Chapter Twenty-Two

Back in their office, Hunter and Garcia spent the rest of their morning going over the Missing Persons investigation file that Detective Cohen had sent them. They read through every interview transcript, every report, every note. They studied every photograph attached to the file. Cohen's summation of the MP investigation into Terry Wilford's disappearance had been right on the money – there really didn't seem to be anything there that could point anyone in any sort of direction – no clues, no leads, no witnesses, no motive for an abduction… no apparent reason for a disappearance, let alone a suicide.

Hunter and Garcia agreed that from the list of people who Missing Persons had already talked to, they would try to revisit as many as they could – not to re-interview everyone, as from the transcripts it was clear that that would be a waste of time. What they wanted to do was show them all a photo of Shaun Daniels. It was a very long shot but, as they had found out, Shaun liked drinking almost every night, and with Terry being a career bartender, there was a possibility, however small, that they had crossed paths at some point. If they were lucky, maybe another bartender, one of the waitresses, or even a regular customer at one of the places that Terry had worked at might remember seeing him and Shaun together at the bar.

The only person who Hunter and Garcia believed was worth re-interviewing was Sabrina Davis. Not because they thought Missing Persons had done a bad job with her interview, but because she seemed to be the only person to have known Terry Wilford at a more personal level, and they needed to know what she knew.

They also needed to have a look inside Terry Wilford's apartment in East LA, but after five attempts, neither Hunter nor Garcia had managed to get hold of Mr. Aldridge, Terry Wilford's landlord – the only person in possession of a key – since no keys were found on Terry Wilford's body, or inside his car. Despite leaving messages, they decided to delegate the task to their Research team. If Research failed to get in touch with Mr. Aldridge in the next twenty-four hours, they'd use a warrant and enter the property without needing anyone's permission… or key.

‘So who do you want to go see first?' Garcia asked, sitting back on his chair and readjusting his ponytail.

‘It's still too early to drop by The Varnish, or Bar Chloe in Santa Monica,' Hunter said, checking his watch. It was coming up to 2:00 p.m.

‘It's been over four years since Terry Wilford worked at Bar Chloe,' Garcia said. ‘Do you think there'll be someone there who'd still remember him?' He quickly lifted a hand at Hunter before explaining. ‘The reason I ask is because in general, bar staff turnover, especially in hip places like Santa Monica, is a constant – six months to a year, max. Hence Mr. Wilford only being there for less than a year. Those kind of trendy places don't pay well, Robert, and the bulk of their customers are usually tourists, who aren't used to tipping in the same way Americans do.'

Hunter's question was a silent one, asked with a simple eyebrow-lift.

‘What?' Garcia came back. ‘You never worked in a bar when you were younger?'

‘Have you?'

‘Of course. Both of my spring and summer breaks during junior and senior years – plus a few months after I graduated, before joining the academy. Back then, bartending was an easy job. Cocktail making wasn't exactly the art that it is today.'

‘How old were you?'

‘Under the legal age, if that's what you're asking, but I was already around six-foot back then. I didn't really look like a high school student. And since when did being under the legal drinking age stop bars from hiring students, especially during spring and summer breaks? Cheap labor for them. They pay low, but they pay cash and no one is supposed to drink on the job, anyway.' Garcia smiled. ‘But there are ways around that.'

‘I'm pretty sure there are.'

‘Just out of curiosity,' Garcia asked, resting his elbows on his chair's armrests and interlacing his fingers together, ‘what did you do during your spring and summer breaks?'

‘I tutored other kids,' Hunter replied. ‘Helped the ones who were lagging behind with their class work.'

Garcia chuckled. ‘Are you telling me that during your school and college breaks you taught summer school to other kids?'

‘Well, privately, yeah.' Hunter nodded.

‘I should've known.'

‘Easy money.' Hunter shrugged at Garcia. ‘Students' parents pay well when their kids are flunking.'

‘I'm sure they do, Professor Hunter.' Garcia laughed. ‘Anyway, back to my question – do you really think that there might be someone who's been working at Bar Chloe for the past five years? Someone who might remember Terry Wilford from all those years ago?'

‘It's a long shot,' Hunter admitted. ‘But Bar Chloe isn't exactly your regular Santa Monica tourist dive bar.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Bar Chloe is actually part of a hotel. Hotel Carmel, if I remember right. Same building, but it has its own separate entrance. Also, it's not a dive bar. It's more of an "upper class, elegant" cocktail lounge. Very different clientele to the bars down at the pier, and I'd be surprised if they paid their staff that badly. But since it actually belongs to a hotel, there's also a chance that some hotel employees might remember him.'

‘Well, there's no harm in dropping by later on,' Garcia agreed.

‘So for now,' Hunter continued, quickly checking the time again, ‘all we've got left are the two employees from the LA Sanitation and Environment Division – Luis Toledo and Randy Douglas.'

‘We're splitting them up, right?' Garcia asked.

‘Of course.'

Hunter and Garcia both knew that there had to be something wrong with what Randy and Luis had told the police officer who took their witness testimonies at the ‘suicide' scene because, according to Dr. Hove, there was no suicide. So what did they actually see?

From experience, Hunter and Garcia knew that when two witnesses were interviewed together, it wasn't uncommon for one of their testimonies to drastically overpower or influence the other. If one of the witnesses, let's say Luis Toledo, had sounded overly confident about what he had seen, the second witness, Randy Douglas, if just a little unsure about what he had actually seen, could very easily modify his account to better match Luis's version of events. In a court of law, this was referred to as ‘peer testimony adjustment', and it could totally change the outcome of a trial.

‘OK,' Garcia said, reaching for the phone on his desk. ‘Let's give LASAN a call then, shall we?'