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"That’s our sister, Chésará."
"Him and Chésará close?"
"Yes." She sounded offended by the question. "All of us are very close."
"How old is your sister, Mrs. Childers?"
"Chéz is twenty-three." Mrs. Childers leaned forward and went cleavage on me. "Are you trying to find out how old I am — Nick?"
The way her voice dropped when she said my name. Nick. It overcame any objection I still had about taking her case.
Since I was trying to find out how old she was, I asked. "How old are you?"
"I’m twenty-seven."
That sounded good too, but not as good as, Nick.
"When was the last time you saw Jake?"
"About two weeks ago, he came by the house. He told me that Chilly had been looking for him."
"Chilly?"
"My husband."
"Go on. What did your husband want to see him about?"
"He wouldn’t tell me. But Chilly wantin’ to see Jake was unusual. Jake doesn’t have much to do with Chilly."
"Is your brother involved with drugs too?"
"No. Jake is a chemist at Frontier Pharmaceuticals."
"Any reason to think that your brother is dead?"
"No!" Mrs. Childers said.
I wasn’t sure what to read into the way she answered, but there was something about the look in her eyes that screamed that there was something she wasn’t telling me. I knew then that this was something that I didn’t want to get involved in. But still, there was something about her that cried out for my help.
"All right, Mrs. Childers, I’ll look into it. Give me a day or two and I’ll get back to you."
"When you need to contact me, leave me a message on my voice mail and let me know when and where I can meet you. Or call my sister; she’ll give me the message. I really don’t want to come back here." Mrs. Childers reached in her purse again, this time to retrieve her checkbook. Without asking what my rates were, she wrote out a check and handed it to me. "I hope this will cover your fee, or at least get you started. Money isn’t a problem, so if you need more — "
I looked at the check. "No, Mrs. Childers, I think ten thousand dollars is enough to get me started." She stood up and I escorted her to the door. As expected I enjoyed watching her walk. "One more question, Mrs. Childers. Why do you think that your husband is involved?"
"Just a feeling. But that is why I hired you."
I left my office thinking. Not about the case I had just taken on, but about Mrs. Gabrielle Childers. I found her to be a very attractive woman to say the least. Thinking about how any man could do anything to hurt someone as beautiful as her, or any woman for that matter. The way she sat there with confidence and poise. Until she started talking about her husband, then her whole mood changed. Whatever he had done to her had left her with a lasting impression.
Now I had a real missing person’s case. We’d done a few skip traces, but this was different. My first thought was to tell Jett and Monika about it, but it made more sense to find out what, and who, I had gotten them involved with. Suppose Mrs. Childers was right? Suppose her husband was involved?
This could get hectic with a quickness.
Jett and Monika grew up in the burbs. They came from nice middle class families and knew nothing about the dope game. But not me. I knew the game all too well, being a soldier for Vicious Black before joining the army two weeks after André Harmon, who ran most of the illegal activity in the area met his untimely demise.
I drove to Jake’s apartment to have a look around. I put on my gloves, let myself in, and proceeded with my search. The place was immaculate. Everything in place, just as Mrs. Childers said it would be. I ran my finger across the coffee table. Very
little dust. I went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. The date on the milk bottle had expired ten days ago. The bathroom was next. Sink and shower were bone dry. The toilet had that blue water in it, so I flushed it. It came back even bluer. I moved on to the bedroom. There was nothing out of place in the closet. Bed was made. It was a safe bet that no one had been there in at least a week.