Wally
and Samantha had returned to his loft. After the surprise meeting with the
police at O’Malley’s, Samantha had become very quiet. Wally couldn’t figure out
if she were frightened or determined—but determined to do what? She hadn’t said
anything, stared straight ahead and frowned from time to time as if in deep
thought. Once they opened the door to his loft, Samantha rushed to his computer
and spent the next thirty minutes staring at the screen.
“What
are you doing?” Wally finally asked.
“Looking
for missing women,” she said without looking up.
“Why
are you searching for missing women?”
“I
don’t know. Just a hunch, that’s all.”
“A
hunch?”
She
picked at her fingers as a silly smile spread across her face.
“I
don’t know. My father used to tell me to follow your hunches. You don’t know
why you get them, but the majority of the time you’re right.”
Wally
sat down at the kitchen table and took a deep breath.
“And
what does this all lead to, may I ask? What can you do about it?”
Samantha
got up, walked over, and sat on Wally’s lap. She ran her fingers lightly over
his baldhead and cupped his cheek with the other hand.
“I
don’t know. But, whatever I do, I’m going to need help. Will you help me?”
Wally
blushed when she leaned over and kissed him on top of the head. He was not used
to this attention that Samantha was dishing out recently. He made every attempt
to keep his feelings inside. He knew that Samantha could never like him. She
always returned to the guys who physically and emotionally hurt her. She was in
one of her needy phases right now. The minute he expressed any interest in her,
she’d walk out of his life for a couple of months. Samantha reached down,
placed his arms around her waist and rested her forehead against his head.
“You
know I’ll help. I just don’t understand what you are doing.”
She
kissed his forehead again.
“I
don’t either.”
Samantha’s
cell phone rang. She got up and retrieved it from her bag.
“Hello,
mother. What can I do for you this morning—or should I say afternoon?”
“Samantha,
I need to talk to you about Vickie Taylor and a woman named Patricia Wilson.”
“Oh,
my God! I was going to call you about the same thing.”
***
They
sat in Olivia’s kitchen. Wally nursed a beer and waited. Olivia poured a glass
of wine and stared at her calm daughter neatly placing three stacks of papers
on the table. Once completed, Samantha took a deep breath and with her hands
flat on the table, cleared her throat.
“Who
should go first?” she asked.
Olivia
set her glass down.
“I’ll
go since I think what you have to say is more involved.”
“Okay,
let’s hear it,” Samantha responded.
Olivia
relayed the conversation she’d had with Margaret earlier in the day at the
Roasterie. Samantha listened attentively.
“So
what do you think?” Samantha asked slapping the table.
“Well—for
one thing, I got the impression from Margaret that Vickie Taylor and Patricia
Wilson’s disappearance are connected. She didn’t actually say that, but that’s
what came across. Margaret also seemed very interested in me, although she
doesn’t know it.”
“What
do you mean?” Wally asked.
Olivia
saw Wally’s eyes fill with concern that the police might be interested in her.
“They
are interested in me because I told them where to find the body. I hinted that
many psychics help the police, but she insisted that I was too accurate. Others
have called in saying that the police could find Vickie Taylor’s body in a
wooded area. I pointed almost exactly where to find Vickie.”
“Can
they trace your call?” Wally asked, shifting uncomfortably in his chair.
“I’ve
read the web site, and the hotline has no caller id, so they have no idea who
made the call, although I wondered if they could get a court order.”
“Mother,
do you really believe that?”
Olivia
thought for a second.
“I
don’t know. That’s a scary thought if they can. Something tells me that
Margaret is hoping that the person calls back in.”
“What
makes you think that, Mother?”
Olivia
held her hands up.
“Don’t
ask me how I know. It’s just a hunch.”
Wally
chortled and said, “This family has a lot of hunches. And by the way, if they
did get a court order for your phone number the hotline would lose all
credibility.”
Olivia
stared at him, but Samantha tapped her hand to get her attention.
“My
turn. Wally and I were paid a little visit by the police over lunch after
talking to Brent Mitchell’s wife this morning,”
Startled,
Olivia’s hand went to her cheek.
“You
talked to Brent Mitchell’s wife? Who’s she? The police? What happened?”
Samantha
explained about visiting Mrs. Mitchell at Starbucks, and a policewoman was
monitoring the conversation, although she didn’t explain her interest in
talking to Brent Mitchell’s wife.
“They
followed you to O’Malley’s?” Olivia
asked.
“Yeah.
After that, Samantha got something up her butt about this Brent Mitchell, Pam
Wilson and Vickie Taylor being connected,” Wally said.
“I’m
more convinced now that I’ve talked to my mother.”
“I
agree, Samantha. I think they are all connected. I just can’t figure out what
the connection might be.” Olivia stopped and frowned. “I don’t understand how
you got involved with this Mrs. Mitchell and her husband. What is that all
about?”
“I’ll
tell you later, mother. It’s not important.”
Wally
closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Where
is this coming from? You guys are pulling straws out of your hat.”
Olivia
placed her hands on top of Wally’s and squeezed.
“Listen,
Wally. I know it is hard to believe, but my gut tells me we’re right.”
Chapter
26
“I’m
sorry, Mrs. K, but the police don’t go by their gut. They go by facts, which
are very few at this point.”
“Okay,
let’s review the facts, Wally. We know how they are not connected, so how are
they alike?”
“Both
are women,” Samantha offered.
“That’s
right. They are different ages, but both are women.”
“Margaret
told you that she is working on the profile for both women,” Samantha said.
“That’s
very important don’t you think?” Olivia asked.
Samantha
agreed and Wally rolled his eyes in disbelief.
“Brent
Mitchell is missing, and he was working for Pat Wilson,” Samantha said pointing
her finger at Wally.
“I
still don’t understand this Mitchell angle,” Olivia said.
“He
was a private detective working for Patricia Wilson,” Samantha said.
Wally
folded his arms across his chest.
“There
is still nothing concrete that ties them together,” he said.
They
were quiet for a minute, each mulling over their thoughts.
“Mrs.
K, why would you even want to get involved with this? The police are on it.
They have far more resources than the three of us.”
“But,
I have Vickie, Wally. She came to me. The police don’t have Vickie.”
Wally
waved his arms, but he couldn’t think of anything to say.
“That’s
right, mother. Vickie came to you. Maybe she’ll come back again.”
“Maybe
she will,” Olivia said mainly to herself.
“Why
do the two of you want to do this? What is your goal? If two people are missing
and one is dead, it could be dangerous.”
Olivia
frowned and mulled over what Wally had said. It was a good point. Why did she
want to get involved all of a sudden? Did Margaret scare her into thinking that
the police were after her? What could she do to catch the person that killed Vickie
Taylor, and possibly caused the disappearance of Patricia Wilson and this Brent
Mitchell? Maybe these two had run off
together after they killed Vickie, but that didn’t make any sense. Olivia saw
that Samantha was puzzling over the situation as hard as she was.
“Wally…
I think Vickie came to me because she wanted my help. Now, why she came to me,
I haven’t the slightest idea, but she did. I am a link. I don’t know why I’m
that link, but I am. If she comes to me like the last time, I won’t have any
choice in the matter. Something takes hold of me, and I am helpless. I think we
need to gather more information about these three, and then we can see how they
tie together. Right now, we have a connection between Patricia and this Brent—whoever
he is, but nothing ties them to Vickie.”
Wally
rubbed his face with his hands and quietly moaned.
“Mrs.
K, I have never seen you like this before.” He laid one arm flat on the table
and pointed at Samantha. “I can see Sam going on a wild goose chase, but not
you. You are the one sensible person in this family.”
“That
was before Vickie,” Olivia said quietly.
“All
right, all right. Let’s get organized here before we go off the deep end and
someone gets hurt.”
Samantha
grabbed Wally’s finger in her hand and squeezed.
“You
mean you’re going to help.”
Wally
nodded his head in defeat.
“You
can be a scatterbrain at times, and your mom seems to have lost her sense of
direction right now, so yes, I am going to help.”
Samantha
let out a squeal, and Olivia smiled. Somehow, this felt right.
“What
do we need to do first, Wally?”
“Well,
we really don’t know anything about Vickie Taylor. I think we need to get a
complete picture in our heads. We probably can get the information from the
newspaper. We’ve probably read or heard it on the news, but much of the
information seemed inconsequential at the time.”
“Mother,
get that iPad of yours and let’s start making notes.”
“I’ve
already taken some,” Olivia said walking out of the kitchen.
Olivia
went to retrieve her iPad while Wally took out his Samsung Note ll™ and got online. Samantha did
the same with her iPhone. When Olivia returned, she was met with a barrage of
information.
“Vickie
Taylor was twenty-nine years old. She graduated from Shawnee Mission North High
School and attended Johnson County Community College,” Wally said.
“She
got her bachelor’s degree and MBA from Baker University,” Samantha added.
“Wait
a second,” Olivia admonished. “Let me turn my iPad on.”
“Her
degree was in finance,” Wally said. “She worked at A. G. Edwards for three
years and recently went to work for Hogue Investments.”
“What
is Hogue Investments?” Samantha asked.
“I
don’t know. I’ll look it up,” Wally replied.
They
continued this drill for the next hour until finally they had culled most of
the information from the paper and Internet. Olivia leaned back in her chair,
appraised what they had discovered about Vickie Taylor and wondered if someone
could do the same about her. Scary, she thought. Olivia reorganized some of the
notes and appraised the two pages that contained a timeline of Vickie’s life,
her marriage and her work.
“Do
you want me to print this off?” she asked.
“Two
copies,” Wally said.
While
Olivia went to retrieve the copies from the printer, Samantha leaned across the
table and pinched Wally’s cheek.
“I’m
glad you’re in,” she said quietly.
“Yeah,”
he grunted.
Olivia
brought the papers back and gave each a copy. They silently read over the
notes.
“A lot of information here, but nothing that
jumps out at you,” Samantha said.
“I
agree. What do you think Wally?” Olivia asked.
Wally
pursed his lips and threw the papers down on the table.
“It
tells me we need more information.”
“Like
what?” Samantha asked.
“For
one thing, we need to find out more about her married life. Was she really
happy? We need to find out more about Hogue Investments. The newspaper or
television stations couldn’t reach the company to have them give a statement.
She had worked there for a little over two months. Maybe one of her clients
blamed her for a deal that went badly.”
“How
are we going to do that?” Olivia asked.
“Let’s
start with Facebook. Let’s see whether she is on Facebook and check out her
friends. With luck, we may find someone that we know.”
Samantha’s
phone chimed. She checked her messages and then gave Wally a weak smile.
“I
have to go. I have an appointment.”
“Are
you going to check Facebook, Wally?” Olivia asked.
“Yeah,
I can do that after I get Sam back.”
“What
can I do?” Olivia asked.
Wally
pushed his chair back and stood up until he towered over Olivia.
“See
whether Vickie wants to talk some more.”
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