As he stepped through the door he noticed there were no customers and the young woman behind the counter looked up with a surprised expression. She started to say, “I’m sorry, we’re …” Then she looked at Buddy and smiled. This time she said, “If you flip the closed sign on the door behind you, I’ll give you the last of our fresh strawberry smoothies in a giant cup.”
Buddy didn’t hesitate. He turned and eased up to the counter and said, “Only if you have one with me.” He was dazzled by the girl’s smile, which was accompanied by dimples in her pretty face. He said, “My name is Buddy. What’s yours?”
The girl handed him his smoothie, then stepped from behind the counter with a smaller smoothie in her hand. She said, “I’m Lexie.”
Angela Lusk leaned back on the hard park bench and almost wished she could vomit up all the stuff that had upset her stomach. Her head pounded with a hangover that would’ve slowed down the most hardcore alcoholic. She had not bothered to do anything with her hair, deciding instead to tie it back in a ponytail. Last night, on the dance floor-and for a little while on top of the bar-she had her long bleached locks loose and flowing. Now each strand seemed to throb after all the margaritas and shots. Damn tequila night. Rum night seemed to go easier the next day. The early-morning sun didn’t help any part of her body right now.
Angela looked around at the other two quiet mothers watching their kids at the playground located inside Pine Forest Park. They may not have had as much to drink, but they seemed no happier to be out on a bright Saturday morning. It wasn’t even 7:15 yet. Shit.
Taylor had wanted to visit the park and Angela had promised they would if Taylor used the “big-girl potty.” There were no dirty diapers this week, so they were at the park. Angela had thought that once she had to pay for babysitters she’d slow her personal night life down. Instead she crammed more into fewer hours. She threw down too many shots between eleven and midnight when she knew she had to head home. She couldn’t even bring a guy with her because the snotty sitter would blab to her mom and others in the River’s End apartment complex. She didn’t like guys to meet Taylor right away anyhow. She preferred to hook them solidly first. That’s how she intended to approach the cute young lawyer from Arlington who spent a small fortune on Patron Silver for her last night.
Angela looked up to see Taylor and a cute little black girl move from the slide to play in the soft sand of the playground. She didn’t care if the girls dug; she and Taylor would take a dip in the complex’s pool as soon as they got home.
After a few minutes the girls stopped digging and the little black girl scurried back to her mom, squealing. Angela watched as Taylor slid away from the hole the girls had dug. Something tugged on her “mother” string and she stood and started to trot toward her daughter.
The sun slapped her in the face as she approached the mini-excavation. She looked over Taylor’s shoulder. The first thing she made out was cloth; then she saw fingers. It was a hand. It was a body.
They both started to scream.
TWENTY-SIX
John Stallings rolled over and let his eyes adjust to the sun rising above the windowsill. He had no blinds on his bedroom window and knew that when the sun came into view it was just about eight o’clock. He estimated, with the shifts and turns, he’d gotten about three hours’ sleep. This kind of night seemed to last forever, when he was lying in bed worrying about everything from where his father was to if the kids were eating right. He always included Jeanie in those same concerns. Wherever she was, he hoped she was eating right. But now, with his eyes open, his immediate problem was telling his mother that his father was missing.
He dressed quickly in jeans and a short-sleeved, button-down shirt he could leave untucked to conceal his Glock in the waistband of his pants. Just because he wasn’t on duty didn’t mean he might not have to take action sometime today.
His first stop was his father’s rooming house. As he walked up the path in front of the two-story house he was surprised no one was on the porch on such a nice Saturday morning. The wooden planks of the porch creaked under his careful steps to the front door. He didn’t bother to knock, not wanting to wake anyone. Instead, he turned the knob slowly, poked his head into the entryway, and called out, “Hello?”
The woman who ran the house poked her head from the doorway down the hall. She smiled and said, “Come on down here, Johnny. I’m getting breakfast together for everyone.”
He followed her into the kitchen, where she worked a big griddle with ten eggs frying and four pancakes cooking on the hot surface. A small smile crept across his face as he watched the older woman hustle around the kitchen, keeping everything in motion.
He didn’t even have to ask the question. She looked up and said, “I checked the room ten minutes ago and your father hasn’t been home since we talked. Now I’m worried too. This isn’t like James at all. He’s usually so responsible and good about letting us know where he’s going and when he’ll be back. It’s almost like we’re all one big, odd, former alcoholics, not-too-sharp-on-hygiene family.”
Stallings let out a little laugh at that comment and appreciated that this woman stayed sane while doing so much for so many. He quickly lost the smile when he thought about talking to his mother.
Tony Mazzetti had not slept well. It often happened in the middle of a homicide investigation. But this time it had more to do with an awkwardness that had developed between him and Patty. Not only in bed, but last night, that was the focus, it seemed like it had crept into their relationship too. How many super exciting rescues could either of them have to keep things interesting? Last night he had realized Patty felt it too. Maybe it was just the freshness of the relationship wearing off. He didn’t have enough experience to know for sure.
Now he was having a dream he couldn’t quite figure out when the same sound kept occurring in his head. His eyes snapped open. His cell phone was ringing on the nightstand next to Patty’s bed. He reached across and fumbled with the Nextel phone, squinting in the dim light trying to pick up the name of the caller before he flipped it open. Finally he gave up and answered with his usual abrupt greeting, “Mazzetti.”
“Tony, it’s Francine over at the SO. We got a report of a body buried in a park east of the river. Yvonne the Terrible told me to get you moving over there as soon as possible.”
“Have we ID’d the body? Is there someone maintaining the scene? Are there any witnesses?”
The flat nasal voice of the dispatcher said, “All I know is what I’ve told you. Sergeant Zuni wanted me to call her back when I got you and crime scene on the phone. You want me to tell her you’re headed that way, or do you have a different message?” She explained exactly where the body was found.
Mazzetti took a moment to clear his head and said, “I’ll be there as quick as I can. Call crime scene and get their fat asses rolling.” He slammed the phone shut and sat up in bed. Through his entire conversation, Patty had not moved one inch. He placed two fingers on her exposed throat to make sure she had a pulse. Maybe he’d been in homicide too long. Then he gently rubbed her hair trying to wake her. When that failed, he shook her head and still barely got a response.
He climbed out of the queen-sized bed and padded to the bathroom. A few minutes later he came out, dressed in his clothes from the night before. He finally managed to get Patty to grunt in acknowledgment. When he told her what had happened she slowly sat up in bed and in a sleepy voice said, “I’ll come with you.”