The Vanished (5 page)
Authors: Tim Kizer
“They’re trying to establish that Annie was not killed here.”
Now she’s going to ask if the police consider me a suspect.
“They took the cars.”
“We’ll get them back in a few days.” David pulled a chair out from the table and sat down.
“Should we call a lawyer?”
“No. Honey, it’s a standard procedure. There’s nothing to worry about.”
David’s arms broke out in goosebumps when it occurred to him that the people who had put the knife in the bushes behind the restrooms in Ardmore Park might have planted another piece of evidence in his house or his car. Annie’s sock stained with her blood, for example.
“What did Barton tell you?”
“He asked me to look at some pictures.”
David lied because the truth might have confused Carol, caused her to doubt his innocence, which would have made her even more miserable.
“What kind of pictures?”
“Pictures of sex offenders.”
He didn’t care if Carol didn’t believe him. Right now his main concern was the search.
Carol’s face relaxed a little. “So they didn’t find anything?”
“No.”
“That’s good.”
Barton showed up at six o’clock. David persuaded Carol not to bother the detective with questions.
The cops searched the mansion for over four hours. To David’s relief, they found no blood-stained garments or other evidence that someone had been murdered in the Millers’ house.
Later that night David went to the study and watched the video of his hypnosis session. Barton had told him the truth, Dr. Weil had in fact tried to make him recall the license plates of the cars that had followed him into the parking lot of Ardmore Park, and he had in fact said he didn’t remember.
1
Barton had suggested that he find Eddie, and David decided to give it a try. He realized one witness was not enough to convince the detective that Annie had been kidnapped, but he had no other options.
David arrived at Ardmore Park at two in the afternoon. He had chosen to come at this hour because his first encounter with Eddie had taken place around three o’clock. David remembered that Eddie had been dressed in a light green sweatshirt and blue jeans when they met. Judging by his appearance, Eddie was dead broke, so it was very likely he would be wearing that same outfit today. Moving at a brisk pace, he walked around the entire park, carefully surveying the grounds. He checked the face of every person he saw, including even those in women’s clothes. He looked in the men’s restroom and the pavilion, stopped by the volleyball court, circled the pond, and searched the parking lot.
Eddie was nowhere to be seen.
David took a five-minute break and then scoured the park again. He was going to do this until nine o’clock in the evening, just to be sure. He planned to look for Eddie for at least seven days and didn’t expect to find him today.
After he walked around the park for the third time, David settled on a picnic bench in the shade of a large elm tree to cool down. His hair was damp with sweat. He took off his sunglasses, wiped them with his T-shirt, and then slipped them back on.
Was he wasting his time? Was Barton going to talk to Eddie?
Barton would have to listen to what Eddie had to say. It was his job to talk to witnesses.
Had the kidnappers planted any incriminating evidence in his car?
David drank the rest of the water in his bottle. About three minutes later, he heard a male voice: “Excuse me, sir, do you have a cigarette?”
When David turned to say that he didn’t smoke, he saw that the man who had hit him up for a cigarette was Eddie. His hair was still a mess, and the sweatshirt and jeans he had on were almost certainly the same sweatshirt and jeans he had worn on the day Annie had been kidnapped.
“Hi. Your name’s Eddie, isn’t it?” David said.
“Yeah. How do you know my name?”
“We met last Friday. I was looking for my daughter, and you said you saw her with some woman.” David stood up, took Annie’s picture from his shirt pocket, and showed it to Eddie. “This is my daughter.”
Scratching the back of his head, Eddie thought for a few seconds and said, “Yeah, I remember that. Did you find her?”
“No. I need your help, Eddie.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I need you to tell the police what you saw. It’s a matter of life and death, and every bit of information is important.”
Would it be okay to offer Eddie money for his cooperation? David saw nothing wrong in it. It wasn’t illegal to reimburse a witness for his time.
“Police?” Eddie said.
“I’ll give you fifty dollars if you do it.”
“Fifty? I don’t know.” Eddie wrinkled his brow.
“Please. My daughter’s been kidnapped. Please help us find her.”
Maybe Eddie had an outstanding warrant for his arrest?
“How long is it going to take?”
“Half an hour.”
“I don’t have a car.”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
“How about a hundred? I’m a busy man, you know.”
“Okay. A hundred dollars.”
“What’s your name?”
“David. David Miller.”
When they got in the car, David called Barton and asked if they could meet today. He didn’t tell the detective about Eddie.
“Let’s meet at the station in forty minutes,” Barton said.
As David pocketed his phone, an idea occurred to him: if the police stopped looking for Annie, he would hire a private investigator. Actually he ought to hire a private investigator as soon as possible.
2
“Who is it?” Barton asked, looking at Eddie, who was standing next to David.
“He’s the witness I told you about yesterday,” David said. “His name’s Ed. He was in Ardmore Park last Friday and saw a woman take my daughter away. Please talk to him.”
“Were you in Ardmore Park last Friday?” Barton asked Eddie.
“Yes, sir,” Eddie replied.
Barton hesitated, then said, “Okay, Ed, follow me.”
When they sat down in the interview room, the detective took a voice recorder from his jacket pocket, switched it on, and pressed the Record button. Then he placed the recorder in front of Eddie and asked, “What’s your name?”
“Eddie. Edward Hicks.”
“Were you in Ardmore Park on May sixth?”
“Yes.”
Barton pulled Annie’s picture from the folder and showed it to Eddie. “Did you see this girl in the park?”
Eddie stared at the photo for a long moment and then replied, “Yeah, I saw her. She was going somewhere with some woman.”
“What time did you see them?”
“Around four. The woman was leading this girl by the hand.”
“Was the girl resisting the woman?”
“It didn’t seem that she was.”
“Did you see where they went?”
“No.”
“Can you describe this woman?”
“Average height, long brown hair. She had sunglasses on, so I didn’t really see her face.”
“How old did she look?”
“Thirty, thirty-five.”
“Did you see David Miller in the park that day?”
“You mean her father? Yeah, I saw him. He was looking for this girl, and I told him I saw her. He was really freaked out.”
“How long have you known David Miller?”
“I don’t know him. I only met him twice, last Friday and today.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about Annie Miller’s disappearance?”
“No, sir.”
Barton pushed the Stop button on the voice recorder and said, “Thanks for coming, Mister Hicks.”
3
When Eddie came out to the lobby, David asked him where he wanted to go.
“Take me back to the park,” Eddie said.
In the car, before he started the engine, David extracted five twenty-dollar bills from his wallet and gave them to Eddie.
“I forgot to ask. What’s your last name?” David said as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“Hicks.”
“Can you give me your cellphone number, in case I need to get in touch with you?”
“I don’t have a cell.”
“Do you have an email address?”
“Yeah.”
David handed Eddie his cellphone and said, “Can you please save it in Contacts?”
“Okay.”
“Do you live in Plano?”
“I mostly live in Dallas.”
“Can you tell me your address? Just in case.”
“I don’t really have a permanent address. I’m staying with my friends.” Eddie gave the phone back to David. “I saved my email address under my name.”
“Thank you.”
After he dropped Eddie off, David drove home.
He was dying to know what Barton thought about the information he’d gotten from Eddie. At six o’clock curiosity got the better of David, and he dialed Barton’s number.
“This is David Miller again,” he said when the detective answered the call. “Do you have a second?”
“Yes.”
“I’m calling about Eddie Hicks. Did he tell you about the woman that took my daughter away?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Do you believe me now?”
“What do you mean?”
“That woman kidnapped Annie. My daughter was kidnapped. Do you believe that now?”
After a silence, Barton said, “How do I know that woman’s not your accomplice?”
David breathed a frustrated sigh. He’d had no expectations, but he still felt disappointed.
At least he didn’t say Eddie made it all up.
It didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking it.
“Are your guys finished with our cars yet?” he asked.
“No. You’ll get your cars back tomorrow morning, I promise.”
The good news was that his efforts were not in vain: Eddie was going to be a defense witness at his trial.
4
As Alicia set the table for dinner, David asked her if any knives were missing from the kitchen. The housekeeper said that all the knives were in place.
When they sat down at the table, Carol asked where David had been all afternoon. He told her about his trip to Ardmore Park and Eddie’s meeting with Barton.
“By the way, did Barton call you today?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“What time did he call?”
“Around two.”
Why hadn’t Carol told him that she had spoken to Barton when he came home?
Because Barton told her about my confession, and she doesn’t want to discuss this subject with me.
“What did you talk about?”
“He asked me if you were a violent person, if you had ever hit me or Annie.”
“What did you say to him?”
“I said that you were not a violent person and that you had never hit me or Annie.”
“What else did he ask you?”
“Nothing else.”
“He didn’t ask you if I had second thoughts about Annie’s adoption?”
“No.”
David took a sip of water from his glass and said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to talk to the detective.”
It sounded hypocritical coming from someone who used to work in law enforcement, but David didn’t care. He had never claimed to be a saint.
“Okay. I won’t talk to him again.”
“You’re not required to answer his questions.”
Carol nodded without saying anything.
“We need to work as a team. And you know what? We make a great team.”
He realized that he didn’t believe Carol. She was holding something back about her latest conversation with Detective Barton. She was holding
a lot
back. Why was she doing it? Had the detective succeeded in turning her against him?
He had no right to criticize Carol because he hadn’t told her about his confession. And he had lied about his polygraph test results.
Was Carol ever going to talk to him about his confession?
Perhaps she was waiting for him to tell her about it.
1
Thursday morning, David called his friend Chris Upton, who was a civil litigation attorney, and asked if he could recommend a good criminal lawyer.
“Aaron Brady,” Chris replied. “He’s a fine criminal lawyer with a great reputation.”
Aaron Brady was a partner at Stewart, Brady & Mayer, a medium-sized firm located in downtown Dallas. David met him in his office on the thirty-ninth floor of the Renaissance Tower.
Brady was fifty-eight years old, slender, and had a deeply receding hairline. Thick, fuzzy brows framed his brown eyes, which radiated wisdom and confidence. He told David that, when he was a teenager, one of his favorite pastimes was developing lines of defense for the killers in Columbo, which he said was usually not a hard thing to do since most of the cases were based on flimsy evidence (David believed it was true for virtually every detective TV show).
When the small talk was over, David asked, “How many murder cases have you tried?”
“Twenty three,” Brady said.
“How many have you won?”
“Eighteen.”
“Have you ever tried a murder case where the victim was a child?”
“Yes. I’ve tried two such cases. I got an acquittal both times.”
David held out his hand to Brady and said, “You’re hired.”
The lawyer shook his hand. “Thank you, David.”
David took out his checkbook and asked, “How much is your retainer fee?”
“What kind of case is it?”
“Murder. Capital murder.”
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
David wrote a check for fifty thousand dollars and handed it to Brady. The lawyer glanced at the check, put it in his jacket pocket, and then instructed his assistant to prepare the paperwork.
Congratulations, Mister Miller! You lawyered up!
Yes, he lawyered up, which was one of the things that made a person look guilty.
What were the chances that the district attorney’s office would not bring charges against him? He believed they were very slim.
If he were the prosecutor handling this case, would he have filed charges?
He would have waited until the body was found. Taking a weak case to court was a bad idea because the state couldn’t retry an acquitted defendant even if it discovered proof of his guilt.
“Do you know any good private investigators?” David asked after he signed the retainer agreement. “I need someone who’s good at finding missing people.”