved.

  Henry took two steps backward and glared at him.

  “You have no right to call me son.” Z
ach gritted his teeth.

  Annalise stepped between them, facing Zach with huge tears plaguing the corners of her eyes. “Zach, you’re better than this.”

  He took a deep breath, finding calm in her features. “You know what, Annalise? You’re right. I am better than,” he gestured toward his father, “this. I would never leave my family. No matter what.”

  “Zachary Leebow, that isn’t fair, and you know it. Go cool off and come back with your head clear and ready to do your job.” Annalise nudged him toward the rear exit.

  He hated when she used that tone with him. But it was effective, which is probably why he hated it so much.

  In Annalise’s oasis, he paced the length of the stone walkway, letting some of his anger out with each pounding step. Had he really just said those thoughts aloud? He searched his mind for remorse and found none. His father needed to hear how he felt, and Zach had only touched the surface. But saying it in the tone he’d just used probably wasn’t his most mature moment.

  Zach sank onto the bench next to a batch of feeders and hung his head between his hands. He had a job to do. He had a team of people counting on his dedication. Lord, I need some help here. I have no idea to handle all of this. Give me patience and peace of mind until this case is over.

  After several silent moments with Him, Zach sighed deeply and reentered the office to find the group in the same position. “Give me and Annalise some names. We can go start the questions now.”

  Annalise smiled. “The first step is Michael Simpkins.”

  “Who’s that?”

  She lifted a printout. “The owner of the car at the restaurant. License plate search just matched him.”

  “Good.” Milt reached for the paper. “Y’all start with him. Henry and I will start with an informant I used to know. The man’s getting up in age now, but you never know. Maybe he’ll remember something important.”

  Annalise drove them to Mr. Simpkins’s sagging, street-side residence.

  “Doesn’t look like anyone’s here.”

  Zach took in the details of each house lining the street on both sides. “Seems pretty quiet, but it is a workday.”