But looking at her in the passenger seat, knowing she’d come to Minnesota just because I’d asked her and seeing that she finally had the hope that I’d held onto for so long, I didn’t think it was fair to just overrule her for no good reason. Her logic was sound. Mine was selfish.
I took the exit and slowed the car as we descended the off ramp. “Then let’s call it in.”
She reached over and grabbed my forearm. “Thank you.”
My phone rang in my pocket and I fished it out. Mike’s number was on the screen.
I tapped the screen. “Hey.”
“Joe,” he said. “How are you?”
“I’m actually alright.”
“Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. It took a while to hear back from the Vero PD. I’m afraid I didn’t get much on Detwiler.”
“Mike, we found her,” I said and told him what had transpired since I’d been in Minnesota.
“And Lauren’s here,” I said when I’d finished. “Right beside me in the car.”
“Wow,” he said. “Okay.”
But there was something off in his voice.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Well, I’m not sure,” he said. “But remember when we talked the other day? I said Bazer was asking about you.”
“Yeah.”
“Something else happened.”
The hospital was on our right, just off the freeway and I turned into the parking lot. “Okay.”
“I might just be paranoid, I don’t know.”
I pulled into a parking spot and cut the engine. Lauren gave me a look, wondering what was going on. I held up a finger. “Okay.”
“This morning, I had Elizabeth’s file on my desk,” Mike said. “I was just reading through it. I’ve been going back through it ever since I gave you the picture. Just looking for anything I might’ve missed.”
That sounded like him. If anyone had come close to my obsession with my daughter’s abduction, it was Mike. He’d put in nearly as many hours as I had looking for her. He was always reexamining and rethinking and looking for new angles. Even after I’d left the department, he’d stayed in my corner.
“And I was trying to find the damn case name I found the picture in to begin with,” he said quickly. “Because I can’t find it.”
“It’s fine,” I said, not sure that I needed that info anymore. Maybe down the road, but not right at that moment.
“But Bazer walked into my office,” he continued. “The file was open. I’d made a photocopy of the photo before I gave it to you. The copy was on top of the file. He started to say something to me, then stopped when he saw the picture. And then he sort of…freaked out.”
“What do you mean?”
“He wanted to know about the picture,” he said. “Where I found it. Where it came from. If you had seen it. Who else had seen it.”
“So he was surprised?” I asked. “I’m not following.”
“Yeah, he was surprised,” Mike said. “But it was weird. It’s like it wasn’t in a good way. It was like he didn’t want anyone else to see it. Like he was worried about it.”
I thought for a moment. “He’s probably worried that dredging anything up will dredge everything up. It’ll bring back all of the questions about the department, about me, all of the things that drove him nuts. Same reason he was asking about me the other day.”
“Maybe,” Mike said. “But he took the file.”
“He took it?”
“To review, he said. He told me he’d get it back to me tomorrow. He wanted to read through it again. Since there was a new piece to it. At least, that’s what he said.”
I leaned back in the seat. “Again. I think he’s probably worried about any info leaking and the whole thing will come back and he’ll have to answer all of the questions about me all over again.”
“I guess. Then I had a couple of other people come ask me about it,” he said. “So I guess he was making it known that there was some progress. Which isn’t like him, you know?”
“Imagine how it’s going to feel when you tell him we found her,” I said. “And how I’m going to ream him publicly for the first time.”
Mike chuckled. “That should go over well.”
“I don’t care how it goes over,” I said. “But all these years of keeping my mouth shut will be over. I will torch him.”
“Careful. Your bitterness is showing.”
“I’m all talk anyway,” I said. “Hey, can you run a name for me?”
“Always.”
“Marianna Gelson,” I said. “That’s the name of the woman this family supposedly made contact with. I’m assuming it’s fake, but you never know.”
“I’ll run it,” he said. “How can I help? You want me to start making calls? Or you want me up there? Get people moving towards their location?”
I paused. “No. I’ll do it. I’ve gotta go talk to someone first and then we’ll get on it.”
“You sure?” he asked. “Because I can do some of the legwork and get the ball rolling. It’s not a problem.”
“No, not yet,” I said. “But thanks.”
“Who do you need to talk to?”
“Just a guy helping me here,” I said. “And I need to get going.”
“Okay,” he said. “Let me know.” He paused. “Wow. I never thought…” His words trailed off.
“I know,” I said. “I know. I’ll call you soon.”
We hung up.
“What’s wrong?” Lauren asked, immediately on guard.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just more with Bazer.”
She frowned. “What about him?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Just him being himself. Worried about himself.” I pointed at the hospital. “Let me go talk to this guy and then we’ll start making phone calls, okay? This won’t take long.”
“Alright.”
We found Rodney’s room on the ninth floor and Isabel was with him.
She smiled when we entered. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I said. “Isabel this is Lauren. Lauren this is Isabel. She’s been helping me here.”
They shook hands. I never knew how to introduce Lauren. Identifying her as my ex-wife seemed to carry such a negative connotation and that wasn’t how I viewed her. So I usually just said her name and hope that sufficed. I knew I had spoken about her with Isabel, so she’d know who she was.
“And this is Rodney,” I said, stepping toward the bed. “Rodney, this is Lauren. Elizabeth’s mother.”
He scooted himself up in the bed and smiled at her. “A pleasure.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Lauren said, returning the smile.
“How are you?” I asked him.
“Can’t feel much on my left side, but I’m not at death’s door,” he said, holding the smile. “I’m alright.” He glanced at Lauren. “If you’re here in town, I’m assuming you’ve made some progress?”
“We have,” I said and told him where we were at.
He listened intently, nodding occasionally. “That’s good, Joe. Very good. But you shouldn’t be here with me then. You should be out there, finding her.”
“I know and we’re only here for a bit,” I said. “But Isabel indicated you were asking for me and I didn’t want to leave until we came by.”
Lauren touched my elbow. “I’m going to go find some coffee. I’ll be outside.”
I nodded.
“Do you mind if I come with you?” Isabel asked.
“Of course,” Lauren said.
She held the door open and they both stepped out.
“She must’ve been thrilled to get your call,” he said.
“I think so. I was pretty thrilled to make it.”
“You need to go find your daughter,” he said. “You’re close.”
“Why did you want to see me?” I asked.
He cleared his throat. “As you know, my memory, it’s not as sharp as it used to be.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Things get away from me,” he said. “They come and go.”
I nodded.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “But there was something I wanted to ask you when we met that first time. I got carried away talking with you and then later that night I forgot. I assume I know the answer, but I wanted to ask anyway.”