Chapter 2
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E lizabeth sat on a chair on her front porch, staring toward her brother’s house. Ever since Masters left, she’d been unable to think of anything else. How had she missed the signs? How had she been so caught up in everything else going on that she hadn’t seen a simple thing such as his home office window was open? How long had it been open, and who had opened it? The never-ending cycle of her thoughts tormented her, taking her down a darker and deeper avenue. Was there any chance that her brother was being held hostage? Had somebody kept him and not contacted her? Or had she been contacted but hadn’t recognized it for what it was?
She racked her brain to find anything that would make sense, and yet nothing did. She would do anything to get her brother back and admitted that, over time, it had been a much harder concept to keep positive about. Yet the minute Masters had mentioned kidnapping, she couldn’t stop wondering if that were possible, if Nicholas was still out there somewhere, still alive. And, if he was, could this be all about her?
The thought that it could be possible was absolutely stunning. She hadn’t considered it for a single moment because she had automatically assumed his disappearance was related to his job and nothing else. The possibility of other options just hadn’t occurred to her because of the work he did. He was all about safety and seemed almost inherently cautious, and his job alone made him feel that way more often than not. He’d once told her that he didn’t think it was good for his psyche in many ways.
His investigations made him very wary of the outside world because even the most unassuming casual person could end up being a criminal who had absolutely no conscience. She remembered various tales he had told her about over the last couple years, though none of the details were clear enough that she could pinpoint what was fully going on—just enough to give her an idea of how crazy people were. Some of his cases had sounded extremely dangerous, implausible even. At one point in time, she thought he’d been making it up, only to realize he had been deadly serious.
Another time she even tried to get him to quit, to change jobs, to find something that was less psychologically damaging, but he’d replied that it was the only work for him. And she had believed him because he clearly lived for it. Yet it had potentially claimed his life. And, if not his life, then his freedom. The thought that he could have been suffering for all these months and was out there and nobody knew where was absolutely devastating.
She finally got up from the chair on her front porch, moving slowly in the chill of the outside air, and walked into her living room.
Just having the two of them in their family, she often wondered if they were both destined to be alone all the time. She’d had a couple relationships, and so had he, but nothing had lasted, nothing had made her want in any way to choose someone on a long-term basis. She’d often commented to Nicholas that maybe they were just too close, and he just shook his head and stated that being close as brother and sister had nothing to do with it. If that made somebody else not like their relationship, then they were threatened by all the wrong things.
She often agreed with him, but now it was hard to be alone, completely alone, with her brother not here—or anybody else who gave a crap about her, for that matter. That was one of the hardest things for her to understand right now. She’d never considered that her life was limited in any way, but, now that she didn’t have her brother here with her, it was hard not to wonder if she had deliberately pushed away other people because she was content in her happy little bubble with Nicholas. She’d always thought that whenever that happy little bubble became something that she was willing to enlarge, then it would signify true love.
But, in the meantime, true love didn’t appear, and she hadn’t been saddened by the circumstances, still content with the bubble around her.
With a sigh, she made herself a simple dinner and sat down at her computer, wondering how she could possibly find out anything. She’d racked her brain for what seemed like forever, wondering what had happened to Nicholas in the first place, and had come up blank. And although the navy had told her that they were working on it, she had to question that.
Would they have done anything if this Mason person hadn’t been attacked? She felt so sorry for him, and she certainly didn’t want his family to go through anything like what she had. While Mason at least had been rescued, she didn’t know whether he had survived or not. She tried to look up news on that but couldn’t find very much. She figured the military probably kept a media blackout on it in order to keep a handle on the stories that the public came across. After all, their investigation continued on that Mason shooting. Maybe they had done that blackout for her brother’s case too. She just didn’t know.
With a glass of lemonade, she went back outside, this time sitting on her backyard porch swing, watching as the sun slowly sank down behind the mountains. She wasn’t even sure she would sleep tonight, not with so much going on in her world. The more she thought about that stupid open window in Nicholas’s house, the more it made her angry, the more it made her feel like she hadn’t paid attention, that she had missed something.
She tossed back the last of her lemonade, got up, grabbed the keys to her brother’s house, and walked back over there again. It was only a few minutes away and made it an easy trip. Yet it also made her angry because, if something had been going on, she should have seen it, and she should have recognized the inherent trouble. What was the point of looking after each other’s houses, if you didn’t even see trouble when it approached? She knew a lot of people were quick to let her off the hook, but she wasn’t so sure she should be because right now it was just bizarre.
As she walked along the sidewalk, Dolly called out to Elizabeth. Dolly was at least seventy-something and had lived here most of her life. When Elizabeth lifted her hand and waved, Dolly motioned for her to come over.
Elizabeth called back, “I’ll stop by on my way back.”
Dolly let her hand drop to her lap and just waited.
She was good at that. She sat on her porch for what seemed like a lifetime, just waiting, waiting for whatever happened next in her world. In her case, considering the fact that she didn’t do anything to change her world, chances were, it was just one more step closer to dying.
That was a terribly maudlin thing for Elizabeth to consider, but, ever since her brother had gone missing, it was just the way she felt. Inside her brother’s house, she slowly walked around again, checking out everything she had seen with Masters, yet nothing else came to light. Nothing looked any different. Nothing looked any better or any worse. She went through his bedroom again, searching for any inkling of something that was different, something that would provide answers.
If he was being held captive, why? And, if he was still alive, where the hell could he possibly be, and would anything in his house let her know? Going through his place with much more intent, she headed to his closet, opened it up, and stared at his clothing. His organized closet was so typical of him, it was pretty tidy, with clothes hung up by color, mostly dark. When not required to be in uniform, he wore a lot of sport coats and jeans, as well as simple T-shirts and jeans. He had been—no, he is , she corrected herself—a simple man with simple tastes, seeking the simple joys in life.
It all made tears come to her eyes, as she thought about him. He was a good person, is a good person, and whatever he’d been working on, whatever had been bothering him, could easily have been work-related. It even could have had something to do with his personal life that he hadn’t told her about. It was quite possible that something or someone was in his life. Because of their multiple failed relationships, and her own comments about their being too close, maybe he now kept things to himself a little longer, not wanting to share until it became something or became nothing.
She’d done the same herself a time or two. Even as she checked out all Nicholas’s clothing, she couldn’t see anything hidden, anything different, anything other than her normal upstanding brother. Frowning, she checked the wood board at the bottom of the closet, holding his shoes and boots. It did protect the carpet there but… Now curious, she removed the shoes and tugged at the board. Beneath it were envelopes, some small and white, some larger and brown. Taking a closer look, absolutely nothing seemed suspicious about the standard Number 10 envelopes. Inside she found letters, with family photos, which she found oddly touching.
With just the two of them left in the family, he had saved pictures of their father and mother in various places and poses —and their baby pictures, which she appreciated, because these were photos that she wasn’t even sure existed.
The second set of 9x12 brown envelopes were more of a mystery, and there were a few of them. And yet they looked,… she hesitated and then filled in what her mind had refused to acknowledge. They looked more ominous. They looked more professional, as in legal papers. Taking a breath, she opened the first one to find a will. Not surprisingly, as she read the will, he’d left everything to her. It’s also what her will set forth. Everything she had was to go to her brother, if she died before him.
She stared at the proof of his love for her, knowing that no way he would even let her see this if he could be here. It tore her apart to think that this is where her life was going, a life without her brother. As she opened another brown envelope, it held more legal documents, this one involving investments. She was stunned at the amount of money he had accumulated.
It was more money than she’d even contemplated him having. Yet, according to the paperwork and her knowledge of financials, they were normal standard investments. And, of course, he hadn’t spent much of his money when she thought about it. He worked all the time, including a lot of overtime, but still, he had amassed a lot of money.
Frowning, she put that envelope down and grabbed another one. This one held more investments. Curious, and more than a little worried, she reached for her phone and the business card that Masters had left behind. When he answered, his tone slightly stiff, as he seemed to be busy, and she was interrupting him. “Look. I… It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters,” he replied. “What’s up?”
Again she opened her mouth to explain but then hesitated.
“Want me to come over?”
“No, no, no, that’s not fair to you. And honestly this isn’t fair to my brother.”
“This isn’t about fairness,” he stated.
She heard sounds in the background.
“I’m already heading to my car. I’ll be there in just a few minutes.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “It’s probably nothing.”
“I’ve heard that a time or two also,” he noted. “Let’s hope it is nothing.”
“Right,” she said, with relief. “That’s, that’s exactly what I am hoping. I’m at my brother’s house.”
“Good. I’ll be there as quick as I can.” Then he disconnected.
She stared down at the other paperwork. She wasn’t at all sure that she should continue to even look further. It felt as if she were defiling something special, something personal of his, and she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to invade, and she didn’t want to intrude. Yet what else was she supposed to do right now? If he was dead and gone, did any of this have something to do with his disappearance and later passing?
She didn’t want to think so, but she also couldn’t understand what had happened to him or why. Plus, if his disappearance was all about his job, was any of this about his job, or was it about his private life? She didn’t know. She picked up the next brown envelope, and it seemed completely empty, but, as she turned it upside down, a small metal item fell out, shaped like a decorative key ring, a memento from a trip to Mexico or wherever. She picked it up and stared at it, her heart sinking because this was a USB drive. And that could turn this whole investigation in a different route.
*
Masters drove up and parked outside Nicholas Woodrow’s home. As he walked up to the front door, it opened in front of him, and Elizabeth, pale, her lips pinched together, waved to a woman across the road, and then motioned him inside. “Who was that?” he asked.
“An old lady who watches the neighborhood,” she replied. “I promised her that I would stop by after I was done over here.”
He looked back out at the old lady who was watching the house with interest. “I know you probably don’t want to bring it up,” he began, “but is there any chance she might have seen anything to do with your brother?”
She appeared startled and shook her head. “Even if she did, she’s not always quite there.”
“But often, not quite there isn’t the same as not being there,” he reminded her. “And I hate to say that we’re desperate for information, but—”
“But you’re desperate for information,” she broke in. She hesitated, then shrugged. “I can talk to her. I don’t have a problem with that. Everybody in the neighborhood knows that my brother is missing,” she stated. “Not to mention I put up posters and all kinds of circulars to try and get anybody with any information to speak up.”
“Would she have seen them?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, frowning at him. “I would have thought so, but she doesn’t get out much, so maybe not.”
“And enough time has gone by, so, if anything scared her, she might be willing to talk now.”
“But that would imply a reason why she wouldn’t talk back then,” she pointed out.
“There are all kinds of reasons why people don’t want to talk,” he stated. “Even if it could be helpful. Sometimes their reasons don’t make sense to us.”
“If she’s been harboring any information that could help solve my brother’s disappearance,” she said, “I would very much like to know what reason that could be.”
“It could just be a fear of getting involved,” he noted. “Now I came for a reason. What was that about?”
“Oh, sorry.” She shook her head. “Follow me.”
He followed her to her brother’s bedroom, and, when they got there, he stopped to see several envelopes on the bed. He walked forward and asked, “Where did you find these?”
She pointed to the bottom of the closet. “Under that piece of wood, where he had all his shoes and boots.”
He checked under the wood and found nothing else. He looked back at her. “What’s in the envelopes?”
“Some things make sense. His will, family mementos, photos, things like that,” she began. “But something that I had absolutely no idea about, and I don’t know if it is in any way connected, was his financial portfolio. I had no idea he had that money.”
“And when you say that money, what does that mean?” When she hesitated, he added, “Look. I don’t care how much money you brother had, unless it’s related to his disappearance.” He frowned. “Unless those financial documents raise red flags in your opinion, based on your experience.”
She nodded. “Millions. He had millions.”
At that, his eyebrows shot up. “Do you have any idea how or why?”
“No. Despite my job as a financial advisor, we never talked about stuff like that,” she cried out. “This is personal. These are his finances. That’s why I feel like I’m doing him a complete disservice by even looking at them or bringing it up.”
“Okay, but you’re only talking about it. You’re not accusing him of anything. So, if he came by these millions through his investments or any other profits, that’s totally legal,” he noted. “That’s not an issue. We just need to know if this is related to his disappearance. So, is there any chance that this money has to do with something illegal or that somebody else wants that money and they don’t quite know how to get it? If so, then he could be held hostage until he willingly signs it over.”
She stared at him blankly.
“I know that it may sound far-fetched, but—”
“No, no,” she argued. “It doesn’t sound all that far-fetched, and it’s a hell of a lot nicer than anything else I’ve been thinking.”
“And yet?”
“The thought of his being held hostage is absolutely disgusting, but the thought of his being alive and being able to recover from whatever asshole things they’ve done to him, that’s a whole different story,” she declared.
Masters looked down at the envelopes, some white, some brown.
She pointed to one stack of the 9x12 brown envelopes. “These are the investments. That stack of white envelopes is full of family mementos. But this brown envelope?” She hesitated and then opened it up so that he could look inside.
His eyebrows shot up. “A USB key.”
“Yes, and that’s when I got worried. The investments are not so much concerning as they were surprising. Yet it could easily have been good assets for him, and he did invest in several of his friends’ companies,” she shared. “I’d forgotten all about that until you said something. Now I’m thinking that could easily explain where he got the money.”
“When you say, his friends’ companies , what else do you remember about them?”
“He had some friends who were big into computer games, and they developed games and programs,” she explained. “I remember him saying that he’d given them some money to get off the ground, so…”
He nodded. “So, venture capital. This could be fully legit, and it could very well mean that it was a good move and a nice thing in his life, so he can retire whenever he wants to.”
“And I think he was getting to the point of thinking that retirement might be good, but yet this , whatever it was that was bothering him, truly bothered him.”
“To the point that he wouldn’t leave until it was settled?”
“I think so, but I think he also thought…” And she hesitated.
“What?” Masters asked.
“I think, and I have no way of knowing this, but I got the feeling that it may have been final .”
At her wording, he stared at her.
“I don’t mean final , like he’ll die or something, but more like it might be the end of his career.”
He sat back and studied her carefully. “And that would be pretty difficult for him to understand?”
“Not really. I think he understood the workings of his department quite well,” she stated, “but I don’t think… I think some things were wrong in that department.”
His heart sank, as he heard echoes of Jasper’s earlier words. “Maybe, but let’s keep an open mind. Are you okay if I take this USB key?”
She winced. “I want a copy of it first.”
He stared down at it and nodded. “I guess that’s fair.”
“It’s my brother’s property, and I don’t know what it is or why he’s got it, but I feel that I have to protect it.”
“Do you have a computer here, anything I can copy it to?” he asked.
“Back at my place,” she murmured.
“Okay, let’s go.” He stopped, then looked around. “Let’s put the family photos back where you found them. And put his shoes back on top of it all. We don’t want to alert anybody that we’ve been digging around in here. However, grab all the investment portfolio stuff.”
“Any reason why?”
“Yeah, to keep it safe. And, if those mementos are important to you, better grab them too.”
Frowning, she did as he asked, and he nodded.
“Depending on who these people are and how much they care about whatever information you may or may not have found, this house could be torched.”
“Oh, shit,” she muttered, as she held the mementos closer to her chest.
“It’s just a precaution,” he said. “Obviously we don’t know for sure what’s going on, but let’s think far enough ahead and take this back to your home for safekeeping.”
“I don’t think your idea of thinking far enough ahead and mine are on the same plane,” she replied in a slightly desperate tone. “That’s not something I want to think about at all.”
“I get that,” he noted. “And yet, if it happens, you will thank me. And, if he comes back, you can just return it all to him. Will he be upset that you came in and looked at his stuff?”
She laughed. “He used to tell me that, if he was dead and gone, he was dead and gone. So, if I could use something, I should use it.”
“Did you look at his will?”
She nodded. “I did, and I am sole inheritor of his estate.”
He thought about that and what it would imply in other ways.
“So, yes, that puts me on the chopping block as suspect number one.”
He nodded slowly. “As you are the only family member left, and this is his estate, it would make sense that you would be a suspect. Have the police charged you with anything?”
“No, of course not,” she declared bitterly.
“But you feel as if you’re being judged in that way?” he asked cautiously.
“Sure I do. I think they decided it was all my fault and never investigated Nicholas’s disappearance at all. In some ways they just don’t believe me. Worse, they may think that I made a false report and that I killed him and know enough to do this in order to hide my tracks. I don’t think the notion that he’s gone missing and might need help has been given any credence because they think I killed my brother.”
He whistled out loud at that. “That would be pretty terrible.”
“That’s just what I think of the people I spoke to,” she stated, glaring at him. “The local cops and the military were both so dismissive. Or maybe it’s just what I prefer to think so I don’t have to question whether they are looking after their own. I thought the military never left anybody behind.”
“Pretty sure that’s the US Marines,” he clarified, with a small smile. “Yet I do know what you mean. We are a unit, and that would be the standard practice.”
She nodded. “Somebody should be looking for him.”
“What was his relationship like,” he asked, as he walked to the front door, “with the rest of his team?”
She shrugged. “He never talked about it, never talked about them, so it’s hard to know.”
“Maybe it’s hard to know, but it’s not impossible. I’m sure you have some idea.”
“I’m not sure that I do,” she clarified, looking at him. “It’s not that I know anything. In fact, it may be more relevant that I don’t.”
He nodded. “But, over the years, even your intuition didn’t pick up on anything?”
She winced. “Sure, yes, but I don’t, I can’t say that’s anything I would put any faith into.”
“I do,” he declared. “I think intuition is very important.” When she frowned at him, he smiled. “I know that makes for a fairly unpopular opinion, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know about unpopular ,” she noted, “but it definitely puts you into the category of different .”
“I’m okay with being different,” he stated calmly.
“Did you always work in this investigative stuff?”
“Always? No, but, once I got into it, I realized I had a knack for it. So I’ve been there ever since,” he explained. “However, I’m not officially on these cases yet.”
“So, why are you here then?” she asked, frowning at him.
“I’m a special investigator, looking into Mason’s case,” he reminded her. “And I’m doing that as a friend,… for Jasper.”
“Jasper, Jasper,” she repeated, frowning. “I don’t know that name.”
“No, but you will,” he replied comfortably. “He’s a friend.”
“And you guys do this stuff for friends?” she asked, astonished.
He chuckled. “You would be surprised how much we do for friends.”
“No, I don’t know that I would be surprised at all. I think that’s what my brother always wanted, but he was… He was a little bit on the socially awkward side. He was a little bit on the OCD side.”
He nodded. “So, you’re saying he didn’t have any friends in the department.”
She winced. “I hope that’s not true. I would hope that people cared and that somebody saw the value that he brought to the job. But honestly I’m not sure they did.”
Masters thought about how little he’d heard about Nicholas’s disappearance case, how little information he’d been given, and realized that her take on it could be true. It would be sad if that were the issue, and Masters would be sure that wasn’t the way it ended. And, for Nicholas, who had spent his life solving all these cases? Masters wanted to confirm that Nicholas got justice too. Or better yet, that he got his ass back home where he belonged.
“I’ll take it under advisement, as they say,” he added. “We’ll follow up. Now let’s get this back to your place, so I can get a copy of the USB, and so you can keep that other stuff safe.” He hesitated as he walked by her side. “And please tell me, have you had any disturbances yourself?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Any break-ins, any robberies, any strange events during the night, anything?”
She frowned and shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t have.… I can’t remember anything.”
“And you likely would remember if such a thing had happened?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.
“Yes, I would think so. I’m not somebody who gets nervous easily,” she shared, “although I have been a lot more nervous since my brother’s disappearance.”
“Which is to be expected,” he confirmed. “And, if you had a problem before, you would have called your brother, I presume.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“You mentioned how you work for a bank. Did you look at those investments of Nicholas’s long enough to decipher anything about them?”
“No,” she confessed, flushing. “It felt like I was intruding in his world.”
“Do you think anything of concern is there?”
She shook her head. “No, but you’re right. I should be the one who takes a good look at it.”
“Then please do,” he suggested, “but I do need a copy of the USB.”
She groaned. “Why wasn’t all this done before?”
“Because I don’t think anybody found those envelopes,” he guessed. “So, the question is, why did nobody find those? Maybe the real question is, where was this stuff when the original investigation was started?”
“I don’t know,” she murmured. “I don’t, but you’re making me more worried every time you open your mouth.”