Chapter 10

Well, I'd better start telling you about my family or I'm going to lose you. No, you haven't heard about my family yet; at least not all of my family.

I had several meetings with the different groups of employees and told them about Abby leaving the company to Peggy and me. There were a lot of questions but I think that I answered the major ones and at least bought myself some time. I knew that a lot of the employees were waiting to see how things would shake out. I'm sure that there was some grumbling; there's always a few that hate everything. All in all, everyone chipped in and did his or her share.

Peggy really shined in the office. She was almost as good as Abby had ever been and my only problem was to make sure that I didn't spend ten dollars if we only had nine dollars in the bank. I consulted with Peggy before each major purchase and before bidding on any major project. Peggy made sure that we always got paid on time and anybody that didn't pay on time got a call from Peggy and they would soon learn just how hard nosed she was.

Peggy never took any form of birth control and when she hadn't got pregnant after two years she decided to get checked out. After a battery of tests on both of us the doctor called both of us into his office and sat us down. The news was devastating for us. When Peggy had been chased by her uncle and had fallen on the coffee table she had injured her uterus and there was severe scarring in her uterus. He told us that there was some other damage from that incident but that the scarring was the worst problem. Then came the words neither of us wanted to hear; Peggy would never be able to have children.

Peggy started crying in the office and she cried for days. She cursed her uncle, God, the doctors and anyone else she could think of. When I told her that I loved her she made some kind of comment about half a woman or something. When I suggested adopting she looked at me like I had just murdered a child. She ran into her room and I didn't see her for two days.

Things really went downhill for the next six months. Out love life was almost non-existent. The few times that we tried sex I could tell that she was just submitting to me. After the fourth month I didn't even try to make love to her. It was if someone had ripped the soul out of her and just left a shell of who she once was.

She became so depressed that I had to make sure that she was never alone. I was terrified that she would commit suicide. When I talked to her doctor about this, he suggested having a relative come to live with us for a while until Peggy snapped out it.

I sat in the office that night, as I often did lately, and began to think. Her family was out since she only had a sister and we didn't know where she was. The uncle was definitely out. I don't think he would live for fifteen minutes after Peggy saw him walk through our door.

I suddenly got an idea. I grabbed the phone book and dialed the number of a private detective. I wasn't thinking about it being night time and I got a recording. I left my office number and my cell phone number and ask that someone return my call the next day.

The next morning I received a call on my cell from the private detective. I explained what I needed and he suggested that we meet somewhere for lunch and he would explain my options, what I could expect if I hired him and our chances of finding Peggy's sister. He asked if I had the resources and the desire to pay for a search if it turned out to be a protracted search. I assured him that I wanted Brenda found and that I was willing to mortgage my house if I had to.

I met Bob Cassidy at the restaurant that day. He quickly explained his qualifications and gave me a brief history of his company. Bob Cassidy was a retired police detective. He had been in business for himself for about seven years and his list of solved cases was impressive. By the time we parted, I had hired Bob and he went back to his office to start work.

It was a week before I heard from him again. He had told me that he had other cases that he was working on; I was really shocked that he was calling back so soon. He asked that we meet at the same restaurant and told me that he had some good news.

As I walked into the restaurant I saw Bob Cassidy standing next to the hostess with a thick folder under his arm. The hostess sat us and Bob handed me the folder. We ordered drinks, mainly to get the waitress away so that we could have a couple of minutes of privacy. When she sat the drinks in front of us I told her that we needed about fifteen minutes without being disturbed.

"I was only able to spend around fifteen hours on this case," Bob told me, "This was an easy one. Your sister-in-law is living in Denver. She was married and the man she married had a spotty work history. The man that she was married to was a pedophile and was caught raping a ten year old child. When the man was sent to prison the case was a big deal in the newspapers. The husband was stabbed in prison, by another inmate, and died a couple of days later. It made the papers again. A lot of people took their hatred for her husband out on her. She had a pretty rough time of it.

She's working in a diner waiting tables. She lives in a rented room in a section of town that isn't the best. As far as I can tell, she has no social life. As you can see, I've taken some pictures of her. Her life isn't the best right now and any help that you could give her would probably be appreciated."

I looked at the pictures. Brenda's hair was a mess but it was easy to see that she was a brunette version of Peggy. I knew if we didn't get her out of this life she would be an old woman long before her time.

I looked up at the detective," You're pretty good. I was really expecting this to take months."

He smiled, "Ah, technology."

"Did you find out what days she works?"

"As far as I can tell, she works pretty much seven days a week."