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“5 minutes tops.”
“Excellent. See you soon.” I said and hung up.
“Who’s that?” Anita asked as I stood up and headed upstairs to grab a t-shirt for me and my sweatshirt for her.
“Butch, my PI. He’s coming over to share with me what he found out about my mother’s case.” I told her as she followedme. He’s been trying to crack the case for years, but he finally has a lead.
“Wow, that’s fantastic! Are you excited?” She asked and I nodded.
“Very.” I grabbed my sweatshirt out of the closet and handed it to Anita. She put it on without question and I pulled on a shirt. “I’ve been wanting to know what happened to my mother for about half of my life.”
“Wow… I hope he has good news for you then.”
“Me too.”
We headed back downstairs and not long after there was a knock on the door. I opened it and sure enough, Butch was on the other side. He was a tall man, slightly taller than myself, and he wore a gray business suit that matched his salt and pepper hair and the white dress shirt went with his white beard. He lifted his black leather briefcase and showed it to me.
“I got a hell of a lead for you kid.” He said and I stepped aside, directing him to the kitchen where Anita was making herself a second cup of coffee and was preparing one for Butch. Butch hesitated in the kitchen when he saw her and I went over to her to put an arm around her.
“Butch, this is Anita, my wife.” I introduced her. Butch put his briefcase on the table and took the hand that Anita offered him. They shook hands and Anita smiled at him.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Anita said, smiling her award-winning smile. Butch looked from Anita to me and then back.
“Nice to meet you too Mrs. Siena. I’m sorry, I was unaware you were seeing anyone, let alone that you had gotten married.” Butch said, switching his focus to me. I shrugged.
“It’s a long story that you probably don’t want to hear.” I explained. He nodded.
“No, you’re right, I don’t.” He agreed and opened up his briefcase on the table. He looked from me to Anita, then back to me again. “I trust that I can speak openly in front of her?”
He was asking if she would report to my father or not because my father did not appreciate being investigated and had a habit of retaliating in painful ways.
I shook my head.
“Yes, anything you need to say to me may be said in front of her.” I assured him. He nodded and then pulled out a manilla envelope.
I had seen the envelope many times. It got bigger and bigger each time I looked at it; full of tips and leads that didn’t pan out, I felt the need to set it on fire. But this time, he brought out a second folder, a much smaller one that looked like it only had a few files in it. This one he put on the table in front of me and gestured for me to open it. Inside was a picture of a woman with short brown hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. She looked sad in the photo, but upon closer inspection, I realized it was a school photo. This woman had to have been about 16 or 27 when this was taken. Next to it was another photo, one I had seen many times. I had given it to Butch for him to go off of because it was one of the last pictures I had of my mother. In it, my mom was sitting at a picnic table smiling, and next to her was her best friend who looked very much like the woman in the first photo only she had red hair in the picture with my mother.
“Who is she?” Anita asked, looking over my shoulder. I pointed to the woman on the right.
“She’s my mother and the woman next to her was her best friend Cindy. When my mother disappeared, so did she.”
“Exactly, and we had assumed that they might have either run off together or been murdered together.” Butch reviewed, but then he turned to me. “ But I found Cindy. She’s living inNew York, working as a waitress and she changed her name to Amanda Caulfield instead of Cindy Wiggins.”
“Does she know where my mother is?” I asked, needing to know. The spike of adrenaline and hope that ran through me was so strong I almost punched the table when I put my hands down on either side of the file. “Please tell me she knows she’s alive.”
‘So far, she hasn’t said anything. I spoke to her over the phone and she insisted she left for her reasons and she refuses to tell me anything else, but I know she knows something. I’m going to head to New York and visit her, try to get the truth out of her, but I wanted to let you know that there is hope.”
I nodded, trying to swallow it down. Hope like that could choke someone to death if they let it. Sometimes hope is a dangerous thing.
“Thank you, Butch, I really appreciate it. Do you know anything else? Why did she change her name? Is she married?”
“No, she lives alone in an apartment and has 3 cats. I guess that she changed her name to get away from the mafia. Her papers are good too, professional good, so she had some money stored away before she left. My guess was she was planning on leaving for a long time before she left, something I’m sure your mother, her best friend would know. I’ll find out more details in New York and come by to tell you what I’ve found.”
“Thank you, Butch. I really appreciate this. You have no idea. This is the best news we’ve had in years.” I told him and he nodded.
“I know. Well, I’ve got a long train ride so I’ll get going. I wish you both the best.” He said and packed up his papers, placing them in the briefcase.
“Wait.” Anita said and we both looked at her. Her face had gone very pale and she looked a little nervous.
