The Promise (36 page)

The other girls should not have been afraid of Allison, had they been thinking clearly about her threat to expose them. If they had, they would have realized a daughter would never turn in her own father. There was, therefore, no need to get her out of the way.”

              “Maybe that’s not why they made her disappear, Mike. Maybe they just didn’t like her.”

              “They didn’t like her. At least Raven didn’t. But, that’s not enough of a motive to make someone go away.

We are missing something here. The press is having a field day with this. They went crazy with those damn headlines once I booked Margaret as the first suspect in Allison’s disappearance. I wish someone would make reporters disappear.”

              “Let’s keep this simple, Mike. What would be a good enough reason for a group of high school girls to…”

              A light went on in Gallagher’s head. “There is no good enough reason, Chief. They didn’t make Allison Taylor disappear. This was done either by an adult who really wanted to hurt her or Allison herself.

I don’t think The Promise is the power behind this crime, if it is a crime.”

              The Chief seriously considered this statement. “So, you don’t think Margaret Williams orchestrated this disappearance?”

              “Now that we are talking about it, I honestly don’t.

But, I think she has a pretty good hunch who did it. She is too stubborn to tell me. At the very most, she’s an accessory to the crime by her knowledge of it. But, she’s not the one who carried it out, no.

It was either Dr. Morgan, the dead guy in the Mercedes, Malcolm Oden, Redding Shaw or Allison herself. I have a pretty strong feeling it is one of those people.”

              Parker nodded, “If somehow he is still alive, I am leaning towards Malcolm Oden, Mike. He seems to be the kind of sociopath who could have done this.”

              “If, Oden is still alive, he would get my vote, too. Especially, if he faked his own death and is roaming around the earth somewhere. He may have even killed the guy in the Mercedes.”

              The chief countered, “Of course, we may both be wrong here, Elie thinks Allison walked away voluntarily.”

              Gallagher nodded, “Yep. Redding Shaw is close to that theory, too. He believes Archer Taylor made her walk away voluntarily.”

              “What’s your next move, Gallagher?”

              The detective laughed cynically, “A big, fat, juicy steak. I’m craving a filet mignon at Ruth Chris’s, and. I’m going to call my wife and see how she feels about a steer and a bottle of merlot.

I need to get away from this for a night. Then, I am heading over to the hospital to have a heart to heart with Archer Taylor. You’ll be the first to know the results of that discussion. Talk to you tomorrow, boss.”

              “Enjoy your dinner, Mike. Tip a glass for me!”

              Gallagher broke into a broad smile, “I might just tip a few glasses tonight.”

He walked out of the Chief’s office with a spring in his step
that Parker had not seen in quite awhile from Michael Patrick Gallagher.

Chapter Sixty-
five--gallagher catches a Break

             
Mike and his wife, Alisha peered into each other’s eyes with the love of a couple who had endured sixteen years together, through good and bad.

They were one bottle down and heading for the second one as he smiled lovingly at his wife, “Why do you put up with me? I’m never home. I get cranky pretty easily. I come and go at all hours of the night and all I want from you is sex.”

              His wife laughed, “Yeah, I know. I’m just a fool for love. But, not to worry, all this time away from me, you’ll pay!”

As Alisha Gallagher smirked at her husband her eyes reflected sensually off the low lighting in the restaurant.

              Gallagher surveyed Alisha. Her dark, brown eyes shimmered off the candles on the table. Her olive oil skin was radiant. She looked like a goddess to him, “I never realized until this very moment how beautiful,”

              She cut his sentence short, “How beautiful I am after almost two bottles of vino? I’d rather be pretty without the grape, but, hey, if my husband wants to compliment me, I better take what I can get.”

She leaned over and kissed him deeply. The wine was affecting both of them at this point.

              Her husband was feeling heady, “Let’s go get a room. Just like when we were in high school.”

              Alisha smiled innocently, “But darling, we haven’t had our dinner yet.”

              Gallagher was starving, but not in the edible sense, “I’m hungry for a sexy woman right now. Volunteering?”

              She reached down under the booth and ran her fingertips along his leg, “Maybe.”

              The husband desperately began looking for their waiter. Spotting the man, he motioned for him to come over. “Yeah, I would like the check, please.”

              The waiter was a little confused. “But, you both talked so much about the filet mignon and how you couldn’t wait to taste,”

              Gallagher gave him the look. The kind of expression from one man to another that says,”
The last thing I am thinking right now is a steak!
”

The waiter adjusted quickly, “Actually, the filet is not that good tonight. I’ll get your check, sir, right away.”

              Alisha moved in and wrapped herself bodily around her husband as she kissed him again, first on the lips and then on his neck, his ears and back to his lips. Her husband was breathing hard now and he stifled a laugh as he realized how public this display had gotten, “I think we’re being watched.”

              His wife never missed a beat, “Good, Maybe it will help their marriages. C’mon lover, leave the cash, let’s just go. I want you right now, detective.

Alone.”

              As she dragged him from the table, Gallagher fumbled in his pocket for twenty dollar bills. He tossed two of them on the bread plate as they hugged and kissed and eagerly caressed each other all the way to the car.

They never made it to the hotel room.

They didn’t have to.

The dark parking lot behind the restaurant worked just fine.

Chapter Sixty-
six--arch Erupts

             
Gallagher woke up the next morning with a crimp in his neck. His muscles were sore from the several positions he had used in seducing his lovely wife in the car.

He promised himself to take the roomier SUV to dinner in future dates with Alisha. He staggered to the shower and ran smack into the wall.

Laughing to himself, he ran the water and somehow managed to wash himself without any further collisions. As he prepared to leave to see Arch Taylor, he looked down and saw his wife still asleep in their bed.

He bent over and kissed her gently, “You are the love of my life, darling.” He saw the corners of her mouth smile slightly, “You bet your sweet ass, detective. Solve that case and get back to me.”

He laughed again. He was so lucky to have her and he knew it. He glanced back at her one more time before leaving. Her eyes opened to see if he was still there and she winked at him.

              On his way to the hospital, he collected his thoughts and analyzed how he planned to question Archer Taylor on what Redding Shaw had told him. He mused to himself, “
This is going to be a little tricky
.”

He knew he was going into a verbal minefield and any misstatement could end the interview quickly.

Pulling into the parking lot, the detective noticed what a beautiful day it was. “
Today would have been nice to take Alisha on a picnic.”
There would be no cheese and wine today amongst the flowers.

Instead, he would have to settle for the smell of a hospital room and, hopefully, another piece of the puzzle in solving this complex and frustrating case.

              Entering Arch’s room, he saw the entrepreneur sitting up reading the newspaper. The good news was that Mr. Taylor was doing physically better.

The bad news was that he would be more alert and more formidable as the detective tried to extract potentially incriminating information from him concerning his daughter’s disappearance.

“Here we go,”
thought Gallagher. He was about to find out if Redding Shaw was an honorable man or not. The same conclusion would soon be true of Archer Taylor.

              “Good morning, Arch, it’s good to see you up and almost about!”

             
The magnate smiled weakly over at him, “Well, I’m not quite ready to load one of my trucks, yet. But, I could probably sit on a lawn chair and supervise it!”

              Gallagher laughed, “I thought that’s all you did anyway, mogul man.”

With that brief exchange out of the way, it was now time to introduce his sensitive approach to see who was telling the truth, Shaw or Taylor.

Step one, “You know, Arch, I don’t think I have met anyone who loved a child as much as you do. I truly believe that Allison is the most important person in your life. I can only imagine what her disappearance has emotionally done to you.”

              Arch Taylor looked right at him. “Of course, you can imagine it, Gallagher. You have lost a daughter. It’s hell.”

              The detective winced to himself, “
You’re damn right it’s hell. It’s worse than hell. It’s an ongoing ache of unending pain.”

“Yeah, it is, Arch. So, here we are in the same kind of pain together. The only difference is that I can’t do anything about getting my daughter back. You can. That is, if you really want to.”

              Arch Taylor eyed him carefully, “If I really want to? What in the hell does that mean, Gallagher?”

              That statement produced another wince from the detective, “
Damn! He’s not taking the bait,”
he thought to himself. “Well, Arch, you told me that you were to blame for Allison’s disappearance. Maybe you could tell me what you know about what really happened here. I want to work with you if there is something we can do together.”

              The father of the missing girl settled back and silently looked up at the ceiling.

“This could be it right here. Come on Arch, bare your soul,”
Gallagher inwardly pleaded. The father seemed to be trying to find the right words to say.

No words came out.

              “Arch, if there is something you did to affect her disappearance, even legally, it’s okay. I just want to know so we can make things right with everyone involved.