Vega nodded, and they were quiet again. Gail began to pace.
“So you find missing people, that right? How many you found so far?”
“Eighteen.”
“How many times you been hired is the real question?”
“Eighteen.”
This pushed Gail back for just a second. She took a sip of her drink and prepared to say something else.
Then there was another voice, high and hoarse:
“How many of them were kids?”
Vega turned her head and saw Jamie Brandt emerging slowly from a dim hallway.
Her face was pale, her eyes looked like dark cutouts in a white mask. Her hair was wet and straw blond. She wore sweatpants and a cropped T-shirt. Vega thought she couldn’t have been older than thirty.
Vega stood up and said, “Most of them.”
“When you found them, were they alive, or what?”
Vega looked her right in the eyes and said, “Sixteen alive. One dead. And one alive but”—she tapped her head—“dead.”
Jamie nodded, stepped forward.
“What do you want to know?”
“You don’t have to do this,” Gail said to her.
“No, I want to talk now,” she said, sitting on the couch. “Maggie thinks you can help, great.” She took a cigarette from her mother’s pack, lit it, and said, “So fucking help.”
Vega sat back down and stared straight at Jamie as if they were the only two people in the room.
“Is there anyone who you think might want to kidnap your daughters?”
“No,” Jamie said, exhaling smoke. “No one.”
“Where is the girls’ father?”
“I don’t know. Cops are looking for him. He took off after Bailey was born. I haven’t seen him since then.”
Jamie’s eyes had a glazed look. Vega suspected she’d said it all to the police.
“What kind of a man was he?”
This made Gail and Jamie both laugh harshly and shake their heads.
“What kinda man leaves a wife and two little girls?” said Gail.
Vega ignored her and kept talking to Jamie.
“Was he a drinker?” said Vega.
Jamie shrugged one shoulder.
“Sure,” she said.
“Was he a drunk?”
“Not like, professionally, if that’s what you mean. Hey, you know, he didn’t take them. He’s the cops’ first idea too, but I told them, if he didn’t want them then, he sure as shit wouldn’t want ’em now when they’re just about to be teenagers.”
“What else can you tell me about him?” said Vega, her voice steady.
Jamie sighed. “He couldn’t hold down a job, and he liked girls with big tits. Any girl with big tits. They could look like Oscar the Grouch in the face, but as long as they had big tits, he liked them.”
Maggie Shambley pressed her fingers to her forehead as if she had a headache.
“Is there anyone else you know who would have something to gain by taking the girls?” said Vega.
“No, no,” Jamie said, shaking her head.
“Is there anyone who has shown an interest in the girls that struck you as strange?”
“No.”
“Anyone at school?”
“No.”
“You have any enemies you’re aware of?”
Jamie’s eyes flickered, combative.
“I’m not a saint, you know, but does someone hate me so much they’d take my kids? No. Cops asked me all this.”
“You owe anyone money, for gambling or drugs?”
“Je-sus Christ,” said Gail, standing up. “She’s the victim here, you know.”
“Mom, sit down,” said Jamie. Her jaw was tight, the bottom row of teeth jutting out in a stiff underbite. “I buy a dime of pot every three weeks from a guy named Rocky Tibbs. I pay him up front every time. I told the cops all about it. Rocky’s got six kids or something; he doesn’t need mine. You got any more fucking questions?”
They were all quiet. The only sound was Arlen’s labored breathing.
Then Vega said, “Why did you keep his name?”
“Huh?” Jamie said.
“Your ex-husband’s. He sounds like someone you’re glad to be rid of. Why did you keep his name?”
Jamie paused. Everything up until now, Vega knew, the police had asked her. Maybe not this.
“?’Cause it’s their name. The girls’. It’s on their birth certificates.”
Jamie stamped the cigarette into an ashtray on the coffee table. She touched her lips.
“I wanted people, all their little friends and their parents, to know I’m their mother, me.”
She pointed to herself and started tapping her foot, moving her whole leg like she was pressing the pedal on an old sewing machine.
—
Vega left with Maggie Shambley close to eleven. The temperature had dropped. Vega felt cold wet air on her neck and ears.
“You have to forgive my sister,” said Maggie. “All of them. I know they don’t show it right now, but they’re all very glad you’re here.”
“Sure,” said Vega.
“That’s me,” said Maggie, pointing to a Lexus across the street. Then, “Oh, here.”
She handed Vega a business card that read “The Old American Inn” in curly script.
“A friend of mine runs it. She and I have an arrangement. It’s the best bed-and-breakfast in the area. I brokered the deal for the place myself.”
Vega took the card and stared at it.
“I’ll really be fine in a hotel. Like a Best Western or something.”
“Oh no,” said Maggie. “This place is so much better.”
“I don’t really eat breakfast,” said Vega.
Now Maggie smiled like a grandmother and said, “Breakfast is entirely optional. It’s cleaner and quieter than any motel, you’ll see. And there are bedbugs in all those motel chains. Have you heard about that?”
She pulled her keys out of her purse, nodded to the house, and said, “What do you think?”
“Hard to say right now. I have to do some research.”
“Will you be talking to the police?” said Maggie.
“Yes, tomorrow. I’ll need to speak with Jamie afterward.”
“I’m sure she’ll be more amenable,” said Maggie.
Vega was not at all sure of this.
“I will speak with you soon, Miss Vega. Thank you for coming.”
They shook hands again, and Maggie got into her car and drove off. Vega looked down the road at the unmarked car. She wasn’t sure but thought she could see the shadow of a man at the wheel. The man didn’t move and didn’t seem bothered by her seeing him. Vega stood up straight and stared at him for another minute. She wasn’t bothered either.
—
Later, in her room at the inn, Vega emptied her head in an email to the Bastard.
TO: [email protected]
FROM: Alice Vega
RE: Info
I’m near Phila working a case. Could you look up the following for me:
? Whereabouts of Kevin Michael Brandt, dob: 12/19/81, ss: 199-75-8225. Start with PA, NY, OH, WV, MD, DE, then expand to all US. Any other relevant information.
? Ridgewood Mall on Sterling Road E—can you get me security camera feed from around the Kmart from last Sat until 1pm? Also all parking lot exits/entrances.
? Hess Gas on Township Hwy 148—security camera feed from last Sat morning.
? Staff and faculty at Starfield Middle School and Denville East Elementary—look for anything that stands out.