“So we’re going over to talk to her?”

“Yes, but first I have a call to make.”

Jason picked up his phone and found the reporters number in his contacts. He pushed ‘call’.

“You have reached the phone of Devin James, crime reporter for the San Antonio News. Please leave a message and I will return your call as soon possible. Thank you.”

Jason waited for the beep.

“Devin, this is Jason Strong. I received a call today from a Mrs. Dexter Hughes. Please call me; I have some questions for you. Thanks.”

He hung up and looked at Nina.

“Ready to ride?”

“Of course.”

****

Devin James recognized the phone number of Jason Strong and let it go to voice mail. Devin figured Jason had talked to Mrs. Hughes and knew the detective had questions that James wasn’t prepared to answer. He would call Jason back when he got a handle on the situation at the Jarvis farm.

The reporter turned down the gravel lane that led up to the farmhouse. He could see a van parked up by the front porch but no sign of anyone moving around outside. He crossed an old cattle guard and slowed to a stop next to the van. Devin shut his car off but didn’t have time to get out before a young man appeared at his side window.

He was maybe twenty, tall and thin and James wasn’t sure where he’d snuck up on him from. Perhaps he was in the van. Devin rolled the window down and felt the blast of the late morning heat. The boy appeared tense.

“You lost?”

James put on his best reporters smile.

“No, I don’t think so. I wanted to talk to Betty Jarvis. Is she here?”

“Nope. She’s gone to town. Are you the reporter who called the other day?”

“Yes. Are you Donnie?”

“Maybe. Is there something I can help you with?”

The boy stayed close enough to the door as to prevent Devin from opening it without pushing him out of the way.

“I’m investigating the disappearance of four people and I wanted to ask your mother about it?”

“Momma doesn’t know anything about no missing people.”

“I’d like to ask her myself, will she be back soon?”

“I said she doesn’t know anything and I don’t know when she’ll be back. I’d like you to leave now.”

“I don’t mind waiting.”

“I said you need to leave!”

James could see this was going nowhere and Donnie was getting agitated. Devin didn’t want a confrontation so he said goodbye and rolled up his window. The young man watched him turn around and continued to stare after him all the way down the drive. James didn’t turn right, the direction he’d come from but went left instead. He’d seen the row of trees which ran across the back of the Jarvis property and he thought they would serve as cover while he watched and waited for Mrs. Jarvis to return.

Sure enough, he was able to pull off the road into the shade of an oak tree and watch the house from a distance. He reached into the glove compartment and got out his binoculars. His instincts told him it wasn’t a time for action, but a time for waiting. Waiting and watching.

****

Donnie watched until the reporter had turned at the end of the lane. He felt very uneasy. The timing of the visit couldn’t have been worse. Today of all days needed to go smoothly and unexpected visitors were not part of the plan.

He turned and walked back to the house. He had preparations that needed completing and sensed his time was getting short.

Chapter  17

Jason and Nina pulled up at the Hughes house 45 minutes later. Mrs. Hughes opened the door before the detectives could ring the bell.

“Detective Strong?”

“Yes Maam, and this is my partner, Detective Jefferson. May we come in?”

“Of course.”

She let them in and after closing the door, she guided them through an oak paneled hallway that opened up into an expansive kitchen. White cabinets, black granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. It was right out of a magazine.

“Would you like coffee, detectives?”

“Not for me.”

Nina also shook her head no and pulled out a chair from the kitchen table. Jason joined her and Mrs. Hughes grabbed the coffee cup she had been using, refilled it from the pot, and joined them. As she held her cup, Jason noticed the shaking of what he thought was probably normally steady hands.

Nina opened a notepad while Jason turned his chair to face the elegant woman.

“Mrs. Hughes…”

“Please, call me Barbara.”

“Barbara, I assume you haven’t heard from your husband since we last spoke, is that right?”

“That’s right. I continue to try his cell phone and check with his office, but there’s no answer and they haven’t heard from him either.”

“Do you have a picture of your husband?”

“Yes, of course.”

Barbara Hughes left the room and returned with a photo frame. She slid the picture out of the frame and handed it to Jason. Jason took a look before giving it to Nina.

Barbara followed it with her eyes almost like it might be the last time she saw the image of her husband. Jason felt for the woman and his frustration at not being able to tie everything together was starting to eat at him.

“Barbara, had your husband mentioned his upcoming class reunion?”

Jason could see the confusion on her face.

“Yes. About a week ago. Does that have something to do with him being missing?”

“We’re not sure. The other cases we’re working, that Devin James mentioned to you, are from the same high school class as your husband. We think it’s likely the connection, and possibly the basis for a motive, to cause these people to go missing. When we found your husband’s name on the class list, we came to see you without waiting the 48 hours.”

“How many cases are there that Mr. James was referring to?”

“There are three others that we’re aware of.”

“Three! My husband is four?”

“Yes maam. Had your husband mentioned being concerned about the reunion or being contacted by someone he wasn’t comfortable with?”

Mrs. Hughes was still clearly trying to get a grasp on the thought that her husband was one of four missing people. Her answers took on a robotic feel, like she’d gone to autopilot.

“No. The only thing he said was the school had called to give him the date and place of the reunion.”

Nina looked up from her note taking.

“Mrs. Hughes…”

“Barbara, please.”

“I’m sorry…Barbara, we would like to access your husband’s phone records and it would be much faster if you just requested them for us.”

“Of course. I’ll call our provider now.”

The tall brunette got up and left the room and Jason looked at Nina.

“What do you think?”

“Four people from the same school, same class and all in a week. We’ve got somebody who had a bone to pick.”

“Yeah, but how many? This is four, how many more could they be after?”

“Until we find the connection, the phone list is the only thing we have. There must be a smaller list, all one hundred plus classmates can’t be targets, and we need to figure out what that smaller list is. There must be something that connects these four that doesn’t connect the rest of the class.”

Barbara Hughes came back into the room.

“They’re e-mailing the record from our last bill to me now. Here is last months.”

Nina took the sheets and they stood. Barbara Hughes walked back out of the room and, in less than a minute, came back with one more sheet which was printed from her email.

She escorted them back to the front door and opened it for the two detectives. When Jason had stepped outside, he turned to face Mrs. Hughes. Jason looked into the woman’s eyes and saw a pain there he recognized.