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I nod and hand him back the phone.
“Anyway, Gemma doesn’t normally go to bars, but according to one of her friends, they had a work thing that night. Most of their office crew went there to celebrate something. Might’ve been a birthday or maybe the boss was taking the whole team out as a reward for performance. I didn’t really get into why they went. Just… Heather said she managed to talk Gemma into going. She feels guilty now.”
“Heather?” I ask.
“Don’t know what her last name is. She works with my sister. They’re in the finance department over at Disneyland Park. Accounts payable type stuff.”
I nod, adding this to my notes.
“I’m really worried.” Scott kneads his hands together. “I think this guy hurt her.”
Again, I read over the text exchange. “In my experience, it would be unusual for an abductor to force their victim to text the family about a date… especially including his photo. He’s obviously posing and smiling for the shot. Doesn’t look like he tried to avoid being photographed.”
“Are you sure he isn’t bragging? Like ‘hey, look who I’m about to kill.’”
“I suppose it’s possible. Would make the guy into an idiot, though… giving us his picture.” I read the exchange a third time. Gemma appears to be doing the smart thing and telling family what she’s about to do. Well, the truly smart thing would’ve been to mention the guy’s name and where they’re going. Oh, and his phone number wouldn’t have hurt. Hmm. Does her sending Scott a pic of the guy mean part of her worried she might be in danger? Not sure how smart it is to go on a weekend trip with a guy she literally just met.
The woman’s thirty-two, lives alone… maybe the bio clock started hitting her over the head. As in ‘do somethingright nowor you’re going to miss the chance’ type of thing. Hormones can make people act out of character. Then again, so can vampire mind control. Wait, no. This guy isn’t a vampire. He wouldn’t have shown up on camera. Doesn’t mean he’s notsomething. Sherbet sent this case my way so there’s a high potential of supernatural oddity here. This could also explain why the mystery man doesn’t care about his photo being sent to Gemma’s brother. If he’s an immortal of some kind, he wouldn’t be the least bit afraid of conventional authorities.
“So, your sister meets this guy for the first time and in that night decides she’s going to go on a trip with him for the weekend.”
Scott exhales hard. “Yeah. It’s so strange. So unlike her. When we were kids, she wouldn’t even go on a Ferris wheel because she was afraid it would fall over. My sister isn’t the sort of person who takes risks. She can handle pressure and stress, but not scary stress. Accounting deadlines, no big deal. Creepy movie? She can’t do it. Gemma doesn’t even like to go outside after dark.”
“What about the phrasing of these texts? Do they sound like her, or like someone else using her phone?”
Scott takes his phone back and looks at the screen. “They look normal. I mean, the way she abbreviates some words and the overall tone of it sounds just like her. The problem is, it’s not like anything she’d ever do. I think this guy she ran into is some kind of Ted Bundy level charmer.”
Oof. Let’s hope not. If so, my job is finding remains. Yeah, I keep that last bit to myself.
“Can you forward that picture to me?”
“Does this mean you’re willing to help find her?” Scott perks up in his seat.
“I am.”
He slouches a little. “Do you think you can help? The cops haven’t been able to…”
“Well, I certainly can’t do any worse than the police have thus far. My specialty is the strange cases. I’ve worked with Detective Sherbet on probably a hundred or so disappearances, murders, and abductions.”
“A hundred?” He raises both eyebrows.
“Or so.”
“Pardon me saying this, but you look kinda young.”
“Thanks.” I grin. “Good genetics. I’m a little older than you’re assuming.”
“Thirty-two?”
I laugh. “Add ten years.” Okay, small white lie, but claiming to be almost fifty is less believable.
“Wow. All right. Sorry if that offended you.” He fidgets. “I’m just worried about Gemma.”
“I understand.”
“So, one more question. I’ve never hired a PI before. How much is this going to cost?” He raises a hand in a ‘wait’ gesture. “Not a question of if I hire you or not. Gemma needs help. I just want to know what to expect.”
We discuss my rates, which are probably on the lower end of fair for the work thanks to my overdeveloped sense of guilt and duty. I always felt kinda off to charge people money for helping them find missing loved ones, especially kids. My motivation is wanting to help, but feeling awesome for reuniting families doesn’t feed mine. Still, I’ve still got a fair bit of cash left over from the mansion sale, so I’m not hurting. He seems surprised, evidently having expected me to want a fee on the order of ten thousand dollars or so. Good grief, dude. You watch too many movies.
