Page 35 of A Future To Remember

“Who’s your sister?” I asked.

“Gwen. Gwen Levandowski. She doesn’t live around here. She and I don’t get together as much as we’d like to. We’re both raising our kids by ourselves, and with work and such…”

I wanted her to get to the point, but I knew I couldn’t rush her or she might get spooked and clam up. “I feel you,” I said.

Patty nodded. “Anyway, Gwen had visited me the weekend your wife went missing, and then when she came back at Christmas, she said that when she’d stopped for gas here in town, she saw the flyers, and she recognized the lady in the photo. I told her to call the sheriff and report it, but I don’t know if she ever did.”

I took out the small notebook and pen I always keep on me and laid it on the table, open to a blank page. “Could you write down your sister’s phone number?”

Patty eyed the notepad like she was afraid it might bite. “The thing is . . .” she said.

“Yeah?” Oscar asked. When Patty hesitated some more, he added, “We just want to talk to her, Patty. That’s it.”

“I know, but sometimes my sister’s kind of hard to pin down. She might not want to get involved.”

“We just want to talk to her, and whatever she tells us stays just between us,” Oscar encouraged, pointing back and forth to me and himself.

“I’d have to talk to her first to see if it’s okay to give out her number.”

I knew in that moment that Gwen was never gonna agree to Patty sharing her number.

Oscar pulled my notebook and pen over to himself and scribbled out his phone number. I knew he had cards on him identifying himself as an FBI agent and gave him a lot of credit for not whipping out one of those at Patty, which would’ve only spooked her and her sister even more.

Ripping out the page, he handed it to her. “My name’s Oscar.” He then pointed to me. “That’s Dutch. Call us anytime, day or night, and we’ll meet wherever your sister wants us to, or we can just talk it out on the phone.”

Patty seemed reluctant to agree that she and/or her sister would call. “Aren’t you guys with the FBI or something?”

I shook my head. “No longer with the Bureau, Patty.”

Technically, I wasn’t, and technically I never suggested that Oscar wasn’t. He kept mum, which was the smart thing to do.

And then he pulled another smart move by taking out his money clip and peeling off several more twenties from the roll of cash he’d walked in here with. “That’s for our meal. You can keep the change.”

Her eyes widened and she took the folded bills, tucking them into the pocket of her apron before picking up the note with his number and tucking that away as well.

“I’ll call her after my shift,” she promised, then waggled her finger between our glasses. “Another round?”

I shook my head. “We’re good, Patty, thank you. And thanks for bringing out lunch for the little guy. Abby would’ve been really grateful for it if she were here.”

Patty nodded, then left us to our meal.

Eggy, Oscar, and I finished lunch mostly in silence, and I knew exactly what Oscar was thinking. When we made it back to the truck, he pulled his laptop from the back and did a search on Gwen Levandowski. “She’s got a record,” he said. “She’s been popped for possession and prostitution a couple of times.”

I sighed. “Dammit.” Now we knew why Gwen was hard to pin down. “Last known address?”

“She’s in Missoula.”

I did a quick calculation. “An hour away.”

Oscar plugged the address into his phone. “Yep. An hour and twenty-two minutes, but who’s counting.”

“Think we can get to her before Patty makes that call?”

“Only one way to find out,” Oscar said, tucking his computer back behind the seat again and starting the engine.

“Gotta hope she opens the door when we get there,” I said softly, more to myself than to Oscar. That’s really all I had left at this point. Hope and determination. If only it’d be enough.

CHAPTER 9