3 Buried Leads (9 page)

The next morning, I decided to go to Detroit instead of the office. I wanted to get a feeling for Sarah Frank’s work environment. And, if I left directly from my house, I wouldn’t have to worry about bringing Duncan with me. It’s not just that Duncan is a royal douche. No, really, it isn’t. I didn’t want to tip my hand that I thought something even bigger was going on here, and that the sheriff’s department was hiding information from the public. That would turn into a big deal at the office – and I wasn’t ready for that.

I emailed Fish and told him what I was doing. If he remembered that he had ordered me to include Duncan, he didn’t mention it. Of course, I didn’t bring Duncan up either.

I
Googled the location of the office building on my laptop before I left and then programmed the address of the insurance office into my cell phone. I’ve lived in the Detroit area for years – but I get lost almost every time I go to the city. I’m directionally challenged – at least that’s what my dad told me when he was trying to teach me how to drive as a teenager. That’s when he wasn’t muttering about women being menaces behind the wheel, that is.

Luckily for me, the office building was located in the general vicinity of the Renaissance Center downtown so things were well marked – and relatively safe – for the city of Detroit.

I paid for parking, figuring the $5 would be worth it if I didn’t have to walk too far. Parking in Detroit is always an issue. Then I made my way up to the building. I had dressed in flattering black and white Capri pants and a simple black top in anticipation of the office setting I would stepping in to. I didn’t figure my standard
Star Wars
clothing would make a good impression for what I was about to do.

When I entered the building, I found that a secretary was sitting behind a desk in the reception area. She looked at me expectantly when I entered. “Can I help you?”

I introduced myself to the secretary and told her I was trying to find someone that knew Sarah Frank. The woman seemed surprised. “We heard that she was missing,” she clucked. “I figured she would have shown up by now, though.”

“She hasn’t,” I said. “Her husband is launching an
all out media blitz trying to find her.”

“She had two kids, right?” The secretary asked. I saw the nameplate on her desk, identifying her as Wanda.

“Yes, Wanda,” I smiled warmly. “She had two precious children and we’re trying to help find her so she can get back to those children.”

That’s not a lie. I did hope she would be found. I didn’t think it would happen, but I did hope she had simply just decided to take a break from her husband for a couple of weeks and would wander home.

Wanda lowered her voice in a conspiratorial whisper. “No one here is surprised that she took off,” she said.

This is why I’m always nice to secretaries. They always have the good dirt.
“Really? Most people in her neighborhood don’t seem to think she would just take off and leave her kids.”

“I don’t think she spent much time with those kids,” Wanda said. “From what everyone says, her husband was the primary caregiver – and she was the breadwinner.”

“Did you think that caused problems in the marriage?” I pretended I was just interested in idle gossip at this point. I couldn’t quote the secretary, and that wasn’t my ultimate aim. I was just trying to get a candid feel for Sarah Frank when she was in her work environment.

“Yeah, I heard that he called her screaming at her practically every day because he didn’t think she paid enough attention to the kids,” Wanda said knowingly. “That’s why it never works out when the man stays at home.”

“What do you mean?”

“It emasculates them. Men can’t take it.”

I couldn’t help but agree with her – at least a little.

“Did he ever come here and make a scene?”

Wanda mulled the question. “I don’t remember ever seeing him. In fact, when I saw him on the television the other day I remember thinking that I never pictured him that way.”

“What do you mean?”

“His eyes bug out of his head. He’s weird looking.”

“Yeah, it’s even creepier in person,” I said.

“There’s a rumor going around,” Wanda looked around to see if anyone else was listening. “People here think that the husband killed her.”

“Why?
Because he was sick of taking care of the kids?”

“Well, and the fact that she was sleeping with Dick.”

“Who is Dick?”

“The big boss,” Wanda supplied. “He’s the manager of the entire office.”

“Really?” Well, this was news. It didn’t actually surprise me, though. I figured those business trips had to be code for something.

“Is Dick the guy she was supposed to go on the trip with?”

“Yes,” Wanda said. She was clearly warming to the conversation. “They went on trips together at least once a month.”

“Did the trips always last for a week?”

“I don’t know about always, but usually.”

“How do you know that they’re sleeping together?” It could just be office conjecture. The problem with office conjecture, though, is that it is almost always rooted in some form of truth.

“It started about a year ago,” Wanda said. “At first, they would just go to lunch together. They made a point of leaving separately and coming back separately, but everyone knew. In fact, Jim in sales said he actually saw them at a restaurant together one day and they looked really chummy.”

“When did the trips start?”

“There was always some form of travel for Sarah,” Wanda answered. “Dick didn’t start going on the trips with her until six months ago. That’s when everyone knew for sure that something was going on.”

“Did Sarah ever tell anyone that was what was going on?” I believed Wanda, but it was still just office gossip at this point.

“I don’t know,” Wanda admitted. “Sarah was kind of a loner. When all the women in the office would go out for a ladies night once a month she would never go. She always made up some excuse.”

“Was she unfriendly?”

“Not really,” Wanda said. “More like she was just standoffish. She wasn’t mean or anything,” she said hurriedly.

“All her neighbors said she was a great woman,” I agreed. “She didn’t seem to have a best friend or anything that I’ve heard of, though. Did you know of anyone?”

“No. Like I said, she did her own thing. The only person she showed any interest in here was Dick. Everyone loves Dick.”

I kept my internal chuckle to myself and plowed on. “How has Dick been since she went missing?”

“Really depressed. I think he thinks she’s dead.”

“Was it unusual for her to just not show up to work for a week?” That was the part of the story that was really niggling me.

“No, that’s the thing, she never even called in sick. She was a great employee. She was never even late.”

“So why didn’t Dick report her missing? Or call the house to check on her?”

“I don’t know,” Wanda said honestly. “Maybe he didn’t want to risk talking to her husband?”

That was a definite possibility.

“You never heard any whispers about Brian Frank threatening her – or that he knew about the affair, did you?”

Wanda shook her head; her blonde curls swinging due to the vigorous motion. “No. We all wondered if he knew. If he did, though, he never came here to confront Dick, so we figured he just didn’t know.”

“What exactly did Sarah do here? I know you guys do insurance, but why would she be travelling for that?”

“Insurance is a really competitive business,” Wanda supplied. “I think they were trying to get international customers.”

“Is that unusual?”

“Not in this business market. I think most insurance companies do it.”

Well, that was a dead end. “But do they do it in the Bahamas?”

“There are a lot of rich people that live in the Bahamas,” Wanda pointed out. “If they landed a really big client then it could fund the entire business for a whole year.”

“Did they land any big clients?”

“They did, two in the last year at least. We held parties when it happened.”

“So she was good at her job?”

“She was really good at her job, I think,” Wanda said. “No one ever said anything bad about her.”

“Well, that’s good.” Despite the tidbit about the affair with the boss, I really hadn’t learned anything. “Did she get bonuses when she signed a new client?”

“Yeah, whoever signs a client gets some form of bonus. It’s usually contingent on how big the account is.”

Well, that made sense.

“That’s how she could afford to hire an au pair,” Wanda added.

Wait, what? My eyebrows nearly shot off my head. This was the first I was hearing about this. “An au pair? What au pair?”

“It’s a babysitter,” Wanda said simply.

“I know what an au pair is. I didn’t know she had one, though. I’ve never seen her. Where is she from?”

“I
thinks he’s a young woman from Germany,” Wanda said. “I remember hearing Sarah say that she thought the kids liked Steffi more than her.”

“The au pair’s name is Steffi?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re sure she was still working for them?”

“I’m pretty sure. Just two weeks ago I heard Sarah telling one of the other women that getting the au pair was one of the best things she ever did because it was helping Brian to relax a little bit and freeing him up to do some sort of projects at home.”

“What kind of projects?” I had no idea what Brian Frank did for a living – if he did anything. He had mentioned working from home, but I figured that was his code for being a house husband.

“I have no idea. Whatever they were, Sarah always made fun of them,” Wanda said. “She said they were a waste of time but they made him feel better so she encouraged him to do them.”

Huh.

“And how long have they had the au pair?”

“At least two months.”

Secretaries really are invaluable in situations like this. I thanked Wanda for her time and moved to leave the building. I stopped and turned back when a thought occurred to me. “Is Dick in the office?”

“No, he’s on another trip.”

“Alone?”

“To my knowledge.”

Things just got a whole heck of a lot more interesting.

After I left the office, I sat in my car outside the building and watched the people that entered and left for about an hour. They didn’t seem any different than any other people – not that I expected them to suddenly morph into werewolves or something. What I was really looking for was Dick. No, not that way. Before I had left the reception area I caught sight of a picture on the wall, identifying Richard C. Norton, office manager. He wasn’t exactly what I expected, but his eyes didn’t bug out of his head at an odd angle, either. He was about fifty years old, with salt-and-pepper dark hair and a nice smile. He wasn’t exactly handsome, but he wasn’t ugly either. Since he was in a powerful position, I figured that would make him that much more attractive to Sarah.

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Wanda, but I just wanted to make sure Dick was really out of town. Once lunch time had passed, and I still hadn’t seen Dick (pun intended), I gave up and headed back home to Roseville.

I was going to spend the afternoon at home before attending a candlelight vigil out at the Frank house this evening. When I checked my email at my house, Fish had informed me that Duncan would be driving himself out to Romeo himself and covering the candlelight vigil with his point-of-view camera. Great.

I was happily watching
General Hospital
when I heard the back door open. Lexie had been gone for her shift at Starbucks when I got up, so I wasn’t surprised that she was getting home so early in the afternoon.

“You’re home,” she said.

“I noticed,” I shot back dryly.

“I thought you were going to be busy all afternoon?”

“I did what I had to do this morning, and now I’m done until the candlelight vigil tonight,” I replied.

“When is that?”

“It starts at 8 p.m. Why?”

“Because now you have no excuse not to go to yoga with me,”
Lexie said happily.

Shit.

I opened my mouth to start arguing, but one look at Lexie’s face told me that would be a fruitless endeavor. I reluctantly got to my feet and disappeared into my bedroom. When I came back out fifteen minutes later, I found Lexie had already changed into stretch pants and a tank top.

She looked me up and down for a second and then shook her head. “I can’t believe you actually found
Star Wars
yoga pants.”

“It wasn’t easy,” I lamented. “This is the first time I’ve worn them, though.”

“I can see why.”

Whatever.

Lexie and I decided to walk to the gym since it was only two blocks away. Since it was early autumn, the days were still warm and the walk was actually nice. “Can’t we just count this as our workout?”

“No.”

When I entered the gym, I was even more horrified than I initially thought I would be.  The room was painted a violent shade of pink, and there were bead curtains draped across store shelves that hocked everything from green tea to incense. I knew it was a front for a drug den.

Lexie
didn’t seem to notice the incredulous look on my face. She greeted two women behind the counter amiably. “Destiny, Dove, this is my cousin Avery. I told her how great the class was and talked her into coming.”

Destiny and Dove?
Great.

I nodded at them in greeting, but I didn’t want to get too close. I wasn’t sure, but I was fairly certain that pompous preening wasn’t contagious. I didn’t want to take any chances, though.

If you ever have the chance to do hot yoga – don’t. That’s the best piece of advice I can give you – ever.  When I equated it with hell, I wasn’t far off. Picture sitting in a room that is as hot as a furnace and having some tiny little drill sergeant barking at you to position your arms and legs into positions that are virtually impossible. Yeah, it’s that bad.

After about twenty minutes of it, I was done. I got to my feet and turned to leave the building.

“Where are you going?” Lexie hissed.

“I’m not staying here. This is even worse than I thought it would be.”

“You’re embarrassing me.”

“I’d rather embarrass you than sweat to death,” I replied.

I didn’t bother looking back. By the time I got to the street, I started to see stars. I sat down at the curb until my head started to feel like the spinning was controllable and then walked the rest of the way home.

I took a cold shower and then slept for an hour. When I woke up, I took another shower and got ready for the candlelight vigil.

I texted Eliot to ask if he was going to be at the candlelight vigil. He responded that he was, and then asked me if I wanted to spend the night at his place. It sounded pretty tempting, so I said yes.

I left a note for
Lexie telling her I wasn’t coming home tonight, packed a small bag with clothes for work tomorrow and then headed out to the candlelight vigil. When I got out to the Frank house, I wasn’t surprised to see that the whole media circus had descended on Romeo. This was officially the biggest story in the area. Pretty soon the locusts and vermin would arrive – and then Nancy Grace.

I parked my car down the street and made my way through the hundreds of people who had gathered in front of the house. I couldn’t imagine that all of these people actually knew Sarah – but the American public is a glutton for an overt spectacle.

I saw Duncan standing by a tree. He had some weird band on his head with one of the most laughably ugly cameras strapped to it. What a tool. I purposely avoided him and instead took in the assembled crowd for a few minutes.

I could see a small contingent of sheriff’s deputies milling about with the crowd in uniform. I noticed that Jake was one of them. He was standing in the center of everyone and greeting people as they approached him. This is Macomb County, so other than a few white rappers, Jake is the closest thing we have to a celebrity. It’s a little ridiculous.

As I glanced down the street, I could see that trucks from all four of the networks were on hand. I recognized representatives from several dailies in the area – some out of the county – and several weekly reporters, as well.

“This is unbelievable,” I heard a voice whisper in my ear.

I smiled at Eliot in greeting. “Is this your first media circus?”

“The first one I’ve seen up close.”

Eliot dropped a kiss on the corner of my mouth and continued to scan the crowd. “What are you looking for?”

“Just looking,” he said simply.

I didn’t believe him, but I figured it wasn’t exactly any of my business. “What did you do today?” He asked.

“I went down and talked to some people at Sarah Frank’s office – and then I went to hell with
Lexie.”

“Did the office workers tell you anything?”

“Some stuff,” I hedged. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to tell him.

“You’re not going to tell me?” He was smiling at me.

“I haven’t decided yet,” I said honestly.

“Well, then I guess I won’t tell you what I know either,” Eliot teased.

“Why? What do you know?”

“What will you give me to find out?” Eliot grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him.

“What do you want? I already said I was going home with you?”

“This is true. I didn’t even have to twist your arm.”

“How about we agree to share information later tonight and not here in front of everyone?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Eliot agreed, letting me move away from his chest. “I don’t think either one of us wants to talk in front of all these vultures.”

I let the vulture comment slide. In most respects, he was right. There were very few reporters I could stand – myself included -- and none of them were here.

“Look at that idiot with the camera strapped on his head.” Eliot was pointing to Duncan, but my attention was fixated on Jake, who was greeting a woman with a Channel 7 microphone. From behind, I could have
swore it was Shelly. When she turned so I could see her profile, I realized that it definitely was Shelly. I swore under my breath.

“What?” Eliot followed the direction of my gaze. He frowned when he saw what I was looking at.

“It’s Jake, so what?”

“Not Jake, the woman he’s with.”

“The new Channel 7 reporter, Shelly Waters?”

“You know who she is?”

“She’s hot.” Eliot must have realized what he said, because he turned a sheepish grin in my direction. “Not as hot as you, though.”

Right.

“What’s your problem with her?”

“I have a problem with all television reporters,” I reminded him.

“Right. They take credit for the work while actual reporters do the work,” he mimicked me in a high pitched voice.

“That’s not how I sound,” I snapped.

Eliot glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. He could tell I was agitated. “So, what’s your problem with her?”

Whoops. How was I going to explain that? Screw it, might as well tell the truth. “She’s Jake’s girlfriend.”

“Really?” Eliot raised his eyebrows. “How do you know that? Did Jake tell you that at lunch yesterday?” It was the first time he’d brought up lunch. I decided to ignore the question.

“
Lexie and I saw them at breakfast on Sunday,” I said.

“So?”

“So? So he’s going to give her favorable treatment,” I complained.

“Like the favorable treatment he’s given you for years?” Eliot’s gaze was steady. Jake had been a sore spot between us since we met. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was rethinking his choice to date me.

“Oh, please, I didn’t get favorable treatment. I got threats and ominous warnings.”

“I think maybe you see it differently than everybody else.”

He could be right.

I saw another television reporter join Jake and Shelly. It was Devon, Derrick’s dingbat girlfriend. Could my day get any worse? I shouldn’t have asked that, because the other television reporter, Ariel, joined the small group. I could hear them all laughing jovially with each other.

“Oh, great,” I moaned. “It’s the confederacy of dunces.”

Eliot’s eyes sparkled as he watched my anger. “I think that you have a weird thing about television reporters, and maybe it’s not healthy.”

“They’re assholes,” I complained.

“No, that guy over there with the camera strapped to his head is an asshole.”

I glanced over at Duncan and grimaced as I saw him trying to interview people with the camera. That was going to be some gripping footage – if you were blind and deaf.

Jake had caught sight of Eliot and me. He did a half wave. Shelly turned to see who he was looking at, and when she caught sight of me I saw her face darken. I guess my reputation still
proceeded me in media circles.

Jake made his way over to us, greeting us formally. “Ms. Shaw. Mr. Kane.”

Sheriff Dumbass. “Jake.”

“This turned into a big deal, huh?”

“Yeah,” Eliot looked around at the crowd again. “I’m surprised so many people came out.”

“People feel the need to be part of the news when they can,” I pointed out.

“You’re awful cynical,” Shelly had joined Jake, putting a possessive hand on his arm.

“I am,” I agreed.

“You should have more faith in humanity.”

“What are you?
A fortune cookie?”

Jake bit the inside of his lip. I could feel Eliot shifting uncomfortably next to me. Shelly decided to ignore my jab. “And who is this handsome gentleman?”

Eliot extended his hand and introduced himself. “So you’re the private investigator working for Mr. Frank?” Shelly looked interested. I could tell Jake was uncomfortable with the interest.

“I am,” Eliot answered easily.

“Would you be willing to do an exclusive interview with me on what you’ve turned up?”

“No.”

Jake and I both looked at Eliot in surprise. I wasn’t surprised that he declined, but the fact that he was so succinct while doing it did take me off guard.

“Why?” Shelly wasn’t going to be deterred.

“I’m not here to be a media correspondent,” Eliot answered shortly.

“You’re talking to Ms. Shaw?” She pointed out.

“He’s sleeping with Ms. Shaw,” Jake grumbled. “There’s a difference.”

Shelly looked surprised, while I shot Jake a dirty look. “You’re sleeping with
her
?”

What was that supposed to mean?

“I guess I am,” Eliot responded dryly. “I’m not doing interviews with her either, though.”

Shelly looked suddenly smug. “Does she know that?”

“She didn’t even ask, so I would guess so.” Eliot was looking decidedly uncomfortable.

This conversation was just too surreal for me at this point. “I better go talk to some people in the crowd.”

“Yeah, me too,” Shelly said warily.

I turned back to Eliot. “I’ll see you after the vigil and just follow you back to town.”