“Did she have dinner with him?”
“I’m not sure. She might have.”
“Did Kim describe him?”
“She didn’t mention what he looked like but she did say he was sweet. She might have called him shy, but I’m not sure. She told me in the VIP room, he just talked to her. Men usually want to touch her or watch her dance, but this one didn’t.”
“What did they talk about?”
“She said he asked her a bunch of questions about herself. He was very interested in getting to know her.”
“Had she seen him there before, you know, like a regular?” Slash asked.
“She didn’t say.” Mrs. Billiawitz offered her a glass of water.
Slash declined. “Did the same thing happen to Terri?”
The mom shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Did either of your daughters journal?”
“Terri used to when she was younger. When we moved their things back here, there might have been a few journals.”
“Could I see them?” Slash asked.
“They’re in the guest room,” the mom said. “Why don’t you come back with me?”
Boxes filled the room. Folded clothes and clothes on hangars covered the bed.
“Are these Terri and Kim’s things?” Slash asked.
“Yes, we couldn’t afford to keep their apartment, so the landlord let us out of the lease without penalty and told us the girls are welcome back. They always paid on time and were such good tenants.”
The mom started sobbing and Slash put a comforting hand on her shoulder, gave her a little hug.
“I’m sorry,” Slash said. “I know this is tough. Anything we learn might help in the investigation.”
Mrs. Billiawitz opened several boxes until she found a few journals. “These are Kim’s. I hate betraying her trust by reading them.”
“I’m only interested in seeing what she wrote right before she went missing,” Slash explained.
Slash flipped through the first one. Wrong year. The second journal was from years ago, so she set that aside. The next two were also from a few years back. When Mrs. Billiawitzfound a journal from this year, she skipped forward to the end and handed it to Slash
“Here’s something,” Slash said as she skimmed the entry. “I met a sweet guy named Greg. We were in the VIP room. First guy who didn’t ask for a hand job. He just wanted to talk. He said he was with the CIA, so he couldn’t talk about his job. After an hour, he gave me a huge tip! $500! YAY!”
Slash scribbled a few notes, before jumping to the next entry. No mention of Greg, so she turned the page. She continued reading out loud.
“Ran into Greg in the parking lot at the grocery store. Small world! He was even more shy than I remember and stumbled through asking me out. Adorbs. He wants to take me to dinner. I’m excited.”
Slash flipped a few pages. “That’s Kim’s last entry.”
She asked if she could take pictures of those pages, but Mrs. Billiawitz wasn’t comfortable with that.
“I understand,” Slash said before she jotted down more notes.
“We’re so grateful you called,” Mrs. Billiawitz said. “I hope you can find my daughters.”
Slash was a realist. In truth, she held out little hope that Terri and Kim were still alive. If they were, they’d been trafficked. Probably another city. Maybe even out of the country. Her heart ached for this family. A happy outcome was unlikely.
