Chapter Twelve
Thrilled he had a chance to catch up with one of Melanie’s teachers, Wes sat engaged as Janice Yarber chattered and moved around the classroom with the energy of a much younger person. “She was an excellent student. I knew she could sing, but, oh, I was so proud of her on that show. Melanie should have won.” The older woman picked up papers and placed books back on the shelf in the back of her classroom.
Wes smiled. He liked that Melanie’s former English teacher had such fond memories of her former student and continued to keep up with her students after they left her classroom. Rick Jenkins, the cameraman on the shoot with him, was following Mrs. Yarber. They had arrived during her planning period to conduct the interview, and the teacher was wasting no time as she prepared for her next period of students. Finally, the silver-haired woman sat down and continued talking as she began organizing papers on her desk.
“The only thing that concerned me about Melanie was her home life.”
Wes asked, “Why the concern?”
She looked at Wes and then looked over at Rick behind them. “Oh my! Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No. Hold on. Rick, let’s stop rolling tape. Why don’t you get some B-roll from around the school?”
“Sure, Wes!”
Wes turned to Mrs. Yarber. “We will continue off the record. Will that be okay with you?”
“Okay.” Mrs. Yarber sat very still, in stark relief to the whirlwind of activity she’d engaged in, as she watched Rick grab his bag and camera.
Rick called over his shoulder, “Wes, I will see you outside in a bit.”
“Thanks, Rick.” Wes turned his attention back to Mrs. Yarber. “Now, you mentioned you had concerns about Melanie’s home life.”
She swallowed and fidgeted in her seat. “Well, neither of her parents ever came to support her. They missed teacher conferences all the time. One day I made a trip out to her home. Her mother was there taking care of some younger children. She seemed to be more interested in her other children and didn’t seem to care that Melanie had been missing her classes.”
Wes asked, “Melanie was skipping classes?”
“Yes. Now, I understand the mother had her hands full. I believe all the other children were under the age of four. The mother . . . Well, I should stop referring to her as the mother. She was really Melanie’s stepmother.” Mrs. Yarber shook her head. “She just kept saying, ‘Melanie can take care of herself.’ At the time, Melanie was only fourteen years old. Children still need guidance at that age. Teenagers need adult guidance even more so because they are learning about themselves and witnessing so many new experiences.”
“Where was her father?”
“Now, that really disturbed me. I never met Melanie’s father. I heard later that her dad was serving time in prison. Something about getting caught with drugs. That’s terrible.”
He looked down at his notes. Serena had spoken to the stepmother; in fact, they had some clips of her talking to the media. There was no footage of Melanie’s father, even with his daughter missing and showing up on the news each night. Larry Stowe had to have been released from prison in the last year, though. Melanie’s father had found a way to see his daughter on American Voices. Wes wondered if Larry might have worked out something with his parole officer that allowed him to leave the state.
Wes planned to head out to Melanie’s home after the interview. “Mrs. Yarber, I have one more question. Do you remember any of Melanie’s friends or boyfriends?”
“In my class, Melanie was especially chummy with a girl named Lisa Sloan. I don’t think she was involved with any boys when I had her, but I do remember the boy they talk about on the news.”
“Jay. Jay Strong.”
“Yes. He wasn’t in any of my classes, but he was a young man who had quite a reputation with the staff. Jay was a least a few years ahead of Melanie. I think he eventually dropped out of school. He stayed in trouble all the time. It’s a shame that she got caught up with him. Do you think he has something to do with her being missing?”
“I don’t know. He’s a person of interest right now with the police.” Wes stood and held out his hand. “Thank you, Ms. Yarber. I appreciate your time.”
“Not a problem. I do hope they find her. She was such a talented girl.”
Wes headed out into the high school hallway. It was in between classes, but a few students were still walking around, giggling and talking. He remembered his high school days. While he enjoyed some recognition as a reporter, in high school he was “church boy.” No matter her hours at the hospital, Wanda had made sure they were in church during the week and on Sunday. It didn’t help that he liked the idea of dressing professionally when he went to school. This usually meant one his favorite vests and a bow tie. Good grades were expected of him, and he liked the challenge. A chick magnet, he was not.
He headed into the parking lot, toward the car, memories following him. Rick was standing at the back of the car, packing up the gear. He turned toward Wes. “Hey, did you get what you needed here?”
“Yes, I did. Do you know how far Melanie’s family home is from here?” Rick was the driver and had been assigned to Serena for the previous interviews.
Rick answered, “About two miles. You want to head there next? Do you think they will want to do another interview?”
Rick had a point. Due to Melanie’s fame from being on American Voices, there was national media hanging out all the time at the Stowes’ house. “I’d like to try. I want to see if we can find out where the father is hiding. Don’t you think it’s odd that he hasn’t shown his face at all?”
“Yeah! If it was my kid, I would be out there searching for her. You know it’s crazy that she was snatched up just like that and no one saw a thing.”
Wes pondered out loud. “I know. She had to be heading toward her car. Somebody must have been watching her all night.”
When Melanie’s friends finally came out of the club, they noticed her car was still in the parking lot, but there was no sign of Melanie. They didn’t waste any time calling the police, which was a good thing. Did Melanie have some kind of stalker? With her being on a national television show, who knows what overzealous fan had fixated on her.
Wes often wondered what happened later to people who had the infamous fifteen minutes of fame from being on reality shows and in talent contests. Melanie was talented. Did offers come in for her even though she wasn’t a winner? She had made it to being the fourth finalist. Really, if she had had more votes, Wes gathered, like others, she could have won the competition that season.
Both men finished loading the car. While Rick drove to the Stowes’ home, Wes looked at his notes. Melanie had had her own apartment up until a month before she disappeared. Maybe for financial reasons, she’d moved back home. A home where, according to Mrs. Yarber, Melanie was at odds with or not really cared for by her stepmother. The more he read about Mrs. Gladys Stowe, the more he wanted to meet her for himself. After her husband had gone to prison, Gladys had raised his daughter until she graduated. Melanie had moved out right after her high school graduation. Why did she return? Had the relationship between the two women improved?
Wes could tell as they drew closer to the Stowes’ home that there was a crowd of reporters staked out around the house. It had been almost a week since the twenty-one-year-old went missing. If Melanie had been an average woman of color, one without the national spotlight, the news story would have been reported locally, but not nationally, and certainly not almost a week later.
Rick asked, “What do you want to do?”
“Let’s regroup. It might be better to focus on the boyfriend, Jay Strong.” Wes had a few contacts that used to work with Pops. They might be willing to share some details. In the case of a missing person, it was important to relay any clues or details to the public.
Wes pulled out his phone and clicked through a few e-mails. One message caught his attention. Mainly because it was a notification e-mail from Facebook. He had received some great tips from social media and always anticipated coming across something good. To his surprise, the message was from Angel Roberts. She wanted to meet with him tomorrow for lunch at Southern Soul Café. Well, this was good. At least he hoped it was. He was certainly looking forward to seeing her again.