Ninth Grave (A Writer's Retreat Mystery Book 9) Read online

  “That seems wrong to me.” I stared at the photo Rick had forwarded to Jack and he had downloaded and printed with his travel printer while I was out. The young woman had long blond hair, bright green eyes, and a sad smile. Jessica was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but her smile seemed forced and her eyes, while a gorgeous color, appeared cold and absent of life. I suspected the woman had lived a difficult life only to end up buried in an unmarked grave, if Jack’s source could be believed.

  “I agree that more could have been done to find the girl,” Rick replied.

  “So Jessica didn’t have family anywhere?” I asked.

  “She had a brother, Steven, who lived in Maryland. He told the police that they weren’t close. In fact, he hadn’t spoken to her since their mother died of an overdose when he was twenty and Jessica was seventeen. After that, Jessica sank into a deep depression that seemed to only get worse as time went by. She took off three weeks before she graduated high school, and Steven got on with his own life. She called him a few times looking for money, but otherwise they didn’t have much of a relationship.”

  The thought of this poor girl being alone in the world left me feeling sad. I supposed this entire investigation, given the nature of the mystery, was bound to be filled with sad moments, but a young woman with so much potential, whose lonely life had ended tragically, seemed more than I could swallow. “I wonder why she didn’t finish high school if she was so close.”

  “I suppose she might not have cared about a diploma or anything else for that matter if she was as depressed as Steven seemed to think she was,” Jack said.

  Rick replied, “The report doesn’t say what else might have been going on in Jessica’s life, but I suspect there might have been an inciting incident that caused her to take off when she did. Her mother had died almost six months before she left town, so I agree with you, Jill, that it seems odd that she chose to leave when she was within three weeks of finishing high school.”

  “Do we know where she went immediately after leaving Maryland?” I asked.

  “Steven didn’t know. We know that she was living in Virginia when she went missing, but she had only been there for a few months. No one the investigator spoke to seemed to be aware of where she had lived before she moved there. Maybe she didn’t live anywhere. Maybe she just drifted from town to town, as many of those interviewed when she disappeared seemed to think she continued to do, which would explain why she hadn’t shown up for work.”

  Chapter 4

  The first thing we did after speaking to Rick was head to the diner where Jessica had worked. We arrived at about four thirty. The lunch crowd had cleared out and the dinner crowd hadn’t arrived yet, so the place was empty. Jack identified himself and asked to meet with the owner of the establishment.

  “Cordon Manchester.” The man held out a hand in greeting.

  Jack returned the handshake of the tall, somewhat heavy man with a round head and a huge smile. “Jack Jones. This is my associate, Jill Hanford. We are in the area researching cold case disappearances and wondered if you would be willing to answer some questions about Jessica Oswald, who was last seen in this diner in June of last year.”

  The man shrugged. “Sure. I don’t know much, but I am happy to help if I can. Can I get you some coffee? There is a booth in the back where we can chat.”

  “Thank you. Coffee would be welcome,” Jack answered.

  The restaurant owner asked the hostess to keep an eye on things, and then he grabbed a pot of coffee and three mugs and led us to the back of the room. He indicated we should have a seat on one side of the booth and then he sat down across from us. “How can I help you?”

  “How long had Jessica been working for you before she turned up missing?” Jack asked.

  He narrowed his gaze. “Not long. A few months, I guess. Four at the most. It’s been a while, but I can look it up if the exact length of time is important.”

  “Thank you, but an approximation is fine,” Jack said. “I understand that Jessica lived alone in a studio apartment not far from here.”

  The man nodded. “That’s right. I guess it was about a quarter mile down the road. Less if you take the bike trail.”

  Jack jotted down a few notes on the small, pocket-sized notepad he’d brought in. “Do you remember when you last saw Jessica?”

  “The last time anyone saw her was on June 11,” the man replied. “I remember the date because Jessica stayed late to close so I could go to my brother’s birthday party, and my brother’s birthday is June 11.”

  “Had any of the other employees stayed late with her?” Jack asked.

  Manchester shook his head. “She was the closer and the only employee to stay once the dinner crowd cleared out, although one of our regular customers, Giles Bedford, told the police that he had stayed until closing, drinking coffee and chatting with Jessica, and when her shift was over, he walked her out. He pulled away from the parking lot just as she was unlocking her car door. He said he didn’t see anyone else in the lot, and there weren’t any other cars in it. As far as I know, he was the last person to see Jessica before she disappeared.”

  “Was Jessica’s car still in the lot the following morning?”

  “No. And it was never found. I think the fact that her car was gone is one of the reasons there are people who think she just took off and simply didn’t let anyone know what her plans were.”

  “Is that what you think happened?” Jack asked.

  “No. Not really, though Jessica was the sort to keep moving. Personally, I think she was running from something or someone. She liked to keep to herself and I saw her looking over her shoulder more often than would seem normal. From the moment she started working here, I knew she wouldn’t be with us long, but she needed a job and I needed a waitress, and she was punctual and a hard worker. I suppose that if something occurred that had caused her to take off, she might have said something to whoever was around that night, but like I said, it was my brother’s birthday and I wasn’t working that evening.”

  “You said that to the best of your knowledge, Mr. Bedford was the last person to see her that night. Do you know where we can find him?” Jack asked.

  “I’m afraid he died two months ago.”

  Well, that was unfortunate. The entire time the restaurant owner had been chatting with Jack, I had found myself hoping that Bedford knew something that he hadn’t told the police that maybe he could be persuaded to tell us.

  “Did Jessica ever mention having problems with anyone? Did she talk about having enemies or being afraid of anyone?” Jack asked.

  The man shook his head. “No. Not that I can remember. Of course, I was her boss and not really someone she would have confided in.”

  Jack frowned. “Can you think of anyone Jessica might have confided in?”

  He leaned back in the booth. “Like I said before, Jessica was the sort to keep to herself. I can’t say that she had any friends. At least not any that I knew of. Although…” Manchester added, almost as an afterthought.

  “‘Although’?” Jack asked.

  “I do remember Giles mentioning that when he came in on the night Jessica disappeared, she was chatting with the woman who owned the apartment building where she lived. He also remembered there being another woman Giles didn’t know at the counter. He told me they were just finishing up and left shortly after he arrived.”

  “Do you know the name of the woman who owned the apartment building?”

  “Fran Pfister. She still owns the place. I don’t know her phone number off hand, but Fran lives in unit one. I can give you directions to the place. It isn’t far.”

  Jack asked a few more questions and then thanked the man. After we returned to the car, where Kizzy was waiting patiently, we decided to head to the apartment building. I didn’t want to leave Kizzy in the car again, so I figured I could wait outside with our girl while Jack spoke to the woman. As it turned out, Fran Pfister was home and was happy to speak to us. She even i
nvited Kizzy in, which was a plus.

  “How can I help you?” she asked after offering us a seat on her flowered sofa.

  “We want to ask you about Jessica Oswald,” Jack said.

  “Okay.” Fran pursed her lips in a manner that suggested that at some point in her life she’d been a smoker, although the house seemed to be free of the scent of cigarettes. “What do you want to know?”

  “I guess just start by telling us what you remember about her,” Jack instructed.

  Fran patted her curler-rolled hair with an aged hand, puffing it up just a bit before answering. “Jessica was a quiet little thing, but oh so very sweet. She answered an ad I had pinned on the bulletin board in the diner about a studio apartment for rent. She said she was looking for a week-to-week rental. I’d hoped for more of a long-term lease, but it was obvious to me that she’d traveled a long road in her nineteen years, so I agreed to the payment schedule she preferred. As it turned out, she stayed nearly four months, which I think was longer than either of us thought she would when she first showed up.” Fran shook her head. “I had a real soft spot for that girl. She seemed so lost.”

  “I understand you were at the diner where she worked on the last night that Jessica showed up for her shift.”

  The woman nodded. “I was. The diner is just down the bike path, so I often walk down for pie and coffee and then head home before it gets dark.”

  “Do you remember who else was in the diner when you arrived?” Jack asked.

  She nodded. “You wouldn’t think I would remember all this time later, but after Jessica disappeared, I knew I’d be asked about it, so I wrote everything down. When I first walked in, there were four people in the diner other than Jessica.”

  “Can you identify or at least describe them?”

  “There was a tall, thin man sitting in one of the booths, working on his laptop. He was an older gentleman, really intent on whatever it was he was writing. I don’t think he looked up once the entire time I was there, but he had this presence that suggested that he was aware of what was going on around him. I’m not sure he was really writing anything. It almost felt like he was using the computer as a prop so that no one would question why he was sitting there.”

  “Had you seen the man before?”

  The woman shook her head. “No. He wasn’t a local. He was sort of odd-looking, so I’m sure I would have remembered if I’d seen him before.”

  “Odd-looking?”

  “He was not only tall and thin but he had sunken eyes and really predominant cheekbones. He wore dark clothing, which accentuated his pale skin. I think he might have been sickly. It entered my mind when I first notice him that he might be homeless and was pretending to write so as not to get tossed out, but his clothing was clean and his hair well-groomed. After I thought about it, I decided my first impression was most likely wrong.”

  Jack made a few notes. “And you didn’t speak to him?”

  Fran shook her head. “No one did. He was working on that computer the entire time I was there. If he wasn’t pretending to be working as an excuse to loiter, as I first suspected, my next best guess was that he was in the diner to use the free internet.”

  Jack looked down at his notepad and scribbled down a few more things. “So, other than the man with the computer, who else was in the diner?”

  Fran paused, as if to gather her thoughts, and then said, “There were two women in another booth. I don’t know their names, but I had seen them around before. I think they might have lived in town. I didn’t speak to them while I was there, and neither did Jessica, other than to ask them if they needed anything and then to leave their bill. I remember they were talking about a movie. It sounded to me as if they might have seen it recently. I didn’t pay that much attention to them, and they left maybe five minutes after I arrived.”

  “Did they leave together? In the same vehicle?”

  Fran tilted her head slightly. “I’m not sure. I suspect they might have. They seemed to be together, but I didn’t follow them out to the parking area, so I can’t be certain.”

  “Okay, who else was there?” Jack asked. “You said there were four people.”

  “There was this young guy sitting at the counter. I guess he was maybe twenty-five or so. He was a good-looking kid. Too good-looking, if you know what I mean. He was obviously interested in Jessica and seemed to be pulling out all the stops to get her attention. I guess I didn’t blame him. Jessica was an exceptionally beautiful woman, and pretty much every male with a pulse who came into the diner gave her a second look. This boy was a confident and cocky sort, who appeared to be looking for some intimate time with her, but it seemed obvious to me that she wasn’t interested.”

  “Was the man at the counter still there when you left?” I asked. A man who was on the prowl only to be shut down made a good murder suspect in my mind.

  “No, he left after a woman came in and sat down two stools down from me.”

  Jack made a few more notes. “Can you describe the woman who came in?”

  Fran shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess she was around fifty. Maybe older. It’s hard to tell these days, with everyone coloring their hair and having work done on their face. I do remember that she had short hair, brown. She was acting strangely. I think she might have been drinking.”

  “Did you notice if she was still around when you left? Maybe sitting in a parked car or standing outside?”

  “The woman left after Giles arrived. I left shortly after. I didn’t see her or anyone else in the parking lot. Not that I looked around real hard. Nothing had happened yet, so I didn’t have a reason to. But I don’t remember seeing anyone outside.”

  “So, at the time you left the diner, it was only Giles and the man on the computer there,” Jack verified.

  Fran nodded. “I spoke to Giles after that night. He said that eventually, the man with the computer left as well and it was only him and Jessica by the time she closed for the day. After she locked up, he walked her out to the parking lot, said goodbye, and left. I don’t remember if she came home that night or not. Again, it wasn’t like I knew anything was going to happen, so I wasn’t looking for her. Folks come and go from this place all the time. I don’t try to keep track.”

  “According to the police report, it was suggested by several of those interviewed that Jessica might simply have taken off. Do you think that was what happened?”

  Fran shook her head. “No. Jessica was a drifter, that much was for sure. I knew she wouldn’t stay forever, but the two of us had become friendly. I think she would have let me know if she planned to leave. Besides, although she didn’t have much, she seemed to value what she did have. I can’t see her just leaving everything behind.”

  “So what do you think happened to her?” Jack asked.

  “I don’t know. Like I said, Jessica was a beautiful girl. She tended to attract a lot of attention, attention she didn’t seem to want. I suppose some guy could have decided he was unwilling to take no for an answer and forced himself on her. I watch the news. That sort of thing happens all the time, and a lot of the time the girl involved ends up dead.”

  “Did you give the police a description of the man who was sitting at the counter talking to Jessica when you walked in?” I asked.

  “I did, but nothing ever came of it. I suppose he might have just been passing through.”

  Chapter 5

  After we completed our conversation with Fran, we picked up a pizza and drove back to the motel room. Jack figured it was time to contact Sam to tell him what we had found out. Hopefully, he would provide us with information about the next step in this crazy journey. After we ate, Jack took Kizzy out for a walk and I called to check in with Vikki and Garrett. I’d promised both that I would stay in contact on a daily basis.

  “Jill, I’m so glad you called,” Garrett greeted me as soon as he answered the phone. “You and Jack have been on my mind all day. Did you find any of the remains you are after?”

 
“Not yet. Today, we focused on interviewing people associated with the first victim. Jack is walking Kizzy now. When he gets back, he is going to email Sam and I guess we’ll find out what comes next. How is everything there?”

  “Things are fine. I’m fine. Clara had a disturbing dream last night, so she has been sort of off today. You know how things like that can affect her.”

  “I do know how. What was the dream about?” I wondered.

  “She is sitting right here, so I’ll let her tell you herself.”

  I waited while Clara came on the line. Clara was a psychic of sorts. An unreliable psychic, I thought, because her visions seemed to be pretty random, but a psychic nonetheless. In the past, when a vision had gotten hold of her, her life managed to become skewed as well.

  “Garrett said you had a disturbing dream,” I said when Clara came on the phone.

  “It was very odd,” she agreed.

  “Tell me about it. It sounds as if you think the dream might be something more than that.”

  “Perhaps,” Clara said softly. “I’m not sure. The dream was fairly short, and I haven’t been able to figure out what if anything it means. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Okay, well, tell me what you remember,” I said encouragingly.

  Clara paused, as if to gather her thoughts. “In the dream I was viewing the scene in the first person, rather than looking on as a spectator, but I was looking out through the eyes of someone else.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “I was having an experience, but it was not my experience.” Clara blew out a breath. “It was like I was in the mind of someone other than myself. I could see and experience what this person was seeing and experiencing, but I know with a certainty that the thoughts and experiences did not belong to me.”