She Once Vanished, page 16
Zachary said nothing, folding his clothes into small packets and fitting them into his carry-on.
“They are going to freak out,” Kenzie groaned.
“Then maybe it’s a good thing you’re leaving town.”
33
Kenzie was right about her parents not being happy to hear the news of the recent attack. Normally, Kenzie would have gone to another room to make a personal call to her parents and avoid disturbing Zachary’s work. This time, however, she called with Zachary sitting beside her, using speakerphone so they could both participate. Kenzie wasn’t sure she would be able to explain what had happened without getting emotional.
Zachary thought she had every right to be emotional and should not be so worried about crying in front of her parents. Or on the phone with them. She was a human being with emotions, and they were family.
But the Kirsches had some very clear ideas about how to behave in various social situations, and Zachary assumed she had been told in the past not to cry over some upsetting situation. Or maybe Lisa and Walter had just modeled the stiff upper lip. Maybe Kenzie had learned not to show her grief when her sister Amanda had been sick or when she had died, and in the dozens of fundraisers where her life and death had been discussed since then. Grief was a private thing; she had been taught one way or another that one should only shed tears in private.
Of course, Zachary wasn’t much better. He couldn’t count the number of foster homes or other situations where he had been told that boys didn’t cry, that he had nothing to cry about, or to wipe those tears away and act like a man. His ex-wife Bridget had been mortified by any show of emotion or weakness by Zachary in public and castigated him in private.
It had taken a lot of therapy sessions, both with Kenzie and alone, to get to the point where he wasn’t so embarrassed and afraid to cry in front of Kenzie or Dr. Boyle. He still felt like a failure when he couldn’t contain his emotions.
But he thought Kenzie should feel more free to cry. Her parents were supposed to be educating themselves on mental illness, trauma, and other issues that should have taught them that expressing emotion, especially during a traumatic situation, was a good thing, not bad.
“MacKenzie,” Lisa greeted warmly, “what a wonderful surprise. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you. Are you at work?”
“No, Mom. I need to talk to you and Dad. Is he there?”
Since they were pretending that Walter was convalescing at his ex-wife’s home following a stroke, he couldn’t very well be anywhere else.
“Yes. Is everything all right?”
“I wanted to talk to you both together if I could. That would be easier than having to repeat myself. Is he available? Or is he napping?”
“He may be retired, but he is not yet taking naps. Unless you’re talking about him ‘resting his eyes’ while watching C-SPAN.”
“Could you get him?” Kenzie prompted.
Zachary could already hear Lisa’s heels on the floor as she walked across the house to wherever Walter was entertaining himself.
“Walter? It’s MacKenzie.”
“What’s wrong?” Walter asked in the background.
“I don’t know. Hold on while I figure this out… Okay, have I got you, MacKenzie? You’re on speaker.”
“Hi, sweetie,” Walter greeted.
“I’ve got Zachary with me,” Kenzie told them.
Everyone exchanged polite greetings, but the tension was palpable.
“Mom, Dad… Everything is okay. But I needed to let you know what’s going on.”
“What is it?” Lisa asked worriedly.
“Yesterday…” Kenzie breathed out heavily. She looked at Zachary for help, but he wasn’t sure whether she wanted him to take over. He squeezed her hand. “When I got home from buying groceries, a van pulled up behind me, and…” She choked up, unable to go on.
Zachary rubbed her back, proud of her for getting as far as she had. His own throat was tight and hot and he didn’t know if Kenzie’s parents would be able to hear the strain in his voice.
“Two men jumped out of the van,” Zachary told them. “They… it was… another abduction attempt.”
There was a stunned silence from Walter and Lisa and then they were both talking together, talking over one another, trying to get all the details.
“Are you okay?” Lisa demanded. She swore, something very rare for her. “I can’t believe something like this happened! Did you call the police? What happened?”
“Kenzie is fine,” Zachary told them. “They didn’t lay a finger on her. We scared them off before anything could happen. The police came and are looking into it. But it was very difficult for Kenzie, very traumatic after the… the other kidnapping.”
Kenzie shook her head, trying to stop Zachary. “I’m okay; it’s not that bad.”
“She talked to our therapist and she’s okay,” Zachary assured them. He didn’t reveal that Kenzie was now on anti-anxiety meds or that she was supposed to get further counseling. That was something Kenzie could choose to share or not. “Everything is fine. But you needed to know.”
“Yes,” Walter agreed. His voice was clipped and angry. “They will pay for this! I can’t believe they would go after you again. I’m supposed to be recovering from a major stroke, and they are still trying to coerce me?”
“No, Walter,” Lisa insisted. “You cannot respond to this. Not… not the way you are thinking.”
Walter stopped short in his protestations. “What do you mean?”
Kenzie was wiping at her eyes. Trying to stay under control even when they couldn’t see her crying.
“They are testing. Seeing whether you can be moved the same way you were before. But you can’t respond to them. Not this time. If you cave and go back to lobbying, you will never be able to escape their grasp.”
“What did you mean, then, not the way I am thinking?”
Walter’s reaction was typically male. To go after the people who were threatening his little girl, to use some kind of threat or violence to convince them that he could not be coerced this time, that they could not continue to use his daughter to manipulate him.
Zachary thought he could see where Lisa was going. This was a test; if they did not respond correctly, they would never be free of the Russians. If they did, though…
“You need to have another stroke,” he told Walter. “A major setback. The stress of this attack on Kenzie makes you worse, takes you to death’s door.”
Walter made a noise of protest, but Lisa immediately agreed. “Exactly. They think they can use Kenzie to manipulate you into doing what they want you to. They think this might all be a lie, a strategy, so they are testing you. But no matter how angry you are at them, you can’t go up against the Russian mob. Even against that one oligarch. Their reach is too far. There is nothing you can do, even armed to the teeth, even threatening them with exposure. We can’t prove that they did this.”
“I’m not going to be intimidated into hiding—”
“You need to follow through on the act. You need to make them believe you can’t do anything for them anymore. You need to finish what you started.”
“They won’t believe it.”
“You need to make them believe,” Zachary told him. “Get a private ambulance service over there right away. You have lots of contacts in the medical community with all the donations you have made. Make them believe that you are being taken to the hospital in dire condition. Plant a false trail there. A wealthy patient whose name cannot be entered into the hospital’s computer records, a private room, secret doctor visits, someone important and influential close to death after an emotional shock.”
“Do I have to stay there?”
“You have to make sure they will play along with you. They can’t actually get into your hospital room to see if you are there, but any inquiries should confirm that you are there, but no one can know about it.”
“What about MacKenzie?” Lisa asked. “It’s dangerous for her to stay at home. They could come after her again, try to get the truth out of her.”
“They have a security system,” Walter pointed out.
“Kenzie and I are going to go away for a few days,” Zachary told them, glad they had already made plans. “I have an investigation that is taking me to Arizona. We will be out of the way.”
“But she wouldn’t go to Arizona if I was at death’s door,” Walter protested.
“If you and Lisa thought her life was in danger? You’re doing everything you can to keep her safe. Including sending her away.”
“Well…”
“We’ll stop at the hospital first,” Zachary said. “Tell us what wing to visit after arrangements are made. We’ll go in for a few minutes, and then hustle out. Put on a big show. Then we’ll head straight for the airport while apparently trying to hide our identities.”
“Do you really think that would work?” Lisa asked doubtfully. “They won’t think that you’re trying to deceive them? That we’re all just playing a game?”
“The more misinformation you can plant, the better. It’s going to mean lying to your friends as well as acquaintances. Unless someone is one hundred percent trustworthy, you cannot tell them the truth. Make sure it gets onto social media. The other lobbyists Walter worked with. Everyone.” He thought about Elysse. “Just like with Elysse Allan, you have to make sure everyone hears the same story.”
“Elysse?” Lisa repeated doubtfully.
“She’s the woman who disappeared a while ago. A social influencer. No one knew where she had gone. Everyone thought she had been killed by her boyfriend. Until she showed up in the Grand Canyon.”
“I know who Elysse Allan is,” Lisa told Zachary. “I just… don’t know what that has to do with this story about Walter, or Kenzie leaving town, or spreading lies to our friends.”
“I’ve been interviewing friends and coworkers about her. And no one really knows what went on during the time she was missing. She didn’t tell the people who were closest to her. Even now, six months later, she hasn’t told them what the deal was. She just sticks to her story, saying that she decided she needed some time and space for herself, and that’s why she disappeared.”
“You’re interviewing people about her? For what?”
“That’s why we’re going to Arizona too. We want to know what happened to her while she was gone. There are some witnesses, there were pictures taken at certain locations. So I’m following up.”
“You were hired to find out what happened to Elysse Allan? Or you’re just doing this as a diversion, because you had to find a reason to get out of town?”
“I was hired by the boyfriend, Dain.”
“Hmm. I was always curious about what happened to her. But it seems like now… no one would really care about it anymore. It’s old news. She was found. She didn’t want to say what happened to her, made up the story about it just being over the argument, and went on with her life.”
“Except she didn’t. She hasn’t gone on with her life. She never went back to posting on social media. She’s not communicating with Dain or others who used to help with social media. Or… other friends. No one really knows what she is doing now.”
Things came together very quickly. As far as the rest of the word was concerned, Walter Kirsch had a massive heart attack and was taken to a private suite of rooms at the hospital. A hospital with an entire wing named after its major donor, the Kirsch family foundation. It was all hush-hush, of course. The Kirsches had always kept to themselves, and they didn’t want the details of his ailment broadcast to the world. His diagnosis, doctors, and treatment were all kept strictly quiet, and only those who were involved with his care knew anything.
Zachary and Kenzie visited at the hospital. It was a fleeting visit. They already had their bags packed and their flight booked. Those who were not “in the know” thought it very strange that the two of them would leave when Walter was in such desperate straits. But families like the Kirsches did not share their reasons.
34
Kenzie placed her in-flight magazine back in the pocket on the back of the seat. She shook her head.
“You’re sure that Elysse went to Canada? Why would she do that? It isn’t on the way to the Grand Canyon. It isn’t on the way to New York. Why just strike off in a random direction?”
“Maybe that was why.” Zachary had been thinking about it, too. “Because it was a random direction. Somewhere no one would think of looking for her.”
“She didn’t want anyone following her? You think she was planning from the start to disappear? It wasn’t just that she decided to do her own thing or go back to see the Grand Canyon after the argument with Dain, she actually planned right from the start to cause a big fuss? To make people think that something had happened to her?”
“I don’t know. I have a lot of questions to ask before I can come to any conclusion.”
“Canada. Why come to Canada?” she mused again.
It was only a one-hour flight from Burlington to the Greater Sudbury airport. But factoring in the time they had to be there ahead of time to allow check-in on an international flight and to wait for baggage because Kenzie had insisted on checking luggage rather than using only carry-on, it was going to end up taking about the same amount of time for them to fly as it would have taken Elysse to drive.
Assuming that Elysse hadn’t had any trouble getting past the border. She’d probably had enough camera equipment in her car to convince the border guards that she was a tourist. Or maybe she hadn’t taken her car, but had rented something in Burlington and left her own vehicle behind. Somewhere it hadn’t been discovered? Or had it been impounded long ago? By the time it was found in long-term parking at the airport or somewhere else, Elysse had been found and the police investigation had been closed.
Why Sudbury? Had she had someone to see there? It wasn’t exactly a huge tourist destination. The pictures he had looked at online were gorgeous, but she hadn’t used it as a backdrop for her social media pictures. She hadn’t posted any social media pictures at all. She might still have taken pictures, but her purpose had apparently not been business-related.
Elysse had not booked one of the big hotels. There were plenty of hotels in Sudbury that were fancier and better known than the little independent place Elysse had been spotted at. It had not even shown up on Zachary’s initial searches. He’d had to search for the Hideaway Inn by name before he’d come across a couple of internet listings for it. A “budget-friendly” motel, which meant no Wi-Fi, no pool or hot tub, and only basic cable on the TV. There were no queen beds. They were primarily double beds that were intended for single occupancy, as attested by the one wooden chair tucked into the kneehole of what was supposed to be a writing desk. No writing paper was on the desk, and there were no pens in the drawer.
“Are you sure she stayed here?” Kenzie asked, looking around. “This doesn’t seem like the kind of place an internet celebrity would stay at.”
“I’ll find out,” Zachary told her.
After plugging in his laptop, Zachary pulled up the photos that had been geotagged with the motel’s location. Kenzie looked over his shoulder as he reviewed the pictures of Elysse from a couple of different angles. In the parking lot. In the lobby of the motel checking in or out. The faces were slightly blurred in the pictures, but it looked like Elysse, and his facial recognition program said that it matched her measurements with 90% accuracy.
Kenzie walked to the window and looked out at the parking lot, and over toward the lobby. “Well, it looks like the pictures were taken here. But are you sure that is Elysse? I couldn’t swear it from the photos.”
“Every indication is that it is her. These were not tips that were called in to the police, but pictures posted on the internet after the news that she was missing. But the police wouldn’t have followed them up anyway.”
“Different country, and no reason for her to be here. They expected her to go to New York.”
“Right.” Zachary agreed.
“Do you want to take a look at the lobby? I could do that, if you want?”
He grinned at her eagerness to be a part of the investigation. He had worried that he would be dragging her against her will, that she wouldn’t be interested in the case or in seeing any sights while he investigated. That she would be wondering why he bothered to bring her on the trip. Or that she would be anxious, watching out the window for stalkers or kidnappers, unable to relax and enjoy herself.
But so far, she had been game, not only to fly out to a place she had never dreamed of going, but to investigate alongside him. She seemed to have left her anxiety back in Vermont. Part of it was, of course, that she was now taking antianxiety meds, but he thought that it was more than that. She had left the Russians behind in Vermont and did not have to worry about them. They were safe, her father was safe, and they could just immerse themselves in solving an interesting puzzle.
“We’ll both go,” he told her. “I’m hoping to be able to find someone who remembers seeing her here, or to confirm that they have a record of her registration.”
They walked across the parking lot to the lobby. Sudbury in winter was not the green, lush place pictured in the images Zachary had looked at online. And the hotel was not in a natural setting, but on a street lined with similar motels, light industrial businesses, and a convenience store or two.
The snow on the ground was dirty and trampled. Brown, gravel-strewn slush on the street. It was bound to look nicer in the summer, but it was not where Elysse would have been taking pictures to post online. She had been there for other reasons, whatever they were.
The old man in the lobby didn’t look up when they entered. He was tapping on an iPad, looking very intent. Maybe playing a game with a friend, since it didn’t look like he had much business. The carpet was thin and threadbare in places. His name tag was a friendly “Hi, I am JACK.”
