“Would anybody know where she would have gone, if she had been of a mind to take off?”
“No, see that was the thing. She didn’t really know anybody. She wasn’t from around here, and she didn’t have any family nearby.”
“What about heading back East?”
“I don’t think so.”
Kate wrote down a note to check the airports and the bus stations, looking for any connection with Chelice, just in case. “And you’ve had no contact with her since?”
“No, and that’s the other reason.”
“What do you mean?”
“She wouldn’t have taken off like that. She would at least have called me. She would have let me know.”
“Unless she thought that maybe you would tell the boyfriend.”
“But she knows I wouldn’t,” she said desperately. “I know him. He’s an asshole. But no way I’ll let her get hurt again.”
“Did he beat her up?”
“Yes, but she wouldn’t go to the hospital. She was sore, but, when we both left, she told me that she was heading to work. I was hoping somebody there would convince her to get medical attention. She wasn’t in that great of shape.”
“How bad?” Kate asked, with a snap to her voice. “Are we talking a black eye or a puffy face that would easily be recognizable?”
“No, he didn’t hit her in a way that would readily be seen. Her wrist was quite swollen and red. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there wasn’t a broken bone or two in her ribs, from the way she was moving. He had kicked her. He used cigarettes and burned her, but she was wearing a long-sleeve shirt, so it covered most of it. That asshole needs to be picked up.”
“We’re on our way to talk to him, but I needed to talk to you first. Do you have any of her belongings there?”
“Yes, she left all of it,” she replied. “That’s another thing.”
“When you say everything, what do you mean?”
“Well, when she showed up here, she didn’t have much with her,” she explained. “She had her cell phone and her wallet, but that was all.”
“And do you have those?”
“I have her cell phone, not her wallet.”
“Meaning that she headed out to work and left her phone behind?”
“That’s what I thought happened,” she stated. “I mean, she was certainly not all that clear-headed about anything. She’d hardly had any sleep. I begged her to call in sick and to take the day off from work, but she seemed to think that she’d be better off if she went to work and kept her mind busy.”
“And the boyfriend knows where she works, I suppose?”
“Of course. He used to drop her off too. She didn’t even have a car.”
“Right,” Kate noted. “And are you working?”
“Yes, but from home. When she went missing, I got approval to work from home, just in case she turns up here, you know?” With that, she burst into tears. “Please find her,” she said. “She’s had such a rough time of it.”
“How long was she with this guy?”
“Only about six months.” She paused. “I didn’t like him right off the bat. He has that arrogance so common in abusive power-hungry guys, so you know that women are meant to service him, and that’s all they’re good for.”
“Sounds like a lovely man,” Kate replied in a dry tone.
“Not, and it’s so sad because Chelice is beautiful, inside and out.”