Lost (23 page)

“This is some serious bullshit!” Ethan
Jeffries had been a police officer—a detective actually—for over 20 years, and
he’d never run into something like this. “You’re telling me you have nothing?
No fingerprints, footprints, blood, nothing?”

“Umm… no sir.”
The lab tech was all but cowering in the face of Jeffries’s frustration. “I
don’t know what to tell you.”

“Excuse me?
What did you say?” Jeffries was well aware of the fact that he was being a
prick. He cupped his hand to his ear and leaned into the scared young man.
“What was that? You have nothing to tell me? Would it be redundant if I said
’no shit’ again?”

The lab tech,
his coat said Hogarty, cleared his throat and tried again. “Sir, I’ve run the
samples three times, and they must have been contaminated somehow.”

Jeffries took a
deep breath and tried to calm down. “Okay. Contaminated? Why?”

“We have hair
that doesn’t belong to anyone that lives in the house. But the DNA that we were
able to pull from the sample… Well, something isn’t right.”

“Okay, Hogarty.
You can see I’m trying really hard to reign it in here. Give me something.”

“Well, it’s
animal hair,” Hogarty finally spit out.

“Alright. What
was so bad about that?” Jeffries was now confused as to why the tech didn’t
want to part with that information.

“But, there’s
human DNA in it.” Hogarty flinched when he said this.

What a
pussy! Who hired this kid?
Jeffries thought to himself.

“So you think
there’s some cross contamination? Did you clean the...” He couldn’t remember
the name of the machine they used to check hair samples. “The machine. Whatever
it is you use?”

And that is
when Hogarty got his hackles up. He was a shy, young man, but the one area
where his confidence reigned supreme was when it came to his lab. He was
immaculate when it came to his equipment, aware that solving a case might come
down to his work.

“Detective, the
mistake did
not
lie with me. My work and my lab is above reproach. I
will guarantee you that.
If
there was a mistake, it came from the techs
on the scene.”

Damned if
Jeffries didn’t believe the little squirt. He blew out a breath and ran his
hands through his hair. “I’m sorry, okay? Look, I just wish you could’ve seen
this woman, her house. Her husband coached my boy about 5 years ago. Good guy.
He was hit by a car about a year ago—left behind a wife and five kids.”

“That’s whose
house was broken into?” Hogarty was pained for the family he knew nothing
about.

“Their house
wasn’t broken into. It was violated. Whoever did this, they have a problem with
this family. There’s something else here. I know it. But this young woman...
Julie Klevan. That’s her name. We owe it to her to figure this out.”

Hogarty looked
Jeffries in the eye. “I understand that. I want to give you answers, but either
the hair samples were contaminated, or I’m looking at something new here. I can
run my tests again, but I’m going to come up with the same answers.”

Jeffries nodded
and tried to come up with a new angle. “Fingerprints? Anything there?”

“We’ve
eliminated the family. Of course we found prints from everyone living in the
house. I have prints from a Beetrice Ransom and an Anthony Ransom as well.”

Jeffries waved
that away. “No, they’re good friends of the family. Nothing else?”

“Two other
prints—neither of them belong to anyone in the system.”

Jeffries jumped
on the news. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay. Go with
that. See if you can find anything. That’s got to be our guy.” Jeffries was
hopeful. He wanted to give this family something.

“There’s one
more thing, Detective.” Hogarty turned and picked up a file from his desk. “One
of the scene techs found something in the kitchen.”

Jeffries was
aware that he held his breath, and he mentally crossed his fingers.

“It says here
that some of the pictures were slashed, correct?” Hogarty asked.

“Yeah, but not
just the pictures,” Jeffries explained. “The mattress in the master bedroom was
shredded.”

“A nail was
found in the kitchen—”

Jeffries held
up his hand. “A nail? What, like off some sort of weird homemade tool?”

Hogarty looked
confused for a second, and then it dawned on him. “Oh. No, Detective. Not a
nail, nail. A fingernail. A claw. It belongs to a wolf.”

For only the
second time in his life, Jeffries’s blood ran cold.

I slept on the bottom bunk in Jimmy’s
room. Jimmy had willingly sacrificed his bed to his mom.

“Ugh!” I
stretched and tried to work the kinks out of my back. “I miss my memory foam!”

Jimmy laughed
above me. “I bet. Can I get a new mattress?”

“It might be
time. How old is this thing?”

“I don’t know.
It was Carey’s.”

I sat up,
careful not to smack my head on the bottom of the top bunk.

It was Friday—almost a week since we had
gotten home and been confronted with the mess. True to their word, Luke and a
few of the guys that worked for the company had already repaired the kitchen
ceiling. It took them less than a day. They even replaced the smashed toilet.

Amy had also
brought over my new canvas prints, and she even had a new one in the stack. Ant
had snapped a picture of the kids and I on top of the mountain where we left
Brian’s box. Sam and I were in the middle, and the other four kids were hugging
us and mugging for the camera. It looked great on canvas, and Isaiah had
already hung it and the other prints in the kitchen. The ruined canvases were
taken away by the police, and thankfully they were already replaced.

In addition, we
had gone through Brian’s tools, and Isaiah refused to let any of them be given
away.

“You have
thousands of dollars worth of quality stuff here, J. I’ll ask around and see
who wants to buy what.”

I just nodded.
I trusted him. And the next day he presented me with a list of who wanted what
and $3200!

“Are you
kidding me?” I looked at the stack of cash with a few personal checks mingled
in.

“Now, I already
told the guys I know where they live. If those checks don’t clear, you let me
know.”

“No, really.
This is a lot of money!” I was amazed.

“And that is a
lot of stuff,” Isaiah gently reminded me. “Good stuff. Brian worked with the
best, and he kept his equipment clean. The guys will use them, but you
shouldn’t give them away. And you can’t tell me that the money won’t come in
handy.”

I already knew
what I would do with some of the money. The lake house had a huge front yard. I
would see about renting one of those big bouncy houses and invite everyone down
for a big end-of-summer blow out. The rest of the money… who knows?

Those plans
would have to wait until later. My day was already action packed. My new shower
doors were ordered. I had picked out a new mirror, and it was scheduled to
arrive later in the day. Also, Joe had called and told me he had a few flooring
samples to show me, and he felt confident that one was a real contender.

After sifting
through the mess, I only had a few pairs of short and T-shirts left that I
could wear. Oh, and one black cocktail dress, but it wasn’t very comfortable
anyway. So I was going to have to venture to the mall and replace what I’d
lost.

Jessie had
taken it upon herself to make me a list of things that I needed to get. The
list was growing by the second.

Fortunately,
Sam had the day off, so he was going to watch the girls for me. I could get my
shopping done a lot quicker on my own. Carey was working, and Jimmy was, as
usual, going to spend the day with Ant—though I think Anthony was taking them
fishing again.

I struggled to climb out of Jimmy’s
bottom bunk, and I shuffled into the Jack and Jill bathroom he shared with the
girls. I had laid out a towel the previous night, and my shampoo had already
taken up residence along with the kids’ stuff.

I turned the
water on, just a little too hot, and climbed in. The heat soothed my sore
muscles, and I mentally made a list of where I needed to go for the day.
Patrick Henry Mall was the best place to get what I needed—plenty of stores,
one location. Done. I thanked the powers that be that I didn’t need to replace
all my shoes. I hated shoe shopping.

I turned to
rinse the shampoo out of my hair, scrubbed my face—gently—with my face scrub,
and used some Suave Strawberry body wash since I forgot to bring in my own
stuff.

This doesn’t
smell like any strawberries I’ve ever eaten
, I thought, taking a whiff of the girls’ soap.

I rinsed off
and jumped out. I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around me. Then I stuck my
head out the door and looked into the hallway.

No kids were in
sight, so I made a run for my room. I shut the door behind me and took in the
ruined floor and my empty bed—the mattress set would take another day to
arrive. As tired as I was, I felt good. I felt like I was getting done what
needed to be done. Brian would be proud.

I heard a knock on my door, and a little
voice call out. “Mommy?”

“What’s up,
Jessie?”

“Can I come
in?” She asked as she was already opening the door.

“Sure,” I said
dryly, though that was lost on her. “What’s up?”

“Here is the
list of things you need to get today. Are you sure you don’t want me to come?”
She was sure that I would come home with things that were not fashionable and
might actually embarrass her.

“Honey, you
stay here with Maggie and Sam, okay?” I told her as I slipped into my last
clean pair of shorts, and a T-shirt that said “St. Thomas” across my chest.
“I’ll only be gone a few hours.”

Jessie took in
my shirt and made a pinched face. “No T-shirts with writing across your chest,
Mommy. They make your boobies look too big.”

I just laughed
and promised her I wouldn’t buy any shirts with writing across the chest area.

“I think you
should go to Loft for most things. You look pretty in their stuff. Get your
jeans at the Gap, and please go to Victoria’s Secret for new bras and panties,
okay? No sports bras.”

Who was this
little imp? Did she write down everything Amy said.

“Jessie, I
think I can handle some clothes shopping.”

She looked at
me, doubt etched on her face. “Ok… just promise me one thing?”

“Okay. What?” I
was leery.

“Don’t get
everything
at Target.”

Dammit!
She knew me too well. “Okay. I promise.
And for your information, I wasn’t even going to go to Target today. I was
going to Patrick Henry.”

“Umm… Hmm… if
you say so.” Jessie looked around my room, and I saw the sadness that I felt on
her young face. “Mommy, I’m sorry that someone messed up your room.”

“Oh, honey!” I
crossed to our daughter and hugged her to me tightly. “Don’t you apologize for
something you didn’t do.”

She nodded
against me and slipped her thin arms around my waist. “I love you, Mommy. Now
please go get some new clothes.”

I promised her
I would do her proud.

I ran downstairs and almost crashed into
Sam, who was coming in from a run.

“Hey, Mom. Nice
shirt.” He smirked at me.

I smacked him
lightly and told him to stuff it. “Okay. Carey’s got to be at work at 1. He can
take my van. Jimmy’s going fishing with Ant, so it’s just you and the girls.”

He nodded. “Is
it okay if Karie and I take them to Water Country USA?”

“Sure! That’d
be great. Passes are on the bookshelf in the kitchen. Need some money?” I asked
him, praying he would say no because I didn’t think I had any cash on me.

He didn’t
disappoint me. “No, I got it. I figure we can just get something for lunch
before we head to the park, so maybe just do a little snack there, something
like that.”

“Okay, you guys
make sure you watch them. Got it?
Especially
in the wave pool.”

Sam assured me
that they would watch the girls, and I grabbed a granola bar and ran out the
door. I was more comfortable driving the Charger, and I put the top down. It
was a beautiful day and what a way to enjoy it!

I backed out of the garage and down the
driveway. The mall was only about 15 minutes away, and I turned up the radio
and sang along. For just a few minutes, all was forgotten.

The mall opened
at 9, and I pulled into the parking lot at 9:15. I figured I could avoid the
crowds—get in and get out. I parked in no man’s land—again. I put the car’s top
up and made my way into the mall.

Loft, my first
stop. I walked in to the brightly colored displays for shorts and T-shirts. A
chipper young lady welcomed me and told me everything was forty percent off,
except for sale items that is.

Nice!

A part of me
was praying this could be a one stop shop. But, of course, they didn’t sell
bras at Loft. They did sell shorts and T-shirts though! 8 pairs of shorts
later, and let’s not forget the 12 tees I bought—none had writing across my
boobs—I was feeling as if I had accomplished something. I added one lovely
shift dress to the mix and let myself be talked into a maxi dress with a
beautiful blue ikat print. Jessie had sent me a link to a cute striped T-shirt
dress, so I grabbed that as well—all 3 colors. Insurance had been very generous
and assured me that I would have the money for repairs within 6 weeks at most,
so I handed over my credit card and watched as the young lady packed up my
purchases. I figured they must work on commission because she looked really
happy.

My phone rang
just as I was leaving the store. “Hello?”

“Hi, Mommy. Did
you get the link I sent you?” Jessie chirped.

“I sure did!”

“Did you buy the
dress? It’d look very nice on you.”

“I sure did!
Three of them!”

“Cool,” Jessie
squealed. “I can’t wait to see what you bought! Get your jeans at Gap!”

Bossy!

“Bye, Jessie!
Love you!” I said as we hung up.

Gap it was—and
yes I bought my jeans there. Two pairs of skinnies and one pair of trousers
jeans. That should do it. A few T-shirts from American Eagle, some underwear
and bras from Victoria’s Secret, and I was feeling good. It was so warm out,
and most of the stores hadn’t started with the fall lines yet, so that stuff
would have to wait.

I ventured into
Hot Topic and found some cute shirts for the boys. I had gotten some really
cute things for the girls at Old Navy, and I was laden with bags. I decided to
run the stuff out to the car, and then come back in and hit Dick’s Sporting
Goods and Barnes & Noble. Even though most of my workout clothes survived,
I wanted to grab a new pair of running shoes. Running was one thing Brian and I
often did together, and it felt like it was time to get back into it. I would
run by myself occasionally, just enjoying the freedom, but I always enjoyed
working out with Brian. I would fuss at him about waiting for me. I constantly
told him he didn’t have to—to go on ahead. But he never did. And I hadn’t put
on my running shoes since he died.

 I also wanted
to grab books for Jimmy and Carey since their reading lists for school had been
mailed to us. The books always sold out so quickly.