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?d been abducted. That they just needed to be found.
To add credence to her beliefs, there had been sightings over the years, calls from people who had sworn they’d seen one or more of the Duval sisters in different parts of the country, one as far away as Alaska if he remembered correctly.
With the aid of computers, police artists had come up with images of what the girls would look like today as young women, and so, over the years, every once in a while, there had been reported sightings of Holly or Poppy or Rose.
When Reed had first met Nikki, she had recently interviewed a woman who had sworn she’d seen all three girls with an older couple when she’d been visiting Disney World in Orlando, though, as with the other rumored glimpses of the girls, the story hadn’t panned out.
None had.
Until now.
“Okay. The rundown. And by the way, I sent you copies of everything I’ve got.” She glanced up. “Check your e-mail.”
“Will do.”
“Okay.” Rather than sitting at Morrisette’s old desk, Delacroix settled into the visitor’s chair, her fingers skating over the keys of her device as she brought him up to speed.
In essence, the three Duval sisters, curly-headed blondes with bright blue eyes, disappeared nearly twenty years earlier. They’d gone to the movies at a theater five blocks from their house with their older half brother, Owen, who had dropped them off, then claimed when he came to pick them up after the movie had let out, they were gone. He insisted he searched for them to no avail. Witnesses had seen the girls at the movie, but no one remembered their half brother. He was supposed to stay with them throughout the flick, but he swore he bribed them with candy for their silence so he could duck out early. When he returned and went home, the parents were frantic and called 911 to report them missing.
“Owen became the primary suspect or ‘person of interest,’” Delacroix said, lifting one hand and making air quotes with her fingers, “and actually he still is, but he had an airtight alibi with a girlfriend and since there were no bodies and no one saw him with the girls, no witnesses, he walked. The press crucified him, of course, but he’s always maintained his innocence.”
“And where is he now?”
“He moved to Atlanta not long after the girls disappeared and since then relocated to Jacksonville. People assumed he left Savannah to get away from the scandal and persecution, but who knows? Same for the move to Florida, no one knows why he landed there.
“However, the interview notes seem to indicate that his reaction, to the girls going missing, wasn’t expected. Instead of being upset and worried, or even feeling guilt or regret for losing the girls, he seemed angry and distant.”
“Anyone talk to him since the bodies were located?”
“Not from the department. I can’t say about his mother. She got the word about the IDs this morning, so she could’ve called him or texted him or whatever. And then there’s this,” she added, her lips tightening a bit, “he hasn’t exactly kept his nose clean. A girlfriend, Maria Coronado, filed charges against him for assault about seven years ago, that was when he was still in Atlanta, but then changed her mind, dropped the charges and the case never went to court. From the looks of it, the cops were called to their shared apartment twice and then the arrest, but, like I said, Coronado changed her mind.”
“Let me guess, they got back together?”
“For a while, then he split for Jacksonville.”
“Without her.”
“Uh . . . doesn’t say, but I’ll check. And he may have moved since. I checked with the Jacksonville PD, and they cruised by his apartment. Looks vacant and has a FOR RENT sign in the window.”
Reed thought that over. “His mother might know.”
“You’d think.”
“Anything on the biological father?” He rubbed his chin, feeling the stubble from his five-o’clock shadow. “I know Harvey adopted him early on, but was the real father ever around?”
“No info on that. Yet.”
“Huh.” Reed made a mental note. “What about Owen Duval? Anything new?”
She shook her head. “Nothing serious. A few traffic tickets, one for expired plates and one for running a red light. And a neighbor complained that he played his music too loud and too late, that was when he was in Atlanta with the girlfriend, but since then, nothing.” She looked over the tops of her glasses at Reed. “At least that we know of.”
“Right. Let’s find him,” Reed said. “See what he has to say for himself.”
“You got it.”
“And I want to run down the girlfriend who gave him the alibi as well. Do we know where she is?”
“Still working on that. Her name is Ashley McDonnell, or was, she could be married by now.”
