out the ad. Jana began reading for any clues that might help them. It merely gave the year, model, and make of the car, condition, mileage, and contact number. Call Mira or Dwayne at 555-1220.
Lucas had stepped away from Dwayne and Meredyth, stepping down from the steps of the brownstone home and going toward the small car on the lawn with the FOR SALE sign on it, staring at the Saab, wondering if anything in the interior or the trunk might tell a tale of violence. 'Do you know it's against the law to park a car on your lawn, Mr. Stokes?'
'It is?' he said from the steps. 'Didn't know that, but look-it, it's not on the lawn. It's in the driveway.'
'We'll have to impound the car, Dwayne. Any objections?' Lucas asked, his own instincts leaning toward Dwayne's having made Mira disappear. 'Any objections to us hauling off the car, Mr. Stokes?' he shouted.
Dwayne stood shaking his head, saying, 'Oh, hell, no. Haul it off anytime. I got nothing stashed in that ol' thing.'
Lucas ciphered it out. Mira had placed an ad in the local Penny Saver, had had a few interested calls, and she felt certain she was on the way to unloading the Saab, according to Stokes, when she simply vanished after a male/female team interviewed her, not for the car but for Mira. It seemed a bit far-fetched and fortunate for Dwayne that the only so- called witness to the abduction was gone to Jamaica. The story seemed a well- orchestrated fiction, the clever twist in it being that a couple and not an individual had abducted Mira.
'Are you sure Mira isn't simply hiding from you, Dwayne?' Jana asked.
Her question was dripping with sarcasm, but it went well over Dwayne's head, and he excitedly answered. 'No way. Like I checked with every member of the family- hers and mine-and like every single friend, close and like not so close even. I tell you, I'm worried shitless about Mira. She's a good woman, certainly my better half.'
Lucas had studied Dwayne's body language and speech, his hands and eyes. His concern appeared genuine; he was shaken and certain something awful had happened to Mira. His act, if it were an act, was well rehearsed and performed; either that or the weed Dwayne had been smoking was good stuff.
Jana reminded Lucas of the reason they had come, and she suggested they not bother with the car at the moment.
Overhearing, Dwayne said, 'I told her mom to forward the medical records card thing you guys left with me when I filed the report.'
'Well, Mrs. Lourdes has failed to carry through,' Jana assured him.
'The woman thinks Mira wanted to get shed of me, and that Mira ran off and doesn't wanna be found. She's sitting around waiting for a phone call from her,' Stokes confided about the mother.
He gave them a phone number and an address, and as they walked away from Stokes, he added, 'Crazy mother of hers thinks maybe I did something to Mira! Don't listen to none of her bullshit. It's a lie!'
They left for the mother's house, and along the way, Lucas got on the phone to the CSI unit downtown, getting Nielsen on the phone. 'I've got a Saab story for you, Dr. Nielsen.'
'Oh?'
He explained that he wanted Mira Lourdes's Saab impounded and detailed for possible clues in her abduction, whether she was a match to his case or not. He gave her the address. 'The boyfriend has okayed our taking the car, but you best get a warrant anyway, to cover our behinds.'
'Will do.'
'And please contact me should you get there and find the vehicle mysteriously gone.'
'I will call you in such an eventuality, Detective.'
Once at the home of Mira Lourdes's parents, they went through a similar tirade as with Dwayne, except here both parents had nothing but vile words and suspicions sur-rounding Dwayne. They had a hatful of stories illustrating Dwayne's mistreatment of Mira that included physical and emotional abuse. Finally, the parents allowed Jana to get what they had come for, the release signature and the name and address of the dentist they must see.
Lucas and Jana arrived next at Irma Nance's home, as it was closer than Mira Lourdes's dentist. The seventeen- year-old's parents were a pair of drunks who talked over one another, trying to top each other for stories of how Irma was no good, but that she always came home with money from her job. When asked about the type of work she did, neither parent knew anything of how she earned 'enough to keep them in booze.' This was followed by a gaggle of laughter. The Missing Persons report had been filed by an aunt and uncle, while the mother and father 'expected Irma to walk through the door at any time.' They hadn't filed a dental release form because they didn't think she was truly missing, claiming that Irma was in the habit of disappearing for days at a time.
'Probably at a friend's house. She sleeps over a lot.' Mother took another sip on her beer bottle.
'You guys like a beer?' asked Father.
'Do you know her friend's address or phone number?' asked Jana.
Lucas looked on stoically holding onto his calm. The father, scratching beneath his T-shirt and ogling Jana, replied, 'She don't tell us who her friends are. How're we supposed to know who they are, much less have a number on 'em. Could we interest you two in a cold one?' he repeated.
'No, just please sign the medical release for her records, sir, and we'll be on our way,' Jana said, her skin crawling.
Lucas escorted her off as soon as Mr. Nance released the pen and returned the signed card. When they got out of earshot, Jana whispered, 'Missing Persons runs the entire gamut of human experience, Lucas, trust me. We see all kinds.'
'Sad part is that they're parents. Ought to have a DMV- type office where people have to register before having r kids.'
Now they raced to a Dr. Patel's office for Irma's records, getting there just at closing. The Pakistani doctor didn't want to be bothered, something about his kid's soccer game, but Lucas urged the doctor into cooperating, pointing out that he could be liable in a lawsuit if someone's child died because he was too busy to cooperate with police. They got the records.
Calling ahead to Mira's dentist, Dr. Edward Palmer, they got the answering machine. Too late for office hours, but in case of emergency dial Dr. Palmer at 555-9293.
Lucas made the emergency call, and got Palmer on a cell phone in his sports car, Lucas listening to the rev of the powerful engine in the background. Palmer, in sharp contrast to Patel, was instantly curious and interested in helping in any way that he could, promising to meet Lucas and Jana at his office.
'I'm turning around right now,' he said. 'Mira's a lovely, wonderful person, beautiful bicuspids.'
They met Palmer outside, and he eagerly opened his office to them without question, hardly glancing at their badges. 'I got a call earlier from her mother, but when you guys didn't show, I guessed you'd get around to it tomorrow. Any rate, here are her records. I had them pulled earlier.' He lifted the file filled with Mira's charts from his desk and handed it to Lucas. 'God, I hope she's all right. She's a great soul, that one. Full of life, always with a bright smile and kind word for everyone, you know? Wonderfully cared-for teeth.'
Not any more if she's our girl, Lucas painfully thought.
'Thanks for your cooperation, Dr. Palmer,' said Jana, who caught the doctor eyeballing her straight, bright teeth as if he wanted to get a closer look at them.
Outside, Jana congratulated Lucas on achieving the impossible, gathering up three dental records in one afternoon.
'I owe it all to your help,' he countered. 'Couldn't have done it without you. Fact is, if you hadn't like been with me to like deal with Dwayne Stokes, I might have like shot him.'
She laughed at this. 'I'm thirsty. Let's stop for a drink somewhere, shall we?'
'First things first. Next step, get all the data into Dr. Davies's hands and hope for a match.'
'All work and no play, Lucas. You haven't changed.'
Lucas drove Jana back to the precinct and thanked her for her help. It had grown late, and Jana decided to call it a night, so they parted on the street in front of the station house. 'I hope you find the bastard who set you and Meredyth up, Lucas. And if there's anything else we can do over at Missing Persons, don't hesitate. Fact is, should there be a match with one of our girls, you'll have to include us.'
'Will do.'
'Good luck and good night.'
'Thanks again, Jana.'
'Nothing succeeds like results, Lucas, and you get results. It's why people respect you. You're no ordinary
