A Witness in Disguise (Sarah Woods Mystery Book 10) (3 page)

Under the small computer desk was an accordion file of bills
.  As far as I could tell, she had been organized and her invoice statements indicated she paid her debts on time; at least, until three months ago.

I wondered what would eventually happen to the house if Meagan never came back
.  If George remained at his assisted living facility, the house would probably fall into foreclosure.

When Carter poked his head into the room, he tapped his watch
.  “We need to head out pretty soon, you almost done?”

“Yeah
.  I’d like to take a look in her car before we leave.”

We locked the house back up and went to check out the Prius
.  The inside of the car was pretty clean, with only a pair of sunglasses lying on the front passenger seat.  The glove compartment had the usual registration and insurance information. One of the insurance cards was missing.

Carter called out to me and I looked up
.  He was standing outside the front of the car.  “Sarah, come take a look at this.”

As I approached the front, my gaze followed his outstretched arm, pointing to the dented bumper
. 

“Looks like a fender bender to me,” I said
.  “Maybe that explains why she only had one insurance card.  I wonder when that happened.”

He leaned closer to examine it
.  “The car she hit was red judging from the scuff marks.  I’d say she suffered about five hundred bucks in damage.  I wonder if she ever got a chance to call the insurance company to get it fixed.”

“Wonder what kind of dama
ge the other car had.”

“Anyway
,” Carter checked his watch with a furtive expression.   “We need to leave now so we can make our appointment with Cliff Collins?”

              Chapter 4

Cliff
Collins, Attorney at Law, was housed in one of the new luxury office buildings located downtown.  Luckily there was designated parking, otherwise it might have taken us hours to locate a spot within walking distance.  We noticed a bright, shiny red Porsche parked in the lot, the license plate said CRIMINAL.

“Ha,” I said, pointing to it
.  “Looks like Cliff might have a sense of humor.”

“That would be a pleasant surprise,” Carter said
.  “Most lawyers take themselves too seriously.”

Mr
. Collins’s secretar
y—
a young, perky woman with a pageboy haircut and red-tortoise shell glasse
s—
informed us that her boss would see us in his private office.

Cliff made quite an impression at first glance
.  He was tall, lean muscled and had an infectious smile.  His handshake was firm and he made direct eye contact when introductions were made. 

“We’re sorry to bother you about this,” Carter began
.  “But as I told your secretary over the phone earlier, we’ve been hired to look into Meagan Hart’s disappearance.  We’ve read the reports and the statement you gave the police but we have a few more questions.”

“Certainly.” Cliff invited us to have a seat at one the conference tables
.  “What would you like to know?”

Cliff eased himself
into a chair across from us and smiled.  He possessed an air of sophistication and confidence, yet didn’t seem arrogant or entitled.  I’d known many lawyers in my lifetime and, unfortunately, most of them have an attitude of superiority.  I could certainly see why Meagan, or any girl for that matter, would be attracted to him.  He wasn’t as cocky as Mark made him out to be; but then again, first impressions can be deceiving.

“C
ould you tell us how you met Meagan?” Carter asked.

“
Meagan came here to see me for a consultation.”

Carter paused
.  “Why would she need to hire a lawyer?”

Cliff
raised his hands apologetically.  “Under normal circumstances, I’m not allowed to answer that question because of confidentiality but, technically, Meagan wasn’t a client yet.  She came to me for some legal advice and that’s as far as it went.”

Carter raised an eyebrow
.  “What kind of legal advice?”

“She was having a problem with someone
.  All she said was that she felt threatened by this person and wanted to inquire about filing a restraining order.”

“She could have gone straight to the police if someone had been bothering her
.  Why consult with a lawyer?”

Cliff smile
d good-naturedly.  “That’s what I told her.  Filing a restraining order is a fairly simple procedure and she didn’t have to hire me to set it up.  I usually don’t turn potential clients away but she was young and I didn’t want to take advantage.”

“
So how did that transpire into a date?” Carter asked.

Cliff folded his hands together on the table and lowered his gaze, as if embarrassed
.  “Look, I’ll be honest.  I usually don’t make a habit of asking potential clients out to dinner, however Meagan and I had an instant connection.  I was really drawn to her.  I know, I know, that sounds cliché and she
was
a bit young for me. She appeared far more mature than most twenty-five year olds so I asked her to dinner. She suggested we just have coffee instead.”

“Did she say anything more about the person she was having problems with?”
Carter asked.

“No
.  I tried to get her to talk about that.  She didn’t want to discuss it any further so I respected her wishes.”

Carter made a face like he didn’t quite believe the story
.  “So, Meagan invited you back to her place after coffee? Even though she had only known you for a few hours?”

“
She offered to make some dinner and put in a movie.  I couldn’t pass up on that offer.”

I held up my cell phone
.  “I’d like to record this conversation, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure,” he said.

“Great.  Tell us exactly what happened as soon as you both finished your coffee, if you don’t mind.”

Cliff took a deep breath and let it out
.  “Okay.  Well, initially, I was going to follow her in my car to her house but I got an urgent call from a client.  I had to go back to my office to consult a file, so Meagan gave me her address and suggested that I show up at her house after I finished with my business.  That was the last time I ever saw her.”

“So
what time did you get to her house?”

“
I think it was around 8:00 pm.  I saw her Prius parked there so I knew it was the right place.  I thought it was kind of odd that the front door was wide open.  I called out to Meagan but there was no reply.  I figured, maybe she’d left the door open for me so I walked in.  One of the lamps had been knocked over and I didn’t think much of it, so I returned it to the table; but then, as I looked around some more, other stuff had been knocked over, like there’d been a burglary or a fight of some kind.  I got a bad feeling in my gut.  I went down the hall and found her bedroom.  There was blood on the bed sheets and I knew something bad had happened.  I called 911 right away and tried not to touch anything else.”

“So you stayed there until the cops came?” I asked.

“Yes.  The detective in charge questioned me for hours.  The police treated me like a suspect at first until I offered my fingerprints and a sample of my DNA.  I thought they might actually arrest me.”

“Did you tell the police about the mystery person Meagan was having a problem with?”

“Of course I did but I didn’t have a name to give them or any information about the person at all.  They asked me about any cars I might have seen driving away from Meagan’s house on my way there.  Only thing I remember seeing was a dark-colored van but I’m still not sure about that.  It was pretty dark out.”

“Let’s revisit your coffee date earlier that evening,” I said.  “What did you and Meagan talk about, specifically?”

“She
talked about her dad most of the time.  I guess he had a pretty bad fall the month before and has serious health problems.  She had moved back into the house she grew up in, to take care of things, hoping her father’s injuries were only temporary.”

“Did Meagan talk to you about her work?”

“She told me she worked for a Pediatric dentist.  She liked her job but her boss was a little too flirt
y—
”

“Flirty?” Carter interjected
.  “You mean sexual harassment flirty?”

“I don’t think it was that serious.
” He shrugged.  “Besides, she was half joking when she mentioned it.”

“Did Meagan mention old boyfriends?” I asked.

He paused to think about that.  “No, I don’t think so.”

“Did
Meagan ever mention anyone by the name of Graham Taylor to you?”

Cliff
straightened and, for a split second, something flickered in his eyes.  “That name sounds familiar,” he said.  “Who is he?”

I chose
to leave out the part about him being a known drug addict and male prostitute.  “He was reported missing the day after Meagan’s disappearance but the police haven’t found a connection between them.”

He shrugged apologetically
. 

“Forgive me for getting personal here,” I said, hesitantly
.  “Were you dating anyone else last April?”

He paused, tugging at his earlobe, evading my stare
.  “I’ve been dating a woman on and off for a few years.  We weren’t seeing each other when I met Meagan.”

I waited for him to continue and
, when he didn’t, I asked, “Do you mind telling me her name?”

He cleared his throat nervously
.  “Her name is Heather Madison and, I should probably tell you, we got engaged last month.”

“Really?” I said with surprise
.  “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” he said
.  “I wasn’t going to mention it because, well, I just thought it might be a delicate topic considering the reason you’re here.”

I made a loose hand gesture that was meant to express my understanding
. 
I also noticed that Cliff was growing anxious and was probably hoping to wrap up our meeting sooner rather than later.  Since Carter didn’t seem to have any more questions, I grabbed my purse and rose to my feet.  “I think we’re all set, Mr. Collins, we really appreciate your taking the time to talk to us.”

Cliff shook our hands again and said, not too convincingly, “Are you sure you don’t have any more questions for me?”

“Not at the moment,” I replied.  “We might need to contact you again, however, if that’s okay.”

“Sure,” he said, with a polite nod
.  “You know where to find me.”

Back in the Buick, Carter thumbed through his notes as we discussed our meeting with Cliff Collins.

“What do you think about his story?” he asked me
.  “Particularly about his date with Meagan?”

“Well, I can tell you one thing, I don’t believe he
was planning to go to Meagan’s house to watch a movie.” I rolled my eyes.  “He wanted to get laid.”

“Exactly
; although Meagan doesn’t seem like the type of girl to sleep with a guy on the first date.”

I shrugged
.  “Maybe she invited him back to her place with no intention of sleeping with him.”

Carter looked at me with a raised eyebrow
.  “Really? You think she was that naïve?”

“
Most women with half a brain know that if you give it up on the first date, the chances of him calling you back go down drastically.  Unless, of course, a woman has some amazing tricks up her sleeve or, should I say, down her pants.”

Carter regarded me with
a neutral expression on his face.  “Well, personally, I’m not a fan of premature infatuation: slow and steady works for me.”

I chuckled at his choice of words
.  “So you’ve never slept with a woman on the first date?”

“Well.” The corners of his mouth turned up into a faint smile
.  “Sure, back when I was young and stupid.  Now I’m old and perhaps a little less stupid.”

“
You are not old,” I said, leaving it at that.  “But getting back to Cliff, I’m intrigued by the reason Meagan went to see him in the first place.  She was definitely having problems with someone and not specifically a man.”

Carter glanced at his watch
with a sigh.  “It’s almost five.  What time are you expecting Max tonight?”

I had to admit, I had completely forgotten all about it
.  “Oh crap, he’s coming at six.”

“
Then I should get you home.  We’ve done enough for one day.”

Carter didn’t have much to say as he drove me home but I could guess what he was thinking.  Would I change my mind about moving away with Max?

Just as the Buick pulled up
to my apartment and stopped, I didn’t know what to say. 

F
inally, he smiled at me and patted my hand, “Off you go.  Good luck tonight.”