“I’ll tell you what you aren’t seeing,” sounded a voice from behind me. I turned and spotted the Chief. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand that he placed on the desk in front of me.
“What’s that?” Tom asked.
“I was curious,” Doyle said. “I couldn’t figure out how a woman like Marissa Clemens, with being a single mom and a nurse, with her income could afford to live where she did. So, I called the county and asked for some info.”
“And what did you find?” I asked and leaned forward to look at the piece of paper he had placed in front of me. Chief Doyle was looking at it over my shoulder, casting a long shadow.
I looked up at him. He smiled. I had always believed he was quite good looking. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man, with a booming voice and a stern demeanor. He had lost his wife some years ago, before he came to our station. People said he never got over it and hadn’t dated since. I still saw her picture on his desk when I was in there. They looked very happy together. It had been a home invasion. Some drug addict, looking for money, shot her in her own home.
It was a tragedy. One you could still see on his heavy burdened face, even if it was years ago.
“Is that what I think it is?” I asked.
He nodded with a smirk. “Yup. This is the deed to the house she lives in. She never paid a dime to live there. That’s your connection right there.”
I lifted the paper and stared at it to be completely sure I was getting this right.
“Then who did?” Tom asked, leaning forward.
I looked up and my eyes met his. “Pete Perez. Cassandra’s dad. He owns the house, but his name is also on the loan.”
“And he paid all the mortgages,” Doyle said, determined. “Something is going on between the two of them. But no matter what it is, then there is a connection, an important one. So, I guess we’re still working that angle, Wilde.”
Tom wrinkled his nose. “And why would he do that? Did he have an affair with her or something like that?”
I rose to my feet and grabbed my phone in hand. “A neighbor did say she saw a man come and go at Marissa’s house. Maybe it was him? I say it’s time to call him in for a little chat.” I paused and looked at my boss. “I thought you didn’t believe that Marissa Clemens had a child?”
“We haven’t found evidence that she didn’t either,” he said. “Plus, I believe in you. And your gut. That’s enough. You’ve done good work on this case so far.”
That made me smile. Chief Doyle had been head of the police department for nearly five years. He had a reputation for being uncompromising and by-the-book when it came to crime, but his resolute fairness was also well known. It wasn’t often Chief Doyle gave out compliments, so when he did, I could be certain that he meant it. And I was allowed to be proud of it.
FORTY-ONE
Then
Kitty woke up from a deep sleep, her head pounding and her chest heaving. The only sound was the faint thumping of her heart and the scratching of a branch against the walls on the outside of the metal shed. It was hot inside of it, almost unbearably so, and she was sweating heavily, her hair falling into her face, soaked.
Kitty heard a loud clank and the door to her room creaked open, flooding the small space with sunlight. She bolted upright in her bed, expecting to see Officer Damian and his piercing blue eyes staring down at her, as she had been accustomed to over these past many weeks, or was it maybe even months? She no longer knew. She couldn’t keep track. The only thing she knew was that he would come to her at least once a day, bringing food, and they would talk. Sometimes he would kiss her and hold her and tell her she shouldn’t be afraid. Other times he would slap her across the face and yell at her for making him do this to her, making him keep her like this.
“Why do you have to make me love you?” he had yelled often.
She didn’t know how to answer that, and all she could do was cry. She had gotten no further in planning her escape. She was still strapped to the bed, only untied when she was eating, and going to the bathroom. She couldn’t even examine the door to see if there was any way of opening it from the inside. And even if she did succeed, and made it to the outside, then there were the dogs she had to worry about. She had never seen them, but pictured them sitting out there, in front of the door, waiting for her, drooling, showing their sharp teeth as they growled at the door.
It was terrifying.
A shadowy figure appeared in the doorway. Kitty gasped lightly, thinking it was him again, that he was coming for her, and then instantly wondering what mood he would be in. Usually, she could tell by the look in his eyes the moment he stepped inside. But much to her surprise, this wasn’t him.
It was his wife.
Linda stepped inside, carrying a tray with a glass of chocolate milk and a pink teddy bear sitting next to it, leaning on its side. Kitty recognized her from the first day she had come to the house, and she braced herself for the worst. Why was she here? What did she want? Had she come to hurt her?
But instead of aggression, the woman looked sad.
She sat down on the edge of the bed, like Damian usually did. She put the tray down and untied Kitty’s hands, then handed her the glass of chocolate milk. Kitty grabbed it and drank it greedily. She was enjoying something she hadn’t had in a long time. So far, she had been living off nothing but burgers and fries and sodas, and barely enough of it to keep her alive.
She was constantly starving.
Linda sighed and sat with her hands folded in her lap.
“I’m sorry we are doing this to you,” she said softly. “Believe me it doesn’t make me feel very good.”
Kitty stared at her. Officer Damian had said the same thing several times before as well. How sorry he was for doing this to her. He had even cried once and she’d had to comfort him and tell him it was okay, that he was just doing it out of love, and for her own good. That’s what he had told her at least, and over the weeks she had started to believe him. He wasn’t a bad man, and his wife wasn’t bad either. They meant well. They wanted her to be safe.
Linda reached over and stroked her hair gently.
“It’s not fair to you,” she continued, almost breaking into tears. “I feel awful. I feel so, so terrible.”
Kitty couldn’t stop looking at her. She had tears in her eyes. Kitty felt sad now too. Maybe they didn’t mean so bad? After all, they did treat her okay. She was getting food and stuff, and now a teddy bear?
Kitty stared at it. It was pink and fluffy and had a rainbow on the front. It reminded her of her favorite teddy bear from home, only this one was newer and had bigger eyes.
Linda saw her looking at it. She took it and lifted it up. “Do you like it? You want it?”
Kitty nodded eagerly. She loved teddy bears more than anything. Maybe even more than her Barbie and Ken dolls. Maybe. It was hard to say in this moment because any toy would make her happy, anything that could help her pass these long, lonely hours alone in the shed, anything that could make her feel safe. She had longed for something to hold when sleeping. Something soft to make her feel good.
Linda handed it to her. “Here. I brought it for you. Hoping it might cheer you up a little.”
Kitty’s face lit up. She grabbed the teddy bear with both hands and hugged it, feeling happy for the first time since she got there.
