CHAPTER 50
Hayley had spent most of the afternoon driving around, visiting every place she could think of where Kitally might be. Unfortunately, she’d had no luck with her search. As she pulled into the driveway, she couldn’t help but hope she would find Kitally inside the house, going about her business as if nothing had happened.
Instead, she found Jessica sitting on the front stoop, checking messages on her phone.
“What are you doing here?” Hayley asked.
“Nice to see you, too.”
Hayley unlocked the door and left it open for Jessica. “Kitally!” Hayley called out more than once.
There was no answer.
“Where is everyone?” Jessica asked.
“Lizzy is sitting in jail, and Kitally is missing.”
Jessica dropped her phone in her purse. “Since when?”
“Lizzy or Kitally?”
“Lizzy. I talked to her the other day and I didn’t think she sounded right, so I decided to pay her a visit, see how she was holding up.”
“She’s a mess.”
“You don’t look so hot yourself.”
“Yeah,” Hayley said. “I get that a lot.” She anchored loose strands of hair behind her ears. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a quick shower and then I’ll explain everything.”
“You live here, too?”
“All three of us—Kitally, Lizzy, and me,” Hayley said as she disappeared around the corner.
“Must make for interesting conversations,” Jessica called after her.
“That’s putting it mildly.”
“You didn’t tell me why Lizzy was in jail.”
“Five minutes. Just give me five minutes.”
Jessica secured the front door and then shouted, “Mind if I make myself some tea?”
“Make yourself at home.”
Jessica didn’t wait for the teakettle to whistle before she poured hot water into the mug she’d found. She walked around the bottom floor of the house as she sipped her tea. So far she hadn’t seen any sign of Lizzy’s things, not until she walked into the office at the end of the hallway. That’s where she found Lizzy’s laptop and a couple of very familiar-looking file cabinets, reminding Jessica of all the hours she’d spent organizing and searching through those same files. It was hard for Jessica to imagine Lizzy living with Kitally and Hayley, but these were strange times.
She headed out of the office, made her way down the hall and into the living area. The house was huge. There were more windows than walls. The views were magnificent. As she stared out into the trees, admiring the way the afternoon sunlight slipped through the branches, she wondered again why Lizzy would be in jail. The notion of Lizzy being put behind bars made no sense at all. If Hayley didn’t make an appearance soon, she was going to call the station and see what she could learn.
Outside, not too far in the distance, between a regiment of large oaks and light brush, she saw movement. At first she thought it was a deer, but it wasn’t.
It was a man.
And he was watching her.
How very peculiar.
Jessica moved her head away from him as she sipped her tea, but she kept him in her peripheral vision.
Her gun felt suddenly heavy upon her hip. A good weight.
From this distance, she couldn’t make out the color his eyes, but his hair was light, almost blond. His skin color was on the pale side. He was massive in build and tall, over six foot four.
She took another sip of her tea, didn’t taste a thing.
Footfalls sounded as Hayley descended the stairs.
Stay focused.
The man’s ears were flat against his head. His neck was half the size of the tree trunk he stood next to. His shirt was plaid. He wore denim, brown boots.
“Looks like you found the tea,” Hayley said. “What are you looking at?”
“A man.”
Hayley peered off into the same general direction she figured Jessica was looking. “Where? I don’t—”
“Not there. Farther to the right. But don’t—”
Hayley turned that way.
The man took off.
Before Hayley could run after him, Jessica put her tea down and stopped her. “It’s too late. You’re not even wearing shoes.”
“Why didn’t you go after him while you had the chance?”
“Because I was too busy memorizing his features. I need a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Quick.”
Surprisingly, Hayley rushed off to find what she needed, and she was fast.
Jessica began jotting down the description of the man she’d seen: blond hair, ears flat to his head, full upper lip.
Hayley took the pencil and paper from her and began to draw on the other side of the paper. “Keep going,” Hayley said. “Describe him.”
Frustrated, but knowing she needed to describe the man before she forgot what she’d seen, Jessica obliged. With each detail she provided—six-four or six-five, broad shoulders, plaid hunting shirt, heavy brow—Hayley scratched something new on the paper.
Fifteen minutes later, when Jessica picked up the piece of paper, she was looking at the man she’d just seen outside. “This is amazing. I never knew you could sketch.”
“You never asked.”
“Who is he?”
“A man has been following Lizzy for months, maybe longer. She has no idea who he is, hasn’t been able to get a close look at him. Maybe this will help to finally identify him.”
“Do we know if he’s dangerous, or does Lizzy think it’s just another kook who wants to scare her?”
“We know that he’s big, strong, and fast. He kicked a truck driver in the face—broke his nose. Definitely dangerous,” Hayley said. “Lizzy believes he took Shelby Geitner.”
“I’ve been keeping up on the Geitner case,” Jessica said. “I know Shelby. Is she the reason Lizzy is in jail?”
“Mind if we talk about this in the kitchen?” Hayley asked. “I’m hungry.”
Jessica followed her into the kitchen, watched her pour a glass of milk and grab a piece of chicken from Tupperware inside the refrigerator. They sat at the kitchen table, and Jessica listened while Hayley caught her up on everything going on, including the reason why Lizzy was in jail.
Jessica sighed. “I’ll go to the station and see what I can do, if anything, to help Lizzy, but first let’s talk about Kitally. How long did you say she’s been missing?”
“About twenty-four hours now. She’s not answering her phone and this is the first time she hasn’t come home. She’s a stickler for checking in.”
“How about friends?”
Hayley shook her head. “I checked the only two places she would go—her parents’ house and Tommy’s place. She wasn’t at either one.”
“What cases was she working on? Do you know?”
“She had three workers’ comp cases, but one particular case was giving her problems.” Hayley went still. “Chalkor.”
“Who’s Chalkor?”
“Just another loser claiming work-related injuries—” Hayley stopped midsentence. “We need to find the file and pay him a visit.”
Jessica followed Hayley down the hall to the office she’d seen earlier, watched her open the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet and finger through the files until she found what she was looking for.
Hayley turned the pages. “Here it is. Chalkor lives on Azevedo Drive in Sacramento. About twenty-five minutes from here.” Hayley looked at Jessica. “Want to come along?”
The last thing in the world Jessica wanted to do was go for a ride with Hayley. Some of her worst memories were doing surveillance and ride-alongs with her. But they were some of her best memories, too, and she found herself nodding.