Roni left the bookstore. She walked downhill toward her apartment building where her car was parked. Part of her watched her feet moving, shocked that she could even stand after all that she had learned. Her head felt as numb and confused as if she had gone three rounds with a champion boxer. Though she knew she would do as asked, her mind still debated her new reality.
On the one hand, she had all that the Old Gang had told and shown her, plus she had her direct experience from the previous night. On the other hand, maybe she had gone batty and needed to commit herself. Maybe she was still in her apartment, passed out, dreaming all of this.
No. She could feel the sun on her face and hear her steps on the sidewalk. She smelled the air and saw the world around her as it always appeared. Not a dream.
“That’s it,” she scolded herself. “No more doubting. This is the way things are now.”
She got into her car — a black Ford Focus that looked reasonable on the exterior and like the city dump on the interior. Old fast food wrappers, torn seats, and clumps of mud were only the start. It had once been her prize possession when she bought it used as a high school graduation gift. Almost fifteen years and two hundred twenty thousand miles later, it was little more than her mode of transportation — one she crossed her fingers would start each morning.
When the engine kicked in, a short whining sound wound up before disappearing. “That’s new,” she said as she leaned over to the glove compartment. Inside, she had an old bottle of aspirin. Popping two in her mouth, she dry swallowed, coughed, and buckled her seatbelt. “Okay, let’s go information retrieving.” She pulled onto the road.
On their date, Darin had taken her to an Italian restaurant near Philly called Mariano’s Grove. He had implied it was his favorite place to eat, and without any other hint of where to start, she figured that would be her best chance to find out anything.
As she drove, her brain threatened to argue more on what reality had thrown her in the last twenty-four hours. But she pushed it away. Denying the strangeness would do nothing to change it. She had to keep moving forward. Dwelling on this would only drive her crazy whereas simply living her life would settle the bizarre world around her into a new state of normal.
At least, she hoped that was what would happen.
Besides, doing things the way Gram suggested meant that Roni would have a job, an income, a chance at a life. And maybe it would be fun. She never thought she would get to be a detective, yet that was exactly her duty this morning. Retracing the steps of a victim in order to help save him.
That sounded good to her ears. She could work with that.
Mariano’s Grove was in the town of Exton just off of Route 30. The building had once been a chain restaurant that went out of business. Mariano bought it, refurbished it to give the place a warmer feel, and starting plating recipes from his family that reached all the way back to a little town in Italy. All of which created a fantastic atmosphere for that first date.
But under the Sunday afternoon sun, without the candlelight or wine, Roni saw the flaws more than anything — the threadbare carpet, the constant clatter in the kitchen, the bored waiters, and the inattentive hostess. In fact, Roni waited at the front counter for ten minutes before being helped. When the hostess realized Roni wasn’t a customer, she plastered on a fake smile and said she had to go on break.
“Don’t mind her,” one of the waiters said. “It’s not personal. She’s always bitchy.”
Roni winked. “I thought maybe I smelled bad or something.”
The waiter, a tall black man with a dazzling smile, said, “You seem fine to me.”
“Maybe you can help me out. I was here last night on a date, and I want to do something nice for the guy. He told me this was his favorite restaurant, that he came here a lot, so I thought maybe you guys might know a little something about him. What he likes. That kind of thing.”
“I wasn’t here last night. Didn’t see you.”
“His name’s Darin Lander.”
“Oh, sure. Everybody knows Darin. Comes in here every week, sometimes twice. Good tipper, too.”
She faked a bit of embarrassment. “It was just our first date, and we didn’t talk a lot about him. I tried, but he was very tight-lipped.” As she realized her “lie” actually was true, her face reddened for real. How had she managed to go through an entire date and only talk about herself?
“What is it you want to know? I won’t give you his address or credit card info or anything like that.”
“No, no. I’m going to see him tomorrow night for our second date. This time it’s my turn to plan the thing, but I don’t even know what he does for a living. If he’s a pastry chef, I don’t want to take him to a bakery.”
“He’s a lawyer.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. Works with Page Brothers. You know them, right? They’ve always got those commercials on TV with the guy in a full-body cast.”
“Yeah, I know the one.” So, Darin was a low-level ambulance chaser. “Thanks. You’ve helped me out so much.”
“No problem.” He paused, then rested his arm on the wall to show off his muscular frame. “You know, if it doesn’t work out, I’d be happy to give you my number.”
Roni smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.” As she left, the smile drifted away. She had no interest in a man who asked her out knowing that she was dating another man. But she had to admit that her chest filled with flattered pride. Getting asked out like that never happened to her. She didn’t have the classic beauty features that drove men to do crazy things. Perhaps, in part, she exuded more confidence because she now had a job, had a purpose. Or perhaps he was hard up and thought I’d be easy.
She got back in her car and pulled out her phone. Page Brothers’ offices were in Paoli, only a few minutes from Exton and quite close to Olburg.
When she arrived at the law offices, two men in business suits hustled from office to office. They fluttered papers at each other, made phone calls, and grumbled. The receptionist gazed up from her bulky computer — a leftover from seven years ago — and asked, “What do you need, honey?”
“I’m here about Darin Lander.”
The two men in the back froze. One, a pudgy fellow with a waxy mustache, rushed over. “You’ve seen Darin? Where is he? He never showed up. What do you know about it? Is he hurt? He better be hurt or we’ll kill him.”
The other man, slightly older with deep wrinkles around his eyes, approached. “Forgive my brother. We’re floundering a bit by Darin’s unexpected absence. It all just happened a few hours ago and we’ve had to reschedule a lot. You can imagine the courts will not be too cooperative with us tomorrow if we are unprepared.”
“So,” the first brother said, “do you know where he is or don’t you?”
“That’s a bit complicated,” Roni said. As the words left her mouth, she wondered why she hadn’t simply answered No.
“Complicated? What’s complicated about it? Is he in some trouble? I knew he had been chatting it up with some odd people lately, but I didn’t get the sense that they were trouble. I mean, he’s not dealing drugs or doing anything stupid like that. Is he?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. He’s, um,” she said, and decided she might as well go all-in, “he’s working a side project. One that might bring you all quite a bit of money.”
That got the older brother’s full attention. “Are you the client?”
“I’m only the messenger. A private firm needed somebody with his skills to handle a sensitive matter. The people I work for are quite secretive and they didn’t give Mr. Lander a chance to contact you. I apologize I wasn’t here sooner this day, but it took me a while to find you.”
“Why didn’t Darin tell you where we are?”
“Like I said, I’m only the messenger. I’ve never even seen Mr. Lander, and I was given nothing more than a name.”
The first brother huffed. “You couldn’t find our address online with his name?”
Roni wanted to smack herself. She was so spun around by recent events, she forgot to do the most basic thing possible. She didn’t even google the guy. “The people I work for are finicky about their privacy. They shun employee internet usage.”
“Doesn’t seem a sensible way to run a business. What business are your bosses in, anyway?”
She raised her palms out. “I’m not at liberty to say anything more.”
“I’d say you’re done there then. You’ve delivered the message. At least, we don’t have to worry about Darin’s well-being now. But that doesn’t make the day any easier. Excuse us. We have a lot of cleaning up to do because of this mess.”
“Of course.” Roni snapped her fingers. “One more thing, though. If you don’t mind, I was told to fetch a few items from his office.”
The older brother said, “Fine, fine. Don’t take any case files out of here, though. We need those.”
With nothing more, the Page Brothers returned to their bustling. Roni quietly entered Darin’s office — wood panel walls, a beaten couch, and a fake fern. She couldn’t believe it had been so easy to get in there. Of course, the brothers were in a state because of Darin’s unplanned absence, but the way they accepted her story flummoxed her. Then again, greed could motivate a lot of poor choices, and she had seen it on both men’s faces — they hoped that Darin’s side project would reward the firm with plenty of high paying business. After all, who else but rich people had sensitive, secret jobs for lawyers?
Despite the gullibility of the Page brothers, Roni did not want to push her luck. She needed to be quick. Eventually, one of the lawyers would get an idea in his head that she might be lying.
She scanned over Darin’s desk — stapler, laptop, stacks of files and papers, a fancy pen in a fancy stand, nothing that suggested an item of personal importance. She checked the drawers — nothing but files, office supplies, and a bottle of brandy. Roni’s stomach churned at the thought of alcohol.
Gazing at the walls, she noted the bland paintings — the kind of thing found in hotel rooms. In fact, everything about Darin’s office suggested he was a bland human being without any defining characteristics. It felt strange and invasive to be combing through his life this way — especially after having been on a date with the man — but the Old Gang needed this object. Darin needed it.
Except I’ve got nothing.
Great. Her first assignment would end in failure. She could already see Gram’s disappointed expression.
Roni’s eyes shifted downward. On the desk, she saw a large calendar planner that doubled as a large blotter. Sliding the laptop to the side, her finger traced the daily notes Darin had made. Client names, times, and phone numbers had been meticulously written into the correct boxes for the days of the month. And one week away, circled and given an exclamation point, were the words Mom’s Birthday! Whether out of habit, a touch of OCD, or because he truly needed to be reminded, he had written the phone number next to the entry.
Roni stored the number into her phone and extricated herself from the offices as quietly as possible. The Page Brothers never bothered to acknowledge her as she walked by, and even the receptionist simply nodded without looking up from her computer.
Once she had safely returned to her car, Roni brought up the number on her phone. She thought about calling but it would be too easy for Darin’s mother to get suspicious and hang up. It would be far more difficult in person. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, Roni brought up her browser and with a few searches on some basic phone directories, aided by the benefit that Darin’s mother used a landline, Roni had an address in Lancaster.
“Of course,” Roni said to the phone. “You couldn’t bother to live nearby.”
Ninety minutes later, Roni drove into a seasoned development off of Lititz Pike. She parked in front of a gray house with brick trim, walked up to the door, and rang the bell. When an elderly woman with more wrinkles on her face than teeth in her mouth answered, Roni said the first thing that came to mind. “Hi. I’m Darin’s girlfriend.”