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Summer’s heart pounded. “How old would you say she was?”
The secretary shrugged. “Middle-aged, I suppose. Not old, not young.”
“But she never gave a name?”
“No. She did say the bike was a present. I think she said it was for her son. But that can’t be right, can it? Not if this was Alexia De Vere’s lad.”
Summer’s head was spinning. “Can I borrow a pen?” she asked. “And a piece of paper?” She wrote down her cell-phone number and e-mail address and handed it to the woman. “If you remember anything else, anything at all, would you give me a call?”
“Of course.” The secretary looked at Summer curiously. “You’re going to think I’m mad. But do I know you from somewhere? Your face looks awfully familiar.”
“I don’t think so,” said Summer.
“You’re not on the telly, are you? An actress?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Oh well.” The woman smiled cheerily. “Good luck anyway.” She bustled back inside.
Summer suddenly felt extremely tired.
It was time to go home.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Alexia sat in a Starbucks, reading. Edward Manning’s report was dishearteningly short.
Milo James Bates, born in Bronxville, New York. Married Elizabeth (Betsy), three children. Reported missing by business partner and later by his family. Left considerable debts.
So, Alexia thought, Billy wasn’t the only one who was worried about Milo. His family also reported him missing. I wonder why Chief Dublowski never mentioned that.
Hamlin claimed Mr. Bates had been abducted by person(s) unknown, and that he (Hamlin) had also been abducted and forced to watch a home movie of Bates being tortured. Agents Yeoman and Riley (FBI) investigated, found no substantiating evidence. Bates divorced in absentia by his wife, January 1996, on grounds of abandonment. No further contact with family.
Alexia read between the few, simple lines. A man who by all accounts had been happily married and a devoted father suddenly disappears without a trace. Did Milo Bates panic over his debts? Was that reason enough to walk away from an entire life? Not just his wife and business partner, but his children too? Or had something more sinister happened to him?
The second page of Edward’s report was even briefer.
. . . 4,587 unidentified human remains were discovered in the United States in the year that Milo Bates went missing. Of these, 986 were still unidentified a year later. 192 of these still-unclaimed corpses were from the New York region. 111 were adult males.
Alexia paused to absorb this depressing information. In one year alone, in one city, over a hundred men had died or been killed that nobody cared about. All of them had been someone’s son. Just like Michael. She forced herself to read on.
. . . 17 corpses bore evidence of torture. All but 3 of them were of Caribbean descent.
Gangs. Drug wars. Alexia felt the beginnings of excitement. Ever thorough, Edward had listed the causes of death for the three white males.
Shooting.
Shooting.
And the third, the very last word of Edward Manning’s report, lurking at the bottom of the page as quiet and deadly as a cancerous mole:
Drowning.
Alexia heard Chief Harry Dublowski’s voice in her head. “We’d expect to see more cases with the same MO. More girls washing up with similar injuries. More deaths by drowning.” This body wasn’t a girl’s. But was that lone white male Milo Bates? Had he been tortured, just like Billy said? And tossed into the Hudson alive, drowned, like poor Jennifer? After all, there was no reason Jennifer’s killer should have targeted only women. Jenny hadn’t been sexually abused. Perhaps her sex was irrelevant. Perhaps it was her connection to Billy that had sealed her fate, just as it had sealed Milo Bates’s. Billy, the poor, confused, schizophrenic ex-con. Billy, whom nobody had believed, nobody had listened to. Not even Alexia herself.
“Are you done?”
A sullen barista removed Alexia’s empty coffee mug. Alexia looked at her watch, pushing her wild speculations about Milo Bates to one side for now. Because that’s all they are, she reminded herself firmly. Speculations. That body could have been anybody’s. Milo could be alive and well and living in Miami, for all you know.
