CHAPTER FIVE
ENVISIONING OLIVIA in a car accident, bloodied and crying out his name, Jonah's heart pounded. He should have arranged for someone to drive her to the hospital. When he found his voice, he asked, "Involving who?"
"Your sister-in-law, Charlotte Armstrong. Sgt. Nicholson is on the scene and asked me to notify you."
Jonah calmed considerably knowing Olivia hadn’t been involved in a mishap. "Go on."
"Ms. Armstrong was a passenger on a bus that smashed into gas pumps at the U-Serve station on Fifth. Your sister-in-law's purse was found on a seat in the bus."
"How is my sister-in-law?" Fearing bad news, Jonah forced objectivity.
"There's the rub, sir. No one can find her."
"What?" The question burst from Jonah's lips. This day just got worse and worse. He checked his watch. Only a few hours until midnight, then a new day would dawn. Hopefully, one significantly improved from today.
"Maybe Charlotte wasn't on the bus. Maybe her purse was stolen, or maybe she walked away from the accident."
"Those are possibilities, of course, sir. It's just that ..."
When the silence stretched into a half-minute, Jonah prompted the cop to continue. "It's just what?"
"Well, sir, a severed digit was found lying next to your sister-in-law's handbag. The wedding band on the finger is engraved with the words, 'Charlotte and Isaac Forever' and Sgt. Nicholson said no one would have been able to walk away from an accident like that. It's pretty bad, sir."
Jonah took a deep breath. This would devastate his brother and Jonah needed to be there for Isaac. And Jonah would. The Leedes stood by each other like the traditional wedding vow — in good times and bad.
"Has my brother been notified?"
"Sgt. Nicholson thought you might like to handle it personally."
Informing the next-of-kin was the hardest part of his job. Informing the next of kin who was your brother measured somewhere between only one thing could be worse and would this day never end. Conveying this kind of news needed tactful and compassionate handling. He couldn't trust anyone on the force to do that and Nick had the foresight to see it.
Jonah thanked Wilkins and flipped the cell closed, blowing out a loud breath.
"What happened?" Doug asked.
"Charlotte was reportedly a passenger on a bus that collided with gas pumps."
"Reportedly?"
"She's MIA. They haven't been able to account for her body. I need to get to the scene and see for myself. Can you look after things here? Get the reports from the canvass, get — "
"I know the drill. Go. What about Mrs. Harper?"
Jonah had many questions for Velma, but the Charlotte matter took priority at the moment. He delegated Doug to interrogate her and ran him down a list of questions to ask. "And don't forget to ask her about the feather. The damn bird is the key to solving this case, I'm sure of it."
Doug saluted him.
Jonah reached the door before his cell phone rang for the second time in five minutes. He checked caller ID — Olivia calling.
He answered her call, suspecting she called from the hospital to deliver the bad news of his sister-in-law's demise, which meant Charlotte's body had been found. He sighed with relief, believing this matter, at least, had found an end.
"Hi honey," he said, injecting a smile in his voice, and preparing to hear that she called Charlotte's time of death. Olivia surprised him, as she tended to do at times.
"Shall we give it another go?" she asked. "Can you get away?"
Her voice sounded like she was in a vacuum. Olivia obviously cupped the mouthpiece of the phone, ensuring her privacy. Come famine or flood, his wife was determined to conceive this month. He wanted children too, but hey, he had other priorities at the moment.
Before he could answer, she said, "I reserved a room on the east wing of the fifth floor down for maintenance."
Olivia's special invitation tempted him but he couldn't take her up on the offer. "I'm sorry, honey, I can't get away right now."
"What?"
Olivia, he noticed, no longer cared who overheard her conversation. He related his evening thus far.
"You didn't happen across Charlotte's body, did you?" The question was stupid, and he said so. She would have told him by now if she had.
"Nonsense. You're understandably distraught and to answer your question, I haven't and I don't believe any of the other attendants did either, or they would have mentioned it. Let me take a look at the log."
"Thanks, hon." He listened to the sounds commonplace to an ER in any hospital. Seconds later, she came back on the phone. "She isn't listed, Jonah."
Somehow, he had already known it.
"What are you going to do now?" she asked.
"I'll call Isaac first. Maybe she's at home making his life difficult and this is just a horrible mistake."
"Let's hope so. About the last part, I mean. Isaac will be devastated, otherwise. Keep me posted."
"You got it. Text me if you need me." He ended the call on a hopeful note. "Don't cancel that reservation."
Her giggle lifted his spirits. He fled the alcove that had afforded him privacy for Olivia's call and strode toward the elevator.
Within minutes, he was stopping the unmarked cruiser behind the lengthy line of emergency vehicles. He pulled the keys from the ignition and left the car. Glass shards crunched beneath his feet. Emergency lights and the stench of gas and burning rubber became stronger the closer he came to the accident scene. The bus was blackened from smoke, its tires and windows all but obliterated.
Hundreds of people stood behind wooden barricades. Some shook their heads while others chatted, their faces and voices animated with excitement.
Jonah would never comprehend man's desire to take happiness from the grief and misfortune of others. He walked directly to patrol cop and long time friend, Ben "Nick" Nicholson, who presently belted orders at civilians, strictly advising them to keep behind the barricade or they'd be hauled downtown for obstructing justice.
He and Nick went way back. They joined the force together and rode patrol for many years. While Jonah wanted advancement in the department, Nick was content with what he did.
"Yo," he said to catch the cop's attention. Jonah watched Nick, brisk and rangy, look over his shoulder and smile.
"What've you got for me?" Jonah asked when he stood alongside his former partner.
Nick walked him through the accident and briefed him on the victims. "Several passengers were injured, some seriously. I think we can safely say the bus driver was the only fatality. If Charlotte is dead, her body would be on the scene."
Jonah gave a half-hearted grin. Nick didn't know her at all. If there were a way for Charlotte to walk dead, she'd find it. When Nick shook his head and looked back at the mangled bus, Jonah prompted Nick. "What is it?"
"As you can see, the area behind the driver received the most damage, and that's where we found your sister-in-law's purse and severed digit. She should be dead, but she can't be if her body is not here."
Jonah studied the side of the bus behind the steering wheel and agreed with Nick that anyone sitting in that seat would never have survived. "There's still no sign of her?"
"None. We checked every square inch of this area, and no one saw anyone getting off the bus of their free will. She didn't just go up in a puff of smoke. I wonder where her body disappeared to?"
Jonah pondered that, too. Charlotte had always been dogged and accomplished anything she set her mind on doing. Rising from the dead, though? He shook his head. That wasn't possible, not even for Charlotte who gave new meaning to ‘determined’. "Where are her effects?"
"This way."
Jonah followed Nick to a police cruiser where he took Charlotte's purse and packaged finger from the trunk. Under other circumstances, the detached part and worldly goods would accompany the body to the hospital.
Through the plastic, he examined the finger. There was no doubt. To his experienced eye and rem
embering the many times she’d given him the finger (in jest, of course), the digit belonged to Charlotte. A scientific analysis would have to be carried out, but Jonah knew the results would only confirm what he'd already concluded.
"What do you think? Is it your sister-in-law's?"
"I'd say so."
"What now?"
Nick appeared bewildered. Jonah understood the feeling. "I'd like to talk to those witnesses."
"They're in the café. Officer Smythe's with them."
Jonah followed the direction of Nick gaze to a small restaurant on the end of the service station. "Thanks for the help."
"No problem, partner." Nick slapped a hand on Jonah's shoulder. "I hope everything works out."
"Yeah, me too." Jonah's cell beeped. He read the text message: Coming?
He wanted to. The hospital was right around the corner. He could take the time, maybe make a baby with his wife. Meanwhile, Charlotte might turn up.
Aw, Hell. He couldn’t do it and called his brother. When he answered, Jonah asked without preamble, "Is Charlotte with you?"
"Listen, if this is about — "
"Jesus, Isaac. Just answer the question. Is she there or not?"
"No. What's this about?"
Jonah fabricated a story that was only part lie. "I want to talk to her about an accident she may have witnessed. I'll get back to you." Jonah disconnected the call and condemned Charlotte to Hell. Later, he would regret the judgment.