“That woman shows up everywhere and seems to be able to bypass protocol other reporters didn’t get,” he muttered on his way to his car.
The following day’s front-page headline, with Anne Sullivan’s byline, heralded the story of two bodies found in the Columbia River to be that of the youngest missing Stevens girls—Sara and Darla. The bodies of Mr. Stevens, Mrs. Stevens, and Kelly Stevens remained unaccounted for.
While going through his notes, Robert’s phone rang. “Collins,” he spoke into the receiver.
“You the cop who got dumped in the river?” a gruff voice asked.
Robert frowned and held the receiver out as if to drop it back on its cradle. Instead, he pressed it to his ear. “Yes, I am.”
“Okay. I’m the captain of the dredging barge across from where you and your divers wanted to dive.”
Robert sat straight up in his chair, careful to remain balanced. “Yes, sir, you have something to tell me?”
There was a slight pause. “Don’t know if it’s anything, maybe nothing. I thought to myself I should call you, but I don’t want to be some kind of blabbermouth—”
“Sir,” Robert broke into the sentence, “did you find anything or pick up anything connected to my missing family?”
“Oh, it’s your family that’s missing? I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Captain, they aren’t my real family they—it’s a figure of speech. What did you want to tell me?” Robert dialed back his interest to match the man’s calm tone.
“That day when you were out there, something happened. I didn’t think much about it ’til I read about those girls bein’ found. When we were settin’ our anchor that mornin’, Mel was hangin’ over the side. I had some trouble with the current, getting it to grab. I pulled it up to move the winch back and let it drift again. It was heavy. The boat listed to that side. I thought it was caught on sumthin’. I yelled at Mel to see if he could knock it off with his bargepole. It took a bit. Mel hit it, but it was stuck. I tried to lift it to see what it was, but it was swayin’ in the current. When it came back, Mel hit it again and must have knocked it good because it fell off. I never saw what it was. The river was too muddy.”
“Could Mel see it? Could he tell if it was a car or something else?” Robert gripped the receiver until his knuckles were white. A movement at the corner of his eye made him turn toward the door. Barbara stood there watching him with a smile. At the sight of his grip on the phone and his tense body, the smile disappeared, and she started to step closer to his desk. He held up his hand to keep her from talking.
“No, he didn’t see nuthin’. He said when he hit whatever it was, it was metal, for sure.”
“Metal?”
“Yeah. The metal pole hitting a metal object gives that ringing feeling in your hands. Mel knows all about different metal feels. He said this was definitely a metal feel. After I read the paper about the girls you identified, I remember I looked up and saw what looked like two bundles of rags bobbing down the river. I didn’t pay it no mind. Now I think they might have been the bodies of those two girls.”
“Captain, I think you might be right. I called the Army Corp of Engineers after the first girl was found and asked them to give me the approximate area the girls might have surfaced, given the current of the river. I’m waiting now for them to give me their feedback. I might not need it except to confirm your story. It looks like you might have hooked the Stevens’ car. We’ll see if the bodies of the rest of the family surface.”
“I thought I should tell you. Especially after Cappy told me what happened to you.”
“Thank you, Captain. What’s your name?”
“Roger. Roger Marshall.”
“Thank you again.” Robert stayed on just long enough to get Captain Roger’s personal information.
Barbara stepped into the doorway. “What happened?”
Robert looked up to see her looking at him with a concerned expression. “Nothing bad,” he reassured her.
“You didn’t look happy.” She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.
He gave a drawn-out sigh. “That was the captain of the dredging barge across the river from where we want to have divers go in. It seems while setting his anchor, he hooked something. When he tried to lift it to see what it was, it was too heavy. One of the workers hit whatever it was with his bargepole and said it was metal. It fell off, and they went on to set the anchor. Captain Roger said he looked down the river about that time and said a couple of bundles of rags popped to the surface. He thought they were rags. He thinks, and I agree with him, that what he thought were rags were the bodies of Susan and Darla.”
Barbara’s hand went to her mouth to cover a gasp. “Oh, my!” He watched her mind calculate the information, then her eyes widened. “That means the car is closer to the Washington side and now who knows where it landed once it fell off the anchor?”
Robert smiled at her. “You’re right, that makes our job a whole lot harder unless the three remaining bodies surface.” He rested his elbows on the table. “It would also cause a huge hullabaloo.”
“Why?” She leaned forward.
He stared at her for a long minute. “Lips sealed?” She nodded her response. “I think our young Kelly was pregnant by one of the boys in Calvin’s group.”
It didn’t take long for her to figure the ramifications of that discovery, and she gave a low whistle. “Now that would be a story.”
He took Barbara out for lunch. When he returned to his office, he rifled through the envelopes in his inbox. Finding a hand-delivered envelope, he tore it open and scanned the document. The report concurred with Robert’s hypothesis. Given the current and pattern of the river flow, and working backward, the bodies would have started around the area where the drilling rig lifted something with its anchor. He wanted to shout but held his peace. This was something he would keep to himself for a while longer.
Robert tugged at the neck of his “monkey suit.” He stood with Barbara near the entrance of the ballroom of the Benson Hotel.
“Stop fidgeting,” Barbara whispered, then turned to speak to a woman who had stopped by her side. Barbara introduced her to Robert, but her name slipped from his memory in an instant. All he could see was the beautiful woman at his side and a room full of police officers who could be potential security threats.
“Robert.” Barbara turned to him and adjusted his bowtie for the third time. “Relax, this isn’t a hostile situation. There are plenty of security guards here covering the perimeter. It’s going to be fine. Breathe,” she whispered somewhere near his ear causing his blood to pump even harder than it had been. It wasn’t caused by fear.
When he’d arrived at her apartment, she opened the door and he almost choked. Her dress, a rose color, was strapless with embroidery around the bodice. The filmy material, she called tulle, flared to her ankles, and she wore a matching sequin-and-lace sheer jacket. She’d swept her hair away from her face and twisted it into a French roll.
When they walked into the building, he’d kept his hand at her waist so every man would know she was with him. He shook his head and leaned closer to get a whiff of whatever perfume she wore. Where was this sense of pride and ownership coming from? She was a nice girl, fun to talk to, and she was sexy. Why was he feeling this way toward her? It was different than what he’d felt for Becca.
He saw Jake and Lorene come through the lobby. Jake took Lorene’s coat to the coat check booth while Barbara walked forward to meet her friend.
“Barbara, your dress is divine.” Lorene fingered the tulle and they chatted about the woman who helped her at Meier & Frank, where she bought it.