Weapons of Mass Distraction (21 page)

“Just like I thought. I’ll pick you up and we’ll go shooting and make sure your skills are honed. Then we could go to lunch. Traci wants to hang out too.”

“Cool. I’d like that. Thanks, Garrett.”

“No problem, sis. Got to make sure you can look after yourself without resorting to creative measures.”

“I don’t know what you mean. Anyway, I do learn from my mistakes.”

“Just so long as you do.”

“Pfft,” I said again, but this time, with affection. I knew Garrett just wanted to keep me safe. Funny, there was a lot of that going around right now. “See you later.”

Returning to the boardroom, I shut the door behind me. “The case is still open into Avril Sosa’s disappearance,” I told the guys, quickly filling them in on the details Garrett supplied as I added the new name to the whiteboard. “And she’s the only major event occurring right before our victims resigned. If we can connect her to them, we’ll crack the case. She’s the key,” I told them. “I just know it.”

Chapter Thirteen

Intruding upon a grieving family and interrupting their private moments gave me a horribly uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, but with a lead as hot as this, I just had to shove my personal feelings aside. During the whole drive over to the Sosa’s house, I worried about what to say, without bringing them any false hope. As I parked in front of their spacious, freestanding home, I decided I just had to suck it up and get on with it. They might even appreciate that someone was looking into their daughter’s disappearance, I told myself, just to appease my fizzling nerves, but somehow, I doubted it.

The Sosa’s Harbridge home was in a very nice part of the town, an area that had experienced a rapid rise in housing prices in recent years. It looked like the kind of classic, all-American home that kids draw in school. Two windows flanked the front door on either side and there were a total of four windows spanning the second floor. The brick was neat and tidy and the windows featured elegant, white-painted shutters. There were no signs of children anywhere. other than an old basketball hoop. nailed above the garage doors that were recessed at the rear of the property. Twin Hondas were parked on the driveway and there was still space for a third car.

It was the same address given on the missing persons report so I guessed Avril must have grown up here. I wondered if they still waited for her to come home. I also wondered if parents ever gave up hope on a lost child, even if she were an adult.

Before I got too miserable, I grabbed my purse and made my way to the front door, giving the knocker a sharp rap. I didn’t have to wait long before a woman with graying, shoulder-length hair answered the door. She wore a half-apron over her jeans, her shirt was rolled to the elbows, and there was a light dusting of flour on her wrist. She had been baking and the smell of something sweet followed her.

“Yes?” she said, smiling at me before looking at my hands.

I held them palms up, so she could see I had nothing to sell or try and sign her up for.  What I did have was my PI license. “I’m Lexi Graves from the Solomon Agency. Your daughter’s name came up in connection with a case we’re investigating and I wondered if I could talk to you for a moment.”

“My daughter’s missing,” Mrs. Sosa said abruptly, her breath sharp. I knew I surprised her and it showed as she struggled to keep her composure. “She’s been gone nearly two years.”

“I know and I’d like to talk to you about that.”

“Do you know something? Do you know what happened to Avril?” She looked over my shoulder, like her daughter might appear behind me.

“No, but I’m investigating it.”

Mrs. Sosa gave me a disappointed smile. “I’m glad someone is. The police did nothing.”

“I’m aware they didn’t find any viable leads.”

“Viable leads,” sniffed Mrs. Sosa, with a sad shake of her head. “I can give you ten minutes, but my husband is due home soon and I don’t think he’ll be very happy to find you here. He’s not a fan of you people,” she told me as she invited me in. “What do you want to know about my daughter?” she asked, indicating for me to take one of the upright chairs bordering a slim console table. She was polite but not exactly welcoming but it was enough that she would talk to me.

“I want to find out what project she was working on at Simonstech and what her working life was like there,” I told her, cutting straight to the point. I sensed Mrs. Sosa liked plain talk and that she was pleased, in a small way, to know someone had taken an interest in her daughter’s unsolved disappearance.

“The police asked the same thing when she went missing. All she told us was she was working on a secret project and had to work late some nights. There were occasional overnight trips too, but Avril said it was for her career and she was always very focused.” Mrs. Sosa pointed to a photo above the console of a serious-looking, young woman holding a scroll and wearing a gown. “I said at the time we were really pleased she seemed so happy there. She always concentrated so much on school that she never had many friends. We were really glad when she finally got a social life. Balance, you know?”

I nodded, showing that I did. “Did she ever mention the names of her friends at Simonstech?”

“No, not that I remember.”

“What about Jim, Karen, or Lorena?”

“Maybe, but I don’t remember.”

“How about a Carter?”

“I know Carter Simons was her boss. He sent a nice card when she went missing, saying they’d hold the job open for her. We really appreciated that. Like I said, she never really talked about her friends much. She was just a lot happier. She was going out to dinner a lot and she started making more of an effort on her appearance. I guess the girls at work were a good influence on her.”

“When did she start changing her appearance and going out more?” I asked, curious about the gradual change in Avril. Had she really seen the benefits in a friendship group after so many years as a lonely bookworm?

“Oh, maybe six months before she… before she disappeared. You know, the more I think about it, the more I think maybe there was a boy she liked, in that crowd. I did think all the late nights working was too much and that maybe she was dating, but didn’t want us to know about it. Her father was a little over protective in her teens. I didn’t want to ask until she was ready, but I was hoping she’d bring him home soon.” Mrs. Sosa glanced at the portrait and sighed. “I suppose I’ll never know now. That’s one of the worst things about when someone you love goes missing. All the questions. The never knowing. We just want to know where Avril is, if she’s okay, if she’s happy, or if…” Mrs. Sosa trailed off and we both knew what she would say next, but neither of us needed to voice it. We both realized there was little chance Avril was alive after all this time.

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I know this is very hard.”

“No, it’s okay. Really. What else do you want to know?”

“I wanted to know if Avril was unhappy about anything at Simonstech? If she mentioned any problems with the other employees?”

Mrs. Sosa shook her head quickly. “No, never. Like I said, she seemed really happy there.” Mrs. Sosa paused. “There was one girl she talked about. She had an Irish last name. O’Donagh? No. O’Doyle! Karen O’Doyle, that’s it. They were friends, I think. Didn’t you mention a Karen? Maybe she could tell you something.”

“Thanks,” I said, my heart sinking. It was a lead, but it led to a dead body. Mrs. Sosa didn’t need to know that.

A noise at the door had us both turning our heads, and a moment later, a man stepped through. He looked from Mrs. Sosa to me, and smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his dark eyes. Mrs. Sosa scrambled to her feet and walked over to him, kissing him on the cheek. “This is Lexi Graves, a private investigator. She came to ask about Avril.”

His manner changed instantly, his face going from welcoming to angry. “Unless you’ve got news about our daughter, we have nothing to say to you.”

“I was just asking a few…”

“Questions. Always questions. We had so many questions, but could the police find anything out? And we called and called and they just ignored us. Avril’s dead. We know it, they know it, but not one of you can find her!”

“We don’t know that,” said Mrs. Sosa, reaching for him, her voice soothing and sad still.

“There’s only one reason Avril wouldn’t come home to us and that’s because she can’t,” he snapped. “Get out. Get out of my house and don’t come back until you know where her body is.”

“I’m sorry to intrude, I’ll leave my…” I fumbled for my card, dropping it on the console.

“Just go!” Mr. Sosa said, his voice breaking as he turned away to lean one hand on the wall, his shoulders shaking.

“Try Avril’s friend,” Mrs. Sosa urged as I crossed the threshold. “I’m sorry, I… we…”

“I understand,” I told her, and gave her hand a quick squeeze before I stepped onto the porch, the door banging shut behind me.

I called Solomon from my car, wishing I could sound more enthusiastic, but after seeing a man so broken, and a mother so lost, it was all I could do not to cry for them. “Bingo!” I said, by way of greeting. “Avril did know Karen at least and there’s more news. Oh no!” I gasped, catching sight of the dashboard clock as I fired up the VW’s engine.

“What? What happened?”

“I just saw the time. I have to get to Lily and Jord’s rehearsal dinner, and I’m going to be late. I have to get home and put on my dress.”

“Where are you?”

“Harbridge so I’m close and I forgot to ask you to be my date to the dinner!”

“I can’t come. I’m in the lobby at MPD. I have a meeting with Lieutenant Graves and Detective Maddox in two minutes. Why didn’t you ask me earlier?”

“I forgot!” I tried not to think about my boyfriend, my brother, and my ex sharing a meeting together. Mostly, I was grateful I wasn’t there. The small talk would be excruciating.

“Lexi!” Solomon sighed, exasperated. “What was your other news?”

“Huh?”

“Avril,” Solomon reminded me.

“Avril might have had a secret boyfriend. Her mother was suspicious about all the late nights and overnight trips and she thought maybe it was a guy. Her mom thought Karen might know, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her Karen was dead.”

“Better they don’t know. It might still come to nothing.”

“Her dad said they knew she was dead.”

“Unfortunately, I’m leaning towards that conclusion too.”

This was depressing, but then, lots of elements of my job were, and I couldn’t disagree. Everything we’d learned so far about Avril pointed towards foul play. Now, I suspected our first three victims might also have known something pertinent about her disappearance, something worth killing them to keep quiet.

On the plus side, at least, I wasn’t working at MPD, picking up cases like this every day, which would absolutely ruin my general good humor and social life. Speaking of which, “Will you be my date to the wedding?”

“I gotta go,” said Solomon at the same time I asked. “Your brother is here. We’ll talk about this later. Call me after the dinner.” He hung up before I could agree, so all I had left to do was try not to break the speed limit all the way home, then have a breakneck-fast shower and change into my dress, before tearing over to the dinner.

~

“You’re late,” hissed my mom, as I slid into the shadows around the room, searching for my seat. Lily had commandeered the restaurant next to her bar and the small tables were arranged to form several long tables. The lighting was low, the bar was well stocked and the scent of food gave me a tummy rumble that was, thankfully, barely audible over the chatter.

“Barely,” I replied, sliding into my chair just as a bow-tied waiter deposited my entree in front of me. My mouth immediately watered at the scent and it was all I could do not to dive in with my fingers. But, like a well brought up lady, whose mother wasn’t opposed to rapping the knuckles of her adult children, I held back. Just. My two youngest nephews weren’t so polite. No sooner did their plates hit the table, than Ben had his fingers on the baby meatballs. Sam went one further, sticking his face in the plate. A moment later, his mother’s hand gripped his collar and straightened him up, all without breaking conversation. I sighed. It was just like another family dinner, except we were in a far nicer restaurant and no one got lumped with the washing up. “How did you get here before me?” I asked Garrett. “You had a meeting.”

“We spoke really fast, there was some glaring, a little file sharing, and then we were done,” he replied, stabbing his fork through a shrimp with uncharacteristic violence.

I grimaced and turned away. “What did I miss?” I asked my second oldest brother.

“Just a speech by Dad on how great it is to get married just once,” said Daniel, rolling his eyes. He’d been married briefly once before Alice, and didn’t like to be reminded of it. Much like I didn’t like to recall my broken engagement. Everyone knew that incident sparked my sensible decision to run away and join the Army. That chapter in my life ended with me dumping the Army and taking up temping. My decision-making skills had improved a lot since then.

“I’m going to get married a whole bunch of times,” said my little niece, Chloe. “And I’m going to wear a different dress every time!”

“We’re only paying for the first one,” said Garrett, “Though if he’s a dunce, you might luck out on a second wedding.”

Chloe patted my arm. “Yes, sweetie?” I asked, looking down at Garrett’s youngest child.

“Are you going to get married like…” Chloe started, then looked around. “Like everyone!” she finished loudly.

All eyes went to the empty seat next to me. “Mmm, great food,” I said, ignoring them. “Yummy.”

“It’s okay to be married more than once,” said my dad, raising his voice so that Daniel, several seats away, could hear him. “Daniel, it’s okay that you’ve been married twice. We thank God everyday for Alice.” We raised our glasses in salute to Alice and she smiled and tried not to look completely uncomfortable. I tried not to be pathetically grateful that everyone’s attention had turned from me to Daniel, though come to think of it, he did manage to marry twice, while I still scored a fat zero on that count. And that was totally fine by me. Marriage wasn’t the ultimate goal in every woman’s life now, though I liked to think I could have the option one day.