Part 2
Within seconds after escorting Mr. and Mrs. Barbara from the station, Tom and Cassy returned to their desks and heard the familiar call of their Captain. "Ryan, St. John." The two detectives entered Harry's office, shutting the door behind them. "So what did you find out?"
"Not a lot," Cassy said as she sat heavily in the chair next to the desk. Tom found a comfortable spot on the couch.
"They said the victim in the photo was their daughter, Sarah. Morton's going to meet them at the morgue to get a positive ID." Tom added.
"Did they give you any leads?" the Captain asked as he leaned forward in the chair.
"Maybe. They said that Sarah had come to them a month ago about taking a job with a modeling agency." Cassy read from her notes. "The Starlight Modeling Agency."
"And?" Harry followed.
"And they refused. She was furious. She sneaked behind their backs and did it anyway. When they found out, they grounded her," Tom answered.
Cassy nodded, "A couple of days later, she disappeared."
"Did they try looking for her at the agency?" Harry frowned.
"Yep. The head of the agency said that she had not been there. Mr. Barbara said that the owner appeared to be legitimately concerned about Sarah's disappearance." Cassy flipped to the next page of her notes.
"What about her friends?"
"The parents talked to them, but no one had any answers. She just seemed to drop off the face of the earth. They did give us a list of names." Cassy shook her head. "God, I hate to think what happened to her during the time she was missing."
"Talk to the agency owner yourself. If the girl wanted a job in modeling and ran away from home to make her dream come true, that's the first place she would go." Harry ordered.
Agreeing with his reasoning, Tom moved towards the door. "We're on it, Harry. It's the only lead we have."
"Ten bucks says I beat you there?" Cassy asked as they returned to their desks.
"I'm not gonna play that game anymore, Cass." Tom shook his head, grabbing his sports coat.
"Oh, come on Ryan. I'm giving you a chance to save face. You know, same rules: obey all traffic signs, no speeding. I bet I still get there at least two minutes before you." She grinned and then paused. "Heck, I'll even give you a head start."
Tom shot her a disapproving look, "No Cass. I know you're cheating on this. I just know it."
"Now, Thomas, is that anyway to talk to your partner?" Cassy's face fell to mock sorrow.
"Probably not, but it's appropriate for my ex-wife," Tom responded snidely.
"You know what? I think someone's manhood has been damaged." Cassy grabbed car keys from her desk drawer. "Fine, we'll take a plain wrap. That'll put us on even ground. Okay?" She strutted past her partner, not waiting for an answer.
"My manhood's intact, St. John!" Ryan shouted at the woman as the double glass doors shut behind her.
"I'll say it is." A female voice responded from behind. Turning, Tom realized that he had garnered quite an audience with the last statement, an audience that included Marnie Willis. Suddenly feeling his face flush with embarrassment, Tom turned away from the woman and slipped on the jacket. He tried to ignore the eyes which he knew were staring at his. . .anatomy. A quiet voice whispered behind him, "I've told you before, Tom, play hard to get. It makes me hot when you do that."
Tom spun around and moved away from the woman quickly. "Uh. . .yeah. . .I mean. . .no." He could hear snickering from entertained spectators who had been taking in the entire confrontation. Flustered, Tom made a beeline for the door before any more damage could be done to his ego.
"May I help you?" The young brunette said from her receptionist desk.
Cassy pulled out her identification. "I'm Sgt. St. John, this is Sgt. Ryan. We'd like to speak to the owner. . .a Mrs. Moore."
The woman looked at her calendar. "I'm sorry, but I don't see you in my calendar."
"That's because we aren't there," Tom commented from behind. "This is police business. Could you please find your boss."
The woman looked offended at his words, but retreated down the hallway. Within seconds she returned to the front, a well dressed, sophisticated woman following close behind.
The woman gave a winning smile to the detectives and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Gwen Moore. Maria says that you need to talk to me."
Cassy shook the woman's hand first; Tom followed. "Ms. Moore, I'm Sgt. St. John, this is Sgt. Ryan. We are with the homicide division of the Palm Beach P.D. Is there some place we can go to talk."
The woman's face turned serious. She pointed back down the hallway. "Sure. We can go to my office."
After the three had settled into chairs that surrounded a small worktable, Cassy removed a photo from the file she'd been carrying. "Do you know this girl?"
The woman took the picture and then her eyes grew wide in shock and her face paled. "Oh my God. Who?. . .What?. . .," the woman stuttered.
Cassy shot a look at her partner and then turned an apologetic face to the woman. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you."
"That's o. . ." The woman stopped and took a deep breath. "That's okay." She studied the photo for a moment, then looked up at the detectives. "I'm not sure. . .but she does look familiar." The woman's eyes returned to the picture. "I think she. . .. Wait a second, she was that run away. The one whose parents came here asking about her a few weeks ago."
Tom nodded. "Forgive me, but how did you know? The picture isn't that good."
The woman smiled. "Photographing people is my life. I'm very good with faces." Then the woman stood and moved to a file cabinet in the corner. Leafing through a few files, she pulled out a manila folder. Handing the file to Tom, she sat back down in her chair. "Sarah Barbara." The woman picked up the photo of the corpse and shook her head sadly. "How did she die?"
"She was strangled," Cassy answered flatly. "She was also sexually assaulted."
"Oh God. . ." the owner whispered.
"How did you meet her?" Cassy continued.
"I saw her in a play at the Civic Theatre. She had a certain. . .something. Something that I knew I could nurture." The woman shook her head. "I gave her parents my card and a permission slip for test shots. Sarah came in a few days later. The slip was signed, so we did a mini-session. I made an offer to her parents about a short term modeling contract. They turned me down. That was it. I never saw her again."
Cassy and Tom exchanged glances. "So at no point in the past three weeks did she come in and ask for work?"
Gwen shook her head. "No." She then picked up the photo and bit her lip. "And believe me, detectives, even if she had, I would have turned her down."
"Why?" Cassy asked in surprise.
"Because she had forged her parents' signature on the permission form. Her parents were furious at me for having taken the pictures in the first place." The woman pointed to the file. "As you can see, they're just face shots." Tom flipped through the file and nodded in agreement. "They were so angry at me that I wouldn't dare have done business with the girl." The woman paused and then whispered, "God, I can't believe this happened to her. She was. . .so. . ."
"Pretty?" Cassy guessed.
"Innocent," Gwen corrected.
"So, what do you think?" Tom asked Cassy as they returned to their police-issue sedan.
"I picked up total shock. No indication of lying. You?"
"The same. After the first photography session, she never saw Sarah again."
Cassy nodded. "And her story matches the Barbaras'."
"Damn," Tom muttered. "That means we're back to square one."
"So, do we talk to the school friends?" his partner suggested.
"Yep," was the curt reply.
End Part 2
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