“And is her blond hair natural?”
“Yes, and so are the curls.”
“Interesting,” she muttered. “Okay, and she was working at this office,” and she read off the name on the form.
“Yes, that’s where she was working and where she was supposed to be going that morning.”
“And she just didn’t show up?”
“No, as far as I know, she didn’t show up, and she didn’t call anybody,” she explained. “And calling her phone doesn’t make any damn bit of difference because it’s sitting right here. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.”
“I know,” Kate noted. “We’re doing what we can.”
“The cops already called me about it.”
“Right,” she replied, “but I’ve just become aware of the case because I work in a different area. But it is possible there may be a link to something that’s going on in my world.”
“I hope so,” she said, “unless you’re a homicide detective, and then I hope sure as hell there isn’t a connection.”
“Well, I am,” Kate admitted, “but we don’t have a body.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Oh my God, oh my God. You think she’s dead?”
“No, actually I don’t at the moment,” she answered, with sincerity in her voice. Because, of all the things that she might not believe about Simon and his abilities, if he said this victim was alive, Kate would go with that. “But, if she is being held somewhere, I want to make sure that we find her, before she ends up that way.”
“Jesus, I can’t even imagine. If there’s anything I can do, just tell me.”
“Well, I need her phone for one. We’ll come right now and pick it up, so that we can run down her contacts. Do you know anybody who would hurt her?”
“Yes,” she snapped, “that fucking asshole, her ex.”
“What about anybody else? Was anybody jealous when she hooked up with him? Was anybody out there pissed off that she was with him, or was there another relationship before him?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Chelice was single for a long time. And I never did figure out what the attraction was to this guy. But, when they first got together, Chelice was over the moon and thought he was some Prince Charming type.”
“Yeah, they put on that act very well at the beginning,” Kate noted. “And it wears off pretty quickly.”
“Not fast enough,” she muttered. “She got suckered in really badly.”
“Well, we’ll keep that in mind as we keep working this case,” she replied. “It looks like we should be at your front door in about ten minutes.”
“Fine. I’ll wait outside.”
“If you have any other personal belongings of hers, can you bundle that together and have it ready as well, please?”
“Sure, I’ll take a look, but like I said, she didn’t come with much. I actually gave her one of my shirts because her blouse was ripped and bloody.”
“Good enough.” Kate hung up, and, as they approached the apartment a few minutes later, they saw a woman pacing outside, walking back and forth, looking nervously around. They pulled up to the sidewalk, and Kate hopped out and introduced herself. “I’m Detective Kate Morgan.”
The woman rushed over, grabbed her hand, and said, “Thank God, I’m even freaked just being out here.”
“You got her phone?”
She handed it over. “Here. Now I’m going back inside, just in case that asshole knows what I did.”
“And just what is it that you think you did?”
She stared at her in surprise. “I told you about him.”