Chapter 34

When I awoke the next morning at 5am, there was no music playing, and no buzzing. Hell there wasn’t even light streaming into the room. It was just me and Tiger. Hell Tiger was snoring, so I knew he wasn’t in any hurry for either of us to start moving around. Even though I needed a bathroom break I was able to put it off.

At 6AM I finally rolled out of bed. I dressed in thermal long johns, and the rest of my uniform, then headed out for a morning ride. Since there was a steady breeze blowing, I remembered the ski mask. The only reason no one challenged me as a Russian ski trooper, was that I was riding a bike not a ski-mobile. That, and even more importantly, the people who were up at six in the morning recognized me as a harmless old man.

I did my calorie burning thing first, then I did a ride around the neighborhood. It was after seven so I saw kids waiting for the school bus, or walking to the bus stop. When they waved I always waved back at them. Like everyone else in the world I loved kids. What wasn’t to love? They were generally too small to be a threat, and hadn’t learned to hate yet. I was pretty sure that blind hatred was a learned behavior. They hadn’t come into contact with that yet. Give these same kids a few years, and they might throw rocks at me, or I might need a Kevlar vest.

Tiger was waiting not so patiently for his breakfast. He had been out and done his morning thing. So he knew it was time. I busied myself with his breakfast and cut a muffin then coated it with peanut butter. I told myself it was healthy and I guess it was more healthy than the thick sugar icing which adorned bakery muffins.

I carried our breakfasts onto the deck. I watched him choke down his dog food while I ate one muffin with a huge cup of coffee. Yes I saved tiger the last bite of the muffin. After he polished off my muffin he walked slowly into the single wooded lot in the neighborhood. I was pretty sure he used it as the place he crapped. Since nature took care of the cleanup, I kind of appreciated it. It was nine by the time I dressed and tooled up for my days search. My tools included the collapsible baton, plastic zip ties, and the .22 magnum, which I intended to lock in the glove box.

Tiger was waiting by the car when I arrived. I let him in on the passenger side. He looked out the window a few minutes then feel asleep. What a life I thought looking over at him. I wondered how me managed not to be bored to death. I just couldn’t figure how anything could be happy with such a stress free life.

My first stop was the bedroom community for the triangle metro area. The house had to have been built in the 1950 era. It was owned by Gina Welch. Gina Welch was the mother of Laura Welch. I gave her the employer’s representative bit.

“Mrs. Welch I am Ray Selfridge. I would like to find your daughter Laura. We are concerned about her well being. We haven’t been able to reach her for over a week. I also have her final paycheck, and some insurance forms she needs to sign. Could you point me to her?” I asked.

“I wish, I could, but Laura hasn’t spoken to me in a couple of months. We had a bit of a falling out,” Gina explained.

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that. Can you think of anyone she might have spoken to in the last month or so. Did Laura have any childhood friends she stayed in touch with?” I asked.

“The only one I can think of is Debbie Atamore. She and Laura used to take riding lessons together. Debbie owns the Three Gate Farm in Hillsboro,” Gina suggested.

I made a note of it. I waited until I was out of sight of her little house before I called Debbie Atamore.

“Miss Atamore,” I asked after she answered the phone.

“It’s Mrs. Riley now, how may I help you?” she asked.

I fed her the same line I fed Laura’s mom. “So has Laura kept in touch with you?” I asked.

“Not really, I haven’t heard from her since our five year high school class reunion. Sorry I can’t help you,” she said. She had been quite pleasant as she told me nothing. I put a star by her name. I decided to have Lillian check her out. Something about her didn’t seem quite right.

Instead of wasting time on what was probably a dead end, I decided to keep working on the list Silvia Everest had given me. Next on her list, arranged by importance, was her sister Sarah Welch. I called Sarah and she agreed to meet me in a coffee shop not to far from the SJL offices. It seems that the research triangle area had way too many coffee shops. They probably also had way too many heart attacks as well. I know there was no research suggesting that a latte with three shots was a heart attack factor. It was just my own theory.

When I met Sarah, we did our song and dance like two professionals. I pitched and she caught the crap I was slinging. Then from out of nowhere she asked, “Who the fuck are you?”

“You are not buying that I’m employed by her Boss,” I asked.

“Fuck no,” Laura said they were all dick heads and she didn’t trust any of them. So who are you,” she asked.

“I’m a private investigator,” I said it handing her one of my new business cards. I also showed her the license with my picture. “I have been hired by a very good friend of hers who is worried about her.”

“Tell Sylvia that my sister is finished with her. That is what is happening. She cut all ties with her two weeks ago, but Sylvia can’t take no for an answer.” Sarah said.

“Okay Sarah, how about I set up a meeting with your sister, so that we can keep the cops out of this. It is like you say, I’m sure we can convince Sylvia to break off this investigation. If not, I’m just going to remain a thorn in everyone’s ass,” I announced.

“Bullshit,” Sarah said. “My sister doesn’t owe that bitch anything.”

“Well it’s like this Sarah, how do I know you and your sister didn’t have an argument. She could no longer be able to communicate with the living without a ouja board. The only way you can convince me not to recommend Sylvia go to the police, is to come up with a living breathing Sister. You have my number call I’ll meet with her and Sylvia any place, anytime.”

“I don’t know how to contact Laura,” Sarah said. “She just told me she was breaking things off with Sylvia, and I might not hear from her for a while. You don’t think anything has happened to her do you?”

“I don’t know, but you need to start leaving her messages to call me anywhere she might be hanging out. Is there anywhere you would like to send me to check on her?” I asked.

I left the meeting with Laura’s sister convinced that she was genuine, but I was also convinced that she would not help me, even if she could. She would pass along the message, but she most likely would never see her sister again. It was becoming more likely in my mind that Laura Welch was dead. My plan was to continue working as if she had just dropped out.

In that frame of mind I called the office of the SJL. I got their receptionist, after saying a few words, I asked for Bitsy. The connection was instant. I placed the call from my car while Tiger nosed around an empty area beside a fenced in school parking lot.

“Sarge what can I do for you. Tell me you need something to save me from this terrible boredom,” she begged.

“I have a woman who went missing. Her cell phone is off line and no one admits to seeing her in the last two weeks more or less. I would really like to know, if her car is in a police tow yard somewhere. I think it might have been impounded somewhere in the RTA,” I admitted. “Any chance you could send me to the right person to ask?”

“I can do better than that. I can call around until I find someone who is willing to call the impound lots for us both. Listen if you need anything else, you just ask,” she suggested. “By the way Addie and the Chairman of the Board have been behind closed doors since yesterday. They are playing phone tag right now. Do you know anything about it?”

“I don’t have a clue. You know Addie. She doesn’t like to share with us mortals,” I said with a laugh.

“I know, she can be such a slut like that,” Bitsy said with a laugh of her own. “I’ll give you a call when all the police departments have been checked.”

“Why not meet me for a drink after work, and fill me in. You name the place,” I suggested.

The place was Lamar’s Sports bar. She even gave me the address. She set the time at five thirty.

“Oh,” she said. “They have outdoor tables, so you can bring Tiger. We can drink wine and feed him french fries.”

“Done,” I suggested. I knew I would be having coffee or iced tea, but it sounded like a good idea.

After she hung up, I called my computer nerd. “Hey sweetie,” I said because I had a brain fart and couldn’t remember her name.

“Sarge, that is sexist. You are going to get in trouble doing that,” she said seriously.

“Why, are you going to call the PC police on me?” I asked.

“No, but someone might,” she said.

“Okay, but I called to invite you out for a drink while you fill me in on things,” I suggested.

“When?” she asked.

“I can pick you up at five this afternoon at your job. We can go from there to the restaurant,” I explained.

“Okay, but I’m not dressed for a night out,” she said deadpan.

“You will be fine honey. It’s just a drink with some people you should meet,” I suggested. “See you at five in the parking lot outside your office. I’ll be the man with a brindle dog.”

I spent the time between the call and our meeting talking with two people on Sylvia’s list. But only after eating a hamburger in the parking lot outside a Hardee’s restaurant. Tiger liked their burgers, but then he liked every restaurant’s burgers.

Tiger and I were standing outside my car in the parking lot of the office building of the new tech company. I almost missed Lillian. She was dressed down from her usual prim and proper outfit. Her hair was in a pony tail. I had to admit she looked better in the jeans and a sweatshirt over a long sleeved tee shirt. She even wore a backpack. I almost joked with her about tech secrets in her backpack, but I decided she wouldn’t get it, so I didn’t.

Tiger ran to her and guided her back to our car. “Hello Miss Lillian,” I said as a greeting.

“Hello Sarge,” she said with a smile.

“I like your new look,” I suggested.

“A friend said if they were going to pay me minimum wage, I should dress like a laborer,” she said with a smile. She had gotten her friends joke, so maybe there was hope for her after all.

“It was a part of your friend Addie’s plea bargain. I work for slave wages, until I repay their losses or until they fire me. So I’m working on forcing them to fire me. When they get all the information they can from me, then they will fire me, my friend assures me.”

“Well this should keep you in hot dogs and root beer,” I said handing her the envelope holding some of Sylvia’s money. She removed her backpack and handed me a USB stick.

“All my research is there, as well as the pertinent information from Laura’s computer. I have destroyed the USB drive with the original information from her computer. This information can’t be traced back to her computer,” she informed me with her happy voice.

“Good on you,” I said grinning.

“Okay Tiger, get in the back seat. We are off to Lamar’s sports bar,” I informed him, which also informed Lillian.

“Which sport are they promoting?” Lillian asked.

“You know. I don’t really have any idea. My friend Bitsy picked it. This is a payoff burger for her. She has donated her time to helping me rundown Laura’s car.”

“Sarge you seem to have a lot of women friends,” Lillian suggested very seriously.

“Absolutely by accident. I don’t choose my friends by their sex,” I promised. She just nodded her head.

Bitsy and Addie were waiting when we arrive. Lillian went immediately to Addie and gave her a hug. She also hugged Bitsy, but it was a secondary hug. Tiger stood with his tail wagging.

The girls order some chicken with dipping sauce and beer. Beer just wasn’t like them. I ordered a glass of iced tea and two hamburgers. Each one on a separate plate. When the food arrived and tiger destroyed his burger in record time, I gave him the last bite of mine.

“So tell me someone has found Laura’s car,” I demanded from Bitsy.

“The Carrboro police of all people,” Bitsy said. “It was abandoned in the drive way of an elementary school. The local cops ran it back and when they couldn’t get hold of the owner, they had it towed. It is now in a J. C. Jarvis bonded impound lot.”

“Can I go take a look at it?” I asked.

“No,” Bitsy replied. “But I can. It wasn’t locked, so they did a half ass inventory. I can get you the inventory, if you need it.”

Lillian pushed her mini notebook across the table for me. I showed it to Bitsy. She looked at the inventory, then at Lillian and said, “Damn, I’m impressed.”

“Me too,” I added. Lillian just beamed.

“Now for the good news, maybe?” Addie informed me. The chairman and I had a meeting. He thinks my idea is brilliant.”

“What idea is that?” I asked.

“When you aren’t working on a case of your own, you work for us as an unpaid consultant again. In exchange SJL allows you to use Mason’s old office. You also agree to make a pitch for SJL now and then. Oh yeah, you also get to refer your clients to SJL, and you get my services in your other business. We are really merging the two companies unofficially,” she suggested.

“I’ll have to think about it,” I said.

“Whats to think about,” Bitsy said. “You will get my assistance without having to pay me a salery. Just pay me for the work I do for you,” she said.

“You should pay me. I’m probably going to add years to your life,” I said.