5. Five
FIVE
“It’s a mess,” Barry said to Jack after shaking hands with Charlie and me. “You’ve never seen a mess like this.” He handed over crime scene photos.
Jack took the photos first, thumbed through them, then handed them to me.
I had never been given access to the inner workings of a murder case, so I didn’t know what to do as I studied the photos. He was right. It was a bloodbath.
“Oh, gross,” Charlie complained as she looked at the photos from her chair between Jack and me. “That’s a lot of blood.”
Barry gave her a sidelong look. “I’ve been dealing with Chris Biggs for years. I know his uncle, Myron, and aunt, Millie, very well. They all speak highly of you.” There was a question in his tone, and yet he didn’t ask it.
“I’m animated,” Charlie replied anyway, holding out her hands. “I can’t help myself.”
“They all say you’re the real deal.” Barry worked his jaw. “They say you can … figure out things others can’t.”
“That’s probably true,” Charlie hedged. “I don’t do it the ‘official’ way. I do it my way.”
Barry’s eyes moved to me. “I’m familiar with your father.” It didn’t take an expert to read between the lines of that statement.
“Holly,” I said.
Charlie jerked her eyes to me. She knew the story of my missing sister, at least on a superficial level. I hadn’t introduced her to all the research I’d done over the years, all the leads I’d chased. She would think I was crazy if I showed her all of that.
“Your sister’s disappearance was a big deal around here,” Barry confirmed. “I know your parents believe we dropped the ball, but … .” He trailed off, clearly uncomfortable.
It wasn’t my job to make this man feel better about my sister’s disappearance. The truth was, I didn’t blame him. Holly had been here one second and gone the next. She wasn’t a runaway. She wasn’t putting in appearances on the bad side of town. She was just gone.
“I’m not my parents,” I assured him. “Plus, I don’t think they believe that any longer.”
“You don’t think?” The detective arched a speculative eyebrow.
“We don’t really talk about it,” I admitted, struggling with the best way to explain.
Ultimately, I opted for the truth. “My father can’t handle it.
He falls off an emotional cliff when Holly is brought up.
He can reminisce a bit, even acknowledge that he made mistakes with my brother and me in the aftermath.
But he can’t think about potential outcomes.
He just … can’t.” I held out my hands and shrugged.
Barry looked sad as he regarded me. “I’m sorry about that.”
I was no longer a child and didn’t suffer in the wake of neglect I’d been plunged into when Holly had gone missing. Did I blame my parents for forgetting about me? No. I was still safe. They knew where I was, even if they didn’t always care. Holly was a different story.
My father was a vampire. He knew how terrible the world could turn in the blink of an eye. The thought of that happening to his child was too much. He completely shut down for a time. And when he came out of it, he focused on other things. To survive, he had to “forget” about Holly.
He didn’t really forget about her, of course. He built a wall around his heart and mind. He remembered her. He loved her. But he let her go, at least externally. It was the only way he could survive.
Internally was another story, of course.
“As for my mother … .” I pressed my lips together. “My mother eventually decided to focus on herself. She has anger, but it’s not really with you guys. She’s angry with herself, and maybe my father a bit. After all, they were the adults, and they didn’t keep Holly safe either.”
“We tried for a long time,” Barry offered. “To find her body, I mean. We wanted you to have closure.”
“Oh, you were never going to find a body,” I replied, without thinking. “She’s not dead.”
Did I believe that? Yes. Deep down, I believed Holly was still alive. That was in my best moments. In my worst, I knew she was dead. Which me was right? I had no idea, but I believed she was alive more often than I allowed myself to wallow in the other possibility.
It could have been survival instincts keeping me on that path. It could have been something else entirely. Either way, I had faith that Holly was still out there. What she was doing, if she wished she were dead, those things were still up in the air.
“I didn’t know that,” Charlie said, her full focus on me. “I thought … .” She trailed off, her fingers moving to her lips.
“I only believe Holly is alive sixty percent of the time,” I informed her. “The other forty percent I know she’s dead. You don’t have to get worked up over it. I know it’s ridiculous.”
“It is ridiculous,” Barry stressed. “Your sister was a teenager. If she were still alive she would have made contact. Your family is filthy rich now. She would have wanted a piece of that pie.”
He was approaching it as if Holly was a runaway, which had been the prevailing theory when she disappeared. That, unfortunately, disregarded a host of other possibilities.
“What if she’s not free to make her way home?” I asked.
Barry blinked. “You’re talking about human trafficking.”
“It’s a possibility,” I confirmed. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a probability, but let’s not pretend that human trafficking wasn’t a thing twenty years ago.”
“Of course not.” Barry shook his head. “It’s just … we were searching for her within hours of her going missing. It’s always been assumed she crossed paths with the wrong predator, and then her body was dumped in the bayou for the gators.”
Charlie made a distressed sound. “Don’t say things like that to her,” she chided.
Jack’s hand immediately went to Charlie’s back, and he began to rub. “We should focus on the current case, not Ms. Holmes’ sister,” he prodded. His eyes darted to me. “But if you ever want help … .”
Jack was a very good investigator. I’d looked up his record after meeting Charlie and him. He’d solved a lot of cases. They had solved even more together. That didn’t mean he could swoop in and figure out what had happened to Holly when so many others had failed.
“Thank you,” I replied grimly. “That’s not necessary. I appreciate the offer all the same.”
Jack nodded. It might have been a dismissal, plain and simple, but his feelings weren’t hurt. He’d felt awkward making the offer. “Okay.” He flashed a flat smile and then focused on Barry. “We need to know everything we’re dealing with.”
Barry seemed relieved to have something else to focus on. “Okay, but it’s weird.”
“Axeman weird?” I asked.
His eyes gleamed as they moved to me. “Actually, yes. How did you know?”
There was no point lying. “You have a leak in your department. Word has already spread about certain aspects of the case. I have no idea if they’re true, but the rumors are already taking on a life of their own.”
“Of course they are,” he growled.
“I heard the dead couple got a call telling them to play jazz, but they blew it off and now they’re dead,” I said. “That’s the story making the rounds. Of course, it could have changed by now.”
Barry rubbed his forehead and stared down at his desk. “How could this have gotten out so fast?”
“It’s the French Quarter.” I shrugged. “It’s not as big as everyone thinks.”
“It didn’t even happen in the Quarter!” Barry’s voice had taken on a squeaky tone.
“Right.” I laced my fingers and rested them on my lap. There was nothing else to say.
He sighed, then looked at Jack. “Is that what you heard?”
Jack was unique to me. He had a young face, to the point he was probably carded every time he ordered a drink. He had an old soul to balance his looks. Looking into his eyes, I always found wisdom. And patience. He had a lot of patience.
On the surface, I would not consider him a fun guy.
The way he was with Charlie had me rethinking my stance almost immediately.
It was the wisdom he carried that made law enforcement trust him.
Barry didn’t know him. Or, if he did, it was only at a surface level.
He trusted Jack out of the gate, though, and it was fascinating to watch.
“I didn’t know anything about it until Freya told Charlie to turn on the news,” Jack replied. “We have not settled into the community yet. We purchased a house but don’t close on it for another few weeks.”
I sat straighter. “The one I told you about? The one at Royal and St. Philip?”
Charlie beamed and bobbed her head. “We made an offer the day we saw it, even though Jack told me that was the wrong move.” She gave her husband a dirty look. “He said it gave the seller all the power. He wanted to negotiate.”
I smirked at the way Jack’s shoulders drooped. “Something tells me there wasn’t a lot of negotiating.”
Jack gave me a look but didn’t say anything.
“Someone was going to do whatever it took to get his wife her dream house,” I continued.
Jack sighed. “I’m not going to apologize for it. She loves the house. I love her. Don’t give me grief.” He gave me a pointed look.
“Why do you assume I’ll give you grief?” I tried to hide my smile, but it didn’t work.
“Because you’re jaded,” Jack replied, not mincing words. “I recognize that you’re jaded because I was once jaded, too.”
“Oh, yeah?” My smile kept spreading. “What happened to make you stop being jaded?”
Jack glanced at Charlie, then shrugged. “Magic. We’re not here to talk about me no longer being jaded. I was simply explaining to the detective that we hadn’t settled into a house yet and are not up on the news like we would normally be.”
He turned back to face Barry. “We’re living in a hotel. That was my choice. Charlie thought an Airbnb would be cheaper, but she loves room service so I figured we’d live it up for a few months and get the house painted and any little incidentals fixed before moving in.”
That sounded fun. “Room service is the best.”
“You can come over sometime,” Charlie volunteered. “We can order together.”