Remember Love: Saints Protection & Investigations (12 page)

Blaise, silent for a moment as he digested another piece of sad information about Grace, looked up at Luke for him to continue.

Accepting a nod from Blaise, Luke said, “Grace Marie Kennedy, twenty-seven years old. Graduated from VCU with a degree in Criminal Justice. She worked for a county Sheriff’s department for about two years before becoming involved in their canine program and did that for another two years. Last year, she left her job and went back to a K-9 school for training with the TSA canine program. She had just completed that and was in the process of becoming a full-time employee with TSA in Richland.” As Luke recited his findings, he continued to glance up at Blaise.

“So how the hell does she go missing for three weeks and no one notices? Searches for her? Contacts the police?” Blaise growled. Catching the expressions of the others feeling the same way, Blaise looked back at Luke and said, “Keep going, man. I’m all right.”

“Here’s where the info gets tricky,” Luke continued, as everyone’s attention ratcheted up, instantly more on alert. “From her social media accounts, it looks like she’s not very active. There were only a couple of friends from VCU that she kept up with and that was sporadical. There were pictures of her going away party from the Sherriff’s office and that split appears amicable, but there also hasn’t been much contact between her and her former co-workers. The training classes just graduated a month ago, and most of them are in the process of getting new jobs with their dogs as well. She also just moved. The apartment that Bart and Cam went into last night had only been rented for about two months.”

“So her life was right in the middle of change when she had the accident,” Marc stated. “Almost like the worst time for someone to go missing—right when there was no one steady that she saw on a daily basis to notice her gone.”

“Let’s talk about the accident,” Blaise demanded. “What do we know?”

Luke continued, “She drives an older model Nissan Altima, black with grey interior. She bought the car from a reputable used car dealership and has had it for almost two years.”

“Blaise, is there any chance she would remember where the accident occurred? I know she said it was at the bottom of a ravine, not noticeable from the road since it was covered in thick brambles and trees, but we could search,” Patrick added.

“I don’t know, but it’s worth shot to find out.”

Jack nodded, jotting down notes on his tablet. Looking up, he asked Luke, “What else?”

Shaking his head, Luke replied, “Not much. She has a checking and savings account. Nothing remarkable in either. Regular deposits from her jobs. Normal deductions. She got a sizeable insurance benefit from her parents’ deaths, but that was put in her savings and she hasn’t touched the money.”

“Bart. Cam. What’d you find last night in her apartment?” Jack asked.

Bart began, “We entered with no problems. The apartment was furnished, nice but not new. But…” he paused, sparing a glance toward Blaise, “it had been searched.”

At that, the Saints’ attention narrowed to a focal point of what Bart was saying. “They did a half-assed job of covering up. Done, but sloppily.”

“As though someone didn’t worry about her coming back and knowing her place had been searched. But also that it wouldn’t look searched to the common eye if someone else came in.”

“Came in,” Blaise repeated, his voice hard. “Like the apartment super who would come in after her rent went unpaid, to ensure that he wouldn’t call the police.”

“Exactly,” Bart agreed. “There was no laptop or computer of any kind in the apartment. Since she said there was nothing in the car, maybe someone wanted to make sure there was no link to her that someone could find.”

The group was silent for a moment until Mitch spoke up from the video-conference. “Jack, right now, I’d say you’ve got enough to start an investigation. What do you want from the FBI?”

Jack shot Blaise a look, then said, “The Saints are taking on the mystery of Grace Kennedy. I don’t think we’ll need your office until we obtain more evidence, but we’ll keep you informed.”

Obtaining Mitch’s affirmation, he disconnected, leaving the Saints to begin processing the new case.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Blaise admitted, piercing his co-workers and friends with his gaze. “The truth could be as simple as she was out with her dog, had a car accident and, suffering from amnesia, became disoriented and afraid. But…it’s too clean. Too neat. With someone searching her apartment… that indicates she had something that someone wanted. Wanted enough to stage an accident, assumed she was dead, and banked on her being at an in-between phase of her life so there was no one to report her missing.”

“We need to look at anyone in her life before the accident, as well as try to find her car,” Jack said.

“Do we want to keep her status secret?” Monty asked. “After all, if someone wanted her dead, don’t you think that they would be upset to know they had not finished the job?”

“Fuck!” Blaise cursed at the thought of her still being in danger.

“Monty’s right,” Jude agreed and the others nodded.

“So, for now, in our investigation, as far as anyone knows, Grace Kennedy died in that car accident. We’ll conduct our interviews as though she is missing.”

Jack continued to divvy out the assignments. “Jude, Patrick—I want you two to take whatever information Grace can give you about where she remembers the ravine and begin combing the area. Marc, you’re our outdoorsman—you take charge of that part of the investigation.”

“What about her friends and workplaces?” Blaise asked. “I want to be in on some of the interviews.”

Jack nodded, acknowledging Blaise’s professional ability to hold on to his temper if he did not receive answers he liked. “You, Monty, and Chad split up the interviewing. Check out the K-9 training facility, any friends she had there, and the TSA coordinator for hiring trainees. Blaise, you can take Grace to her apartment, but have Bart and Cam go with you since they were there last night. Get her to tell you if she remembers what’s missing, what’s out of place, and dust for fingerprints. If the intruder wasn’t expecting her back they may have been careless.”

Cam spoke again, saying, “Blaise, Miriam looked at Grace’s scar and said she really needs to have her forehead seen by a doctor. The injury is healing, but a doctor…or maybe a plastic surgeon, can make it less noticeable. But one way or the other, it should be looked at.”

“I’ll take her to Doc Sanderson, if that’s okay with you, Jack?” The doctor treated the Saints’ injuries, not asking questions, knowing they were investigators. He was efficient and understood the nature of their business, having been a former Army doctor.

“He’ll be good. Hell, he’ll be surprised to see a pretty face,” Bart laughed.

The meeting dismissed, the Saints broke up into groups to plan their parts of the mission. Marc pulled Blaise to the side. “We’re going to need to interview Grace to find out what she says about the car. Can we do that before you take her to her apartment?”

“Yeah. Follow me and we’ll do it first.” Realizing she did not have a cell phone, he turned to Jack and asked, “Can I get a burner cell phone for her to use in case of emergencies?”

Luke went to the storage room, returning with one, handing it to Blaise. “This’ll be good for her.” He hesitated a moment, drawing Blaise’s attention.

“What is it?”

“I was just wondering if you wanted…well, if you felt about Grace…”

“Just say what’s on your mind!”

“I wondered if you wanted me to put a tracer on your Saint medallion?” Luke finally got out.

Blaise did not hesitate as he reached under his shirt and grabbed his St. Blaise pendant and pulled the chain off his neck. “Abso-fuckin’-lutely,” he said, handing it to Luke, who grinned as he walked into the back room with the medallion in his grasp.

Standing, legs apart, hands on hips, Blaise noted the others grinning at him. “What?” he asked testily. “I’m gonna keep her safe at all costs.”

“Watch your heart, man,” Bart laughed. “You put that medallion around her neck and she’s claimed.”

Grinning back, Blaise nodded. “Damn straight!”

*

Sitting in Blaise’s
living room an hour later, Grace clutched his hand as Marc questioned her. Jude used his tablet to map out what she remembered and Patrick, still learning some of the finer points of investigating, watched and listened carefully.

“I remember, when I crawled out of the car, I heard water. When I looked down the hill, I could see a fairly large creek. The car had come down the ravine and stopped when it finally hit several trees. Um…” she stopped and rubbed her head.

“You’re doing fine, babe,” Blaise encouraged, receiving a small smile.

“I climbed up…I can’t tell you how long it took me, but I’d say at least thirty minutes because I had to stop every couple of feet. My head was no longer bleeding, but it hurt really badly. Gypsy stayed with me and a couple of times, she allowed me to grab her as she pulled me forward.”

“Tell us about the road when you got to the top. Was it two lane, four lane, gravel, paved blacktopped, have lines painted, straight, curvy…anything you can think of,” Marc queried.

“Um…it was two lanes. But there was shoulder space on each side so it wasn’t too narrow. I stood there for a while before I started walking downhill. The trucker came fairly soon after that. Um…let’s see…it was paved…blacktop and not recently. It had lines painted, but again not recently because they were sort of worn. There were curves and,” she looked up suddenly and said, “there were no guardrails. Why would there be no guardrails?”

“There are supposed to be guardrails, but some lesser-used roads are susceptible to them being missing or in disrepair and I don’t know how often they’re checked,” Marc answered.

“What can you tell us about the area around the road?” Jude asked.

“It was heavily wooded. When the trucker picked me up, we drove down the mountain about ten minutes before we passed any buildings.”

“Do you remember the buildings?” Patrick asked excitedly.

Scrunching her forehead and then wincing in pain, she added, “An old building. Like it used to be a gas station way back in time. Bob’s…or Bill’s…or something like that.”

Jude immediately began entering in the information and within a few minutes, said, “We may have a location. On State Road 842, part of it cuts near the Skyline Parkway. It’s wooded, curvy, and there’s a Rob’s Gas & Groceries. Obviously no website, but it could be our place. If we assume the trucker was going about 40 miles per hour down the curvy road, that gives us an approximate place to locate her car.”

Grace glanced up at Blaise to see him smiling—grimly.
I wonder if that’s a good look or an unhappy look.
He looked down at her, seeing her brow crinkle in confusion.

“Sorry, babe. This is good news. Marc, Jude, and Patrick will head up there and begin a search.”

“Would it help to have Gypsy with you? I could go as well.”

“No way am I having you out there in the woods,” Blaise argued, before conceding, “But a dog is a possibility. I’ve got a friend with a good tracker dog. It may have been too long and the scent is gone, but I’m willing to take that chance. Can I have your backpack? It’s got your scent and Gypsy’s scent on it.”

She walked from the room to retrieve the bag and Blaise immediately placed a call. By the time she returned, he explained, “It’s all arranged. The Saints will take a tracker and his hound with them.”

A few minutes later, the trio left, leaving Grace standing in the living room, worrying her bottom lip. As Blaise walked in, he observed her nervousness. Pulling her into his embrace, he kissed the top of her head. “We know what we’re doing. We’ll find the answers.”

“Somehow, I know you will,” she replied, her hand resting on his chest, leaning her head back to see his face. “I guess it’s just the answers I’m now afraid of more than the unknown.”

“I found out more about your parents toda—”

“I want to know,” she blurted, her eyes wide and piercing.

Leading her to the sofa once more, he sat on the coffee table with his knees on either side of hers, his body a shield. Taking her hands in his, he said, “I only know the basics…but you were brought up, as you know…an only child, on a small farm. After you left for college, your parents sold the farm and moved to a small house in the suburbs of Richland. A couple of years ago they were out when an ice storm hit and they slid on icy roads and were killed together.”

He said no more, observing her carefully for signs of distress. She simply nodded and released a long sigh, but no words were forthcoming.

“I know you feel lost, but I’ve got something for you.” He reached inside of his shirt and pulled out the saint medallion, slipping it over his head. As she watched with questions in her eyes, he then slid the chain over her neck. “This is my Saint Blaise pendant,” he said. “St. Blaise was the healer of animals in the fourth century. Legend states that animals would come to him, on their own, and he would heal them. The stories also say that the animals would assist him in his work.”

Eyes wide she peered down at the pendant in her hand, as he continued. “I thought it made sense to give this to you. I can’t give you back your family, but I want you to know you have me. You and Gypsy came to me…on your own…and she assists you. Somehow it kinda works.”