part 12
Cassy was yawning when Tom arrived. He dropped a box of donuts on
her desk. "Eat up. Here comes Harry."
Harry approached the couple. "How are my favorite jet setters? All
refreshed and ready to work after that vacation?"
"It was no vacation, Harry," Tom said between bites.
"Prove it to me then. What have you got?"
Tom handed him the report; the report he was up until 3:00 that morning
typing.
Harry reviewed it while snagging a powdered donut. "What about the
report from Roxanne Sawyer?"
"It's right here." Tom handed him the second report.
He reviewed it. "According to Ms. Sawyer's report, Greer Garnett's
movements were typical of her during the last few days of her life. What
was odd was her behavior. And I quote 'While posing as a college student, I
hung around in the park next to Anderson Reed Home. I have noticed some things
about Greer Garnett. She seems frightened. I smiled at her and she smiled
back but then she looked around as though she was being followed and
ran to her car and sped off. Something definitely has this girl scared. One night
after she left work, someone followed her out of the parking lot. I followed them and we were both stopped at a red light. Attached is the license plate number. I saw her male friend, later identified as husband Zach Richards, leave the house every morning around five in the morning and return around three in the afternoon. I followed him to his job as a construction worker for JB Construction. Greer usually left for work at seven and returned home at five. In the two weeks I surveyed the couple, she never went anywhere after work or on the weekends. He did all of the shopping and other activities. Then on my last day on the job, I followed Mr. Richards to a bar that afternoon where he met a friend. I listened in from the next booth. He gave the friend his house keys and told him to sell the house as soon as
possible. The friend was concerned but Mr. Richards told him everything would be okay. He gave him a list of instructions and said he'd been a good friend. Then Mr. Richards left. I followed him back to his house and watched as he packed everything inside the car. He finished and went back into his house. He didn't return for the rest of the day and at ten that evening I left and headed to the airport to catch my return flight to LA.'"
Harry laid the report on Tom's desk. Have you traced the license plate?"
"I took care of that, Harry." Cassy took the donut from Tom's hand and bit
into it. It's a rental car issued to an Elizabeth O'Keefe. It's a phony
name with a phony address. I was able to locate five Elizabeth O'Keefe's in
the state. Two died in the last five years. One is an eighty-year-old-lady
who lives in a nursing home and is legally blind. Of the remaining two, one
has been stationed overseas with the Army for the last six months and the
last one turned two last week."
Tom laughed. "I think we should check into that two-year-old, Harry.
You never know what secrets can be learned at the sandbox."
"Very amusing, Ryan. I think we can safely assume that who ever killed
her is probably connected to this phony Elizabeth O'Keefe. We can eliminate
her husband, ex-fiancee and her estranged parents, yes?"
"Yes." Tom reached for the last donut.
"I'd say so." Cassy glared at him. He put half the donut back. She smiled at him.
"Good. Now it seems that all our leads keep ending up at the same place,
this Anderson Reed Home For Unwed Mothers. While you two were off
frolicking in LA, I did a research on this."
"We were not frolicking Harry."
"Shh, St. John. Anyway, from what I could gather, Anderson Reed was
established by Margaret Anderson Reed and her husband Gregory Reed in 1961.
Apparently the Reed's couldn't have any children and they came across
eighteen-year-old Samantha Lewis. Miss Lewis stayed with the Reeds until she delivered, signed the adoption papers and left. The baby, Charlotte, was raised by the Reeds until their deaths in 1981 and 1983. In 1984, Charlotte took the insurance policy and opened the Anderson Reed Home in memory of her parents. It dubs as a delivery room and adoption agency complete with a full staff. Charlotte ran the place from 1984 to 1996. After that, she left the business to her cousin Dr. Brian Reed and his wife Ashley and moved to Seattle with her husband and three kids. The doctor and his wife are still running the place. Therefore, I have decided you two are going to have a baby."
Stunned, Cassy knocked over Tom's cup of coffee. "Oh, Tom, I'm so sorry."
She reached for the cup, but managed to knock over all his pencils onto
the floor.
He took her wrists and set her down in the chair. "Cassy, it's okay. No
harm done."
Harry looked at his two officers with mild annoyance. "As I was saying,
you two are going into the Anderson Reed Home as potential parents-to-be."
He handed them each a file. "While you two were off in La La land, I was
busy creating these documents in case the parents and PI angle didn't work
out. Tom, Cassy, meet Patrick and Georgia Birch. Now go memorize your new
selves. Your appointment is at 3:00 today."
To Part 13