Danielle found Walt in the parlor with Max. The pair sat together on the sofa, and by the looks of the two, they were in the midst of a conversation. She stood in the doorway and watched them. It fascinated her how he could still communicate with most cats and dogs. Neither knew she was standing there. After a moment Walt looked up and noticed her in the doorway. He smiled.
“It’s her,” Danielle said as she walked into the room and shut the door behind her.
“She admitted being the missing person?” Walt asked.
Danielle walked to the sofa and picked up Max. He meowed. She sat next to Walt and settled Max on her lap. He began to purr. “No, just the opposite. She swore it wasn’t her, just some bizarre coincidence.”
“Then why do you think it’s her?” he asked.
“Because having the same name as a missing woman who looks identical to her might be a wild coincidence—but to have the same tattoo, I think not.”
“She has a feather tattoo on the back of her neck?” Walt asked.
Danielle nodded. “She does.”
Walt leaned back in the sofa, silently considering what Danielle was telling him. He could hear Max’s loud purr. The cat was clearly enjoying Danielle’s attention as she gently stroked his back.
Finally, Walt said, “She doesn’t want to be found. She must have her reasons.”
Danielle sighed and leaned back in the sofa. She propped her feet up on the coffee table. Max remained on her lap. “Plus, that notice of her disappearance didn’t come from law enforcement. It came from a woman who claimed to be her roommate.”
Walt looked down at the cat curled up on Danielle’s lap. “Max and I were just discussing her.”
“You mentioned she seemed to have an issue with him.”
“He claims she’s always telling him to go away.”
“How does he know that’s what she’s saying?” Danielle teased. “Cats are notorious for misunderstanding what us living humans are telling them. Just the other day I told Max to stay off my bed, and he hopped right on it.”
Walt laughed. “I suspect that was more a case of Max ignoring what you were saying, as opposed to not understanding.”
“I think you’re right.” Danielle leaned down and kissed the top of Max’s head.
“What are you going to tell the chief?” Walt asked.
“Just what we know. I don’t imagine he’s obligated to do anything, since that wasn’t an official missing person’s bulletin. But I would like to know more about the people staying under my roof.”
Walt considered Danielle’s words for a moment before suggesting, “I think you should take them some milk and cookies.”
Danielle stood at the door to Noah and Zara’s room, holding a serving tray with a plate of cookies and two glasses of cold milk. Juggling the tray in one hand, she knocked on the door. A moment later, the door opened a few inches, and Noah peeked out into the hallway.
“I come bringing a peace offering,” Danielle said brightly.
Noah opened the door wider and eyed the tray in Danielle’s hands.
“Cookies?” He smiled.
Danielle handed Noah the tray. “I’m sorry for any stress I caused you and your wife.” She looked past Noah and spied Zara standing by the window, watching her. “I wasn’t sure how I could make it up to you, but I figure cookies always help me.”
Noah’s smile broadened as he accepted the tray. “Your cookies are difficult to resist.”
“I hope you enjoy them. I wasn’t sure if you both liked milk with your cookies.”
“I certainly do. Thank you,” Zara said.
“You can just leave the tray outside your room when you’re done,” Danielle said before leaving.
Danielle went to her bedroom and shut the door, leaving it open a few inches. Walt was already inside, sitting on the edge of her bed. Together they waited. Fifteen minutes later she heard the Bishops’ door open and close. She peeked outside and spied the tray sitting on the floor outside their door. The glasses and plate were empty.
Danielle slipped out of her room and picked up the tray. She headed downstairs with Walt following along beside her. Once they got in the kitchen, Danielle set the tray on the counter.
Just as she started to pick up one of the glasses, it flew up, away from her hand, and Walt yelled, “Don’t touch it!”
“I was just going to put it in the sack,” Danielle explained, pointing to the sack she had set on the counter earlier.
“And get your fingerprints on it?” The glass hovered above the counter. “You were meticulous cleaning both of those glasses before filling them with milk, wiping them down, and setting them on the tray, free of any prints. And now you plan to get your prints all over them, maybe smudge theirs?”
“I guess I didn’t think.” With a sigh, she reached for the paper bag and opened it. Holding it wide open, she watched as the airborne glass floated over to the sack and gently dropped into it. A moment later, the second glass lifted from the tray and joined the first glass. Carefully, she folded closed the top of the paper bag and then looked at Walt. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Walt smiled.
“You want me to run the fingerprints on these glasses?” the chief asked incredulously. He stood behind his desk, the paper sack with the glasses in hand.
“You can do it, can’t you?” Walt asked.
“Yes, but—”
“I know it’s her. She has the feather tattoo on the back of her neck. But she insisted it isn’t her. I just want to know who these people are who are staying with us. I understand she might just want to disappear, and she has that right, but I need to know who they are—who he is—should we be concerned? They are staying in our house. Please, Chief.”
MacDonald considered the request a moment. Finally, he said, “Okay. I’ll do it. Give me a couple of hours, and I’ll see what I can find out.”
While waiting for the results of the fingerprints, Walt took Danielle to Lucy’s Diner to have some coffee and pie. When they walked into the restaurant, they found Adam Nichols alone at a table. He asked them to join him, and they accepted.
“Chris’s uncle Simon stopped by my office earlier today. He told me he was just curious to see what housing prices are in Frederickport,” Adam told them after the waitress took their order and left the table.
“You don’t sound like you believe his reason for stopping by,” Danielle said.
Adam shrugged. “I think it was a PR ploy on his part.”
“What’s a PR ploy?” Walt asked.
Adam looked at Walt. “You know, PR, public relations. He did a lot of talking about how proud he is of Chris—thanked me for being such a good friend. Talked about his regrets in contesting their brother’s will, and how grateful he was that Chris had forgiven them. Although, I’m not sure Chris has really forgiven them.” Adam picked up his coffee and took a sip.
“Did he mention Heather?” Walt asked.
Adam frowned a moment and then set his cup back on its saucer. “Actually he did. Talked about how he felt she was manipulating him—trying to take advantage of him. I didn’t really take it seriously. Heather is a little different, and to someone like him, she probably seems like an alien.”
“Both uncles have been doing a lot of trash-talking about her,” Danielle grumbled.
“What’s stranger, they’ve told Heather how much Chris likes her, and encouraged her to pursue a personal relationship with him,” Walt told him.
Adam frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. I can’t see them doing that.”
“Heather thinks they did that so she would act inappropriately toward Chris, in hopes he’ll fire her,” Danielle explained.
Adam laughed. “Don’t they know she already acts inappropriately toward him? I’ve heard her tell him to shut up more than once.”
Walt chuckled. “True. But the uncles don’t know that.”
“I saw Chris after his uncle stopped by. I almost said something to him about it, but I decided not to. He seemed a little stressed out over their visit,” Adam said.
When Walt and Danielle returned to the police station, they found the chief at his desk, just getting ready to call Danielle to tell her he had the results.
“Good, you’re here,” the chief said as he hung up his phone. They walked into the office, and he nodded to the door, motioning for them to close it.
“So what did you find out?” Danielle asked as she took a seat facing the desk. Walt sat down in the chair next to her.
“I learned your Zara doesn’t like milk,” the chief said, leaning back in his chair.
“What do you mean?” Danielle frowned.
“There was only one set of prints on those glasses,” the chief explained. “Another thing, your guest is not Noah Bishop, he’s Noah Church.”
“He’s using a fake name?” Danielle asked.
“Apparently so.”
“Church…Bishop? He has a theme going there,” Walt muttered.
The chief picked up a printout and skimmed over it. “His name is Noah Church, and he has no priors. Not even a parking ticket I could find. By the way, how did he pay for his room? I would assume a credit card.”
“No, not a credit card. He paid with a gift card.”
“He gave it to you over the phone when he made the reservation?” the chief asked.
“No. Zara made the reservation and asked if they could pay with a gift card when they arrived. Said it was a gift from her husband’s parents. Normally I require a down payment when they make a reservation, but considering the late date of the reservation and the fact I had other vacancies, I didn’t make a point of taking a down payment.”
“She said it was a gift from Noah’s parents?” the chief asked.
Danielle nodded. “Yes.”
“That would be a little tricky, Noah Church was orphaned when he was twelve. Grew up in foster care. And he happens to live in the same town as Zara Leighton.”
“I guess I’m not surprised. I knew it was her,” Danielle said.
“What does Noah Church do for a living?” Walt asked.
“He’s a high school teacher. Well liked from all accounts. If he and Zara have decided to disappear together, his school doesn’t know about it. They believe he’s returning after Christmas break. One more thing. He’s not married. At least, not that they are aware of. Which could support the story they’re newlyweds. Maybe his work just doesn’t know yet that he got married.”
“None of this makes any sense,” Danielle murmured.
“Maybe Zara is only missing from her roommate’s perspective,” the chief suggested.
“You’re saying Zara had problems with the roommate and just left,” Walt asked.
“It happens. We have no idea what type of relationship the roommate had with Zara. By her letter it sounds like they were good friends, and she is worried about her. But we don’t know her, and Zara, while she has lied to both of us, she’s made it perfectly clear she doesn’t want to be found by her roommate,” the chief reminded them.
“How do we really know the person who sent you that letter was ever Zara’s roommate, or if it is really a woman?” Walt asked.
“I don’t doubt that part,” the chief explained. “When I first received the flyer, before Danielle ever saw it, I called the police station working on the case. The detective I spoke to said he knew the roommate had sent out those letters, but he didn’t feel Zara was a missing person. She has a history of just taking off and disappearing for weeks at a time, and there was no indication of foul play. Her car was never found. They assume she just took off.”
“Would you be opposed to me calling the roommate?” Danielle asked.
“Do you think that would be fair to Zara if she wants to just disappear?” Walt asked.
“I’m not going to tell her Zara is here. I’m just going to say I happened to see her flyer, and I was curious about her and wondered why she thought Zara might be heading to Frederickport.”
“You can try, but I doubt you’ll learn anything,” the chief said.