Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
As she drove out onto the road, Officer Vivian Johnson said, “So what did you think?”
Officer Tyler Holloway said, “I think they’re holding back.”
“And why do you think that would be?” She was the senior officer of the two, by a lot, but she’d found he had a knack for sizing people up, and she was interested in his opinion.
He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m not sure. They tried to brush us off as soon as we arrived. And then the assistant, Courtney, clearly seemed uncomfortable with being questioned. I got the feeling she knew something but was afraid to say too much.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t anything she said in particular. It’s just a feeling I had.”
“I got the same feeling. The brother was very glib, and his wife just echoed everything he said. I definitely think they aren’t telling the whole story.” Besides their evasiveness, Vivian also found their air of superiority annoying as hell, but she’d encountered that before and it wasn’t a crime, so not worth mentioning. She drove along the curving tree-lined roads until she came to the end of the residential area, then turned left onto the main road.
“Funny how we know almost everybody in River Point, but not the Brodericks. I mean, I’ve seen Dana Broderick from a distance, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her family before. Have you?” Tyler turned to look at her.
Vivian shook her head. “Some people are just very private, but you’re right. It’s unusual.” They sat in silence for a moment. “I was able to get the phone numbers for the couple that works for them, Ronald and Martha Canfield. Ian Broderick definitely didn’t want me to talk to them. He said they wouldn’t know anything about Dana’s whereabouts, that they only take care of the house and the grounds.”
“But you’re still going to call them, right?”
“Of course. No stone left unturned.” She clutched the steering wheel. “I wanted to go back to their residence to talk to them in person, but Mr. Broderick was quite adamant that it was unnecessary.”
“So we write it up and call it a day?”
She laughed. “Oh dear, sweet Tyler, no. What did I tell you just yesterday?”
He recited, “When you get a feeling that something is off, that’s when the real police work begins.”
Vivian had told him so many things over the last several weeks that she was impressed when he was able to say her words verbatim. The kid showed promise.
She grinned. “You are correct, young man.” River Point had a low crime rate. If she had to make a list of the most common crimes, petty theft and graffiti would be at the top. Many of their calls involved security systems that had been accidentally triggered. Teenagers who weren’t home by curfew was another common call. Occasionally, they gave out parking tickets in the upscale shopping district. Once she’d actually been dispatched to a residence that had more than twenty overdue library books. In a community flush with money and low on crime, the residents expected concierge police service.
A missing celebrity was a very big deal.
Tyler turned to face her. “What if Dana Broderick really did just take off with a friend for a little getaway?”
“There’s nothing to lose by investigating a little further. We’d be remiss if we didn’t.” Plus, they didn’t have anything more pressing. The library and stores were closed on Sundays.
“But aren’t we limited?” He tapped his fingers on the dashboard. “The family isn’t going to give us permission to check phone records or credit card history.”
“There’s a lot you can do outside of those two areas.” Vivian felt a sudden surge of adrenaline. The idea of solving mysteries was what had gotten her into this job, and she’d been sadly disappointed to find that being a cop in River Point didn’t give her a chance to do much of that. Finally, an opportunity to do some digging and find out what was happening under the surface of this seemingly idyllic community.
Dana Broderick was high profile, both locally and nationally. People were thrilled even to spot her out and about. Solving her disappearance would be a big coup career-wise. Vivian wouldn’t mind that at all.
“Where do we start?” Tyler asked.
“Where it all began. The bookstore.”