Missing Persons (30 page)

As usual, the door to his garage was open, with kids’ toys and bicycles littering the driveway. There was one car in the driveway but it didn’t look like Neal or Beth was inside the house. Just in case, I parked my car down the street. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I had a hunch about something and I wanted to check it out.

I walked into the garage, past the reclining chairs and the minifridge and toward the boxes and other junk covered with a tarp. We all have a lot of extra stuff lying around. The storage industry is built on it. But it seemed like too much stuff and too unattractively hidden for a garage with so much on decoration.

And there was something else nagging at me. I hadn’t stayed long enough inside my house to really look at what photos were displayed. Some of them were certainly mine, and Neal would have known they were in the garage. But if Neal were looking to make a really big point, and do it quickly, he could have added to the scene with his own photos of Frank and me. He had nearly as many as I did and about half as many as Frank’s mother.

I glanced out on to the street to see if any of the neighbors were watching, but it was still early. The kids were at day care or summer camp and the parents at work. I grabbed the edge of the tarp and pulled.

It was a crib. It had been disassembled and placed against the wall. An infant car seat, bassinet, and stroller were pushed up against it.

“We’re not planning on having any more kids.”

I turned around and saw Neal. The sun was behind him, putting his body in near darkness.

“I thought you had Frank’s paintings.”

“You have my phone number. If you wanted to find out you could have called.” He stepped inside the garage and pressed a button on the side. The door started to lower.

“What’s going on, Neal?”

“What’s going on is that you are getting out of control. This whole situation is getting out of control. It has to stop, Kate.”

He took a few steps toward me. I saw that the side door, the one that led to his kitchen, was within a few feet of me. I saw him walking toward me. More out of instinct than logic, I picked up the car seat and threw it at him.

“What the hell?”

As he was yelling I ran for the door, turned the knob, and found myself in his kitchen, just a few feet from his wife, Beth.

“Kate? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?” she asked.

I turned and saw their three children in the family room just as Neal walked into the house.

“She came to ask me something about Frank,” Neal said. “About his paintings.”

I tried to sound relaxed, as if everything were normal. “They’re missing.”

Beth walked over to me and hugged me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that. But I guess I haven’t been a very good friend to you. Everything has just been so crazy.”

She grabbed my arm and moved me to the kitchen counter. As I sat down, Beth put a plate of fruit in front of me. “Neal, get her some lemonade. And a glass for me. We’ll sit here and catch up. I feel so bad that I haven’t called you.”

Neal put our drinks in front of us and stood behind his wife. He glared at me. I ignored him and drank my lemonade. The incident in the garage had left my throat dry and I finished it in two gulps.

“That’s okay, Beth. I’ve been working anyway,” I said. “Speaking of which, shouldn’t you both be at work?”

“Family vacation.” Neal glared at me. “We went to Traverse City. We took the kids to the cherry festival.”

Beth smiled. “It was so fun when the four of us went years ago. You remember, Kate.” I nodded. “But three kids in a car for six hours each way. Two days in one room of a motel. I don’t know what I was thinking. Plus, we missed my nephew’s birthday party, so my sister is ready to kill me.”

Neal put his arm around his wife, and as he did, he moved her slightly away from me. “Sometimes you have to think about yourself, and the people you love most,” he said. “And everyone else can go to hell.”

I looked up at the best friend Frank had in the world. “Problem is, it can be tricky to figure out who fits into the category of people you love most and who you’d toss into hell.”

I stayed only another five minutes, making some excuse about having to work early. If nothing else, I felt I’d stood my ground with Neal. But it was little comfort. I didn’t get any information and by the time I got back to the car, I felt sick. He’d always been my favorite of Frank’s friends, right from the beginning. Though he was every bit as popular as Frank in high school, and was known for dating the school A-list, Neal had encouraged our romance. He’d called me Frank’s other half because, he said, Frank was the dreamer and I the realist. Together we’d be able to go further than either of us could alone. Except, of course, it turned out that we just got in each other’s way. But even when it went bad, Neal was one of the few people to call and offer me support. His hostility now didn’t make sense.

By the time I got into the bed in my sister’s guest room, my head was spinning. At first, I didn’t know if it was stress or something else, but as I was about to turn off the lights I realized that either my sister had repainted the blue room a sickly shade of green, or I was seeing the world with a yellow tinge.

T
he next morning I felt fine. I told myself it was just my imagination, that fear and confusion and the grief that surrounded me, for both Frank and Theresa, were making me sick. Or that the lights were playing tricks on me. I’d been tired and stressed, sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. If it was anything else, I didn’t have time to think about it anyway. I had three interviews to conduct and they would, thankfully, take me away from my own problems for the day.

I didn’t bother to say anything to the guys. I didn’t need another round of warnings. I’d booked a conference room in a Loop hotel, and I arrived determined to focus on the shoot. While Andres and Victor set up, I ordered fruit and bagels along with strong, hot coffee. I hoped the food and caffeine would cure the last of my stomach pains. While we ate, we waited for Gray, who was late once again.

I used the time to prep for the interviews. Rosenthal had e-mailed me a set of questions to ask everyone I interviewed, though I assumed she was interested in the answers of only a few people. I just didn’t know which ones. The questions were mostly about the bracelet, though there were some pointed questions about everyone’s whereabouts on the day of Theresa’s disappearance. And of course I had a few questions of my own I was dying to get answered.

“Sorry. Really sorry.” Gray entered the room as if he owned it, shaking hands with Andres and Victor before coming over to me. “Another bad habit, Kate. Habitual lateness.”

“You’re a busy man,” I said and motioned for him to sit in one of the seats we had set out for the interview. “Unless you want coffee first?”

He shook his head. “Wired enough as it is. Thanks. How are things?”

“Fine.”

“No more strange happenings at your house?”

Both Andres and Victor stopped what they were doing and turned to Gray.

“Podeski told him,” I said. “About the bird and the first break-in.”

“The first break-in?” Gray looked at me. “There’s been another one?”

“No big deal. The police are getting to the bottom of it.” I turned to Victor. “Can you mic him, please?”

“You got it, Kate.” Victor made a point of flexing what little muscle he had as he put the mic on Gray’s shirt. “We really like working with Kate, you know.”

“She seems great,” Gray said.

“We’re very protective of her.”

“It’s good she has people looking out for her.”

I just shook my head and smiled. “If you’re ready, Victor.”

“I’m right where you need me.” He looked toward Gray. “Inches away.”

Gray nodded solemnly, but I could see he was more amused than threatened.

Unfortunately, it was probably the best part of the interview. Gray didn’t offer much more about Theresa’s disappearance than he had before. He gave me good, if somewhat canned, sound bites about the tragedy of such a young death, but he didn’t offer much in the way of insight. It was only when I got to Rosenthal’s questions that things got interesting.

“Do you remember where you were the day she disappeared?”

“No. It was over a year ago. Do you remember where you were a year ago?”

I didn’t, actually, but that wasn’t the point. “Did the police ever ask you about it?”

“No. There was no reason to.”

“Do you know anything about a charm bracelet she was wearing?”

Gray sat up. “Yes. I gave it to her.”

I wasn’t expecting that. “You gave her jewelry?”

“I wouldn’t call it jewelry exactly. It probably cost fifty dollars.”

“But you’re a married man giving a young woman jewelry.”

“I thought we’d been over that, Kate.”

The tone in his voice was Dean Martin smooth and the same green eyes were staring into mine, but this time I wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Let’s go over it again.”

“Theresa was a friend of Julia Kenny. Julia’s dad is a business associate of mine and a friend. That’s how I met Theresa. She came to a party my wife and I threw, and she helped me with some research for a case I was working on two years ago.”

“You didn’t mention that before.”

“Didn’t I? She needed a summer job and I was doing a pro bono case, so I couldn’t really afford to hire too many legal assistants. Theresa was willing to work for what I could pay, and the case involved some medical issues, so her training was very valuable. I didn’t see her much. There were thirty young people just like her working on the case.”

“So the bracelet was a thank-you gift?”

“No. It was a birthday gift. I put a charm from the Picasso outside Daley Plaza on it. She spent a lot of time going in and out of those courtrooms for me, so it seemed like a nice gift.”

“What about the nurse’s cap?”

“I think she got that for her graduation. I didn’t give it to her.”

“Did she tell people about it?”

“I wouldn’t have any idea if she did or didn’t, Kate. It wasn’t a secret.”

“Do you know the charms were missing when her body was found?”

“I didn’t know she was even wearing the bracelet.” His voice was strong and authoritative. Dean Martin had been replaced by Perry Mason.

“It must have meant a lot to her if she continued to wear it,” I said.

“I’m glad that it did.”

“Why are you only telling me this now?”

“You’re only asking me about this now.”

“Or maybe now that I’ve found out, you have to give me some version of the truth. That’s what politicians do, isn’t it?”

“Maybe it’s the lawyer in me, but I don’t answer questions that haven’t been asked.” He tried to sound relaxed, but I could see his jaw tense up.

“Okay, then let me ask you about the award you arranged for Theresa.”

“I think that’s a bit strongly put. I nominated her for the Volunteer of the Year Award and was thrilled when she was chosen.”

“Why nominate her?” I asked. “And don’t tell me what a wonderful person she was. I’m sure you know lots of wonderful people. Why Theresa?”

He glanced toward his shoes then looked up at me. “Her mother asked me to. She felt it would help Theresa get a job and some muchdeserved recognition.”

“And how does Linda Moretti get you to do her a favor? It’s not like she’s got any political clout. What’s in it for you?”

“She does make great butter cookies.” He smiled, but it quickly faded when I didn’t respond. “Linda Moretti is very persistent. As I’m sure you’ve seen. She wanted her daughter’s name in the paper and Theresa really was a wonderful person, so why not?”

“Where did she get the donations?”

“I gave her my address book. Nothing sinister, Kate. Just good old Chicago politicking the way it’s always been done.”

“So why keep it a secret?”

“Just because I didn’t tell you doesn’t mean it was a secret.”

He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “Can you excuse me for a moment? I had the phone on vibrate because I was expecting a call.”

Without waiting for Victor, he disconnected the mic and left the room.

“Kate is the man,” Victor said. “You had that guy sweating.”

“Give me a minute,” I said. “I have a little surprise for act two.”

 

 

I went into the hallway. Gray was on the phone at one end, so I walked to the other and into the ladies’ room. I searched through the list of recent calls on my cell phone. There were four 312 area codes I’d dialed in the last few days. I knew one of them was Vera but I couldn’t remember which one. I took a guess and pressed the “call” button.

“You know Gray well,” I said when she answered the phone.

“Pretty well. Why?”

“Frank’s dad mentioned to me that Gray had planned to run for the state senate but changed his mind because of some rumors of infidelity. Do you know anything about that?”

“Yeah. But I think that’s all behind them.”

“What do you know about it?”

“Why? Aren’t you interviewing him about Theresa today? You’re not going to ask about his marriage, are you?”

“Vera, I just have one question and I would really appreciate it if you would help me out on this. Okay? It’s for Theresa that I’m asking.”

I could hear a loud sigh from her end of the phone. “Okay.”

“Do you know the name of the woman he slept with?”

“Woman? You’ve got it wrong, Kate. It wasn’t Gray who cheated. It was his wife.”

 

 

When I got back to the conference room, Gray was seated in his chair and Victor was once again putting the mic on him. Andres gave me a wink as I entered and it was clear that Victor too was ready for the big reveal. I, on the other hand, was deflated.