“Nothing stood out until we found out about Dr. Benjamin. After that I did some more checking. She did a small piece on him and his business.”
“Can I see it?”
“Sure.” He found it on his cell phone and showed it to her.
Stopping on the sidewalk in the middle of the town square, Jaslene held her stack of flyers in one arm and read a short article about Dr. John Benjamin held in her free hand. Other than Payton’s crisp, witty writing, it was exactly as Cal described: a community section article on the success of Benjamin’s company and the fortune of little Chesterville at having one of his clinics located here.
“How did the two of you meet?”
Jaslene handed him his phone back and felt an automatic smile spread from her mouth to her soul. “She moved here her sophomore year in high school. Her mother’s family is from here and this is where they decided to retire when the time came.” She recalled seeing her for the first time. In a small community like this, it was easy to spot newcomers. “Payton wasn’t happy about the move. She left her friends and didn’t know anyone her last year of school.”
“That would be tough on any teenager.”
She adjusted the remaining flyers to protect them from moisture. The snow had begun to pick up. “Her locker was next to mine. The minute I said hello and introduced myself I knew we were going to be friends. She cheered up when we started talking. Turns out our grandparents were good friends.” Jaslene laughed lightly, the memory making her feel good. “We had math together and I discovered she had a knack for numbers and formulas like me. We studied together. After we graduated we planned to attend the same college. She said she wanted to be a writer.”
“Writers are smart people.”
Realizing she hadn’t stopped smiling, she started walking again. Payton was probably gone. All she had were memories. “On campus, we lived in the dorm the first year, and then found a house to rent. We put an advertisement out to rent out the other two rooms so we could save money. Catherine and Tatum answered the advertisement. We all ended up becoming close friends through college.” She glanced over at him as he walked beside her. “We weren’t into partying like a lot of other students. We liked to go out and have a good time but we were all the same when it came to that. We all had dreams and college was part of those.”
Cal chuckled. “I partied but didn’t overdo it. And college was about more than getting good grades and launching a good career. It was also about women.”
She sent him a teasing, openmouthed look of shock.
“We had our fair share of men,” she said as she worked. “We didn’t sleep with just anyone, though.”
“Neither did I, but there were a few who passed the bar.”
So he was experienced sexually. Was that what he intended her to think? He went to a nearby tree growing up from a square in the concrete to attach another flyer.
“Once I graduated and started working, reality set in,” he said. “I got recklessness out of my system in college. And maybe a little rebellion after living under my father’s iron fist.”
They started walking again.
“Was he that bad?” Jaslene asked.
“He never laid a hand on any of us, but his temper could be triggered anytime someone disagreed with him.” He glanced over at her, his breath fogging the chilly air. “Not the little things. Only things he held dear. He felt that everyone should make their own way in life, no matter the circumstances. If a person can breathe and blink their eyes, they can work.” He stapled a flyer to another tree.
“Sounds like the two of you are just really different. You want to help people and your dad is more interested in success and making money.” Jaslene figured she wouldn’t care what profession a man had as long as he balanced work and home. She wondered if Cal was being fair. He spoke of all the negative things about his father and nothing good. A father couldn’t produce a man like Cal and be all bad.
“Yes. Very different. He never donates to charity and wouldn’t help anyone down on their luck. My brother is the same way. If anybody told me he was a clone of my father, I’d believe them.”
She taped the last flyer to the light post at the end of the block. “What about your mom?”
“My dad adores her. I guess he respects her because she earns her keep working on the ranch. My sister is the most normal. My grandfather was the only one who ever understood me.”
Jaslene didn’t know what that would be like. Everyone in her family knew each other almost as well as they knew themselves. Cal must have obstacles to get over before he could resolve the issues he had with his family, mainly his father and brother. His divorce was a separate thing.
“What kind of ranch does your family run?”
“Mainly cattle, but they have lots of other animals.”
She turned her face away from windblown snowflakes. A gust brought in a thick sheet of white. The weather forecast called for several inches today.
“Looks like the storm has set in.” Cal took her hand and led her to a nearby pub.
Cal held the door for her and she stepped inside, stomping her feet and brushing snow off her hair. Country music played at an easy volume. A few people sat at a bar with backlit shelving containing numerous bottles of booze. Close to noon now, couples, groups and families occupied almost half of the long, narrow sea of square wood tables. Televisions hung in corners, on the long wall and above the bar. The smell of hamburgers reminded Jaslene she’d eaten an early breakfast. She’d been here once or twice before.
At a table by the front window, Jaslene removed her gloves, hat and scarf and stacked them out of the way on the table. Shrugging out of her jacket, she draped it over the back of the chair. Cal was already sitting, his azure-blue Henley bringing out the lighter color of his eyes. Taking the stool across from him, she watched it snow while they waited for their waitress. He ordered coffee and a mushroom and Swiss burger; she ordered tea and a regular cheeseburger.
“What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever done?” Cal asked. “Besides the affair.”
As the black sheep in his family, he likely had done quite a bit during his rebellious years. “I didn’t have an affair,” she snapped. “Stop saying that unless you know for a fact it was an affair.”
He looked contrite. “Sorry. You still haven’t told me what happened.”
And she didn’t feel like it now. “In truth, I must have been much more boring than you. I honored my parents’ rule that we be home by ten. I got good grades in high school and college and I work hard as an adult. There really isn’t much more to say.”
“You didn’t go cruising or car racing? No parties?”
“No cruising or racing. I went to football games and concerts. A few parties, but not many. I was more into prom and homecoming.”
She saw his gaze travel down over the fitted long-sleeved button-up blouse. She had left the top three buttons undone.
“What about college?” he asked.
“Studied. Went out for dinner with the girls. Clubbing a few times, but only to go dancing. I made myself a promise that I wouldn’t find my future husband in a bar.” She’d met her husband in a calculus class. He’d been everything she thought she wanted in a man. Only after he was shot and killed did she begin to realize he may not have been. The man she had nearly had an affair with made her feel things she had never felt before, but she had always believed she married the love of her life and Ansel had not meant more than that. Being unfaithful went against everything she believed and honored. Then Ryan had died and after she had time to reflect, she realized she had not loved him as much as she thought.
Their drinks arrived and Jaslene warmed her hands around the teacup.
“I got good grades, too, but I also went to a lot of parties and bars. I hung with a rough group and never came home when my parents told me to.”
He didn�
��t have to say more. Outlooks and values conflicting with his father’s distanced him from his family, but he hadn’t lost sight of what he wanted in life. She doubted he had ever felt lost. Full of conviction, but never lost. Until his wife had an affair. She both resented his inability to put his experience with his ex-wife behind him and admired him for being such a righteous and caring man.
“What was your grandfather like?” She figured that would be the best way to get to know him better without being obvious that she was prying.
Cal’s face lightened and she could feel the love he felt for the man. “He was a coal miner who smoked and drank whiskey. He never overdid it, though. He enjoyed people of all kinds. It didn’t matter what color their skin was or what standing they had in society. Everyone was equal in his eyes—equal in the sense that no one was better than anyone else. What he enjoyed most in them was what made them different.”
She let him stay in his memories, sensing he wasn’t finished and enjoying the revelation that he took after his grandfather more than his father.
“He was more of a dad to me than my own.” He looked out the window, where the snow fell heavier and slanted with the wind. “My dad worked all the time. I would go stay with Grandpa on weekends and breaks during school. We played cards and chess. He took me to football games. We fished and read books. He and my father argued all the time. They didn’t get along and neither did I with my father. Grandpa said he raised my dad wrong. He was the best person in my life.” The light in his face dimmed.
A tender spot warmed and blossomed, compelling her to put her hand over his. “When did he die?”
“Right before I went to college.”
“Did you meet your wife before or after he died?”
He sent her a perplexed look. “After.”
So, he’d perhaps latched onto the wrong woman to fill a void. She slid her hand to her side of the table. He must have grieved terribly. The loneliness had probably torn him apart, although she doubted he’d ever admit that.
“I remember one time I had a fight with my dad over the usual. Later, my grandfather told me it doesn’t matter what you do with your life, you just have to like it. If you want to be president, then go be one. If you want to be a janitor, then go be one. Just pick the right state so you can afford the cost of living.” He grinned and laughed shortly, wryly. “My dad hated that.” His bittersweet humor faded and he turned to look out the window.
Jaslene felt the deep love he had for his grandfather. She also felt the equally penetrating loss. How sad that the most important man in his formative years had died.
Dishes clanked and people talked around them. Waitresses delivered orders. A busboy cleared the table next to theirs. A cool draft of air radiated off the window.
Turning back to Cal, she saw he’d returned from his view of the street. Their eyes met and a moment of warmth passed between them. Talking about his grandfather helped open him up, whether he’d anticipated that or not.
“When’s the last time you spoke with your father?” she asked.
“Other than Christmas? Years. Three. He doesn’t call so he must not miss me. No one in my family calls.”
They were too busy making money, working. At least, that’s what she imagined Cal would say.
“Maybe they think you don’t want them to call.”
“Trust me, they don’t want to talk to me. They know I don’t agree with their way of living.”
“But they’re your family. Maybe you should agree to disagree.”
He chuckled cynically. “Newman would never do that.”
Newman must be his father. Cal clearly believed it was either his father’s way or no way, but Jaslene didn’t believe for a second that after all this time his father wouldn’t want his own son in his life. And if she was wrong, then he deserved to never see or speak to his son again. Cal should at least be able to put any uncertainties to rest. He might sound certain when he said his family didn’t want to talk to him, but he must have some kind of emotions on the matter. A person didn’t walk away from their family without any scars.
“You should let your father know how you feel.”
His brow lifted incredulously. “You mean I should call him up and tell him I’m glad he never calls because I can’t stand the way he lives? That when I watched all my superhero cartoons as a kid I always thought the underdog represented me and the villain represented my father?”
“Yes.” That was exactly what he should do. She had to stamp down the surge of affection his analogy instilled. He himself was an underdog, the champion of victims. “If he truly doesn’t care, then when your conversation is over, none if it matters anyway.”
“If he wants me in his life, then he can pick up the phone and call me.”
He’d allow stubbornness to keep his family at a distance? “Everyone needs their parents to love them.”
“That’s coming from someone who has that love, and I don’t think you understand. You don’t know what it’s like to grow up with people who only care about themselves.”
He wasn’t ready to resolve that part of his life and she wasn’t the one to enlighten him. She did feel he needed a lesson in love. She just wasn’t sure she was up for that task. She had had a major loss of her own. She didn’t think she wanted to be the one to teach him.
* * *
The next day, Cal drove them to Riley’s apartment building and kept the SUV warm as they kept watch over Payton’s stalker. The storm had passed and left in its wake cold temperatures.
He didn’t feel like talking. What Jaslene had suggested, about calling his father, disturbed him. Cal did call on Christmas but his father never called on any occasion. Cal had to be the one to pick up the phone. He truly did believe his family would never miss him but what if Jaslene had a point? What if he told them what he thought and maybe they’d reach an agreement to disagree, as she said?
“He doesn’t appear to be home,” Jaslene said of Riley.
She was right. They’d arrived early enough to tail him if he drove to work. Cal had read from police reports that he worked as an IT vice president at a tech company. That explained how a man like him could attract a woman like Payton, or at least that’s what he surmised Jaslene would say. She must like ambitious men. People didn’t become VPs if they were the settling type.
Cal wasn’t so sure Payton had very good judgment when it came to men. A few weeks ago, while still on the police force, Cal had spoken with the human resources director at West Virginia Tech. She revealed Riley was in a probationary period due to stalking Payton. He’d also been accused of sexual harassment at his previous place of employment and must have covered it up because the HR woman didn’t know that.
Payton might also have gotten involved with a married man. Maybe there were things Jaslene didn’t know about her friend.
“Do you think he left town?”
“He did shoot at me.” If Riley had gone, he’d done so to avoid being arrested.
He took out his cell phone and called West Virginia Tech. After being transferred a few times, he finally got in touch with Riley’s boss.
“He hasn’t shown up for work in a couple of days. We tried to find him but can’t. Do you know if anything’s happened to him?” the director of IT said.
“No. We need to locate him for questioning in association with a missing persons case.”
“You think he’s involved in Payton’s case?”
“We only need to speak with him. He’s a person of interest, not a suspect.”
“Well, he’s been acting strange for months now. If he doesn’t have a good reason for not showing up to work, I’m going to have to fire him.”
“Has he expressed any feelings on Payton Everett?”
“He never mentioned anything to me but his coworker told me he’s been upset over not being able to find her.”
&n
bsp; Riley was looking for Payton? Or had he only said that to throw off those around him?
“Did he talk about Jaslene Chabot?”
“His coworker didn’t say.”
Cal ended the call and disconnected.
“We could try his family,” Jaslene said.
“Let’s see if we can find anything inside his apartment. You should wait here.”
“Your SUV is nice but my feet are freezing.”
“Why didn’t you say something? I can turn up the heat.”
“They’ll warm up if I move around.” She opened the door and got out before he could tell her to stay.
They walked through the snow toward the upscale apartment building. Jaslene had dressed warmly in a black turtleneck with a coat that hung down past her sexy butt.
No cars or people moved. A few cars passed on the street, their exhaust fogging the air and tires crunching over packed snow. Leaving the parking lot, they climbed the stairs to the second floor and made it to Riley’s apartment. Cal rang the bell.
When no one answered, he looked from one end of the hall to the other and then took out his picking tools.
“Isn’t this illegal?” Jaslene asked.
“We won’t take anything. This is information gathering only. I’ll find a legal way later, if something turns up in here.”
After several minutes he unlocked the door and stepped into the entry.
Cal checked all the rooms. Riley wasn’t here, and in the master bedroom, the closet door was open and clothes lay strewn on the floor. A small piece of luggage lay open there as well. It looked like Riley had packed another suitcase in a hurry.
“In here,” Jaslene called.
He found her in the second bedroom. She had a closet door open. Riley had removed the shelf and rod and tacked up pictures of Payton. The entire wall was covered with photos.
“I can’t say this is surprising,” Cal said.
“No.” She pointed to empty spaces. “It looks like he took some of them with him.”
Cold Case Manhunt Page 6
