Cold Case Manhunt

by Jennifer Morey

Tatum looked at Catherine at the same time Catherine looked at her, and then they both returned skeptical gazes to Jaslene.

  “He only cares about the victims. He said so himself,” Jaslene said.

  “Did you have sex with him?” Tatum asked.

  The question stunned her. “No!” How could they ask such a thing? She hadn’t thought about sex with another man since before her husband died. She had felt the urge in her awkward situation and felt guilty about that to this day. But Cal had no right to judge her.

  “I thought he wasn’t doing anything to solve Payton’s missing person case,” Catherine said. She was always so practical.

  “I thought he wasn’t, either, but it turns out he was. He found evidence Payton’s house and laptop might have been searched before police got there.”

  “My, oh my, he is smart,” Catherine gushed.

  The waitress came to deliver Jaslene a water. She hadn’t even looked at the menu yet.

  “Was anything missing that police didn’t notice?” Tatum asked.

  “I don’t think so, but Payton was in contact with a man she never told me about. Did she ever mention she was seeing anyone to you?”

  Tatum shook her head.

  “No,” Catherine said. “Did your detective find out she was?”

  “We know she met a Dr. John Benjamin for lunch one day. He denies having any relationship with her and says she was his patient, but I can’t get past how odd it is that she met him for lunch. He claims it was to introduce her to a chiropractor, but the chiropractor never showed up.”

  “I agree it’s odd she met her doctor for lunch.”

  “She would have told us if she was seeing anyone,” Catherine said.

  “Dr. Benjamin is married.” Jaslene waited for that to sink in.

  Tatum drew her head back in surprise and Catherine just stared at Jaslene.

  “Payton was having an affair with a married man?” Catherine said. “That is so not like her.”

  “I know,” Jaslene agreed. “I think that’s why she didn’t tell us.”

  “Wait a minute.” Tatum leaned forward on her elbows. “You’re not saying you think the doctor kidnapped her and maybe killed her, are you?”

  “What if Payton threatened to tell his wife?” Jaslene wanted to hear what her friends would say. “Maybe he told her he would leave his wife and then she found out he had no intention of doing it.”

  Catherine shook her head this time. “She wouldn’t do that.”

  Jaslene didn’t think so, either, but she’d wanted to know what they both thought.

  “There’s something else,” Jaslene said. “I saw Riley the other day. He made a pistol with his hands and mimicked shooting me.”

  “Oh, that slithering snake.” Catherine made a face.

  “Why is Riley stalking you now?” Tatum asked.

  “Did you tell the police?”

  “Cal knows. I saw him outside my house a month ago, too. I’ve seen him around town, just random run-ins, like normal. But he stops and watches me, like he used to do to Payton. He’s never made shooting gestures to me before. I guarantee you, I’d have told the cops if he did. There’s nothing anyone can do about a man who’s doing what he normally does in town and happens to run into me.”

  “He’d like to kill you,” Catherine said. “Isn’t that what his little gesture means?”

  “That’s how I took it,” Jaslene said. “He had an alibi, but Cal is going to look into that again.”

  “It makes more sense that Riley had something to do with Payton’s disappearance than a married doctor she might have been experimenting with sexually,” Catherine said.

  “Cal?” Tatum queried. “You just called your detective ‘Cal.’”

  “Detective Chelsey.”

  “You’re calling each other by first names now?” Tatum teased. “Ooh la la.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  “Stop it.” Her friends knew her well enough to pick up on undercurrents.

  “What’s been going on between the two of you?” Tatum asked.

  “Nothing.” Her response, if she was truthful, would be wild attraction—before he had insulted her, but she would rather not go there.

  Both Catherine and Tatum pinned her with doubtful gazes.

  “Nothing,” she repeated.

  Tatum cocked her head dubiously and Catherine started to smile.

  “Nothing is going on,” Jaslene almost snapped.

  “He’s very good-looking,” Tatum said.

  “And manly,” Catherine added. She’d married a tall man herself.

  “There’s nothing going on between us,” Jaslene insisted. “In fact, I told him about Ansel and he assumed I cheated on my husband.”

  “You almost did,” Tatum said.

  Jaslene lowered her head with the pang of grief and regret that fact instilled. She felt like she had cheated. And Cal was right. Her husband had died not knowing the truth.

  Tatum reached over and put her hand over Jaslene’s. “I’m sorry. I know what a sensitive subject that is for you.”

  “You didn’t cheat on Ryan,” Catherine said. “Ansel kissed you. You didn’t kiss him. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Jaslene wished her heart would believe that. True, she hadn’t been the one to initiate the kiss, but what it had made her feel was the part that felt wrong.

  “I asked my husband what he would do if something like that happened to me,” Catherine said. “He told me he’d beat the hell out of the man and make sure I felt loved.” She smiled, full of affection for her man.

  Had Jaslene’s husband made her feel loved? Ryan had been a geologist like her. They’d gone to school together. Sometimes she thought both of them having the same profession wasn’t such a good thing. They’d both had different ideas on certain earth processes, for one. For example, he supported global warming and had conviction that would be the cause of an apocalypse. She agreed humans were responsible for climate change, but she also thought the earth was far more powerful than any human influence. People would heat up the earth, but that didn’t mean the planet would come to an end. The earth would recover, even if humanity did not.

  She and Ryan had argued often. Jaslene had fallen in love with his intelligent mind and his dark good looks. Best friends, they’d shared a love of nature. But had that been enough? Why had another man sent sparks, which she had never felt with Ryan, chasing through her? She had liked Ryan’s lovemaking and his kisses. But she hadn’t been transported to outer space. She wasn’t sure Ansel could have done that, either, but he had gotten off to a good start with that kiss.

  “Well, you aren’t a cheater,” Tatum said. “You have integrity and respect for others. You don’t have it in you.”

  “Tell that to Cal.” Jaslene smiled to cover the sick feeling churning her stomach.

  “Something tells me he’s going to discover that on his own,” Catherine said. “He doesn’t know what he has yet.”

  What did he have? Her? Not yet, and Jaslene wasn’t sure she ever wanted him to, since he thought so little of her now, without any details on what had really happened with Ansel.

  * * *

  Dr. Drake Faulkner, the chiropractor Benjamin had recommended for Payton, welcomed Cal into his office. He closed the door, muffling the sounds of voices considerably. Dr. Faulkner was almost six feet and fit, with salt-and-pepper hair and titanium glasses.

  “Thanks for seeing me.” Cal sat on a chair, taking in the stacks of files on the desk and cluttered windowsills. Outside, the snow had picked up, flakes hitting and melting against the glass.

  “My receptionist told me it was important...related to a missing person who may have been a patient of mine?”

  “Yes. Payton Everett.”

  The doctor’s interest perked up. “She wasn’t a patient of mine. S
he was referred to me but never came to see me. Seems I can’t help you after all.”

  “I think maybe you can. What can you tell me about Dr. Benjamin?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  Rather than say he needed to know everything, Cal started with “Did he ask you to meet him and Payton for lunch?”

  The doctor hesitated. “Yes, but I refused.”

  “You refused or didn’t show up?”

  The doctor leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “Mr. Chelsey, Dr. Benjamin asked me to meet with a potential patient. I found that ethically insulting, not to mention a risk to my practice.”

  “Why did you think it was ethically insulting?”

  “Because I don’t have personal relationships with my patients. If he intended to refer her to me, then why do it over lunch?”

  “Why did Dr. Benjamin ask you to meet her?”

  “Maybe he liked her. I don’t know.” Dr. Faulkner leaned back.

  “What was the nature of your association with Benjamin?”

  “I worked for him when I opened my practice, but I went out on my own because I didn’t agree with his philosophy...like meeting patients for lunch.”

  Cal believed that. “Do you know if he had any kind of personal relationship with Payton beyond meeting her for lunch?”

  “No. Like I said, she never came to see me and I went out on my own shortly after that incident.” He tapped his fingers on the end of the armrest.

  “If you worked for him, why the need for a referral?”

  “His company is large and includes several clinics and practices. He had a referral program set up between them all.”

  He seemed agitated. “Why did Benjamin ask you to meet him and Payton for lunch? Why not just refer her to you like a normal doctor?”

  Faulkner grunted derisively, his fingers stilling. “You just answered your own question, Mr. Chelsey. There’s nothing normal about Dr. Benjamin. He’s not a man who lives by any rules other than the ones he makes up himself.”

  A lot of criminals embarked on their wayward careers with that kind of mentality. Could Dr. Benjamin be behind Payton’s disappearance? If he liked her as Dr. Faulkner suggested, that would be highly unlikely. Unless Payton posed a threat to him, but what threat could she pose? Telling his wife didn’t seem enough for a motive. Maybe Faulkner just disliked the doctor.

  “Can you tell me of any other incidents he caused?” Cal asked. “Do you think Dr Benjamin was having an affair with Payton?”

  “It’s possible. That wasn’t the first time he took a patient to lunch, if that’s what you mean. He had a way of treating his practice like it was a personal extension of himself. He grew a very successful business on charisma alone. He owns several clinics across the country now, including two home health care services companies. Many doctors and nurses work for those clinics. He’s a multimillionaire. I give him credit for being smart, but I found his personal interactions with his patients too risky. I wanted no further association with him.”

  Dr. Benjamin did have a way of presenting himself as friendly. He had been kind and patient and cooperative up until the end, when he’d refused to answer any more questions. Jaslene had noticed that, too. But was that all a show?

  “Did you remain in contact with Benjamin?” Cal asked.

  Faulkner’s fingers started tapping again. “No. He wasn’t very happy with my decision to leave his company.”

  “Did he know why?”

  “I didn’t publicly condemn him for his ways. He wouldn’t have liked losing the business. He lost most of my patients when I left.”

  “So, you were gone before Payton disappeared.”

  “Yes I was. I left shortly after he invited me to that lunch. I heard about Payton in the news.”

  “Do you think Dr. Benjamin could have been responsible for her disappearance?”

  “I knew him but I didn’t know him that well. I wouldn’t make an assessment either way. I’m not even sure how involved he was with her.”

  He asked the chiropractor a few more questions about the day Payton disappeared, but he had already branched off on his own by then and had no contact with Benjamin or Payton for quite some time before that. He thanked him and left.

  Time to go pick up Jaslene from her lunch with her friends. He wondered if she had cooled down yet, and part of him wanted to make it up to her.

  Chapter 4

  Jaslene looked at her cell phone again. Where the heck was Cal? Her friends had already left, Tatum on her way back to work and Catherine to run errands before she picked up the kids. Jaslene waited inside the doors of the restaurant, watching the wind pick up. The snowflakes had gotten heavier with the cooling temperature.

  Movement across the street caught her eye. A small dog peeked out from behind a dumpster in an alley. The poor creature hung its head low and kept lifting its front paws. It was soaking wet.

  Jaslene opened the restaurant door and walked to the edge of the street, waiting for traffic to pass before crossing. She reached the dumpster. The dog saw her and ducked behind the cold metal. She peered around the corner. It huddled against the wet brick of the building, shivering.

  She saw now that it was a puppy, an adorable dog that looked like an Australian shepherd. It had no collar. Given its dirty, wet and shivering state, its must have been out here a while.

  “Are you lost?”

  The puppy lowered its head with a slight twitch of its ears.

  Jaslene inched forward, crouching as she neared. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  The puppy lifted its head and Jaslene found herself looking into the saddest, most dejected eyes she’d ever seen, beautiful golden eyes that matched the two patches of eyebrows above.

  “Oh, you poor baby.” She touched the dog’s wet, cold head and began petting it. “I’m going to get you warm and dry, okay?”

  The puppy whimpered as a violent shiver racked the tiny body.

  Jaslene choked back the sting of tears. “How did you get out here?” She gently lifted the dog, seeing it was a girl, parting her jacket and tucking her inside.

  “Did you run off or did someone leave you?”

  The puppy clung to her for warmth, whimpering more. Jaslene wrapped her jacket around the dog, feeling wetness seep into her sweater.

  Going back to the street, she looked up and down the sidewalk and across the street. She saw no one out searching for a lost dog and saw no lost dog posters.

  Cal’s SUV pulled up to the restaurant. Jaslene hurried across the street, jogging in front of the vehicle to the other side.

  She got in and the puppy clawed at her, trying to crawl closer. Tiny, precious whimpers accompanied grunts, piercing Jaslene with protective instinct.

  “Is that a dog?” Cal sounded incredulous, as though he asked a question to which he already knew the answer.

  “I found her in the alley.”

  After continuing to gape at her for several seconds, Cal started driving. “Doesn’t it belong to someone?”

  “Who would leave their dog out in this weather? Especially a puppy?” Even if the animal did belong to someone, she wasn’t sure she’d give her back to anyone that heartless or careless.

  “Do you want me to drive to the pound?”

  Jaslene looked at him, appalled. “Is that what you would do? Dump a helpless puppy off at an animal shelter? She’s obviously been through enough already.” Jaslene pet the dog and kissed her drying head. She wasn’t sure what she would do with the puppy yet, but she sure wasn’t going to abandon the animal.

  “An animal shelter will feel like home compared to an alley.”

  “Let’s stop at the pet store on the way back to my place.”

  She spotted one just ahead.

  “What if you get attached?” Cal asked as they walked toward the pet
store.

  Jaslene kept the puppy tucked in her jacket. “Then I’ll keep her.”

  “Are you ready to take on a dog? You’re going to decide on the fly to keep it?”

  “She needs a home.”

  “The pound will find her one. Everybody loves puppies. It wouldn’t take long for someone to pick her up.”

  Ignoring him, she entered the store and found a cart. As she lifted the puppy and put her into the front, the animal whimpered and tried to climb back up onto her.

  “It’s okay.” She pet the puppy’s tiny head. “We’re going to get you some necessities, little girl.”

  Jaslene pushed the cart toward the dog food, Cal trailing behind. “Do you not like dogs?”

  “I like them. I’m just being practical. They’re a big responsibility. They aren’t like cats.”

  “Are you a cat man?” She glanced back. He did not strike her as one.

  “No. I’m a never-home man.”

  Glancing at him, she wondered if he really meant that. His job probably kept him busy and away from home a lot, but surely he had time for meaningful relationships. He just barred himself from them because of his nasty divorce.

  She chose some dry and canned food and put them in the cart. The puppy hung its paws over the baby seat backing, sniffing the bag. She picked out two dog beds and then a collar and leash. Cal helped her by finding dog food and water bowls and she picked out a brush and some shampoo.

  “If you’re going to have a puppy, you better get some toys.”

  “Good point. I might not have any shoes left if I don’t.” She found the toy aisle. Cal seemed to be getting into this.

  Grinning, he held up a stuffed squirrel squeaky toy with big eyes and floppy tail. When he squeezed the chest, it make a chirping sound like a real squirrel.

  Jaslene laughed and put it in the baby seat with the puppy. She picked out a ball and another chew toy and headed for the checkout.

  “What if you have to give the dog up?” Cal asked.

  “Are you always this depressing?” She understood he was only being practical, but for now she only wanted to take care of a helpless puppy. Didn’t he see that?