Mom Zone Mysteries 04-Magnolias, Moonlight, and Murder Page 14

  Party Countdown Checklist (Three to Four Weeks Prior)

  Compile guest list.

  Decide on theme.

  Set date and time.

  Set budget.

  Order, print, or hand-write invitations.

  Contact and reserve venue, if needed.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Equal amounts of official government police-type vehicles and news vans filled the street beside the vacant lot by the Quick Mart. Beyond the vehicles I could see a dozen people, maybe more, milling around the lot.

  A reporter setting up her camera waved to someone in the crowd. A woman with short blond curls, wearing an orange shirt, detached herself from the cluster of people and shook her hand dismissively at the reporter. “I think I know her,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

  I stepped carefully across the strip of brown grass and mud, wishing I’d grabbed my jacket before heading outside. Even though it wasn’t a downpour, the drizzle was cold. I suppressed a shiver and held my arms tighter to my body.

  “Nita,” I called. “Are you all right?”

  She looked up, startled. When she recognized me, she relaxed a bit. “Ellie, what are you doing here? I’m fine. Just on my way to rest in my car for a little while and warm up.”

  She didn’t look fine. She looked pale and chilled. I saw her gold car parked at an odd angle, hemmed in by the hulking official SUVs.

  “I don’t know if you’ll be able to get to it without soaking your shoes,” I said, pointing to the only path, which was basically a mud puddle. “Why don’t you come over here to this building? I’m working over there, at STAND’s offices.”

  She glanced back at the flurry of uniforms and I said, “Scott’s not there. I think you’ll be able to see what’s going on from inside and I can get you a cup of coffee.”

  “That would be wonderful.”

  I put out my arm to support her, but she picked her own way across the patchy grass and mud to the sidewalk where Candy still stood with moisture dotting her bangs.

  I was about to perform introductions when Candy said, “Mrs. Nita, what are you doing out here in this awful weather? Come inside with us and warm up.” She linked her arm through Nita’s and drew her inside the building. I should have known they knew each other.

  My shoes were muddy, so I paused to wipe them off and by the time I got inside STAND’s office, Candy had Nita seated in Scott’s chair and was brewing coffee for her.

  I pulled out the tube of foam cups I’d found earlier and handed one to Candy. She poured a cup for Nita, then raised the coffeepot and looked at me.

  “No, thanks. I’m not big on coffee,” I said.

  Candy replaced the coffeepot, then turned back to Nita. “You stay here as long as you want, Mrs. Nita. There’s no need for you to stand out there in the cold. I’m sure you can see just as much from these windows as you can outside.”

  Nita hadn’t stayed in Scott’s chair long. She’d gravitated to the windows and stood staring out, holding the coffee, but not sipping it.

  She looked over her shoulder and said, “Thank you so much, Candy. I do appreciate it.”

  Candy waved her thanks away, “It’s the least I can do. You and Mr. Gerald were so sweet when we were building our house.” She looked at me and explained. “Mr. Gerald let me change my mind three times on the tile and I don’t know how many times I switched the drawer pulls. You stay here as long as you want, Mrs. Nita. I’m going to the vending machine. Want a Coke? Snapple?” she asked me again.

  “Sure,” I relented. “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

  Candy must not have felt the same qualms about leaving me and Nita alone in the office, because she left without a backward glance.

  Nita continued to stand with her back to me, staring out the window at the dreary scene outside. I was dying to know what was going on out there, but she’d seemed so shaken when I first saw her face. And now she was clearly in her own world, unaware of me.

  I decided to leave her alone and went back to work cleaning up as best I could. I’d finished the first stage of organization, sorting through everything. During my next work sessions I’d organize the paperwork and arrange everything on the new shelves. One of the secrets to successful organization was breaking the project up into smaller pieces. Besides being frustrating, trying to finish a huge project in a couple of hours wasn’t realistic. I tugged boxes and stacks into a semblance of order, then sat down in one of the uncomfortable office chairs to write a note for Scott and bring him up to date with what I’d done.

  “We’ve been searching in the wrong place.”

  I raised my head.

  She sipped her coffee, then said, “All this time we’ve been so focused on Magnolia Estates. We should have been looking here.”

  Nita turned from the window, took a seat at Scott’s desk, and pulled her small computer out of her purse. “We have to move the search here,” she said.

  “What’s going on out there?” I asked.

  “The night Jodi disappeared there was one charge on her credit card. It was from that convenience store. She bought two bottles of water, an energy bar, and a map of Florida.”

  I looked out the window at the store. “Yes, Colleen told me about that. Was she on the store’s surveillance video?”

  “No. By the time we realized she was gone, they’d already taped over that day’s video. They have an old security system and still use tapes, instead of digital recordings.” Nita tapped her stylus on the desk. “Davey thought she’d caught a ride with someone and was on her way to Florida. That’s where he focused, but I know that’s not like her. Since her car was in her garage, I assumed she’d run to the Quick Mart, then returned home.” She stopped tapping. “I was wrong.”

  “Have you changed your mind? Now do you think she was getting ready for a road trip?” I asked.

  “No. I don’t. I really don’t. No one’s found any trace of her on the road or anywhere in Florida. I’m still positive she wouldn’t leave town without telling someone. We were so focused on Magnolia Estates that we overlooked this place.” Nita sighed wearily, then rubbed her forehead. “The police received a tip this morning about evidence in that lot. They found a plastic bag with two water bottles and an energy bar.”

  “But how can they know it belonged to Jodi? Anyone could have left it out there.”

  “A receipt.” She removed her hand from her forehead and looked forlorn as she said, “It had Jodi’s credit card account number on it.”

  “And it survived this long?”

  “Yes, it was faded, but readable. Davey tells me a tightly sealed plastic bag preserves what is inside it very well. The handles were tied at the top, locking out the moisture.”

  “Where’s the map?” I wondered.

  Nita sighed again. “I don’t know. And I don’t know why the bag would be in the middle of that field.” She looked scared again and I hated to think what scenarios were running through her head. She visibly pulled herself together and tapped the screen while murmuring, “E-mails, phone calls, notify the media.” As she said the last phrase she looked up at me again.

  “I think I need your help again, Ellie. I’m concerned about what might have been overlooked.”

  “The lot was searched before? When she disappeared?”

  “Yes, and I don’t understand why they didn’t find it. But that’s not what I was talking about. I’ve got to stay focused on the media and keep Jodi’s picture out there. Gerald isn’t good with television. Truth is, I’m not either, but of the two of us, I’m better at it and I’m her mother, so that’s a link the newspeople want to talk about, a hook.”

  She wasn’t bitter, just stating facts, and I knew she was right. The media thrived on stories of beautiful young women in danger, and a compelling news hook was an interview with family members.

  Nita said, “It’s all very draining. I’m not normally a person who’d seek out this type of attention and it fatigues me. Besides constantly being ‘on’—
do you know what I mean?—there’re so many news shows now. I can’t turn down anyone who wants an interview. It could be the one that helps us find Jodi.”

  For a few seconds I had a glimpse of what she was going through. I knew I worried and fretted over my kids constantly, but how could you deal with the worry and anxiety that Nita and Gerald felt every day?

  “It’s wearing me out. And, frankly, I can’t do the media part of this right now and focus on anything else. I have to do that because they’re fickle. A few days, maybe only a few hours, and they’ll have moved on to something else. What I’ve been trying to do for the last few days is go back through everything the police didn’t take after she disappeared. I know they looked through everything, but I can’t help feeling that they might have missed something. If they missed her notebook and a plastic bag in that field, who knows what else they might have missed?”

  “Now, Mrs. Nita, you know that field was one of hundreds of sites we searched in the days after she disappeared.”

  We both turned. Detective Dave Waraday stood in the doorway with Candy hovering behind him. She said, “He was looking for you, Mrs. Nita.” She squeezed past him and came into the room to hand me my Diet Coke; then she retreated to the front office as she said, “Y’all are welcome to stay back there as long as you need.”

  I stood up. “I’ve finished here. I’ll leave you two,” I said as I placed my note on Scott’s desk.

  “No. Don’t go, Ellie,” Nita said. “I want Ellie to go through Jodi’s papers again. She’s already found several things in Jodi’s notebook that weren’t mentioned in her articles.” Nita switched her gaze from Waraday back to me. “Will you be able to help me out?”

  “Of course, anything you need. Why don’t you call me later and we’ll talk about it?”

  “I think it would be better if you stayed. I’d like to discuss what you found in Jodi’s notes with Davey,” Nita said, nodding Waraday into the other visitor’s chair.

  “Fine. I want to keep tabs on anyone who’s dabbling in my investigation.” He sat down, but didn’t look happy. He looked like a kid who’d been summoned to the principal’s office.

  “Oh, she’s not dabbling,” Nita said with a tight smile. “She’s helping. I know how overextended you are, investigating William Nash and Jodi. Tell him about what you found,” she said to me.

  “There were two lists, one of story ideas, which mentioned Nash, and another with three names. Sherry, Rosalee, and Mary.”

  Waraday stared at me for a moment and I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. The bright fluorescent office lights highlighted his smooth, unwrinkled face. Not even a single crease under his eyes. I wished my skin looked that smooth. But when I looked at his eyes, I noticed his gaze was hard and appraising. “And you think this means…?”

  “Well, I think it means she was interested in Nash and made a note to talk to his cousin Sherry.”

  Waraday sat for a moment with his elbow on the armrest of the chair, his chin propped on his hand. He shifted his gaze back to Nita. “I’ll check into it,” he said slowly.

  Nita smiled. “Thank you. I’ll make sure you have copies of all Ellie’s notes. Now, I should go back out there. Are they still searching?”

  “No, ma’am. They’re done. The plastic bag was the only thing we found and we’re sending it to be analyzed now. We should have results in a few days.”

  She nodded and stood up. “Ellie, would you be able to come by my house tomorrow and look at Jodi’s things? I’d like you to see what there is and tell me how big a job it will be.”

  Waraday and I stood, too. I went to get my bin of supplies. Tomorrow I had to prep for Nathan’s birthday party. “How about now?”

  “Let me check and see if any of the reporters would like an interview first. How about we meet at my house in about an hour?”

  I nodded and Nita stopped to pat Candy on the shoulder. “Thank you, dear, for the coffee and the rest. I feel much better.”

  “No problem. You be sweet, Mrs. Nita,” Candy called as Nita left.

  I told Candy I’d be back next week to finish the storage area and then I left through the door Waraday still held.

  “Here, let me,” he said, gesturing to the plastic bin I was carrying.

  “Oh, that’s okay. I’ve got it,” I said, pacing down the hall quickly to walk with Nita.

  He caught up with us and opened the outer door for me. “At least let me give you a hand while you get your keys out,” he said, and I realized I was going to have to set the bin down anyway because he was right, I didn’t have my keys out like I usually did.

  I handed the bin over and dug my keys out. Waraday followed me to the Jeep and stowed the bin in the back. As he shoved the hatchback door closed, he said, “Mrs. Nita’s interest in this case is understandable. What I don’t understand is why you’re involved, Mrs. Avery.”

  At the mention of her name, Nita walked back to us and said, “I’m paying her to help out. She’s an organizer and I need a little organization in my life right now. She’s a kindhearted person, Davey.” Nita turned and stepped carefully through the mud to the throng of people by the Quick Mart.

  Waraday watched her for a second, then refocused on me. “Sure, you’re an organizer, but you seem to be almost as interested in Jodi’s case as her mother. I find that odd.”

  To tell or not tell? Did I let him in on the fact that I’d had a few run-ins with criminal investigations in the past? He was going to find out anyway, if he hadn’t already. Wouldn’t any investigator worth his salt have already checked me out, since I was the person who’d found the human remains?

  “Well, I’m assuming you’ve already talked to Oliver Thistlewait, so I don’t need to tell you I’ve been able to…contribute to several investigations.” Thistlewait was with the Office of Special Investigations at Greenly Air Force Base. Our paths had crossed when we lived there.

  He raised his eyebrows slightly. “Yes, I spoke to him a few days ago. He was very complimentary about you.”

  “I bet.” That popped out before I could stop myself. “I’m sure he’s glad I don’t live anywhere near Greenly Air Force Base now. Let’s just say I don’t think he was ever thrilled to see me.”

  “Nevertheless, he said you’re a good observer and have a knack for finding things out.”

  That assessment surprised me. It wasn’t at all what I would have thought he’d say about me. “Well…maybe it’s because I like things organized. I can spot things that don’t fit or, sometimes, what’s missing.” And when things didn’t fit, it irritated me to no end, but Waraday didn’t need to know that. I moved around to the driver’s side of the car and opened the door. He didn’t seem to have anything else to say and his long silence was making me uncomfortable.

  I climbed into the driver’s seat and reached out to pull the door closed. “I’m sure Nita will let you know if anything turns up.”

  He caught the door before I could close it and said, “Jodi’s belongings were searched. We pulled anything that impacted the investigation.”

  “But isn’t it possible that something could have been overlooked, missed—” I glanced at the field. “Something that might not have seemed significant ten months ago, but might be important now?”

  “It’s possible,” he conceded. His gaze was on the field as he said, “You do your search, but realize that the best hope we have of finding out what happened comes from hard evidence like fingerprints and Jodi’s movements on that last day. Not from speculation.”

  “What are you saying? That you don’t want me to look through Jodi’s things?”

  “No. If you find something, bring it in, but don’t get Mrs. Nita’s hopes up.”

  “This was her idea, not mine.”

  “Have a good day, Mrs. Avery.” He closed the door, then tapped the side of the car as he went around behind it on his way back to the field.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “It’s all in here in the garage,” Nita said. She opened th
e door and I followed her down a short set of stairs. A blue Jetta took up one side; the other was stacked with boxes. Nita’s gold Taurus was parked in the driveway and Gerald wasn’t home, so the blue car must be Jodi’s.

  “We have her furniture in a storage unit,” Nita said as she walked down a narrow path between the boxes, scanning the writing on the sides of them. “Of course, this is just what was left after the investigators took what they thought was important. The FBI still has her computer.”

  “The FBI is involved in Jodi’s case?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yes, there are several agencies involved in her case. The FBI, the GBI—that’s Georgia Bureau of Investigation—the sheriff’s office. Some are more involved than others.” She sounded weary and her shoulders drooped as she ran down the list. She stopped about halfway down the aisle and rested her hand on a stack of boxes. “Everything is labeled. These were from her office at the house. This is where I think you should start.”

  “It doesn’t look like you need any help with organizing anything,” I said doubtfully.

  “No, I know where her things are.” She ran her hand over the tape that sealed the box before continuing. “Honestly, I can’t bear to look through Jodi’s life right now. Every small thing will bring back a memory. I’d get lost in memories.” She blinked a few times, then said briskly, “I can’t allow myself to do that. There’s too much to do.”

  I nodded and swallowed. If Nita wasn’t going to cry, I wouldn’t let myself either, but I could see how torn up she was.

  “I’ll leave you to look around.”

  Nita left and I sighed. She’d described all this stuff as Jodi’s life, but it was a life on hold, frozen until there was some resolution. Maybe it was because it was gloomy in the garage—there was only one window and one overhead light—but a feeling of sadness seemed to permeate the place. Once, when Mitch and I were looking at houses, we stepped inside the front door and I knew immediately that neither one of us liked the dark, almost sad, room. Our agent had scurried around opening curtains as he said, “Sometimes houses get in a funk. They have a bad vibe to them.”