Chapter 34

THIRTY-FOUR

I ride with Lucas. Ronnie will drop Rebecca off and check on her dad and then come to meet me. She doesn't like Lucas. She doesn't trust him. She has good instincts. I do too. I don't want him finding Vinnie without me.

Lucas is driving a Chevy Suburban, black, shiny with whitewall tires. Definitely not a police unit. It smells strongly of pine scent. "So you're helping Missing Persons out and driving your personal vehicle. Will it get you a promotion?" I ask Lucas, and he thinks that's funny even though it isn't what I intended.

"First of all, it's not my personal vehicle. I borrowed it from our Narcotics Unit. To come to the part of town where we were, it's best not to attract too much attention. A county vehicle would attract the roaches. This looks like a drug dealer's vehicle. Yours might as well have a bull's-eye painted on it."

No one likes a smart-ass. Unless it's me. "Captain Roberts says you're fishing buddies."

"You saw the picture."

"Yes. Quite a catch."

He laughs again. "He photoshopped the picture. Not that the one we caught wasn't a prize too. You said you want to talk. I don't think you're into fishing. Unless that's what you're doing right now. Fishing."

"My grandfather has his own trawler in Maine. I went out with him a few times."

He looks sideways at me trying to judge the truth. Of course I'm lying. I don't know who my grandfather is. I've never been fishing in my life except battered and fried at the Tides restaurant.

"Was your father a fisherman?"

"No. He was a serial killer and a cop. But he's dead so who cares." That makes Lucas take his eyes off the road and he turns his head. "Just kidding. My dad was in the Army. Killed in Desert Storm. I barely remember him." At least it's what my mom told me. She lied.

"So you broke the family mold and became a cop."

Not completely. I've killed, but not for kicks like my bio-father. "How about you?" I ask.

"My dad died in prison. He was a murderer. He's the reason I went into law enforcement. He was everything I never wanted to be."

I relax a little. We do have something in common.

He asks, "Now that we've bared our souls to each other, what did you want to talk about?"

"I think we should be honest with each other. I don't want any credit, but I do want to finish this. I don't think Victoria has run off. Do you?" I ask.

"It's a possibility, but…no, I don't think so."

"So what do you think? Why is she missing?"

He thinks for a few miles. I don't interrupt.

"Mr. Marsh is a hard man." He glances over at me to judge my reaction before he continues. "Mrs. Marsh has been giving money to her less-than-law-abiding brother. I'm guessing Jack doesn't know and if he did, he wouldn't approve. He's proud to the point of arrogance. In any case, I don't think he would want to continue supporting his wife's brother. Apparently his daughters know little to nothing about their uncle or that side of their family. I did some research on Victoria Lombardi Marsh. She comes from a lower middle-class family. Stay-at-home mom, father had a lawn-care business until he became disabled.

"Victoria paid her own way through college. She met and married Jack Marsh. He was an up-and-coming lawyer who went on to have his own firm and continues to make a name for himself. Two children. Rebecca followed him into corporate law and is with his firm. Ronnie is a detective with Jefferson County. Both daughters are talented and have distinguished themselves, which is not surprising given the family they come from.

"On the Lombardi side of the equation however, the Lombardis had Victoria and Vinnie. Vinnie is a criminal and a little off. No other children or grandchildren except for Rebecca and Ronnie. Mrs. Lombardi is in a long-care nursing home paid for by Victoria. Dementia. Mr. Lombardi is on Social Security Disability, living in subsidized housing and drinking himself to death. Shall I go on?"

I don't let on that I'm surprised Victoria's parents are still alive. I had assumed they were deceased. This guy has really done his homework. He knows more about the family than the family knows. How the sisters will react to this news is beyond me, so I'll tuck that away for now.

"Okay, here's what I know so far," I say. "Before we came to see you this afternoon, Rebecca received a phone call. The caller disguised their voice and said she should stop. They indicated they knew we were detectives. They said if she didn't stop us what happens next will be her doing."

"Do you need me to trace the call?" Lucas asks.

"Ronnie is very good at that kind of stuff. She looked into it and said the call was untraceable."

"So all we have is Vinnie Lombardi writing a cryptic note and leaving it outside Victoria's room at the Semiahmoo Resort. We assume he was asking for money she promised to him," Lucas says. "That's pretty thin but Vinnie is what we've got."

I add, "According to Duke, Vinnie owes some big-time money for gambling debts."

Lucas passes a car that was already exceeding the speed limit. "Do you think the people are after Vinnie and have something to do with the disappearance?"

"Maybe Vinnie can tell us. If you know anything else, you'll share it with us. Right?"

Lucas says, "Agreed. Maybe we should meet each day to discuss strategy?"

I don't expect this to last long, but he's at least making an offer to work with us. "Sounds good. You can buy us dinner. I always think better with a full stomach."

He laughs. I'm getting to him. He's getting to me too. I feel a little queasy.

"Let's see how this goes."

"And while we're being open," I say, "what's the story about the Greenwood case?"

Lucas narrows his eyes. "What?"

"The deputy earlier, he said this was like the Greenwood case all over again."

Lucas looks pained, like he had been hoping I hadn't picked up on that. "It's not your concern."

"Okay. You can ask me a question and I'll be honest with you."

"Are you always this annoying, Detective Carpenter?" Lucas is getting pissed.

"Yes. Okay, I was honest with you, so tell me about the Greenwood case. Was it another kidnapping?"

"It's not related to what we're doing."

"Then what is it related to?"

"Christ! Do you ever give up?"

"Is that your second question? You still haven't answered mine."

Lucas rubs his eyelids and inhales through his nostrils, like he's counting to ten. When he opens his eyes, to his disappointment, I'm still here, still waiting.

"Okay. Last year, we found a body in a creek. A woman. It took a while to identify her because of what was done to her. Do you want the graphic details?"

"Not yet. Continue."

"We managed to ID her as an Olivia Greenwood. She was reported missing from an upscale hotel in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Her body turned up here a week after her disappearance. She'd been tortured and sexually abused. The husband was a person of interest. He'd been contacted by the kidnappers but refused to pay the ransom. By the time the police were informed of the ransom call, it was too late to do anything for her."

I start to say something, and he holds a finger up. "I wasn't through."

I sit and listen as he continues. "There was no suspect information, no suspects except for the husband, but there was one interesting tidbit."

He's quiet, wanting me to drag it out of him. I want to choke it out of him but I wait him out.

"The husband had a girlfriend on the side. He and the victim have three children. The girlfriend is built like a model, younger and prettier than the wife. The girlfriend is a co-worker of the wife. The victim. The co-worker/girlfriend was recently divorced and has two children. According to the Ohio investigators, the husband was planning on getting a divorce and leaving his kids with his wife. She upset the plan when she found out about the girlfriend and promised a nasty divorce battle. He didn't care about his kids, but she wanted to keep his dogs and vintage cars. According to the detective I talked to, she probably would have gotten what she wanted and he would pay through the nose."

"Did they arrest him?" I ask.

Lucas pauses before answering. "No. Turns out they couldn't make the case."

"So, no named suspects, and no arrests," I say.

"I just told you no."

"The body was transported from Cincinnati to Whatcom County. Why? What's the connection?"

"None that anyone could find. The victim's body has been sent back to the parents in Cincinnati. They couldn't prove the husband did it. The girlfriend has an alibi. End of story."

"Lucas, you can't tell me it's not eating you up to not know how she was kidnapped and how she was transported here?"

"It's not eating me up. The case is closed. Ohio is done and so are we. Why? You want to reopen that case too?"

He has no idea how badly I want to do just that. Only on my own time. I'll keep it in mind.

"Don't you think it's odd? The Ohio woman is taken from a hotel. Victoria is taken from a posh resort. Are we going to wait until her body turns up in a ditch outside of Cincinnati?"

He turns toward me. His eyes are burning like hot coals. I've hit a nerve.

"Don't you ever accuse me of not doing my job," he says trying to control his anger. "I was a detective when you were still shitting yellow. Don't get on my wrong side."

Sheesh! "I'm sorry. I didn't intend it that way." I really did. But I don't want to walk back to Bellingham.

He watches the road for a couple of miles and we sit in uncomfortable silence. Eventually, he speaks again.

"The Greenwood murder is not connected to this case. You get distracted by shit like this and we could lose our chance to find Victoria Marsh."

"But how do you know it's not connected?" With an effort, I keep the exasperation out of my voice. Mostly.

He looks across at me, long enough that I get worried he's not paying enough attention to the road.

"I don't trust you enough to tell you how I know yet, Detective Carpenter. Maybe I'll tell you another day."

I hold his gaze until he looks back at the road. I know that's all I'm getting from him right now. And I'm not holding my breath for him telling me in the future.