Deadly Deception (31 page)

But for now, he focused on Frankie Henderson.  He watched as one by one the lower lights went out in the house.  Then a light appeared in what was probably a bedroom upstairs.  He turned the ignition key, started the car's motor, and eased down the road.  Tomorrow was another day.  And if he discovered Frankie Henderson had planted that computer surveillance software and knew more than she should, it would be her last day.

Frankie awoke to sound of a cell phone and instinctively patted the bedside table next to her for it.  She picked it up to look at the display.  No call.  She glanced at the clock.  Only six in the morning. 

She pushed herself into a sitting position and answered.  "Hello?"

"Frankie, it's Ted.  Sorry about the hour.  I just heard from my contact at the bank.  It seems Jennifer used her debit card two days ago.  She bought some things at a Target store and she got gas at a 7-Eleven on West 11th Street. Those are the last times she's used her debit card.  She hasn't used her credit card at all.  Do you want me to come down there and get their surveillance tapes from these stores? 

"No, but thanks for the offer.  Lane is tracking down surveillance cameras and tapes today.  I'll add these stores to his list."

She ended the call and set the cell phone back on the table.  She turned to look at Lane who was now yawning and stretching beside her.

"I heard.  I'll visit Target and 7-Eleven this morning too.  I don't think I can go back to sleep.  I'm going downstairs to make coffee."

"I'm coming with you."  She threw on her robe and followed Lane down the stairs.  It was still dark out but she was wide awake.  She'd gotten little sleep, tossing and turning all night as one nightmare about Jennifer after the other spun its web in her mind.

Once in the kitchen, Frankie pulled out the coffee canister and handed it to Lane who was washing the filter in the sink.  She found a carton of blueberry muffins and brought them to the kitchen table. As she fired up her computer, she suddenly remembered they had Jennifer's laptop in their possession.

"Lane, where's Jennifer's laptop?"

He looked at her for a long moment.  "Crap, I think I left it in the back seat of the car."

Frankie ran to the car and opened the back door.  There was Jennifer's small black laptop on the seat.  Pulling it out of the car, she tucked it under her arm and raced back into the house.  She moved her own laptop to the kitchen counter and put Jennifer's in its place on the table.  The first thing that appeared on Jennifer's laptop screen was a photo screensaver featuring Jennifer and Paul.  She still loved him, Frankie thought.  If a man had wronged her, a photo screensaver highlighting the two of them would be one of the first things to go.  Why torture yourself like that?

Frankie accepted a hot mug of coffee from Lane as she surfed to Jennifer's Internet history.  On the Google website, Jennifer had visited a couple of times using "Ally Black" as a search term.  Checking the dates of the visits, she discovered each search occurred on the days immediately following the projected date of Ally's death.  She was living with Ally.  Of course, she'd be suspicious when Ally had her baby then never returned to the apartment.  What worried Frankie was who Jennifer shared these suspicions with.  Sharing them with the wrong person would land her in a lot of trouble.  The kind of trouble that ends lives.

In addition to this search were some Internet searches for information on the stages of pregnancy as well as one using the search term "giving up baby".  Was Jennifer having second thoughts?  There was another search that caught Jennifer's attention.  It was to the Indiana University Health contact information web page.  Why did Jennifer need this information?  Is this where Ally Black gave birth?  Did Jennifer visit there?  She intended to find out.

In Jennifer's email account, there were weekly emails to her mother that discussed her classes, the weather and family stuff.  She frequently told her mother how much she missed her but term papers and course assignment prevented her from coming home. 

Why on earth didn't Jennifer tell her parents about her pregnancy?  Both her father and mother adored her.  Did she think they wouldn't support her?  Was she ashamed she'd gotten pregnant?  What was she thinking?

She looked up as Lane walked into the room.  She'd been so focused she hadn't even noticed he left.  He was dressed in a gray suit and tie with a white shirt.  He had his gun plastered to one hip; on the other was his badge. He looked all business, but handsome and sexy.  Every time he got near her, she felt this buzz of sexual awareness.

"I'm going to the 7-Eleven and Target stores first since they're the most recent and may be the last sighting of Jennifer in a public place.  After that, I'll check the hospitals and mortuaries."  He pulled his travel mug out of the dishwasher and filled it with black coffee.  Frankie rose from her chair and pulled him into a hug.

"Please get information that helps us find her."

"I'll do my best.  Are you going to tell your uncle about where Jennifer was living and its connection to Forever Home Adoption Agency, or do you want me to do it?"

She thought for a moment, and then decided. "It's better he hears it from me, Lane.  I'll talk to him this morning."

"One more thing, stay out of trouble, Frankie.  Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't."

David Chambers, parked under a shade tree, watched Frankie Henderson as she backed her red Mazda Miata out of her garage.  She was on the move.  He followed her, staying back a safe distance so she wouldn't notice him.  He watched as she pulled into the parking lot of the Courtyard by Marriott.  She looked like she was in a hurry, her long ponytail bobbing back and forth as she dashed into the building.  He didn't try to follow her inside.  He backed into a parking space and watched the front of the building.

What was Frankie Henderson doing at a hotel in the middle of the morning?  He wondered if she had a lover.  He wouldn't doubt it.  Women couldn't be trusted.  That's why he kept his on a short leash.  He thought of how the doc had talked about her.  It was sickening to hear him talking like a schoolboy with a crush.  He took a swig of his soda and looked around.  Nothing much going on here except students cutting through the parking lot on their way to classes.  A couple of retirees were at their car filling their trunk with their suitcases.  He settled back in his seat to get comfortable.  This could be a long wait.

Her uncle answered the door of his hotel room after just a couple of knocks.  Tim let Frankie in then gave her a hug.  It had been a rough morning so far.  Reporting Jennifer missing at the police station then filing for a warrant to get her cell phone call and cell tower history made everything become reality.  He would have never predicted this kind of thing would happen to him.  Disappearances happened to other parents. 

"After I filled the missing person report and a request for a warrant for her cell phone information, I visited Jennifer's dorm roommate, Tobi, again."

"Did you get any useful information?"

"Naw.  I don't think she had a clue that Jennifer was pregnant.  She told me that she thought Jennifer was gaining weight because she was stressed about something.  Guess she didn't recognize a baby bump when she saw one.  She showed me Jennifer's closet and it was empty like Paul Vance said.  She didn't have much to say about him either. The visit was a dead end."

Rays of sun streamed across them as they sat at the small round table near the window.  What she was about to tell her uncle was one of the most difficult things she had ever had to say.  But there was no getting around it. He had to know.

"Uncle Tim, we found where Jennifer was living."

"You did!" 

A spark of hope came to her uncle's eyes that made her wish what she had to say was better news.  "Lane had a hunch last night.  You see, Ally Black had a roommate.  It was Jennifer.  We searched the apartment and I found the pink leather jewelry case Grandma got her that Christmas when she bought all her granddaughters the same gift.  We also found her laptop."

"Why would she be rooming with Ally Black?"

"Well, the apartment is in a building owned by the Forever Home Adoption Agency run by Eric Caine."

"She was going to give the baby away?  She was going to give away our grandchild?"

"We don't know that for sure."

"She's involved with Dr. Caine, isn't she?  That and she roomed with one of the murdered girls?"

"Yes."  She nodded. 

"That son-of-a-bitch.  I'll kill him if he's hurt her.  I'll kill him."

"Uncle Tim, you can't talk like that.  You're a county sheriff.  Please."

Frankie's cell phone rang and she jerked it out of her purse.  She walked into the hall to take the call and returned a few minutes later.

"That was my contact.  She doesn't have Jennifer's call history yet, but she has the cell tower history.  Jennifer's cell phone pinged for the last time near Monroe Lake.  Do you know where that is?"

"Hell, yes.  Jennifer, your aunt and I used to rent a cabin and come up here almost every summer to Monroe Lake.  There are cabins all around the water.  Jennifer is very familiar with that area.  That's it!  Maybe Jennifer rented a cabin to get away from it all.  Living with a roommate who never came back from the hospital may have spooked her and she went to the lake."  He pulled his suit jacket out of his closet and put it on.  "I'm going back to the police station and talk to the chief.  We need to start searching those cabins."

Lane took a deep breath and counted to ten.  He needed to calm down before he punched the skinny, pimpled-face 7-Eleven clerk standing in front of him in the nose.  Lane had waited patiently for the clerk to take care of a long line of customers before he asked him for the manager, who, he was told, was taking a vacation day.  Then he showed the clerk his badge and asked to see the store's surveillance tapes for Sunday, the day Jennifer pumped gas.

"Well, that could be a problem," explained the clerk in a tone Lane classified as smartass.  "For one thing, I'm too busy to help you with the tapes."

"I don't need your help.  This is not my first time with surveillance tapes.  I can see you're busy. I won't bother you."

"Well, there's another thing." 

"Yeah, what's that?"

"We re-use the tapes so the one from Sunday is long gone.  We've taped over it."

Lane marched to his SUV, got in, fastened his seat belt and headed to Target.  Once he reached the store, he asked for the manager who approached him a short-time later dressed in a Target's signature red shirt.

"I'm looking for a missing person who was in your store last Sunday.  I need to see your surveillance tapes from that day."

She nodded and led him behind the counter and up a narrow staircase to an office upstairs with one-way glass lining one wall that enabled their security officers to watch shoppers.  The security officer at the desk across from him heard about his request from the manager and asked to see his badge, which Lane obliged.

"Sure, I have Sunday's taping."  He pointed to an empty desk on which sat a computer monitor and hard drive.  "Sit here and I'll set you up so you can see it."