The Advocate (The Advocate Series) (21 page)

She had worked for almost another hour when Jack, the attorney in the front office, stopped in her doorway. “You ready to go, kid? Bob made me promise to chase you out when I leave. He doesn’t want you staying here alone and I agree. I told Elaine the same thing; I don’t want her here alone, either. That bat thing may have been a sick prank, but we don’t know. If it was meant for someone in this office, it may or may not have been you.”

“True, although you have to agree I’m the most likely suspect. You don’t create too many enemies with your trust and estates practice, and anyone who knows David knows he’s never here, especially on the weekends.”

“True enough, but until we know more, we need to be careful.”

“You’re right. Let me just grab a few things and I’ll be out of here,” she said. “And, Jack . . . thanks for looking out for me.”

He smiled at her with a paternal kind of smile. “Hey, I’ve grown fond of you, kid. I certainly don’t want any harm coming your way. Besides, you’ve brought some life back into this office, all bubbly and enthusiastic. You keep us in stitches with your weird stories and crazy remarks.”

“Thanks, I kind of like you too.”

Sabre gathered up her files. Jack walked her to her car. He checked her tires. No indication of a leak. As she pulled out of the alley, she noticed a car across the street pull away from the curb and maneuver into the lane behind her. She drove straight for about three blocks and turned right. The car did the same. She made two more turns before she drove onto the freeway, continuously glancing in her rear view mirror; the car remained behind her. Sabre, alert but not scared, knew the majority of traffic was headed toward the freeway this time of night. Though the rush hour traffic had subsided a bit, the highway remained crowded, requiring some maneuvering to merge over to the middle lane. The car merged over as well. It stayed behind her for a couple of miles. Sabre, uncertain at this point if it was even the same car, decided to take the next exit off the freeway to see if the car would follow her. She changed lanes. The car did the same. Her heart beat faster. She checked her doors; they were locked. She checked her phone. It worked. Trying not to panic, she decided if the car followed her off the freeway, she would go straight to the police department. She could call them on the way and alert them.
Thank God for cell phones
.

Sabre saw the sign for the next off ramp. With her blinker on, she eased off. Glancing in the rear view mirror, she saw the blinker flash on the car behind her. Someone was after her, and she had already exited off the freeway. Too late to change now. Her heart pounded as she watched the car follow her. When she reached the street, she turned right. She picked up her cell phone to dial, glanced in her mirror again, and saw the car make a left-hand turn. Sabre took a long, deep breath, made a u-turn, and drove back onto the freeway. When she reached for her water bottle she felt herself tremble. She took another deep breath and tried to calm down. She had frightened herself again, jumping at every little thing. She knew she had to get it under control. Maybe that was the plan; maybe someone was trying to keep her in constant fear.
No, this is silly. I have to take my power back. I’m imagining things and making myself paranoid. That’s it. I’m going home to have a nice cup of hot tea and forget about everything.

21

Sabre drove to the office, looking forward to a full day to catch up on her work. Bob arrived about five minutes later, carrying two large cups of coffee.

“Good morning, Sobs.” He smiled as he handed her one of the cups. “I thought you might want to start your day with a mocha – decaf of course, light on the coffee, extra chocolate, no whipped cream or foam – just the way you like it.”

“Thanks.” She took the coffee and sipped it. “It’s perfect and still nice and hot. You must’ve read my mind.” She took another drink of coffee. “So what are you doing here so bright and early this morning?”

“I knew you didn’t have court and neither did I, so I thought I’d just come by to see you.”

“Oh, fess up. You knew I’d be in early, and you weren’t sure Jack would be here so you stopped by just in case, didn’t you?”

“Well, that was my plan initially, but I called and Jack said you were on your way, so I decided to bring you some coffee anyway,” he confessed. Bob looked at his watch. “May I use David’s office for a minute? I need to make a phone call.”

“Sure. Help yourself.”

Sabre picked up the Murdock/Smith file and pulled out the fax she had received the day before. She read through it, not really expecting to find anything significant, when suddenly she let out a yelp. Bob dashed into her office.

“What’s the matter?”

Jack ran in right behind him, “Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry. I’m fine, just startled by something I read.”

Jack went back to his office, but Bob remained. “What is it, Sobs?”

“Peggy Smith has another child. I can’t quite make out the name, but it looks like a girl. I wonder where she is.”

Sabre reached for the phone and dialed the direct line for Detective Carriage’s office. He answered it on the first ring. “Joe Carriage.”

“Joe, it’s Sabre Brown.”

“Sabre, I’m glad you called. I planned to call you when I got in this morning, but I got tied up. You know how it goes.”

“No problem,” she said. “Joe, I got the page you faxed me yesterday on Peggy Smith’s family history. It looks like Peggy has another child, a little girl. Do you know anything about her?”

“Just a minute; let me grab it.” He found the file in the stack on his desk. “Here it is.” He paused. “She’s five years old, just turned five in September. It says she’s living with her mother, but you’re telling me she’s not there?”

“No, this is the first I’ve heard of her. Can you make out her name?”

“It looks like Honey . . . Honey Stone.”

“Honey? Are you sure it’s Honey?”

“Yes, why?”

“Alexis always becomes upset when you call her ‘honey.’ She says things like, ‘I’m not Honey’ or ‘Don’t call me Honey.’” Sabre paused for a minute. “The letter Alexis wrote to Mattie, I saw the greeting. It read, ‘Dear Honey.’ I wonder if she was writing to her. And where is she? Where is Honey?”

“I don’t know. I’ll see what I can find out about her and call you back in a few.”

Sabre hung up the phone and turned to Bob. “Did you get that?”

“Yeah. So Peggy’s little girl is named Honey and right now no one knows where she is.”

“Right.” Sabre reached for the phone again.

“You calling Marla?”

“Yes. I’m sure she must know.”

“But if she does, why haven’t we seen it in any of the reports?”

“Good point.” Then she murmured, “I should’ve read her letter.”

“Sobs, I need to run to my office to pick something up. I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Sure. See you in a bit.” Sabre dialed Marla’s number and left a message for her to call back.

Bob left her office, returning about ten minutes later with the Murdock/Smith file. Sabre was just hanging up the phone with Marla. “So what did you find out?”

“Marla didn’t know anything about Honey Stone. She’s looking into it right now, and she’s beating herself up for missing it.”

“That poor woman. She works so hard, but there’s never enough time to do everything she needs to do,” Bob said. He liked Marla too, and that said a lot. Bob had little respect for most of the social workers, but Marla was different – diligent and reasonable at the same time – a combination Bob found lacking in most of the others. “What about Carriage? Has he called back yet?”

“No,” Sabre responded. “What’s this?” she asked, as Bob lay a piece of paper in front of her.

“It’s the letter Alexis wrote to her friend.”

Wrinkles formed across Sabre’s forehead and her eyes frowned at him. “Where did you get this? And what does it say?”

“How should I know? I haven’t read it. I copied it the day I copied your Murdock report. You said you weren’t going to read it, and I thought if I made a copy then you’d have it if you ever needed it.”

“You’re so smart. I probably should’ve done that, but it didn’t seem right.”

“Well, you’re not as twisted as I am, or as jaded.” He smiled at Sabre. “But keep working juvenile and it won’t take long. You’ll be just like me.”

Sabre picked up the letter and looked up at Bob again. She still felt uncomfortable reading Alexis’ private letter. Bob spoke, “Just read the damn thing, or I will.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll read it.” She commenced reading it to herself, then started over, and read aloud so Bob could hear it too.

Dear Honey,

I’m sorry I didn’t teach you your ABCs. It’s all my fault.

I’m not living with father and Peggy any more. There are lots of people here. You would be safe here with me.

We have a new baby sister. Her name is Haley Murdock, like my last name. But she’s real pretty like you and she can hear real good, just like Jamie.

I miss you. I love you.

XXOO

Alexis

P.S. I asked God to bring you this letter. I hope you get it. And I hope you’re not too hot.

Sabre marveled at how well she wrote. Alexis was a precocious little girl. Sabre surmised everything she had written had been given a lot of thought; now she just needed to figure out what it meant.

The phone rang. It was Detective Carriage. “Hi, Joe, what did you find out?”

“Well, Honey is Peggy’s daughter all right. The best I can tell, she last lived with Peggy and Gaylord. She apparently hasn’t started school yet. She should’ve, though, based on her age. Sabre, here’s the kicker.”

“What’s that?”

“She’s deaf. Peggy’s boyfriend beat her when she was two years old and caused her to lose her hearing. The son-of-a-bitch is sitting in prison, but that doesn’t help Honey,” Joe growled.

Some of the pieces started coming together for Sabre, but the puzzle was still far from complete. She read the letter to Joe. “For some reason, Alexis must be calling Honey ‘Mattie.’ She’s never mentioned Honey. In fact, none of them have, as far as I know. Why wouldn’t she just call her Honey? Why did she say she was her friend and not her sister? She always calls Jamie her brother.”

“I don’t know. I checked to see if a missing person’s report had been filed on her. There wasn’t, at least not in Atlanta, but I’m expanding the search. I also have someone checking to see if a death certificate has been filed.”

“I’ve tried not to think of that possibility. I better be careful when I talk with Alexis.” Sabre cringed. If she’s not alive it could explain why no one talked about her. It might just be too painful.

“There’s obviously a lot we don’t know. I’ll investigate further, and you’ll be the first to know if I come up with anything.”

“Thanks for everything, Joe. I really appreciate it.”

Sabre thought she should tell him what she had learned from Ruby Sterling. Before she could, Joe spoke up, “Sabre, there are some other things I need to share with you, but right now I have to run. Just do me a favor.”

“Sure, what?”

“Be careful. Don’t take any chances, okay?” he said, his voice tense.

“Okay, but you’re scaring me. Is there something I should know?”

“I don’t really know a whole lot yet. It may be nothing and it may not even affect you. Just be cautious, okay?”

“Sure thing.”

“By the way, my cell phone is working again if you need to reach me.”

“Thanks, what was wrong with it?”

“Long story. Tell you next time.” She heard the dial tone.

Sabre hung up the phone and shared the conversation with Bob, except the last part about being careful. It would only make Bob more nervous, and he already drove Sabre crazy with his concern for her safety.

“So what’s next?”

“I need to call Marla, give her the latest bit of information, and see if she has learned anything new. I’m sure she’ll be talking with Peggy and Gaylord very soon to see what they have to say,” Sabre said. She drew a deep breath, “I need to talk with Alexis.” She didn’t cherish the thought of broaching this subject, but she wanted to talk with her before Gaylord or Peggy did, in case they were hiding something.

“Well, if you don’t need me, I’m taking off. I’m meeting with a client in twenty minutes,” Bob said.

“Go ahead. I’m fine. I’m going to hang out here for a few hours, do some work, and see what turns up. Then I’m going to pay a visit to Alexis. I’d like to take her out of Jordan for awhile, but ever since I spoke with her grandmother, I’m afraid to. I guess I’ll just speak with her there.”

“Okay, Schweetie,” Bob said in his Humphrey Bogart voice, as he gave her a hug.

Sabre walked him to the door and thanked him again for coming by, for the coffee, and for the letter. She walked back to her desk and called Marla. She left her a message letting her know the latest from Atlanta. For the next couple of hours, she buried herself in work, trying not to think about her visit with Alexis and hoping she’d have more information before she went.