Trust (2 page)

"Besides, Dancing with the Stars is on tonight. You know I never miss that. It's the results show." He was serious about that. Gramps was an excellent dancer and it was something he and his grandmother had always enjoyed, as she was a professional dancer when they first met.

After they paid the bill and his grandfather left, David moved to the bar to wait for Jack. The bar was getting packed now and he'd only just settled into his seat and taken his first sip of a newly poured beer, when someone bumped into the back of his chair, hard enough that he spilled a good half-inch of his beer.

In a second, Patrick, the bartender was there to mop up the mess. "Give me your mug," he demanded and David handed it over, watching with appreciation as Patrick topped it off and set it back down again. "There you are then, good as new." That was another reason they liked coming here. Hannigan's was a real Irish pub, the type of place where everyone really did know your name and if they didn't, it wouldn't be long before they did. They made you feel like a regular no matter how often you visited.

"Hey man, sorry about that," said a deep voice to his left. As it turned out, the man who'd spilled his beer was Randy Scribbs, a former fraternity brother that David hadn't seen in nearly fifteen years. Randy looked about the same. He was still a huge guy, well over 6' 2" and had dark curly hair that had thinned quite a bit over the years, not that David could say much there. He had grown to like the baseball cap look more and more for the same reason.

"Randy, what brings you to town? It's been a long time."

"My wife, Sharon, is pregnant and her family lives nearby, so we decided to buy a place here. I travel a lot for work and this way she'll have support close by."

"That's great," David said, glancing around the bar. Jack was running late as usual. He'd called earlier, said he had something important to tell him, and wanted to meet for an after work drink.

"So, I hear you got out of the baseball business?" Randy's cheerful voice boomed above the crowd, and if you didn't know better, you'd think he was just a friendly guy. As if David had chosen to 'get out of the baseball business.' He'd been a rising star once, the scouts had all buzzed about his 'nasty stuff', the ultimate honor bestowed on pitching prospects. Until he blew out his arm in his third major-league start with the Boston Red Sox. A freak accident they called it and immediately shipped him off for the usual cure, Tommy-John surgery. But his arm was never the same and his career in baseball came to a quick end.

"Yeah, I got sick of it, too much travel." David took a long sip of beer and wished for a quick end to this reunion.

"Very funny. You were always a funny guy." Randy looked at him thoughtfully before adding, "I heard you're pretty good with numbers. Mark Tsongas said I should look you up.”

David didn't see this coming at all. Mark was his biggest client and he wouldn't have guessed that he knew Randy.

"Yeah, I manage Mark's investment portfolio. We did okay last year."

"I heard it was way better than okay," Randy said with an enthusiasm that made David cringe. Where the hell was Jack? He glanced at his watch as Randy continued, "Mark golfs with Sharon’s brother. I played with them last week and asked if they knew of a good broker. I sold one of my companies a few months ago and have a little money I need to invest. Do you have a card?"

"Sure, here you go." David dug into his wallet and then handed him a business card. When he looked up, he saw that Jack had finally arrived and was looking around the packed bar.  David waved him over and Jack squeezed into the seat next to him as Randy turned to leave.

"Gotta run. I'll call your office to set up a meeting. Great seeing you. Oh, hey, Mark also mentioned you're getting married in a few weeks. Hope this one works out better for you!" Randy slapped him on the back in farewell and then he was gone.

"Who was that asshole?" Jack asked as Patrick set his usual beer down in front of him.

"You really don't want to know. He’s a former fraternity brother who just moved to town. The good news is, I probably have a new client. Bad news is, I have to deal with him."

Randy would have to remind him of Jillian. Even though it was over ten years ago, it still hurt to think of how she'd dumped him barely two weeks before their wedding because she 'just didn't love him enough.' You don't just bounce right back from something like that. He'd pretty much given up on the whole love and family thing until he met Lauren when she moved to town two years ago.

He'd always been skeptical of love at first sight, but he definitely felt it when his sister Amy, a ninth grade teacher, introduced him to her new colleague, Lauren. Lauren had lived in the area years ago into her early teens, and said she'd applied 'on a whim' when she'd seen the advertised opening. It was very different with Lauren. He knew she'd never pull the rug out from under him the way Jillian had. It was just easy with her because they got along great and trusted each other completely.

"David? Did you hear me?" Jack was looking at him expectantly. And he hadn't heard a word he'd said.

"Oh, sorry.  I was just distracted for a minute. What did you say?"

"So you know that missing student? Eric Armstrong?"

"Yeah, I think he was one of Lauren's kids. Any word on him yet?" If there were any news, Jack would likely know of it.

“Nothing yet. The parents swear he'd never run away. That doesn't mean much though. Kids run away all the time." He paused for a minute, then added, "Did Lauren ever mention him at all? Say anything about him?"

"Are you asking as a friend or a police officer?" David teased. But the serious look on Jack's face told him he didn't think it was funny.

"Both, I guess. We're just digging everywhere we can, hoping to turn up something."

"Sorry. You know Lauren did mention that she'd been talking to him, trying to help him work through some things."

"What kind of things?"

"His grades had been slipping and it wasn’t great at home. That's all I know. I'm not sure if Lauren knows much more than that."

"She didn't say anything else? Nothing else about the boy at all?"

"No, why? Has something turned up about him?"

"Nothing definitive. We've been going through his computer records and his online diary."

"Online diary? As in available to the public?"

"Yeah, connected to his Facebook page. Kids these days live their lives online—totally bizarre."

"Does he say anything that might give a clue as to if or why he ran away?"

"No. But he does talk about having a 'mad crush' on a much older woman. Someone he thinks about and sees every day.”

David felt a sudden sinking in his stomach. "Do you have any idea who this 'older woman' is?"

"Nothing concrete, but we have to consider all possibilities and the strongest one we have so far is that it very well could be Lauren.” 

Chapter Three

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"W
ant to have a pizza at my place instead of going out?” Lauren asked as they left Nellie's and headed toward their cars. “The roads look like they are getting a little slick." The original plan had been to grab a bite to eat somewhere after the fitting. Amy and Lauren lived in the same condo complex, so she could easily walk home instead of driving.

"Sure, I have a bottle of wine we can share too. I have a case in the backseat—picked it up at lunch."

"A case?"

"You save a ton when you buy a case!" Amy said and Lauren laughed. She knew Amy loved wine and had a great collection. Lauren got her phone out and called in the pizza order so they wouldn't have to wait too long.

They drove home and found the roads were slippery. Lauren was glad they'd decided to just do pizza instead of going to a restaurant. When they reached the condo complex and parked, Amy followed her inside with a bottle of wine and started to open it. Amy had just poured each of them a glass when there was a knock on the door. Lauren wondered who could possibly be out in this weather. Maybe David was home and had his arms full. She opened the door and was shocked to find two policemen standing there.

"Lauren Stanhope?" the older of the two asked.

"Yes, that's me."

"Miss Stanhope, could we please come in? We'd like to ask a few questions." She let the officers in and invited them to sit at the dining room table.

"Can I get you something to drink?" she asked, and noticed the younger officer staring at the just opened bottle of wine. "Soda, water? Anything?" She added, so they didn't think she meant alcohol.

"No, thank you," the older officer replied and then added, "This shouldn't take too long." A moment later, there was another knock on the door and this time it was the pizza man. Amy jumped up to take care of it, and brought the pizza into the kitchen as Lauren went into the dining room to talk to the officers. She wondered if they were making the rounds and talking to all of Eric's teachers. She noticed that the two officers seemed a little uncomfortable, especially the younger one, who had pulled out a pad of paper and was staring down at it, doodling, while he waited for the older officer to start talking.

First, he introduced both of them. "I'm Officer Scott Gordon and this is Officer Chris O'Sullivan." Lauren smiled at that. Their names suited them. Scott looked to be in his early 50's, had closely-shaven gray hair, light blue eyes and a muscular build, Chris was likely in his mid-twenties, tall and lanky with an unfortunate shade of red hair. Like his partner, his hair was military short, his eyes blue, and his face full of freckles. 

"We just have a few questions to ask you, about Eric Armstrong," Officer Gordon began.

Lauren nodded. "I'm happy to help. Do you have any leads yet?"

The two men exchanged a glance and then Scott replied, "Nothing of any substance yet, but we're working on it. So, tell me about Eric. I understand he was a student of yours?"

"That's correct. Eric was in my homeroom and also fifth period English."

"How did he do in class? Was he a good student?"

"At times. He was very bright and had a lot of potential, but he wasn't doing well consistently. I started meeting with him after class to see how we could help him focus better and to get him to open up."

"To open up? What do you mean?" Scott asked, as Chris looked up for a moment and then continued to scribble notes furiously.

Lauren tried to explain. "I immediately suggested counseling, that Eric talk to Betty Alves, our student psychologist, but he would have no part of it. He didn't know her and was afraid she'd call his parents."

"But he talked to you?"

"He didn't want to, not at first, but I told him that I was very concerned, and if he didn't open up to me I'd have no choice but to send him to Betty. He agreed to meet with me once a week, immediately after class every Monday for a month. We were just starting to make some headway when he went missing."

"What kind of 'headway' did you make?" Scott asked.

"Well, we talked about his study habits and ways he could focus better and be more prepared for class. He admitted that there'd been a lot of stress at home, his parents were not getting along and the constant bickering was getting to him. I suggested that he get out of the house to study, to go to the library and be a little more organized with his work."

"And it worked?"

"It seemed to. Once he removed himself from the stressful environment, he was better able to get his work done and was more engaged in class. I know he didn't like being at home, which is why I'm hoping he might have just run away."

"Right." Scott glanced at his partner and then asked. "Is there anything else that comes to mind? Anything personal that Eric may have told you? Did he have a girlfriend for instance?"

Lauren was surprised for a moment and realized that she had no idea if Eric had a girlfriend or not. "No. We never got into personal stuff. I don't know if Eric was dating anyone. I never noticed him with a girl."

"Okay, I think we're done here," Scott said as Chris closed his notebook. "We'll be in touch if we have any further questions.  Enjoy your pizza."

The two officers left and Amy brought the pizza into the room, along with paper plates and napkins. She added a little wine to her own glass and saw that Lauren's was untouched.

"Drink up; I'm way ahead of you. I didn't want to be in the way so I stayed in the kitchen, listening and sipping. Pretty weird, huh? Them stopping by like this. Do you think they're going house to house?"

"I don't know. They were at school talking to some of the teachers earlier. I would have thought they'd just go back tomorrow to see the ones they didn't talk to today."

"Do you think he ran away?" Amy asked as she grabbed a slice of pizza and doused it with hot pepper flakes.

Lauren made a face at the sight of all that pepper. "I don't know how you can ruin a perfectly good piece of pizza."

"Don't knock it 'til you try it. It's delicious. Try a bite?"

"I'm all set." Lauren added a sprinkle of salt to her piece and then took a bite. She couldn’t stop thinking about her missing student.

"I hate to say it, but I have a bad feeling about this. Things were starting to go better for Eric, his grades were improving, he was participating more in class. He was making progress. It doesn't make sense that he'd just take off."