Marcus: The M Series, Book Three (5 page)

“Good. Thanks, Little Twerp.”

“No problem, Big-ass Cramp.”

Chapter FIVE

Telling the Family Mariah’s gone… Again

July 8, 2018

“Dr. Cannon? I believe everyone is here. Do you want to tell them or should I?”

“No Parker, I think Richards should do it,” Matthew interjects. “They may be still familiar with him, even though it's been six years. Marcus needs a few minutes more.”

“Are you sure? You could do it, Matthew.”

“No, Josh and I are staying with him here, until he absolutely has to move. Do it, Richards.”

“Sir, there's a Rosa Colon at the door,” a man says.

“Housekeeper. Is there anyone here that speaks Spanish,” Parker asks.

“Alissa's here,” Joshua says. “She's pregnant. Ask her to translate.”

Richards clears his throat. “All right, I'll do it now.”

I watch Richards go the TV room then stare at the floor. I can hear everything.

“Hello, everyone. I don't know if you remember me. I'm Chris Richards.”

Mother speaks. “I remember. You found my daughter-in-law, when she was expecting the twins.”

“My colleague did, Mrs. Cannon. I was the middleman.”

“But why are you here now? Where is my son and why was he weeping?”

“Mrs. Harvey? Would you mind translating to Ms. Colon?”

“No, I don't mind.”

“Good. Family, when Marcus arrived home in the early morning hours, he discovered his wife missing. As of now, she has not been located.”

Rachel gasps. “Mariah… my baby’s
missing
?”

Thomas next. “Are you saying my daughter left? She ran again? That is not possible, Richards!”

“Sir, we’ve reason to believe, not suspect …
believe
Mrs. Cannon was kidnapped.”

Cries and screams flood the room; my heart races. Matthew and Joshua's hands tighten on my arms. I look up at Richards.

“I don't believe you! I just saw my daughter yesterday! She was here, tired, but fine! When could this have happened,” Rachel screams.

Richards looks to us.

“Everything. No secrets,” Matthew insists.

“Ma'am, Marcus was called in on an emergency around one a.m., he informed his wife he was leaving, and he left her sleeping, in their bedroom. Upon returning, approximately 4:40 a.m., there was evidence of a struggle, and Mariah was gone. Her purse and cell phone are still here, in their usual spots, Marcus affirms. We believe she was targeted.”

Everyone starts talking at once.

“Wait! Wait! Richards, are you saying someone came after
her
? It’s not some random thing,” Nathan asks.

“That's exactly what I'm saying.”

“Who the hell would want to harm Cookie? No one! She's sweet to
everybody
,” Evelyn angrily shouts.

“That's what we're attempting to find out.”

“So now what,” Tom roars. “We sit on our asses while my sister is God knows where?”

“Right now, we're running analysis on everything we've found this morning; i.e., blood, prints. We have a crew canvassing the streets, and we have video captured with this house's cameras.”

“Blood? Whose blood,” Lil demands.

“We don't know yet, Ma'am, we're still waiting on the reports.”

“So you don't know if she's all right,” Ethan asks. “No ransom demands or anything?”

“As of now, no. There has been no calls or letters.”

“Where is my son? He has to be going out of his mind!”

“Mrs. Cannon, he's... coping. His brothers are by his side. Just give him a few minutes, please.”

“What was on the video,” Lil quietly asks.

“We got a plate and a description of the vehicle Mariah was put in.”

“And? I want to see what happened to Mariah,” Nathan demands.

Richards looks at us. I nod.

“Parker? This my business partner, Ryan Parker. He's the colleague that found Mariah when she disappeared. He's going to play the video. I won't lie; it's disturbing. So, please brace yourselves. Ma'am, are you all right?”

“Just nauseous, thank you. I'm going to the bathroom,” Alissa answers, choking back tears.

“I'll come with you, honey,” Ethan says.

“No, stay. I'll be all right. See what happened to your sister. I'll take Rosa with me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,
Papi
. I don't want to see...” she sobs then says something to Rosa in Spanish.

Rosa answers and I see her scurry across the room. Tom appears and pulls down the projection screen. He turns our way and I see pain in his face, and I know he sees it in mine. I nod at him and put my head down. I don’t need to see this shit again; it's burned in my head.

“Here we go,” Parker murmurs.

Silence fills the room then cries and gasps. Rachel screams and I jerk my head up, hoping she’ll be… okay.

“Oh, Cookie,” Lisa weeps. “She's not... she isn't...”

“No, Mrs. James, she's been chloroformed. The kidnapper left the rag behind and we're testing that, too.”

“Please tell me Marcus did not see this,” Dad shouts.

Richards looks at us again, nodding his head. “He did, sir.”

“Are my sons in the kitchen?”

“Yes, sir, they are.”

I put my hands over my eyes as I hear Rachel weeping in the other room. Sounds like Mother, too. I remain glued to my spot on the kitchen’s floor. Feels like it's been days since I dropped here.

I sigh and look around. All the men are in the kitchen, Joshua and Matthew are still at my side.

“Marcus?”

I look toward the TV room.

“I need to ask you some more questions,” Richards says with Parker standing next to him.

“Go ahead.”

“We should go in the other room, with your family. They may be able to answer something that you can't.”

I sit, silently.

“Come on, son.”

My dad holds a hand out to me. I take it and get to my feet.

I look in my father's face, and see all the worry and concern, and I break down again. My father pulls me into his arms and they clamp around me while I cry silently on his shoulder. He wordlessly, patiently holds me until I calm.

“Let's go in the other room,” Dad says, his voice catching.

“All right,” I say, moving from his grasp. Russell hands me tissue and Tom gives me water. The other men leave the room as I begin to compose myself. My father and I walk out last, he clamps a hand on my shoulder.

I look around the room and everyone is in tears. Rachel, Mother and Lil are on the far sofa, holding hands. I sit between Rachel and Mother, and hold their hands as Richards and Parker sits across from us.

“Marcus, have you had any parties or functions here in the last, say ninety days?” Richards asks.

I pause. It's July eighth. We were supposed to be celebrating my birthday with everybody here, today. I watch Alissa shuffle into the room, Rosa right beside her.

“The twins’ birthday party, April 29th and Alissa's baby shower, June 23rd.”

“What company did you hire?”

“I don't know. The women handled both.”

“Perez's Parties & Supplies,” Lisa answers.

“Have you or your wife had any altercations with a neighbor or a patient... a colleague, maybe?”

“No, that’s not Mariah's nature. She gets along with everybody. I haven't argued with anyone, either.”

An investigator runs in the room. “Incoming!”

Richards and Parker jump up to leave the room.

“Freeze,” Matthew loudly snaps out. “This is my brother's wife.
All
information will be openly disclosed! Talk, Morrow!”

Richards and Parker look at each other, then to the investigator, who looks at Matthew. Daniels is just outside the room, holding a phone to his ear.

“The car that Mrs. Cannon was put in was stolen. Hodges and Hunt found it twelve blocks from here, near the hospital, wrecked. The driver slammed it into a tree. No one was inside, but...” Morrow hesitates.

“What,” Matthew barks.

“There was blood on the back seat and steering wheel,” Morrow sighs.

My fingers tighten and so does the mothers. There are gasps and moans all around the room.

“And,” Matthew snaps. Morrow shakes his head.

“Hunt,” Daniels yells. Hunt appears, dressed in tactical gear. With his back to us, Daniels says something quietly to her then she enters the room and sits in Parker's spot.

“Dr. Cannon, when my partner and I arrived at the car, we found blood on the backseat and the steering wheel. It's being tested anyway, but no doubt the blood on the steering wheel came from a kidnapper, who we know was driving. We also found skin cells under another broken nail. We believe Mrs. Cannon woke and fought the kidnappers again, causing the crash. The blood in the backseat was dragged, and no other fluids were detected by eye, but the backseat is also being analyzed.”

“Everything,” Matthew snarls when Hunt stops.

Hunt frowns but continues. “There was a disposable cell found just under the car, with blood on it, too. The good news is there were prints recovered but there was too much damage to retrieve any data. We believe the kidnappers destroyed it on purpose. The car was registered to a Harold Beaufort, an insurance salesman in Oakland. He reported the car stolen on July sixth. He's sixty-four years old, so he's ruled out but is still being surveyed.”

“How soon will the report on the blood be ready,” Matthew asks.

“I'd guess another hour or so,” Hunt says.

“Excuse me,” Ethan says. “Miss, you said '
kidnappers
'; plural. How certain are you that there’s more than one? I’d like to estimate how much time I’m looking at for killing all responsible for this bullshit with my sister.”

Tom murmurs, “
We’re
looking at time. She’s my sister, too.”

“Quiet, both… all of you. Go on, Ms. Hunt,” Lil demands.

“We believe assailant one called an assailant two after the crash, sir. There was evidence of dragging and more skin cells on the street in a two-foot stretch. Mrs. Cannon’s other pink slipper was found inside the crashed car.”

Parker sits next to Hunt holding a piece of paper.

“Dr. Cannon, do you know a Ricardo Vincente Flores?”

I shake my head as Rachel's nails digs into my hand.

“Fuck,”
Nathan shouts.
“Not this fucker again!”

“Is that Vince,” I ask Rachel.

“Yes,” she moans.

“Vince,” Ethan asks. “Isn't that the asshole that beat Cookie years ago?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“Son of a bitch. What is he doing out of jail already?”

Parker reads the paper in his hand. “Flores was released on good behavior in early April and was supposed to remain in the area. It's his prints on the cell phone. Dr. Cannon, is there any way possible Flores knows anyone in California?”

I shake my head, blowing out a breath. “I don't know.”

“Excuse me.”

I look up and see Alissa holding Rosa's hand. Rosa looks terrified.

“Vince was at the twins' party, working with Perez's. Rosa says he approached her and asked a lot of questions about Mariah and said that she sent him to fix some sticky locks on the kitchen and garage doors.”

I jump up. “Does she know for sure it was him?”

Alissa speaks silently to Rosa in Spanish, and Rosa replies.

“She says he gave the name Vince Flores and he was excited because he knew Mariah from Chicago.”

“Where else was he, aside from the kitchen and the garage,” Parker asks.

Alissa asks, then Rosa speaks.

“She says he was everywhere.”

“I didn't see him,” Rachel gasps.

“Neither did I,” came from Nathan.

“What about the birthday song,” I ask, grabbing the remote to the projector.

More Spanish.

“She remembers him standing behind Nathan,” Alissa says finally.

“What,” Lisa gasps. “That asshole got that close to my sister
and
my husband?”

“That's what Rosa says,” Alissa nods.

I press the button and everything powers up again. Thank God we were just watching it again Friday night, at the twins' insistence.

I forward the video and stop it when I came into view carrying the cake to the table.

Mariah was standing at the side, looking beautiful and glowing, barely showing. We had just announced she was pregnant again to delight of everyone, right before I went into the kitchen to get the cake.

I called to the twins and they ran up and hugged Mariah after they saw their cake. I lifted them both up in my arms, while Nathan held Lila to Mariah's right. Matthew and Ethan were on my left and Joshua was manning the camera. Lisa stepped into view with a camera and we all smiled and posed, while Alex and Donnie made goofy faces.