Missing Pieces (17 page)

Chapter 71

To take my mind off the doctor’s report,
I sat at the computer and tried to find a phone number for Mrs. Zulauf. I came up empty, so I found a site that would find anyone’s number in the U.S. for only $9.95. It would also tell if the person had a criminal record, a traffic ticket, even what that person’s neighborhood was like.

I asked Mom if I could use her credit card, and she frowned. “Do you have 10 dollars?”

I checked my wallet. Two dollars. “I’ll babysit Dylan for the rest of it.”

Mom gave me a knowing look and sat at the computer. “Sam and I can go out to dinner this weekend.” She entered her credit card information and clicked the mouse. “Okay, you’re set. But this gives you only one search.”

I typed in all the information I knew and clicked the Search button.

The computer whirred and acted like it was choking. Then the screen turned blue, and a green light at the bottom pulsed
searching
. My heart pounded with each flash as I hoped, prayed.

Finally a window popped up, and the following appeared on the screen:

Tonya Zulauf

2342 Shore Lane

Memorial, CO

It also showed her unlisted phone number and listed her daughter’s name as Maria. I nearly knocked Mom over when I stood.

“Sorry,” she said. “Just looking.”

Chapter 72

I followed Sam to the barn.
When he put his cell phone away, he said he’d been talking to a Colorado Rockies baseball player, who had recently been taken off the disabled list. “He just got the okay from his doctor to join the team in San Diego. Wants to know if I can get him there for the game tonight.”

“Can you?”

“Gonna try. What’s up?”

“It can wait.”

Sam sat on the edge of his desk. “Come on. I’ve got time.”

I traced a line on his carpet with my shoe. “What if you think you know someone who did something wrong, but you’re afraid of getting that person in trouble because . . .”

“Because?”

“. . . that person is a friend of someone related to you? And that person could be locked up for a long time.”

Sam scratched at his mustache. “How sure are you?”

“All the clues point to one person.”

“Randy.”

I nodded, wondering how he knew.

“How much evidence?”

I laid out everything.

Sam folded his arms. “That is a lot, but it’s all circumstantial. Know what that means?”

I took a stab. “It’s not enough?”

“It means you have a lot of reasons but nothing concrete.”

“There’s concrete in the mailbox.”

Sam smiled. “Pun unintended. Anyway, don’t jump to conclusions when you’re not 100 percent sure.”

I didn’t like Sam’s answer, but I knew he was right. “What if I want to warn this person that he’s being watched?”

Sam chewed the inside of his cheek. “I suppose if it were me I’d appreciate it. And if I were that person’s girlfriend, I’d appreciate it even more.”

Chapter 73

I dialed the number
but nearly hung up before the answering machine picked up.

“Hi, it’s Tonya and Maria. Leave a message and we’ll call you back.”

“Here comes the beep!” Maria said.

I hung up before the beep. Mrs. Z was the only mother Maria had ever known. Maybe she really
was
Mrs. Z’s child. Could Mrs. Garcia be using me?

Later Bryce and I watched a show about the police reopening an old case to figure out a murder. To find out the identity of a body, they took a strand of hair and did DNA testing on it. With that they were able to tell who the dead person was related to.

If I could get strands of hair from Maria and from Mrs. Garcia and have them analyzed, we could find out for sure if they were mother and daughter.

Chapter 74

Ashley’s strong-minded
and has her own way of doing things, but I could tell the doctor stuff was wearing her down. At lunch two days later I thought she’d flipped her lid when she asked to borrow one of my sandwich bags for Mrs. Garcia’s hair.

“The bag has peanut butter in it.”

“I don’t care.”

Mrs. Garcia didn’t seem half as mean as she used to. Ashley whispered to her, and while Mrs. Garcia gave her a strange look, she took off her plastic gloves and pulled out a couple of strands of hair.

Ashley stuffed them into the peanut-butter bag and headed for her next class.

“Now all I need is a DNA expert,” Ashley said. “And one more thing.”

Chapter 75

I rushed home after school
to run errands with Mom. I asked her to drop me off at the elementary school just before it let out so I could give Angelique something. But of course that wasn’t my only reason.

I went by Angelique’s room and peeked in. I thought about interrupting, but I waited until the bell rang to get her attention. She ran over to me, and I gave her a bag of goodies. “Hope you like them.”

“Thanks!” she said, beaming.

“Do you think you could help me find Maria?”

“Mrs. Z’s daughter?” she said. “Sure. There she is.”

The sight took my breath away. Mr. Cheplosa’s picture had come to life. Her teeth were a little shorter, and her hair a little longer, but her face was so close it was amazing.

She looked at me suspiciously as I held out my hand. “Hi, I’m Ashley, Angelique’s tutor.”

“Hi,” she said, grabbing her backpack. I noticed a hair on her shoulder. I brushed at it, then picked it off.

“Excuse me?” a woman said from behind me.

I jumped and turned around.

“Hi, Mrs. Z!” Angelique said.

“Hello,” the woman said, not taking her eyes off me.

I dropped the hair and reached out to shake her hand. She shook like she had a dead fish at the end of her arm.

“I’m Ashley, Mrs. Z,” I said, smiling and pumping the fish up and down. “Angelique told me about your daughter.”

She squinted. “Do you have a reason to be here during school?”

“Just dropping off a present to the best . . . tutee in school. She’s really making progress—”

Mrs. Z turned on her heel and walked Maria down the hall. The girl looked back as they rounded the corner.

I looked at the floor, but the strand of hair had disappeared.