Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Trent slid behind the wheel. “Now we have a second mystery woman to track down.”
“Fun times, huh?”
“Were they working together?”
“How could we know at this point? But I keep circling back to what made the Archers a target. Why them? We haven’t unearthed anything that answers that question yet.”
“We haven’t explored every angle either.” Trent looked over at her. “Since Paul was killed so quickly, as we touched on before, this situation likely has more to do with Valerie or Brooke.”
“We can’t ignore the woman who was stalking Brooke, but without a way of tracking her down, we’re left to dig into Valerie’s life.”
“Agreed. I say we talk to her friends and the people at her work. They have to be wondering where she is by now.”
“We’ll do that, but let’s talk to the friends first.”
Visits to Valerie Archer’s friends didn’t accomplish anything for the investigation. It only served to upset more people. Neither of them had any idea why someone would want to do this to Valerie or her family.
After leaving them in tears, Amanda and Trent headed to Woodbridge Trust & Bridge Co.
Amanda stewed in the passenger seat, frustrated by their lack of progress.
While she and Trent followed every lead and twist, a mother and daughter were suffering.
Or could be… if they’re still alive. She shook the treacherous thought aside, refusing to give in to the fear they were too late to save them.
The bank’s security guard stood inside the doors and was sporting a black eye. He dipped his head at them when they walked into the bank.
“Where could we find the branch manager?” Amanda asked him.
“That would be Emmerson McCormick this week.” The man pointed at the first office on the right.
“Thank you.” Amanda would pursue what was meant by this week with Emmerson.
On their way, Amanda noted that no one was in line for either of the two tellers. Even she couldn’t remember the last time she set foot in the bank. Online banking made it too convenient to take care of everything from home.
When they reached the office, she read the lettering on the glass. It included McCormick’s name with the title of assistant branch manager. Was he acting as the manager this week because Valerie was a no-show? Unfortunately, no one was inside.
“Can I help you?” a man said from behind her and Trent.
She gestured toward the glass. “We’re looking for him.”
“You found him. What would you like?” It was a cool reception. He must have pegged them right off as cops, failing to see they could also be prospective clients.
“We’re Detectives Steele and Stenson,” she told him. “We’d like to speak with you about one of the bank’s employees, Valerie Archer.”
“You mean that Valerie?” Emmerson nudged his head toward a framed photograph on a wall near the customer service desk with Valerie’s name embossed on a gold plate beneath it. “She’s the bank’s manager.”
Not that her position changes the fact we want to talk about her… “Yes, that Valerie.”
“Is something wrong?”
Despite his question, Amanda didn’t sense any genuine worry. If she were to guess, Valerie’s absence didn’t flag. That meant she must have booked some time off. But one step at a time. “We would be happy to answer that, but it would be best if we could talk in your office.”
“I have an appointment in five minutes, but, yes, of course.” Emmerson looked at the woman at the customer service desk and pointed toward Amanda and Trent. She nodded, picking up on the assistant manager’s request to let his client know he might be delayed.
Emmerson gestured for them to enter his office and sit in the visitor chairs. He swept in behind them, shut the door, and sat at his desk.
Once everyone was seated, Amanda got started. “When was the last time you saw Valerie?” She’d love clarity on why this man wasn’t more unsettled.
“Last Friday.” He danced his gaze between them. “Why are the police interested in Valerie?”
He has no clue she is missing… In his defense, the Archers’ abduction and Paul’s murder hadn’t hit the news, but still. “Weren’t you concerned when she never showed up for work this week?”
“Not at all. She wasn’t expected in. She had this week booked off.”
That explained why her absence hadn’t raised any red flags. Though the timing did. Not that she could put her finger on why. “Was this something she had planned for a while?”
“A few months.”
Less likely to carry any meaning then… “Do you know what her plans were?”
“No, absolutely not, and it wasn’t any of my business. I report to her, but I know that she’s going through a stressful time with her son being ill. He needs a bone marrow transplant soon or he will die. As far as I know, she just needed time off to rest and recharge some.”
Amanda could only imagine the toll such a situation would take on a mother.
Her heart ached for the woman. But she also had to think like a cop.
Was something sinister buried in the timing of the vacation?
Had the abduction been staged to cover up a scheme to run away with her daughter and another lover?
Phillip Daily had been cleared, and he was the only one on her phone, but she might have been better at covering her tracks with someone else.
But what would have a loving mother abandoning her sick son and hating her husband that much?
Though she wouldn’t be the first. But her thoughts felt like nothing more than runaway imaginings.
She shook them aside but still asked, “How did Valerie seem on Friday?” If she had orchestrated the “abduction” of her husband and daughter, and his murder, it reasoned she’d be acting out of character, absent-minded, making mistakes.
“All I can tell you is she didn’t have a good last day to see her off on her vacation.”
Trent leaned forward. “Why is that?”
“I probably shouldn’t say.” His brow wrinkled. “What’s going on anyway? Is Valerie okay?”
“Unfortunately, she was abducted this past Saturday afternoon, along with her husband and daughter,” Amanda told him.
Emmerson’s mouth fell open. “What? No, you can’t be serious.”
“I assure you I am, and the people who took them are dangerous. Her husband’s body was found yesterday.
” She paused when all color drained from Emmerson’s face.
“And we believe Valerie’s and her daughter’s lives are in danger, so I’ll ask you again, why did she have a bad day?
” Amanda repeated Trent’s question. The answer might have nothing to do with the case, but she wasn’t taking any chances of overlooking a potential lead.
“There was this customer who started screaming at her. It was so bad that the security guy had to see him out and got a black eye for his troubles.”
Amanda noticed Trent glancing at her through her peripheral. “Why was the client so upset?”
“She’d denied his request for a loan, which was the only choice she had. The numbers just weren’t any good. His projections for future growth weren’t based in reality. He couldn’t support being financially stable enough to make the payments.”
“I assume she explained her position to him?” Trent asked.
“Absolutely, and knowing Valerie, she would have done so in a calm, professional, and respectful manner.”
However Valerie handled the situation, it sounded like this client took the rejection personally.
As Emmerson had said, the man’s business projections weren’t based in reality, but they might not be the only delusions he held.
Did he think he could coerce a loan out of Valerie through extortion and violence?
Desperate times, desperate measures. “We need to know everything about this customer.”
Emmerson shifted in his chair, and he leaned forward. “Why? Do you think he did this?”
“We’d like to talk with him to start. We’ll need his name, business name, addresses, phone numbers, all of it, please.” She slowly laid out the request, but her insides were jumping as she waited for a response.
“Just give me a minute here while I check her schedule.” Emmerson typed on the keyboard, and a few moments later, said, “William Johnson… Ah, correction. There’s a note here that he prefers to go by Bill. He owns a plumbing company called Down the Drain.”
“Are you serious?” Trent raised his eyebrows. “The guy sort of doomed himself with that name.”
Emmerson pressed his lips and nodded.
Amanda didn’t buy into fate or a name having that much impact. It was people’s choices that brought about consequences. And there was happenstance, those things that happened outside anyone’s expectations or control. “If we could get the rest of his information?” she prompted the assistant manager.
The location of the business fired tingles down her back.
It was a short walk from America Bowls, where someone had used the pay phone to repeatedly contact Valerie.
Had William Johnson called her and made threats from there in an effort to cover his tracks?
But seven times… How delusional was this guy?
“If you’d like, I can show you the footage of the altercation,” Emmerson added. “Did you want to see it?”
Amanda stood. “Hold on to it. Detective Stenson and I need to leave.”
“Ah, sure.”
By the time the assistant manager spoke, she was already halfway out the door with Trent. While the video would show them Bill Johnson, taking the time to watch it would delay them getting to Valerie and Brooke. Their strongest course of action was to assume Johnson took them and track him down.
Back in the car, Trent logged in to the onboard system and brought up a background on William Johnson.
“No record.” He pulled up a few other reports and sat back to give her the update.
“So Johnson’s married but separated from his wife.
There’s an order here he’s to pay her two grand a month in alimony. ”
“Which, from the sounds of it, he doesn’t have.”
“Right. Then he gets turned down for a loan, his business is in the tank, he’s desperate…”
“And if his income is threatened, that could rope in the ex too. If he doesn’t have money, he can’t pony up the alimony.”
“So she could be the woman in the hoodie.”
“Bring up her information. Is she the right size?”
Trent brought up the DMV record for Peggy Johnson. “She’s five-foot-four. It could have been her.”
“What else do you have on her?”
Trent tapped on his keyboard, and shook his head. “Well, she’s currently unemployed.”
“Which would mean she relies on the alimony payments to pay her bills.”
“Uh-huh. But she doesn’t have a criminal record.”
“There’s always a first time.”
“I’m not going to disagree, but are we seriously considering that Bill and Peggy Johnson kidnapped a family because a loan was turned down? What do they think they are going to accomplish?”
“Based on his reaction, we can say that Bill has a temper. He also doesn’t sound like he’s mentally stable.
Maybe he thought he could convince Valerie to reverse her decision about the loan and he had roped Peggy into going along with him.
” Amanda’s phone rang, and she looked at the caller’s identity.
“It’s Briggs,” she said before answering on speaker.
“You have me and Trent,” she told Briggs.
“Good because you’ll both want to hear what I have to say. The carrier came through in spades. So the most recent texts with a burner phone were from just over a week ago. Arrangements were made to meet up at Caffeine Café. You know the place?”
Amanda did for a couple of reasons. One, they visited there during a previous investigation. She shared the second with Briggs. “There was a receipt in Valerie’s purse from the coffee shop. It was dated a week ago Saturday.”
“That was the day Valerie and this person agreed to meet.”
“I’m going to guess you haven’t been able to track down their name,” Trent said.
“Nope, as I told you before all the burners aren’t in service.”
“Just thought I’d ask.” Trent glanced over at her.
“But that’s not all by a long shot. The cell carrier sent over voicemails that were still stored on their servers. That caller from the pay phone left a message each time he called.”
He… Could it be William Johnson? “What do you make of them?”
“Let’s just say the guy didn’t sound too happy. Every message became more aggressive.”
“No person in their right mind leaves seven voicemails. Tell me he left his name.” He wouldn’t have been the first person to do something stupid.
“Bill, that’s all he said. No last name.”
“Bill? You’re sure?” There’s a note in the system he likes to go by Bill…
“No doubt. Does the name mean something to you guys?”
Amanda’s breath froze as she turned to look at Trent. “More than you can imagine.” She shared what they’d learned at the bank. “Can you send audio recordings of the voicemails over to me?”
“Not a problem, and what you just told me explains some things. You’ll understand once you listen to the voicemails.”
“I’ll look for them. Thanks again.”
Their call ended, and Amanda checked her email. As promised, a message rolled in from Briggs.
“Here goes,” she said as she hit play on the oldest one.
“It’s Bill. I’m not just going to go away. You’re being completely unreasonable. Call me back.”
The second message.
“You’re a smart woman, so why are you letting other people tell you what to do? Come on, now, do what you know is right.”
The third message.
“You can’t just ignore me forever. I have rights and I know what I deserve. You’re being unfair and using the power you’ve been given to lord it over me. That’s not okay. Call me back. It’s Bill.”
They listened to all seven of them, and just as Briggs had observed they became more threatening. In the last one, left Saturday at noon, Bill said, “I’ll make you see my side.”
“Huh.” Trent leaned back in his seat.
“Huh is right. This Bill has to be the William Johnson from the bank. We already discussed his potential motive.”
“Your earlier theory that this was all about convincing Valerie to change her mind about the loan might stick. It could explain why, when Valerie didn’t concede, they killed Paul.”
She nodded. “As a clear message about what would happen if she didn’t do as they wanted.”
“And we can assume she still hasn’t complied. She hasn’t been in to the bank since Friday. Even if she accessed the system remotely, Emmerson McCormick would have seen if the loan had gone through when he had Johnson’s file up.”
Amanda didn’t want to give too much thought to what that meant. Were Valerie and Brooke even alive? “Do either of the Johnsons or his company have a black Transit cargo van?”
“One second…” Trent looked in the system, and a few beats later he said, “There are three registered to the company. One of them is black.”
“We need to get over to Down the Drain, and get officers over to his house and his wife’s immediately.”
Trent got the car moving while Amanda made the call to get the officers sent out.