A half hour later, Maisie sat on a padded bench in a room decorated floor to ceiling in rich mahogany. In the fifteen minutes she’d been waiting, she’d consistently tapped her foot on the floor, causing the receptionist sitting behind the desk next to her to sigh so loudly the people on the next floor should have been able to hear her. Maisie thought about stopping, but she was bored, and she didn’t want to, and she’d never been any good at waiting. So she tap, tap, tapped until the receptionist slammed a hand down on a stack of papers and stood.
The receptionist frowned and looked over at Maisie. Through gritted teeth she said, “I’ll just pop my head in and see how much longer he’s going to be. Mmmkay?”
“Good idea,” Maisie replied. “Tell him he has two minutes to finish up with whoever’s in there before I interrupt his meeting.”
The receptionist’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, what did you say your name was again?”
“Maisie. Look, sweetie, I’ve never seen you before, and obviously you’re a new hire around here because I know everyone. I assume you’re filling in for Carolyn while she’s on maternity leave. Since it’s your first week, I’ll give you a free pass. But moving forward, you really need to work on your people skills.”
The receptionist seethed like she had the urge to hit something hard, but otherwise maintained her composure. She cracked open the office door, looked in, and relayed the message. Less than a minute later, an older gentlemen in a suit walked out of the office. He looked at Maisie and grinned like he couldn’t believe she was the one causing all the fuss. Maisie did a quick scan of his wedding-ring finger, came up empty, and said a mental hallelujah in her mind.
She smiled back.
“Hello,” the man said.
“Hello yourself,” Maisie replied.
She stood.
The man walked over. “Are you here to see Joe?”
“I’m here for Joseph, yes.”
“I apologize for keeping you waiting. If I knew you were out here, I never would have kept him so long.”
“Oh, believe me. It was worth the wait.”
The man stuck out his hand. “I’m Ron.”
She accepted it, noting it was thick and firm. Manly. “Maisie.”
Down the hall, a man and woman laughed as they stepped into an elevator, distracting from Ron from their conversation. Ron’s attention shifted, and he turned, exposing what Maisie considered to be one of the finest pieces of man ass she’d seen in recent years. Plump. Round. Juicy. And just the right amount of firmness. Before she had time to consider her actions, she swept a hand through the air, smacking his ass cheek with her hand.
The moment her hand made impact, a familiar male voice behind her shouted, “Mother!”
Maisie whipped around, her eyes coming to rest on her son’s mortified face. One palm turned upward, the other on his hip, he wasn’t happy, and neither was she. It wasn’t her finest moment, to be sure. Then again, it wasn’t her most unrefined one either, and she wasn’t pleased it had been interrupted.
“Joseph,” Maisie said. “I just thought I’d stop by.”
“You never just ‘stop by,’” Joseph said. “Why are you here, really?”
A perplexed, red-faced Ron said, “You are the mayor’s mother?”
Maisie nodded. “I am. So good to meet you.”
Ron and Joseph exchanged glances like they owed each other an apology, then Ron turned, practically sprinting down the hall.
“Darn,” Maisie said. “We were having a lovely conversation. Too bad you had to go and ruin it for me.”
“Slapping a man you don’t know on his backside isn’t an appropriate thing to do. Especially when it’s in my office.”
“It wasn’t in your office though. It was outside of it.”
Joseph sighed and looked at the receptionist whose hand was over her mouth, stifling a laugh. “Destiny, you can go home now. Thanks for staying late today. I appreciate it. I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t mention what just happened to anyone.”
Destiny nodded, grabbed her handbag, and walked down the hall. Once she was out of earshot, Joseph turned back to Maisie. “I can’t believe this. I really can’t believe this!”
“Can’t believe what?”
“We have talked about this a thousand times. You can’t hit on my colleagues. Any of them. Ever. I work with Ron. I see him almost every day. I’m not even going to be able to look him in the eye now.”
Maisie walked into Joseph’s office. He followed, closing the door behind him.
“He was unfamiliar to me. How was I to know he was your colleague and not just someone you had a meeting with today?”
“You’re missing the point. Anyone you see inside the building is off limits.”
“Are you done lecturing me?” Maisie asked. “There are more important things we need to discuss.”
“I’m not lecturing you. Why are you here?”
“I need some information about a couple of the students who went to school with Zoey Marshall. Their names are Linda Perry and Brennan Allen. I think they may know something about Lane’s murder and Zoey’s disappearance.”
“Why?”
She thought about telling him about the text she’d received, then hesitated. If he knew they’d agreed to a meeting, he might not agree to look into their backgrounds. Besides, there was no guarantee they’d actually show up to the meeting. “I just spoke to them both, and I thought they acted very strangely. They wouldn’t answer all of my questions. They’re definitely keeping things from me. I need to know what they’re hiding and if it has anything to do with the Marshalls.”
She pointed at a golf ball-shaped notepad on his desk, one she’d given him the previous year on his birthday along with a bunch of other golf-related things, like green socks with miniature tees on them and new covers for his clubs. “Go on then. Don’t just stand there. Write their names down.”
“You can’t come to my office demanding I get you information.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not the FBI. How do you suggest I go about this ... finding out about these two?”
“You have connections, don’t you? Use them.”
“What is it you’re wanting to know?”
“Anything and everything about who they are and their backgrounds. I’d also like to have them followed. I’d like to know where they go, what they do, and who they talk to.”
“I can’t just put cops on these two because you suspect something you can’t prove.” He crossed his arms in front of him. “I had a long talk with MacDougal today. I know what you’re doing, and it needs to stop.”
“Spare me a second lecture about letting the police do their job. Lane Marshall was murdered right under our noses, Joseph.”
“I’m well aware. It doesn’t give you the right to get involved in police business.”
“I haven’t stood in their way. If anything, I’ve helped them. I was the one who found the gun buried in the Marshall’s back yard. Not the police. Me. And I did the right thing by handing it over.”
“Yes, I know all of this already. Believe me. I’ve been filled in.”
“All I’m asking you for is one small favor.”
“You’re asking for two. You’re asking for information, and you’re asking for them to be followed. I’m sorry, Mom. It’s not going to happen. You need to stop asking questions, stay out of it, and go on about your life. This case will be solved. MacDougal is excellent at what he does, and you know it. He doesn’t need you getting in his way.”
Undeterred and unwilling to take no for an answer, Maisie crossed one leg over the other and smiled. “I’ll wait.”
“What do you mean, you’ll wait?”
“I’ll sit here until you change your mind.”
Joseph walked to the window, staring down at the busy street below. “The city is unsettled over the fact the Marshall girl is still out there somewhere. The news just keeps running it and running it, over and over. People were out in droves looking for her today, passing out flyers, knocking on doors, and they’re all on our asses to make something happen so they can rest easy again.”
“I get it. You’re under a lot of pressure. I have no doubt everyone is doing all they can.”
“I don’t know what scares me more,” he said. “That we find Zoey Marshall alive, but she’s suffered and been abused in some terrible way, or we find her and she’s dead.”
“There’s still a third option, son. You could find her before any of those things happen and save her life.”
“It’s been over twenty-four hours. You know how it works. Each passing hour lessens the chances of her ever being found.”
“Listen to me, son. She’s a living, breathing woman, not a statistic. So don’t treat her like one. It isn’t fair to her, it isn’t fair to yourself, and those kinds of negative vibes won’t help you find her.”
He faced her, sighed. “Tell me more about Zoey’s classmates.”
“Linda overheard an argument Lane Marshall had with Brennan Allen. I asked what the argument was about, and they both went silent. Linda went out of her way to put a stop to the conversation and make sure Brennan wouldn’t say anything.”
The phone on the desk buzzed. He looked at the time. “It’s after hours, and the calls have been coming in non-stop all day today. I don’t have it in me to answer more of them until I get some rest. I’m through talking to people today. I shouldn’t even be at the office right now.”
“If the circumstances were different, I’d agree. Given the fact you have a dead kid on your hands and his wife was kidnapped, you better take it.”
He sighed, then lifted the phone to his ear. “This is Joe.”
For the next minute, he listened, pausing only a few times to give an occasional “uh-huh” response. The longer the conversation lasted, the more somber he became. Whatever he was being told, it wasn’t good. When he placed the phone back on the receiver a couple minutes later, he hunched over his desk, eyes glazed over.
“Joseph, what is it?”
“The roommate you saw today, Linda Perry. How long ago did you see her?”
Maisie glanced at the clock on the wall. “An hour ago, maybe. Why?”
“She was supposed to be meeting up with friends tonight. She didn’t show.”
“When I left her, Brennan was still there with her. He’d said something to her about her not being ready to go. I assumed wherever she was going, it was with him, so wouldn’t he have been with her?”
“He was the one who called police. He said after you left, she wanted to hop into the shower. She told him to go on without her and she’d meet him in an hour. When she didn’t arrive, he went back to her dorm room with a couple of their friends. Her keys were there along with her purse and her cell phone, but she was gone, and there’s smeared blood on the bathroom floor.”