Silver's Bones (22 page)

 

Chapter 26

August 23

A
fter a run, I showered,
dressed and went to the Sportsman Café to buy cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I placed the bag on the seat next to me, intending to wait until I got home to eat one, but once again the cinnamon smell overpowered me. I grabbed one out of the bag and ate it in four bites as I drove home.

When I returned, Brittany and Angel were sitting on the couch in the great room drinking coffee. Brittany motioned to my face. “Frosting,” she said.

I wiped my mouth and offered the girls rolls. By the time Shannon came down fully dressed for work, Angel, Brit, and I were eating the rolls with the bacon and scrambled eggs I'd made. Shannon took one look at the plates and raced to the downstairs bathroom. We could hear her retch.

I grimaced. “My cooking doesn't agree with her.”

“She's pregnant,” Angel said, with a smirk.

Brittany nodded. I shook my head, turning up the TV news to mask the sound.

Angel took another bite. “You make good scrambled eggs, but you're a horrible liar.”

“I don't know what you're taking about,” I said.

“Okay, whatever,” Angel said.

“Don't worry, your secret's safe with us,” Brittany said and winked.

We all ate in silence for a while. Brittany and Angel kept eyeing me with silly grins on their faces as if they could stare the truth out of me.

“You're going to make an outstanding father,” Angel said, nodding.

I put cherry jam on my toast. “I already am an outstanding father.”

After a minute, Angel dropped her fork, looked at her watch and said, “Well, I've got to get going and I'd like to say good-bye to Shannon before I leave, but obviously she doesn't feel well due to
morning sickness
.”

I stood and said, “I'm glad you stopped by.”

“Me too.”

By the time Angelica was at the back door, Shannon appeared in the kitchen with a pale face and a dab of toothpaste on her lip.

“Are you leaving already, Angel?” she said.

“Yes, I told Max I'd be there by nine.”

“Is Max a friend or love interest?” Shannon asked?

“A friend at this point but after hearing your story I'll keep an open mind.”

“Have fun and we'll see you soon,” Shannon said.

We embraced, then as Angel pulled out of the driveway, Brittany said, “I really like her. It's if I've always known her. We stayed up talking until one o'clock last night. Now, I better hop in the shower before the boys wake up.”

She left us alone.

“The girls connected, I guess,” I said.

“They are about the same age.”

“And they know you're pregnant. We could hear you barf.”

“I figured as much.”

“Call me after your doctor's appointment. What time is it?” I said.

“Ten thirty.”

 

 

After the squad meeting,
Troy
called a case meeting in the conference room. His uniform looked big on him and under the florescent lighting I noticed his color was off. I needed this guy healthy and working.

He asked me to recap what I had at this point. After I was finished, Sheriff Clinton said, “So Sawyer Gage is all you've got after all this time, with no evidence he killed her. You know what I think? You need to stop concentrating on the alleged rape a year before her murder, and focus on what happened around the time of her killing.”

Troy said, “The problem is it was fifteen years ago. People don't remember shit after that long. Hell, they don't remember what they saw minutes before,” he said.

“Do you want to throw in the towel, Troy? Because if you do, tell me now and I'll replace you both,” Patrice said.

He sat back and scowled.

“Now what's next?” she said.

I said, “We need to talk to Sawyer's date about the night Silver went missing.”

“Damn it! You haven't done that yet?” Patrice said.

“Give him a break. He's had to handle everything himself,” Troy said.

“We can't bungle this investigation! It's top priority. You check everyone's story and then you recheck! And you come in early and stay late until this case is solved. You hear me?”

She got up and pointed at Troy. “Not you. I don't want you in the hospital again,” she said and walked out.

Troy said, “What a bitch.”

“Would you say that if Jack or Ralph had said the same thing to us?” I said.

“Oh, don't get all PC on me. I was trying to cover
your
ass.”

“I don't need you to cover my ass.”

“All right, no more ass-covering. Jesus Christ, Sheehan. Give me a break. I'm trying here. See, I think you're pissed I'm with Adriana.”

I looked at him, rolled my eyes and said, “I don't care what either of you do in your personal lives. Now can we concentrate on the Dawson case? And
you
can supervise Tamika.”

He gazed at me skeptically and said, “Right . . . so who was Sawyer Gage's date the night the Dawson girl disappeared?”

I paged through my notes. “Heather Baumgardner.”

We moved to our office. Without much effort, I found her brother, Ron, who still lived in town. He said her last name was now Peters and she lived in Woodbury.

 

 

Heather remembered
she'd had a
date with Sawyer Gage the night Silver Rae had disappeared; they'd gone to a movie. She was home before midnight. Which meant Sawyer's only alibi was his parents.

Troy said, “Listen to this.”

He punched the speaker on his cell phone. It was Adriana's voice.

“Troy, someone threw silver paint all over my car while it was parked in the back lot at work. Anyway, Tamika is here with me. She said she was handling my case now? Is that right? I'm not sure I want the second string working on this. Oh, and I have that appointment I need to get to and can't drive my car now. Call me.”

Troy phoned Adriana and told her he was on his way to take her to her appointment.

“You're gonna have to supervise Tamika on this one,” he said.

Can I not cut this woman loose?

The Warner and Associates
building backed up to the Birch River. We drove around to the back parking lot. It was isolated so it was unlikely there would be witnesses. We parked and walked over to Tamika, who was standing alongside the red BMW convertible, now completely covered in silver. Unfortunately, Adriana had left the top down.

“Oh, man, what a shitty thing to do to a nice car like this,” I said.

“It's bad,” Tamika said.

“Yeah, she's pretty upset,” Troy added.

Adriana walked out of the building and over to us.

“How much time before your appointment?” Troy asked.

“Fifteen minutes.”

“I'll get your statement later,” he said.

“I already got it,” Tamika said.

“Oh . . . good,” Troy said.

“When did you notice this, Adriana?” I asked.

“It obviously happened shortly after I arrived at 7:45, because Janice, my secretary, told me about it when she came in at eight. I tried to call both your cell phones, couldn't reach either one of you so I called 911.”

I said, “Like you should anyway.”

She rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and looked to Troy.

“I assume it's the same individual,” he said.

“I'm sure,” she said. “My mailbox was painted silver last night. I didn't bother you.”

“Did you take photos?” I asked.

“Yes. I'll send them to Troy, or do I send them to Tamika?”

“Me,” Tamika said.

I said, “I'll help Tamika take the photos here so you can be on your way.”

“I already took fifty of them,” Tamika said.

I nodded. “Where do you want it towed?”

“To the old police garage,” Troy said.

We used the old PFPD garage for cars that had been in crashes.

“I
already
called them,” Tamika said.

At that moment Shannon texted me: “R u busy?”

Me: “Why?”

Shannon: “Want to come to my appt?”

Me: “Where?”

Shannon: “Riverside Clinic in 15 m.”

Me: “I'll be there”

Troy and Adriana had gotten in the Buick and were driving off.

“Mm mm mm,” Tamika said. Her eyes followed the Buick out of the lot.

“What?”

“I was just thinking how you and Shannon
belong
together, you know? I'm not so sure about those two.”

I nodded. “Tamika, could you finish up and wait for the tow truck? I have an appointment.”

“I planned on it. You think this is too difficult for me to handle?”

“Of course not.”

 

  

When I got to the
clinic
waiting room, the first person I saw was Adriana—the second was Troy. They looked as surprised to see me as I was to see them. So, she had a doctor appointment too. What a coincidence. What for?

I spotted Shannon sitting in the corner as far away from them as she could be. I murmured a hello and a fancy-meeting-you-here to Adriana and Troy, then strode across the room and took a seat beside Shannon. She turned and smiled at me. I took her hand.

“Did you see Adriana and Troy over there?” I asked.

“How could I miss them?”

“Wonder why
she's
here.”

“None of our business, eh?”

I then told her about silver paint poured all over her BMW.

“Good Lord, someone is out to get that woman. If it's Victoria, what on earth would her motive be?”

“She's a sociopath, she doesn't need much. The fact that Adriana left her daddy would be enough.”

Shannon was paging through a magazine so I looked at the photos of the doctors on the wall. This clinic had three family practitioners, two pediatricians, two gynecologist/obstetricians, a cardiologist, and a podiatrist.

Adriana had the beginnings of bunions; maybe she was seeing the podiatrist. That's what she got for wearing those stilts for shoes.

“Which doctor are you seeing?” I asked.

“Kline.”

“He was Silver Rae Dawson's doctor fifteen years ago. You think he's good looking?”

“Very. He was my OB for the two boys. I was lucky to get this appointment.”

“Why? Because he's handsome, or a good doctor?”

“Everyone says he's the best OB in town.”

I nodded my approval.

The receptionist called Shannon and Adriana up to the desk and handed them each a clipboard. They smiled politely at each other.

I looked over Shannon's shoulder as she began to fill out the lengthy form.

“Wait. Six alcoholic beverages in a week? Seriously? You must have—”

She pulled the clipboard to her chest. “Cal . . . I got it.”

“I'm just trying to be helpful.”

“Play your games on your phone.”

So, I played Battleship. She made me turn off the sound, which took away part of the fun. When Adriana was called in first, Troy stayed in the lobby. I was thinking I should also stay in the lobby to look at all the big bellies and sick people and play games on my phone, but when the nurse called Shannon's name, she grabbed my arm and said, “Let's go.” I gave Troy a thumbs-up as I passed by.

The nurse's ID tag said Lola Wells, LPN. Lola asked Shannon to step on the scale. She stripped off her jacket and shucked her shoes.

“I've lost some weight,” Shannon said as Lola adjusted the weights on the scale.

“Maybe it's the shoes,” I said.

She fired me a dirty look and said, “I always take them off.”

“Why would you do that?” I asked.

Lola and Shannon rolled their eyes conspiratorially, then Lola took Shannon's height. We were then shown to a room. Once inside I asked Lola, “Does Lola always get what she wants?”

The women looked at me like I'd spoken in a foreign language. Obviously neither got my joke, so I had to explain.

“I lived with old people who preferred songs released before 1970. There's an old song that goes: ‘Whatever Lola wants . . . Lola gets.' That's all I know.”

“Never heard of it,” Lola said and ignored me while she went about the business of taking Shannon's blood pressure and temperature, asking her the same questions that were on the form, and then typing her answers on the computer. Next, she instructed Shannon to strip and put on the gown, then left the room.

“I'm enjoying this,” I said as I watched her disrobe.

“So happy for you,” Shannon said.

“You sound insincere, sweetheart. Hey, I think your girls are larger,” I said.

“They are feeling lumpy and tingly,” she whispered.

“Mmm, tingly.”

“Shut up, someone might hear you.” She covered herself with a small sheet and sat on the edge of the examining table. “I'm beginning to think it was a mistake having you come.”

“Don't kick me out. I'll be good. You won't even know I'm here.”

There was a knock at the door and Dr. Joris Kline burst in. I was the first person he saw, and I could see in his eyes he was trying to place me.