After dinner and some time spent gazing at the ocean, Joe said, “Okay, it’s time to solve a mystery.” He put the cork back in the bottle, gathered our trash and the chairs and the camp table, and we both started trudging up the hill.
CHAPTER42
CLAIRE WASHBURN ALWAYSenjoyed having Julie over to play with her daughter, Ruby Rose. She hoped Julie and Rosie would one day be as close as she was with Lindsay. Despite the age gap between the six-year-old and the eight-year-old, her goddaughter and daughter got along really well, and hearing the girls giggle in Rosie’s bedroom made her heart soar.
“Listen to those little girls. Not a care in the world,” Claire commented to Edmund, who was sitting next to her on the couch, watching a British period piece with women who were far too thin and men who were far too good-looking. She ate these things up.
When Claire got no response from her husband, however, she turned toward him and found him sound asleep.Frustrating.
Claire stood up to check on the girls and paused at the bedroom door. They were talking about Julie’s dog, Martha, when she also heard Hope’s voice. She realized that her niece was in the bedroom too, which made her a little nervous.
Claire eavesdropped for a while longer. She hated to admit it,but she was making sure Hope didn’t say anything inappropriate to the little girls.
When she was satisfied the conversation was innocent, she decided not to interrupt them. She had a basket of clean clothes to put away and started by putting towels in the guest bathroom. Then she slipped into the guest bedroom so she could put a few blouses and a pair of jeans on Hope’s dresser.
The room was messy, but nothing worse than she’d gone through with her boys. Just a normal teenager stage. No need to say anything. Her niece was only staying another week or so. Claire didn’t want to alienate her further.
She took a moment to stack the clothes neatly on top of the dresser, and noticed Hope’s Fendi leather purse. Was that genuine? She paused for a second, then felt the leather. It didn’t feel like a knockoff. She tried to remember how much a purse like this cost. Had to be around three or four thousand bucks.
Claire glanced over her shoulder at the open bedroom door. She hadn’t intended to snoop, but when she heard all three girls laughing in the other room, she decided to take the chance and look inside the purse. A wad of cash was crammed down the side. Claire couldn’t help herself. She reached in and pulled out the cash. It filled her palm and had some heft. A thin, red rubber band held it together.
She did a quick count and realized it was about eighteen hundred dollars. Mostly in twenties. A sick feeling came over her.
What is Hope doing with this much cash?
Claire felt hypnotized, staring at the money. Then a noise at the door made her jump. She almost dropped the cash. She’d been too absorbed in her discovery to pay attention to her surroundings.
She leaned on the dresser and turned toward the door. Edmund rubbed his eyes like a toddler who’d just woken up.
He mumbled, “What are you doing?”
Claire managed to gather her wits and say, “Laundry.”
He said, “I turned off the TV. I think I’m going to go read in bed.”
Claire managed to slide the money back into the purse without Edmund noticing. Her heart was still racing. She had no idea what she was going to do.
CHAPTER43
BEFORE I EVENsaw the sign to the tech repair place, I knew it had to be in the strip mall a few blocks ahead. The plain single-story building had rust stains and graffiti painted along one wall. It looked like a typical, low-end shopping center. A vape store, a run-down dollar store, and a UPS shipping center filled the nearer end of the strip. The tech repair shop was at the far end. Two empty stores separated the shop from any other business. A couple of homeless guys sat on boxes next to a dumpster in front of one of the empty stores.
We parked our cars by the dollar store. As we walked toward the end of the strip, I reached down and held Joe’s hand. That’s not something cops usually do on the way to an interview. Not even when one of them had been as thoughtful as Joe.
The sign above the repair shop read,WE FIX TECH(EXCEPT FOR APPLE PRODUCTS). As we entered, I could see the main function of the store was selling secondhand components.
A young dude with thick glasses, wispy brown hair, and a terrible case of acne looked up from his phone. He smiled and said, “You guys have got to be from the FBI.”
Joe was ready and pulled out his ID. He introduced himself and me, tactically leaving off that I wasn’t technically with the FBI.
Joe got right to it by getting the guy’s personal information. His name was Chet Ossing and he was originally from Grangeville, Idaho. The twenty-two-year-old had been working at the shop for more than a year.
Chet said, “I saw online that there’s a reward for information about this girl.”
Joe nodded. “That’s being offered by a community group where she’s from. Not the FBI.”
“So you’re not interested in seeing a photo of her?”
That caught my attention. I couldn’t help looking at Chet with much more interest. “Let us see it.”
