Laugh or Death (Lexi Graves Mysteries Book 6) (12 page)

My next stop was across
the city at the edge of Frederickstown. I was seeking the address Lily texted me. By the time I got there, parking behind her Mini, and sliding into her passenger seat, it was clear Lily had been on surveillance for some time. There were two used coffee cups on the floor and four candy wrappers, plus, one large, empty packet of chips. "Did you save any for me?" I asked, poking the wrappers with my toe.

"I did two hours ago." Lily paused and gulped. "
Until I ate them. Now I have to pee."

"That's your penance."

"I know. Watch the house with the white door while I go to the cafe down the block and use their restroom." Lily was out of the car and jogging towards the cafe before I could reply. Since I didn't have much else to do while I waited, I stared intently at the house with the white door. It was a narrow, two-story house with a grassy yard enclosed by a chain link fence. The paint was peeling on the door, but other than that, it was neat and rather dull. It didn't look like the guarded lair of bank robbers, but then again, I wasn't sure what did.

Judging
by the closed blinds and lack of movement, I got the impression that no one had gotten out of bed yet, which meant Lily probably had a very dull morning for her surveillance. I asked her that when she got back in the car and got an eye roll in response. "I know it's him," she said with absolute certainty. "All I have to do is wait."

"You can't watch him constantly."

"That's why you're here."

"I have a case."

"Yeah. This one."

"No, my missing woman case."

"Did you find her?"

"Nope."

"Bet you're glad you're here now. We know where this guy is!" Lily beamed.

"All we know for certain about your guy is that he's recently unemployed."

"We also know he’s a late riser. Maybe because he commits robberies in the wee hours of the morning." Lily gave me a knowing look.

"Was there a robbery last night?" I asked, semi-hopeful.

"Umm... no."

"Hmmm."

"That doesn't mean anything though. Maybe he's having a sleep-in so that he can commit a robbery tonight."

"Kind of a long shot."

"You're still here though, so you don't think it's completely unheard of."

I had to think for a moment about my motivation in joining Lily on her stakeout. On one hand
, I did agree that it was suspicious for Kyle to quit so suddenly, but there had to be a whole host of explanations that could be used to explain his decision, not least of which that he'd been injured during the course of a robbery. However, with her investigation into his working schedule, and the timing of the robberies, not to mention Lily's own theft, I had to concede that it was worth checking him out. "I could investigate his background while you watch him," I offered. "Maybe something will come up from his past."

"I run checks on all my employees
, and I got references from his previous job."

"Maybe he hid something."

"Do you think he has a criminal record? He didn't declare one."

"That's exactly what I'll find out."

"I bet we find the theft ring. I bet we bust them all."

"Baby steps. I'll hang out with you
, but if nothing's doing, I'm going to the office. I have a meeting with Solomon, and then with our client. I don't know what to tell him. There's nothing to report."

"Who? Solomon or your client?"

"Both. I'm so perplexed. I'm constantly one step behind Nancy, and I don't know how to catch up with her. I'm leaving my business cards all over Montgomery and asking her to get in touch, but nothing. If she would just call, I could ask her a few questions and find out what's going on; but it's like she's hiding from me!"

"Clients are such a nuisance."

"She's not the client."

"Cases are such a nuisance."

"That's better."

I hung out with Lily for a mind
-and-butt-numbing two hours and nothing moved in the house we observed. While it wasn't the most thrilling couple of hours I ever endured, it was nice to hang out with my best friend and catch up with the things going on in our lives. Lily told me she finished decorating the house she and Jord bought, and I filled her in on all the help my family offered to tidy up my own buttercup-yellow bungalow. It now felt like a happy home, and one that I wouldn't have to worry about repairing and maintaining. Lily wanted to know if Solomon and I were making future plans, but I had to confess we weren't. "Except for going on vacation, we've never really talked about it," I told her.

"Don't you think you should?"

"I don't know. I'm happy now, and in no rush." I thought back to earlier that morning when I watched Emily Gates holding her toddler and waving her husband away to work. Again, I wondered, was that what I wanted? Did I want my relationship with Solomon to move towards the next level where that kind of life were possible? "We're dating and very much in love. Right now, I don't need anymore than that."

"But you need to know if it's going somewhere. If it has that potential. Otherwise
, what's the point? You at least have to decide what your goals are, then you can find out if Solomon's run alongside yours."

"What if I don't know what my goals are?"

"Then that's okay, but soon, one of you is going to have a very clear goal and you need to know if that goal includes you two staying together."

I thought about Lily's words all the way to the office
, but by the time I got there, I still couldn't decide on my goals. Truth was, I was happy with my life and never one to think too far ahead. That was probably why I accidentally joined the Army and worked as a temp for years. At least, my Army phase didn't last beyond boot camp, while the things Lily was discussing were life-changing.

Pushing
through the door into our office, I shoved those thoughts to the back of my mind, intending to deal with them later. Or never. I began to wonder about Nancy's hopes and dreams. When she went missing, she was unemployed. Now, she was a recently employed pet groomer. Was that her dream? To pamper prissy poodles and beautify boxers? Or was she aiming for something bigger? I resolved to ask Leo more about what Nancy's hopes were, intending to learn whatever she was moving toward.

I found Solomon in his office. As I stood in the open doorway, his eyes
were fixed on a stack of paperwork, and I took the moment to observe him. He was gorgeous, of course, and I never tired of looking at him. When I first met him, he was mysterious and irritating, but I always felt safe with him. Not to mention an undeniable attraction. Back then, my sights were set on Maddox. I was duped into thinking he was my new boss in a temp insurance job. Only when I stumbled over the head honcho's corpse did I discover that Maddox was an undercover cop.

Afterwards,
I was happily drawn into his and Solomon's world. Then Solomon envisioned my potential in a way no one else ever had before and offered me a job. Solomon changed my life. My job gave me direction, ambition, and nice, solved-case bonuses on top of my salary. I appreciated it infinitely before falling for him. Some might say dating the boss was a bad idea, but things didn't really change for me. Solomon respected my autonomy, and there was a lot to be said for letting your boss make you breakfast in bed.

"See anything you like?" Solomon asked, without looking up. "
’Cause I do."

"I do too," I
replied, trying not to think what Lily would say about those words.

Solomon smiled as he sat back and beckoned me in. "How did your morning work out?"

"Visited three of Nancy's colleagues," I told him as I shut the door and took my chair opposite the desk. "One barely knew her. The other two thought she always kept to herself, but the only guy, Manny, said he overheard a conversation where Nancy said ‘everyone knew her as Nancy here’."

"Odd."

"That's what I thought. Why would she say that unless she was known by another name?"

"Is Nancy short for anything?"

"Not that I know of, but it could be."

"We'll ask Leo." Solomon checked his watch. "What else do you have?"

"Not much more except the hunch that Joelle is hiding her. Sorry. Until I can get Joelle to 'fess up, or someone convinces Nancy to contact me, I'm hitting a stonewall."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm not exactly scoring anything interesting from the surveillance I put on Leo either. He doesn't do a lot. So far
, we've either got him in the hotel, or taking a walk, or browsing the stores and coffee shops and eating out occasionally. He keeps to himself, but he's polite and friendly to strangers. He gives every appearance of being an average guy."

"That would make me feel better if you didn't think he was anything but an average guy. Are you still sure he's up to something?"

"Without a doubt."

"You're basing this solely on a hunch."

"On a very bad feeling. When you've been in this business as long as I have, you pay attention to bad feelings. And gut instincts."

"I wish my gut was telling me something."

"It is telling you something. You just don't know it yet," Solomon countered.

"You know, I wonder if maybe we really do have the wrong person. The Nancy we're following... her behavior doesn't add up with the Nancy Leo told us about when we took his case. We could have the wrong woman."

"Then why doesn't she call you? Or us? And tell us that? One quick interview and we’d count her out."

I huffed. "I don't know."

"I'm still going with the theory Nancy does not want to be found by Leo."

"But why? They love each other! Why else would Leo spend a ton of money and all this time trying to find her?"

"Maybe not anymore. Maybe he's a crazy ex that she can't shake off."

"She could have called and said that. Like you said, one quick interview..."

"She could also be afraid," Solomon suggested.

"Too afraid to talk to us? If she told us that she didn't want to be found, we could close the case, give Leo an excuse, and
let everyone move on."

"When people are afraid
, they tend to distrust anyone and everyone, even us. She doesn't know what we'll do with the information she has, so she might feel safer not to talk to us at all. I've seen that with domestic violence victims."

"Leo doesn't look like he beats his girlfriend."

"Can you tell me what that kind of man looks like?"

I shook my head. "No, because I just made a huge assumption."

"I'd like to pull Nancy's medical records. We might find something there."

"I agree," I said, pleased
at our consensus on the direction of the case, even if it did throw up some worrying questions. "And I'd like to look closer at Nancy's background. That might give us some clues as to what she'll do next."

"Good thinking." The desk phone rang and Solomon picked it up. After a "yes" and "send him up" he hung up. "That's our client," he said, "I want to take the lead on this
; give Leo as little information as possible."

"What do you want me to tell him?"

"Tell him that you found her place of employment and her apartment, but with the fire, both of them are now gone. Say that you've followed up with the other employees, but none of them knew anything, and now we're looking into other avenues to find Nancy."

"Should I tell him she left the area?"

"No, tell him we don't know for certain. That's truthful. He should feel we're up against the wall."

"Anything else?"

"When you draw him out about Nancy and her past, play up to his ego as much as you can too. He'll like that."

"Why?"

"Because he likes you. He believes you're on his team."

"I'm Team Solomon all the way."

Solomon smiled broadly, flashing his pearl-white teeth, and making his eyes sparkle. I felt a burst of love for him and wished I could throw my arms around him there and then, but this was the office, and we had a loosely followed rule about PDAs. "Funny, I'm Team Lexi."

"Who isn't?" I said, rising and smoothing my blouse of imaginary wrinkles. "It's the very best team."

Chapter Eleven

Leo waited for us in
the interview room. He wore tan slacks and an open-necked, white shirt and looked relaxed. Once again, I noted his charming face and his manly physique. He was the kind of man women tried to attract. I wasn't sure I'd be so relaxed, given his circumstances, but then, I never had anyone go missing in my life, so who knew how I would look?

"Lexi!" He jumped up and shook my hand, greeting me with a warm smile as I made
my way into the room, Solomon close on my heels. "Mr. Solomon."

"Solomon is fine," said Solomon, but I wasn't sure if
he were conceding anything by being less formal. Now if he had told Leo to call him
John
, that would have raised my eyebrows. So far, I was pretty certain the only people who called Solomon by his given name were me and his sister, Anastasia.

"Do you have any news? Did you find Nancy?"

"Yes, we know where she went for a few of the months she's been missing."

Leo leaned forwards, his face
appearing delighted as he looked from Solomon to me. "That's great! When can I see her?"

"I'm sorry, there's been a
slight complication with the case, and we've lost track of Nancy for now."

Leo's
happy expression fell and he took a deep breath, staring at the table for a moment. He nodded quickly. "I see. Okay."

My heart sank at his obvious disappointment. I built his hopes up and dashed them down again. Try as I might, I couldn't
deny feeling bad about that. I glanced across at Solomon who was leaning against the far wall and nodded at me to continue. I took the chair opposite Leo and began, "Let's start with what we know. Nancy worked in a pet grooming parlor and lived in the apartment above. Unfortunately, there was a fire there quite recently and the building was totally gutted."

"Oh my
God! Was Nancy hurt?"

I glanced over at Solomon for direction and he shook his head. "No, we don't
think so. We believe Nancy wasn't home at the time. After following up with her colleagues, we're looking into other avenues now to find Nancy."

"Such as?" Leo wanted to know.

"We're checking out whether she stayed in the area, or left Montgomery altogether," interrupted Solomon. "We can't give you any more details right now."

"Okay." Leo paused, breathing deeply again like he
had to struggle to keep himself under control. Whether it was due to frustration at our lack of closure, or an attempt to restrain his anxiety, I couldn't tell. "What else do you know?"

"Actually, we'd like to ask you a few more questions. Can you tell us why Nancy would work
in a pet parlor?"

"She's always been really good with animals. She really likes them. They like her too. She can charm any dog, you know. It's just one of her great qualities."

"You sound like you really adore her," I said softly, playing up to his emotions.

Leo looked up and smiled, but it
seemed faraway, as though he were remembering a past event, a happy time. "I do. Ever since I first met her, I knew she was special. She had that quality. That thing the French call
je ne sais quoi
... that 'I don't know, but wow, it's there' factor."

"Is Nancy short for anything? Nanette
, or something like that?"

Leo shook his head. "No. She's just Nancy. Why?"

"Just for our records. Sometimes, people forget that Andy is really Andrea, or Ben is really Benjamin. We just needed to double check," I told him.

"Oh, okay."

"You know, I always get the impression when I talk to you that you're a really smart guy," I started, changing my tack to play to his ego as Solomon suggested. "You must have been thinking a lot about Nancy."

"All the time. I can't believe I can't find her."

"You mustn't blame yourself."

"I just don't understand. It shouldn't be
so hard to find her."

"Tell me more about Nancy."

"Will it help?"

"I hope so."

"I don't know what to tell you."

"How long did you know her before you started dating?"

"Not long. We met through an... an acquaintance. Just a random thing and I saw her and thought she was incredible. So pretty, and she had the best laugh and I loved the way she tossed her hair around. She took my breath away. I knew she liked me too. She was always glancing at me and smiling. She was kind of shy, so I knew I had to make the first move."

"Did she remain shy after you started dating?"

"Sometimes, with people she didn't know. But Nancy and I... we had such a connection."

"I bet she found you very handsome."

Leo laughed. "I don't know, maybe. Do you?"

"
Yes, you are a handsome man."

"Then I guess she did. Thank you."

"We'd like to see some more photos of Nancy. Do you have any with you?"

Leo patted his pockets comically
, then shrugged. "I guess I forgot to pack them today."

"Maybe on your phone?"

"I don't take photos with my cell phone, sorry. Plus, I changed it a couple months after Nancy left. I cracked the screen and it stopped working, but I kept the number just in case she called."

"That's good thinking. What about on a camera or a laptop? Is there anywhere you
might have stored digital photos?"

"Why do you need more photos? I don't understand what they
would tell you."

"
In every case, it’s good to look at things from different angles. We don't know what a photo might tell us. That's why it would really help if..."

"I don't have any, okay
?" Leo snapped. "Not here with me. I didn't know what kind of things you'd ask for, and I didn't think to bring any when I drove up here."

"Could you get some?"

"I'd like to know what you think they'll tell you."

"Well..." I glanced across to Solomon
, but he simply nodded. Fat lot of good he was! So, I plunged on. "It could give us a better look at her appearance, and her hairstyles, and the things she liked to wear. The things she might gravitate towards, you know, those sort of things."

"Like you could stake out clothing stores she might like? She just lost some two-bit job and her apartment. I don't think she'd be
out clothes shopping."

"I'm more interested in her physical appearance. We need to know if we've got the right..."

"Seriously? You think you've been chasing the wrong person?"

"No, we're sure we found Nancy
, but..."

"But what?"

"Maybe it's not the same Nancy," I concluded weakly. Running out of ideas, I sent a telepathic message for Solomon to step in. He didn't. "It would be great to get a photo of you two together," I added, grasping at straws.

"You don't think she's really my girlfriend
? Is that it?" Leo asked, his face dropping. Small anger lines appeared as his mouth tightened. "You want proof that she's my girlfriend? How about the check I paid you already? If I wasn't her boyfriend, and sick about losing her, why would I pay that?"

"We just..."

"No, this isn't about finding Nancy, this is about interrogating me when I'm worried sick about my girlfriend! I'm not even sure you know how to find her!"

"It would be great to see a photo of her engagement ring," I blundered on, trying to bring the conversation back to Nancy. "Perhaps that would trigger..."

"Now you want to see her engagement ring? C'mon! First, you're not even sure I know her true name, then you want all kinds of photos of her, and now this? That's it!" Leo jumped onto his feet, pushing the chair back with a loud scrape. "If you can't find Nancy, hand over her file, which I paid for, and I'll find someone who can!"

"Mr. Chandler, calm..." Solomon stepped in, literally, at last.

"I will not calm down in the face of these accusations. I just... I can't..." Leo pushed past me and wrenched open the door, storming out. I started after him, but Solomon caught my arm.

"Let him go," he said
, so I did. We waited for the sounds of Leo's footsteps to recede. Solomon crossed to the window, looking down. After a minute or two, he said, "He's on the sidewalk."

"I don't get it. I didn't ask anything
unreasonable or crazy. Did I?"

"No. His response was entirely disproportionate. It was exactly what I hoped for."

"Why?"

"Sometimes when you can't get anything, poking the beast gets him moving."

"Ummm..." I broke off. Solomon lost me with his analogy. If the beast were Leo, I wasn't sure how poking him would make him do anything. That was exactly the question I asked.

"Potentially
, nothing, if he's the innocent boyfriend you think he is. If he's the creep that I think he is, it might trigger him to do something I would consider irrational."

"Guess you're having him watched around the clock?" I asked
. At the same moment, Solomon's cell phone beeped. Solomon glanced at it before returning it to his pocket.

"You guessed right. Fletcher is following him now."

"Good to know. And Joelle's house?"

"Delgado's on it. He says there's been no
activity since Fletcher started watching yesterday."

"I'm going to look further into Nancy's background."
Saying that, I wondered just how I would do it. Some people simply didn't leave any kind of digital footprint; and so far, it appeared that Nancy was one of those people. I doubted social media and search engines could help me, and my initial probes in that respect had already drawn blanks. Where did that leave me? With not a lot to go on. I had to know more about Nancy. It was imperative that I learned more about her than what Leo offered; otherwise, how could I ever find her and get to the bottom of this case?

"I'll get started," I said, rising
. My mind was filled with ideas of places I could search for Nancy.

"Keep me informed," Solomon replied. "I have to make a few phone calls
, but I'll be in my office most of the day if you need to brainstorm."

"What if I can't find anything? What if Nancy has really disappeared entirely?"

"We both know that hasn't happened. Nancy might be missing for now, but we've got a man sitting on her friend's apartment, and it's only a matter of time before we find her. Plus, she must’ve left some kind of mark pre-disappearance. You just have to find it. You can do it, Lexi. I wouldn't have hired you if I didn't have total confidence in your skills."

"True," I agreed, "and I am good at my job. I'm going to track Nancy down
, and then you'll take me on vacation. I have brochures."

"I noticed the way you strategically placed them on my nightstand, kitchen island,
as well as the coffee table."

"There's one on your desk too."

Solomon laughed, shaking his head. "Go get 'em, Lexi."

"Since you insist..." I said, smiling
, now that I had a mini internal pep talk and confidence boost. I crossed the room to Solomon, kissed him lightly on the lips, had a feverish thought about what activities we could do on vacation, and hightailed it back to my desk before my brain gave up the search in favor of bikini shopping.

Despite my previous failure
at locating anything to do with Nancy online, I tried again. After spending a fruitless half hour pursuing search engine images and web pages, I did not score any hits. Finally, I changed the key word of my search to Leo's hometown, Greenacre, where I read up on the rural locale. It was a moderately sized town with no notable residents, past or present. The crime rate was low and mostly restricted to car thefts and burglaries with one unsolved murder.

I switched to a map search, entering the information for Leo's home. An aerial photo of a nice
-sized, isolated cabin, came up on the screen. A long driveway wound from the road to where the cabin stood in a clearing. There was a vehicle parked out front and a large patio area at the back. Woods surrounded the cabin, growing denser with the loss of proximity to the cabin. I scanned the area, panning in all directions. The woods continued for miles, and were intersected in the north by a narrow river. It actually looked enchanting, the kind of place I'd love to own for weekend getaways. I could imagine waking up to the sounds of bird singing, and drinking wine at dusk while breathing the scent of a barbecue. I wondered if deer ever ventured across the patio, and in my fantasy, I decided it would be so.

What I
failed to find was any evidence that Nancy stumbled off and flagged down a car before vanishing. Leo told us that Nancy fell on their walk and he had to run back to the house to call for help. The driveway at the front indicated their morning walk must have been a route that started at the rear of the cabin. It took zooming out several times before I found a country road, but Nancy would have had to wander north through dense woodland, injured, over three or four miles to reach it. Even if she had, the photos revealed it was not a heavily traveled route. For Nancy to get picked up there, she had to have been quite lucky. However, I admitted, it wasn't impossible for that to have occurred.