CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE #2
“Not a word from you,” she admonished, and I rolled my lips inward to show I would be completely silent.
Hobbs looked back and forth between Olivia and the man I presumed was my lawyer. “Which one of you is the lawyer?”
“I am,” the man said, clearing his throat and straightening his tie.
“So, what can possibly make you think you’re qualified to be running this… interview?” Hobbs asked Olivia, a cocky grin spreading on his face.
Livy answered calmly. “I have degrees in criminal justice and behavioral psychology from the University of Virginia and was accepted into the FBI training program at Quantico. I was fast-tracked by the agency to become behavioral analyst because I speak three languages in addition to my educational background and my black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I’m currently on leave so that I can help with the investigation into my sister’s disappearance. ”
Hobbs and Maynard stared at her.
“Oh.” Hobbs said.
“Right,” she said. “Let’s get down to business.”
Sometime later, after Livy had decimated the detectives so completely they looked as if they might cry, I was released.
As I was walking out of the interrogation room, I heard Olivia behind me still talking to Hobbs and Maynard.
“Just to inform you, I will be continuing to work on this investigation myself. I would like to say that I have faith that the police,” she started talking loudly enough for everyone in the packed precinct to hear her, “will not refuse to investigate a family of viable suspects in an active missing persons case simply because that family is wealthy.”
Everyone in the lobby turned and stared at the two detectives.
“But I’m sorry to say I don’t have that confidence,” she said with a stern look on her face.
A uniformed man hurried over to her. “Ms. Hargrave?” he asked.
“Yes?”
“I’m Chief Lewis. I just got off the phone with your instructor at the FBI Academy, a Mr. Harris…”
“Doctor,” Olivia interrupted.
“What?” the chief asked, looking nervous.
“My lead instructor’s name is Doctor Harris. He holds a medical degree in addition to being an excellent FBI agent.”
“Oh. Well, I’m sure I just misheard…”
“Yes, I’m sure you did. How can I help you Chief Lewis?” Livy looked impatient.
“Let’s move to my office, please,” he said, eyeing the roomful of people, some of whom were recording with their phones.
Olivia nodded, and he ushered us all into his large office. He indicated for Livy to take a seat. He ignored my silent lawyer and me.
“I’ll stand,” she said.
“Ah… right. I just wanted to assure you that we’ll be investigating your sister’s disappearance with the full authority of the Charleston Police Department. If necessary we’ll call in SLED, that’s the…”
“South Carolina Law Enforcement Department. Yes, I’m well aware,” Olivia said, looking bored.
“Right. We’ll call them in should we deem it necessary.”
Livy glared at him. It was hard to believe that this woman was the same girl I’d seen dancing with Lufton with a frog on her shoulder when I was fifteen. “Are you saying the attack on my sister and her disappearance are not already ‘necessary’ crimes for which to bring in SLED?”
The chief’s mouth dropped open. “Well, no. That’s not what I said.
We’re just not sure that there was an actual attack or kidnapping.
Your sister could have left of her own volition.
She is an adult, after all, who’d just had an intense argument with her boyfriend.
” He looked a little proud of himself when he finished.
Olivia’s eyebrows jumped to her hairline.
“The puddle of blood in front of her apartment is not indication enough for you to believe an attack took place? Or that my sister’s neighbor saw her being attacked and then carried away by a man wearing all black?
A man who was not Edward Ashton? What are you missing, Chief Lewis? It’s clear as day to me.”
Chief Lewis stared at her, opening and closing his mouth for several seconds before he said, “Hobbs and Maynard here will be your main points of contact until SLED can be called in, Ms. Hargrave. Please feel free to contact them or myself at all hours. We’re dedicated to finding out what happened to your sister. ”
“Thank you,” Olivia said. Then she turned to Maynard. “You’re the most capable detective between the two of you,” she gestured between him and Hobbs.
“But I’m the lead…” Hobbs protested, but Chief Lewis gave him a not-so-subtle shake of the head, and he clapped his mouth shut.
“I’d like you to continue to try to find Sara MacAllister.
It’s my opinion that one of two things happened.
Either she fled town at the behest of the Hart family, or they’ve hurt her.
Kelisha Kelley, the director of the Moonlight Ballet Company, should also be contacted as soon as possible.
She indicated to my sister that she would talk to the police about the Hart family. ”
She pulled out her phone and opened it, tapping furiously. “May I have your phone numbers, please?” she asked, looking at Maynard, Hobbs, and Chief Lewis.
They all gave her their numbers, and she programmed them into her phone.
“Thank you. I’m sending you the proof of everything Edward and I have told you about.
I’m sending the video of Cara’s next-door neighbor, a photo of the note left on Edward’s car, pictures of Edward and Sara MacAllister that were given to my sister by the Hart family, the video that Edward took of Ms. MacAllister explaining what happened, the phone number of the flight attendant who took the video, and the contact information I have for the director of the Moonlight Ballet Company. ”
They gaped at her as their phones began dinging.
“I have also sent this evidence to the director of SLED, my direct instructor at the FBI, and the Governor of South Carolina, who plays golf with my father when he comes to Georgia.” She smiled briefly at everyone. “I expect daily reports until my sister is found.”
She started to walk out and then turned around.
“Oh, and I sent it all to Victoria Valenzuela, the crime beat reporter for Charleston’s highest rated news program.
I believe she’s planning a story for the five o’clock news this evening.
She was my roommate our freshman year in college. ” She winked at them. “Gentlemen.”
Then she walked out of the room.
My lawyer, who hadn’t said more than five words since I’d first seen him, and I hurried after her.
***
Once we were in the car, driven by the lawyer, all I could do was stare at Olivia.
“My God, Livy. That was… unreal. Are you always like that when you’re at work?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know my big sister, my best friend in the entire world, is hurt and missing. I will move heaven and Earth to find her.”
“Doesn’t my, um, lawyer need to go back to his office?” I asked.
She snorted. “That’s Sam. He’s not a fucking lawyer. He’s my business partner.”
Sam gave me a chin nod in the rearview mirror as he tugged at the tie around his neck. “Livy, you owe me for making me come to Charleston and get all dressed up…”
“Oh, I’m so sorry my sister getting kidnapped inconvenienced you.”
“Shit. Sorry.” He looked at her ruefully. He had a definite twang in his voice, and there was something about him that made me like him immediately.
“Business partner?” I asked.
“We just wrapped the first season of our true crime podcast, Georgia on My Crime,” Livy said, wrestling with her skirt as she changed her clothes in front of us in the car.
We both looked away, Sam’s face turning pink.
“I was hiding it from everyone until I knew whether it was ever going to air or not. I’ll tell you all about it once we get Cara back. ”
I nodded. “That’s so cool that the guy from the FBI called the Chief…”
She laughed, cutting me off. “That was Declan. Anyone at the FBI who even remembers who I am is pissed at me for leaving.”
“Oh. And the governor and the news reporter?”
“No, those parts are true. Dad does golf with the governor, and Vicki and I stayed friends after freshman year.”
“What if he calls the FBI?” I was panicked. Olivia had been amazing, but I didn’t want her performance to end up hurting us.
“Declan told him I was in a classified division and not to expect any further communications from him.”
“Oh.” I was in awe of her. And slightly scared.
“And,” she continued, turning to look at me, “who do you think he cares more about? Some random guy at the FBI or the governor of his actual state?”
“The governor,” I admitted.
“Okay. Enough of that,” she wiped her hands together as if brushing off dirt. “Now, get ready for the real show.”
“Real show?”
She turned around in the seat and looked at me, a determined look in her green eyes. It was all I could do to keep from looking away. They looked just like Cara’s.
“I have a plan.”