Olivia
busied herself looking at the information Samantha had printed out on women
reported missing. At first, it had been difficult attempting to cull which ones
were similar to Patricia Wilson and Vickie Taylor. In the end, she had to drop
Vickie because, although Olivia believed them to be related, that relationship
was different from the other missing women. After going through the stack of papers,
four or five times, Olivia began to see some patterns. She had to get back
online to find out additional information about some of the people, which took
some time. Nothing is more boring than threading your way through the first
twenty to twenty-five pages on Google, but it paid off. She discovered three
women who had something in common: they were successful, single and lonely. Two
had never been married, and the last one had been divorced for several years.
None had children, and their co-workers mentioned in passing that each one had
sought out online dating at one time or another
Olivia
had set up her iPad on one end of the kitchen table with a portable keypad. She
opened Pages and started a new document. Choosing a simple four-column table
template, she began to enter information about the three women.
Becky
Whitney
|
Gladys
Henry
|
Constance
Daniels
|
|
Married
|
No
|
No
|
Divorced
|
Children
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Successful
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Therapy
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Online Dating
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
Missing
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Lonely
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Younger Man
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
Business
|
Sales
|
Finance
|
Banking
|
Olivia
sat back and reviewed the information. She saw three successful, unsatisfied
and lonely women. Something didn’t click in Olivia’s mind. These women weren’t
the type of women who would go running off with anyone. Something has to tie
them all together, but what?
The
doorbell rang.
As
Olivia got up from her chair, she realized she hadn’t eaten anything since
lunch, and she was hungry. Grabbing an apple out of a basket on the counter,
she took a big bite as she walked to the front door. She thought it must be one
of her neighbors since Samantha had a key. She opened the door to find Samantha
dressed to kill with her arms covering the front of the dress.
“Where
are you going?” Olivia asked.
“Coming
back,” Samantha said pushing past her mother.
“What’s
going on?”
Samantha
didn’t look back.
“Forgot
my key. I need to change clothes.”
She
dropped her purse on the hall table before running to the second bedroom.
Olivia
shook her head and muttered, “She’s grown and not your responsibility.”
Olivia
shut the front door, returned to the kitchen and studied the list she’d made
earlier. Visually seeing it on paper made all the difference in the world. She
knew she was on the right track. Three lonely, successful women searching for
love. The only question, now, was where to go from here. There certainly isn’t
enough information to give to the police. They’d laugh her out of the station.
Samantha came into the kitchen dressed in jeans and a white tee shirt.
“You
cold?” Olivia asked, taking a bite of the apple.
“Why
do you ask?”
“Your
nipples are trying to poke through your tee shirt.”
“I
didn’t have a bra here,” she explained.
“And
you didn’t wear a bra here,” Olivia countered. “By the time you’re my age,
they’ll hang to your waist.”
“Mother!
I don’t need this right now!”
Olivia
turned and threw the apple core in the sink.
“Okay.
Let me tell you what I’ve been doing. I’ve taken the sheets you printed out
earlier and I think I’ve found three women who fit a certain pattern. Now, we
need to compare these women to Patricia Wilson.”
“Make another column on your table. Phil
Underwood gave me some good information on Ms. Wilson.”
Olivia
grabbed the mouse and added another column. Samantha started rattling off
information so fast that Olivia had to tell her to slow down. It didn’t take
long for her to finish. They stared at the table in front of them and then
looked at each other.
“We
got a match,” Olivia said.
“I bet Gladys and Constance were into the
online dating,” Samantha said. “Now, we have to find what ties all of them
together.”
“You
mean another person?” Olivia asked.
“Probably.
Someone had to tie these people together. How else could they all go to therapy
and online dating.”
“It
could be a coincidence,” Olivia said.
Becky
Whitney
|
Gladys
Henry
|
Constance
Daniels
|
Patricia
Wilson
|
|
Married
|
No
|
No
|
Divorced
|
No
|
Children
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Successful
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Therapy
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Online Dating
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
Yes
|
Missing
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Lonely
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Younger Man
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
Yes
|
Business
|
Sales
|
Finance
|
Banking
|
Real
Estate
|
“Phil
told me that a friend suggested to Patricia Wilson to try to this online dating
site. When I asked him about the friend, he didn’t know.”
“It is
strange,” Olivia agreed.
“Mother,
we have quite a bit of information here. Don’t you think we should turn this
over to the police?”
“Maybe.
What did Phil tell you about this online dating site?”
“It’s
a site designed for older women to find younger men.”
“Fish
in the Sea!” Olivia exclaimed.
Chapter
32
“What?
What are you talking about?”
“Fish
in the Sea is the name of the site. Gretchen belongs to it, and she’s gone out
with a couple of men. They’ve dumped her, but that’s no matter. Most men would dump
Gretchen. It doesn’t get a very good rating from reviewers.”
“Have
you looked at the site?” Samantha asked.
“Not
really,” Olivia replied. “I Googled the web for reviews.”
“You
Googled the web for reviews. Mother, I’m impressed that you’re picking up the
lingo,” Samantha teased.
“Let’s
see what we can find,” Olivia said.
When
Olivia pulled up the site, a login screen appeared.
“You
need a login to get on the site,” Samantha said. She peered closely at the
screen and then pointed to a box in the lower left hand corner. “Click on New
Account.”
Olivia
clicked on the button, and another screen popped up asking for the name of the
member who recommended her.
“This
is crazy,” Olivia said. “If you’re a
woman you can only join by another member recommending you. There is no
qualification for men.”
“How
did Gretchen get on?” Samantha asked. “Someone had to recommend her.”
“I
don’t know. Let me call her and find out.” Olivia dialed the number. “Gretchen
did mention something about referring me, but I didn’t pursue it.”
“Mother!
You old cougar!”
Olivia
ignored her daughter.
The
phone rang several times before going into voice mail.
“Gretchen,
Olivia. Please call me when you get in.”
Samantha
got up, walked to the refrigerator, and pulled out a bottle of wine.
“You
mind?” she asked.
“Pour
me one, too. In fact, I’m still hungry. See if I left a small piece of pizza
from lunch the other day. It should be in the door.”
Samantha
immediately found the pizza.
“Microwave?”
she asked.
“Please.”
Samantha
took the pizza out of a Styrofoam package and set it on a paper towel. She set
the microwave timer and sat back down.
“So Mother,
what are you doing tonight?”
“What I do most nights, dear; read, watch
television and drink wine. Why aren’t you out doing something?”
“Nothing
to do,” she pouted.
“Where’s
Wally?” Olivia asked.
Samantha
poured the wine and set the bottle to the table. The wine was cold, and easily
slid down her throat.
“He
had an appointment,” she answered setting the wine glass on the table and
cupping it with her hands.
“You
sound disappointed. Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s
wrong, mother. Wally had an appointment
with someone who worked with Vickie Taylor at A. G. Edwards.”
Olivia
frowned as the timer on the microwave rang.
“Did
you set the timer for two minutes?”
“Yeah,
I think so.”
Olivia
retrieved the pizza.
“I’m
glad Wally is helping us,” she said.
“Oh,
yeah. He’s helping all right,” Samantha groaned.
Olivia
picked up the piece of pizza and took a small bite.
“Hot,”
she said, fanning her mouth.
“I
could have told you that,” Samantha said dryly.
“There
you go again,” Olivia said.
Samantha
whipped around with a stern look on her face.
“What?”
“Nothing,
Samantha. I can tell you’re not in the mood to talk about it.”
“There
is nothing to talk about Mother!”
“Okay,”
Olivia replied nonchalantly and took another bite of the pizza.
Samantha
drained her glass of wine and poured another.
“Why
do you do this to me?”
Olivia
didn’t look at her daughter, but concentrated on what was left of the small
pizza.
“I’ll
shut my mouth. Forget I asked anything.”
“Why
do you do this to me. You keep digging and prodding until I tell you.”
Olivia
took the last bite of pizza and brushed her hands together over the paper
towel.
“I can
assure you, Samantha, that I’m not digging or prodding. I just asked about
Wally.”
Samantha’s
eyes filled with tears. Olivia wanted to wrap her arms around her daughter, but
she knew from past experiences that Samantha had to come to her and a hug was
not what she wanted.
“Do
you mind if I stay here tonight?” Samantha whispered.
“Of
course not, dear. You know my home is always open to you.”
“Thank
you.”
Samantha
quietly took her unfinished glass of wine and walked out of the kitchen.
“Do
you want a gown?” Olivia asked Samantha’s retreating figure.
Samantha
swung around in the doorway to face her mother.
“No, I
sleep nude most of the time.” Samantha started to walk away, but stopped,
turned and said, “I love you, Mother.”
Olivia
watched Samantha disappear. All of her motherly instincts were on high alert.
She felt helpless, but Samantha was a grown woman and needed to learn to ask
for help instead of holding everything inside at times like this. Olivia had
wanted to ask whether Samantha was taking her medicine. Her daughter was so
different when she took her medicine regularly. Even Cybil said she didn’t know
her sister when she was on her medicine. The problem was that Samantha didn’t
like taking it. She didn’t like the side effects, but she knew it helped her
control her behavior. Samantha would tell her mother that she could control her
emotions if Olivia would just leave her alone, so Olivia had given the problem
back to Samantha.
***
Wally
had an Irish Cream around ten o’clock and got ready for bed. Restless, he
attempted to corral his thoughts and go to sleep. He realized that time was
running out for anything to happen with Samantha. He didn’t know how much
longer he could continue his charade as liking her only as a friend. Samantha
had held a special place in his heart since childhood, but he knew that had to
come to an end. It had been hard today. He’d wanted to take her in his arms and
crush her body against his. Wally knew he was just a regular guy, and that he
lacked the charisma it took to get a girl like Samantha. She’d stirred things
up inside of him, and sometimes he wondered if she realized what she was doing.
By evening time, and Carol’s arrival at his loft, he was about out of his mind.
He thought about Carol tonight; her smell, the curve of her body and those
inviting lips. She was a few years older, and she had the softness of age, but
that didn’t mean she wasn’t sexually attractive. The buzzer for downstairs interrupted
his thoughts. He roused out of bed and headed into the living room. It was
probably Carol returning for her purse. He pushed the speaker button.
“Yeah?”
Carol’s
soft voice answered.
“I
forgot my purse, Wally.”
“I
know,” he said. “Come on up.”
“Are
you dressed?” she asked.
“I was
in bed. I have my pajama’s on.”
“Good.
Why don’t you unlock both doors, go back to bed and get out of your pajamas and
wait for me,” she purred.
Wally’s
heart skipped a beat. He knew this was only temporary, with no attachment
involved, but at least for a moment he’d feel loved. He didn’t say anything in
reply. He pushed the button to the downstairs door and turned the deadbolt on
his front door. Retreating to his bed, he threw off his pajamas, did a quick
check of his armpits and hopped into bed. He lay on his back, his head resting
in his hands and waited. Two minutes later he heard the front door quietly
open, muffled footsteps walking toward the bed. She didn’t say anything. There
was the sound of shoes hitting the wooden floor, the rustle of clothes and a
squeak as her knee sank into the mattress. She lifted the covers and quickly
slid beside Wally. Her arm rested on his chest while her hand sneaked up and
caressed his cheek. Wally extended one arm, enveloped her naked body and held
her close. Her warmth was intoxicating as she moved to gently brush her lips
against his while her hand now reached downward between his legs.
“Do
you mind if I lead?” she asked in a husky whisper while crawling on top of his
body.
