Chapter 16 Mike
Mike
“What can I do for you, Handsome?” Caleb Smith answered on the first ring.
“Tessman’s here with me. We need you to run down info on a TA here at Grand Valley State University by the name of Frisco Oliveira ASAP.
He may have been seeing our missing girl, Zoe Reopelle.
We need all the info you can dig up on him, starting with his picture.
A bonus would be getting a hold of his schedule, so we know where he’s at right now. ”
Tessman had his phone out and was tapping a message to Wilson with Oliveira’s name and everything they’d learned from Gabby Struck.
“Hold on, let me see what I can pull up,” Smith said.
Burke heard keys clicking in the background. “Did Wilson or Rogers check in with you for anything?”
“No, I haven’t heard from them,” Smith said.
The keys still clicked as he typed. “Okay, I’ve got a Francisco Oliveira who’s a TA in the Political Science Department, and he’s a student in their master’s program.
I’m sending you his pic now. I’ve got an address for him off-campus, same address as on his driver’s license.
I’m running another search for utilities in his name to confirm that address.
” Several seconds later, Smith spoke again.
“Confirmed, I’ve got electric, internet, and gas bills in his name at that address. ”
“Did you get access to his schedule?” Burke asked.
“Negative, on a work schedule. I’ve got his student schedule but can’t find any place where his TA schedule is posted,” Smith said. “I’ll look into his social media and see if he has any posts that show his political ideology.”
They heard more typing on the keys. “You have Zoe’s class schedule. What building and classroom numbers did she have in the Political Science area?” Tessman asked. “We can go take a look around for him.”
“AuSable Hall houses the Political Science Department,” Smith said.
“I’m sending you the link to the department’s page on the website.
They have pics of the professors and their office numbers.
Nothing on TAs, though. And I’m pushing through Zoe’s class schedule with room numbers and the professor’s name for each class. TAs aren’t listed on it either.”
Burke brought up the picture Smith sent and studied the picture of Francisco Oliveira, who presumably went by Frisco.
He was a Hispanic male who was twenty-six years old.
He had black hair that hung to his shoulders and, in the photo, a goatee and mustache on his thin face.
The license said he was six-one and weighed one-ninety.
Burke started the car and shifted into drive.
“We’re headed to AuSable Hall now. I need two more things.
I have a phone number that I need you to check out.
My guess is it’s a burner, but see what you can dig up on it.
And secondly, I need you to review surveillance footage from the campus.
The roommate thinks it was the third week of October, late afternoon as it was getting dark out, that someone picked her up in a car by the dorm. ”
“Roger that. I’ll push through whatever I can find to your phones,” Smith said.
Tessman’s phone rang. “I have you on speaker,” he answered.
“Are you heading to the Political Science building?” Wilson’s voice came through the speaker.
“Affirmative,” Tessman said.
“Smith sent us the info on Oliveira, too. We’ll proceed to his residence and see if he’s there,” Wilson said.
“How did your meeting go with the hair salon owners?” Burke asked.
“We should have sent you for that one, Handsome,” Rogers said with a laugh.
“Those two would have loved you. The salon was open with no clients, just the two owners, two very obviously gay men who adored Zoe. Said she ran the front better than anyone ever had. I didn’t see much going on in the front.
Even the appointment book for the day looked a little light. Maybe Monday is their slow day.”
“Did they have any insight into who her friends were or if she was seeing anyone?” Tessman asked.
“No, they said she kept work and her social life separate. She never talked about anyone, not even her classes beyond saying that everything was always good,” Wilson said.
“So, it was a dead end?” Tessman said.
“I’m still not sure,” Rogers said. “The fact that they aren’t worried about Zoe and still speak highly of her really bothers me.
Either they know where she is, or she told them something they aren’t sharing that explains her disappearing act.
If they really cared about her, they’d care that her parents are worried and that she’s throwing away her education and future security. ”
“Did you get their phones paired?” Burke asked.
“Yes. They claim they have no way to reach Zoe, so we’ll see what kind of activity shows up on their phones,” Wilson said.
“We may want to get a couple more cars so we can sit on the salon owners and your TA. If any of them do have ties to the prepper or militia group, they may just drive to them rather than call or text.”
“I was thinking the same thing. We got the roommate’s phone paired too, though the number she has to what she thinks is Zoe’s new phone could be anyone’s phone.
My guess is it’s a burner, but who’s holding it is anyone’s guess.
The roommate hasn’t actually spoken to her, just exchanged a few texts with her since she moved out with only one suitcase and a backpack.
She never came back for more of her things,” Burke said.
“And the roommate thinks Oliveira is who picked her up when she left?” Wilson asked.
“Yes, but she didn’t see the car Zoe got into. It could have been anyone. I asked Smith to pull some camera surveillance by the dorm the week she disappeared. She got into someone’s car,” Burke said.
“Okay, we’ll let you know if we acquire Oliveira at his residence,” Wilson said. “If he’s there, we’re going to talk to him. You do the same if you find him on campus.”
“Roger that,” Burke replied. “Are you going to question or accuse?”
“That depends on his answers,” Wilson said. “We’ll shake the tree and see what falls out.”
Burke and Tessman chuckled. “Hopefully one of us acquires him. He’s the best lead we have yet.”
When they arrived at AuSable Hall, they parked in the half-empty parking lot.
Burke glanced at the cars in the lot. The file on Oliveira included info on his car, a late-model black Jeep Wrangler hardtop.
It wasn’t in the lot. Neither man had hopes of finding Oliveira in the building, but they would see if two of the professors whose classes Zoe was enrolled in were in their offices.
They entered through the front glass doors into an open space that was filled with sunlight from the large floor to ceiling windows on the wall the door was on.
They checked the building’s directory and went up the stairs to the second floor where Dr. Joseph Rossi’s office was located.
Zoe was registered in two of his classes that semester.
They found Dr. Rossi’s office. Through the small side window that ran beside the door, they could see that the light was off and the room was not occupied by anyone.
“He’s not in until later this afternoon,” a male voice said from behind them.
They turned and came face to face with Francisco Oliveira. “Thank you,” Burke said. “Do you know where we could find his TA?”
Oliveira smiled. “You just did.” He pointed at himself.
“Do you have an office, or is there someplace private we can talk?” Tessman asked.
“That depends. Talk about what?”
“Zoe Reopelle,” Burke said.
Oliveira reached for his belt and unclipped his keys. He unlocked Rossi’s door and motioned the two men inside. He closed the door behind himself after he’d turned the light on. “Who are you and what do you have to do with Zoe?” Oliveira asked.
Burke judged his manner to be guarded. It didn’t appear he was worried about her or even curious to find out what they wanted, just guarded.
“We’re private investigators hired by her parents to get a message to her.
We’ll pay a finder’s fee to anyone who helps facilitate a conversation between her and her parents.
They just want to be sure she’s okay. And if she’s not okay, we can help her, none of her parent’s business if she doesn’t want it to be,” Burke said.
Oliveira looked skeptical. “Sorry, I can’t help you.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Tessman asked.
“I don’t know where she is,” Oliveira said.
“Do you have a way to reach her?”
Oliveira shook his head. “She stopped coming to class in October.”
“You two were seeing each other,” Tessman said as fact.
Oliveira’s lips pulled into a smirk. “Who told you that?”
“Someone who saw you around campus together,” Tessman said.
Burke noted that he hadn’t denied it. “And you were the one who picked her up from her dorm the evening she left school. The question is, where did you take her?”
Oliveira shook his head and held his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “No, man, you’ve got that wrong.”
“You were seeing her outside of class. You were her TA, isn’t that frowned on by the university?” Burke asked.
“It’s not what you think,” he said.
“What do we think?” Tessman asked.
“Why do her parents want to talk to her now?” Oliveira asked, ignoring Tessman’s question.
Burke shrugged. “Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago. Christmas is coming up. It makes sense that they want to talk to their daughter. Unless there’s something we don’t know about that relationship. Making sure Zoe is safe is our primary goal, even if that means keeping her safe from her parents.”
“They spent the last month before she quit school arguing,” Oliveira said.
“But she didn’t actually quit, though, did she, as in withdraw? She just moved out of the dorm and stopped going to class,” Tessman said.
“I think she wanted to leave her options open,” Oliveira said.
“She talked with you about her decision,” Tessman stated. He didn’t ask it as a question.