Disappearing Act Ch. 01

"It'll be quite all right." said Phyllis. She guided Willa to the other room. Cindy turned to the men.

"We're not saying a damn thing." said Art Mason defiantly.

"Is that your word also, Danny?" asked Cindy.

"I'll answer your questions, Captain Ross." said Danny.

"Why you-" snarled Art, but Danny had quickly gotten up to stand off against his father. "Captain, I can talk to you here or we can go to the Station." Danny said.

"Let's go into the living room." said Cindy. Art shot off for the kitchen, and would not leave Willa.

"Okay, let's go to the Station." said Cindy, seeing what was going on. "Your father can't follow you into the Interrogation rooms. If he tries, he'll get a tour of my holding cells."

Art Mason was furious. He brought out his cell phone and immediately called his lawyer. He was then denied a ride to the Station, which Cindy was providing for Willa and Danny.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Have a seat right here." Cindy said to Danny Mason as they entered Interrogation-B. She'd called in on the way to the Station with the Mason 'kids', and we had officers ready to stay in the rooms during the interrogations.

As Cindy was about to start up with Danny, a lawyer came to the Station, demanding to be let in as Danny's legal representation. Danny clearly stated that this lawyer was not his representation, and that he wanted no representation. Willa did the same. Then Art Mason came to the Station and screamed along with the lawyer. That brought out Your Iron Crowbar, wielding my red piece of hardware and aching to use it.

"They've refused your presence, Counselor." I said to the lawyer. "Now get out of here, unless you want to represent Art Mason when I arrest him for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and possibly for interfering with a police investigation. Which way do you want it to be, Mason?"

As the lawyer tried to calm Art down, I went through with it: "Sergeant Rudistan, accompany Art Mason to Interrogation-C. If he refuses, place him under arrest and put him through full booking." Mason looked at me in shock, but went with Rudistan without further trouble.

"I've got to get going." I said to the Duty Desk Sergeant. "I'm heading to the City and will be back by shift change, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Get Captain Ross if anything breaks."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Okay, Danny," said Cindy once they got to talk. "First, what was going on before the incident of Claude Tolson and your father?"

Danny replied "Well, let me start at the very beginning. There was a big party, and it was for Billy Joe's sister Rebecca. She had been accepted to Yale."

"She was a rising Senior at Town High School, wasn't she?" Cindy asked.

"Yes." Danny replied. "I had already graduated. Rebecca and I had dated while we were both in high school; she was pretty cool. Very smart, too."

"So you were having a party..." Cindy said, prodding Danny to continue.

"Yeah." Danny said. "Their parents were hosting it, and it was the Labor Day bash for their church friends, work friends, and all that. A bunch of us came with our parents, but we mostly hung out in the house playing video games or watching TV."

"Which church?" Cindy asked.

"The Tolsons went to First Baptist, and my family went to First Methodist." said Danny. "Though I have to say that since Mom disappeared, we pretty much stopped going. My dad doesn't think much of it, and Willa doesn't care, either. Then I went to college."

"I see." said Cindy, making a note on her pad. "Tell me, what was Billy Joe like?"

"He was tall, broad-shouldered." Danny said. "I had been pretty scrawny as a kid, but I started working out with Billy Joe. He got to be pretty muscular and big. I got strong, but not so big."

"He was popular with girls?" Cindy asked.

"Oh yeah." said Danny. "He was-" Danny stopped, blushing.

"Go ahead." Cindy said. "Nothing I haven't heard before, I'm sure."

"Er, he was well hung." Danny said. "I heard several girls, and even a few neighborhood women, say that his dick was at least nine inches long, and that he knew how to use it."

"I see. Such information can actually be useful. Was he dating anyone at the time?" Cindy asked.

"No." Danny said. "He didn't really 'date' girls. He took them out, had sex with them, then went on to the next conquest. He seduced a lot of older, married women, mothers of the girls in our classes. He was a showoff, that way. The only girl he dated for any length of time was my sister, Willa. That shocked everyone, that he was going out with a 'big girl', but he really liked her as far as I could tell."

"I see. Okay, on the day of the party, when did you last see Billy Joe, or your mom? Cindy asked.

"Uhh... I didn't really see Billy Joe at all, best I remember. I saw Mom outside earlier that afternoon, talking to the other moms, and drinking some spiked lemonades."

"So your mom was drinking alcohol." Cindy said, to confirm.

"Yes, ma'am. All the parents were. She didn't overdo it, but she enjoyed drinks now and then." said Danny.

"Where were you during the afternoon?" Cindy asked.

"I was in the game room most of the time, with Rhonda Stevens." said Danny. "We were making out a lot."

"Were others among your friends making out, or doing more?" Cindy asked.

"Oh yeah." Danny said. "Steve and George were playing a video game, and their girlfriends, both named Penny, were watching. Penny P. and Penny D., we called them. Some guy came up and started fucking Penny P. right on the floor, and Steve didn't give a shit, he just kept playing the game. About 4:00pm, I took Rhonda to the upstairs room and fucked her. She was eighteen at the time, so nothing wrong with it."

"Sixteen is legal in this State." said Cindy agreeably.

"True, but I didn't do underage girls. Rhonda was eighteen, and we went upstairs and had some really hot sex." said Danny. "After we were done upstairs, we came back downstairs, then went down to the kitchen to get something to eat. I heard later that Billy Joe went up there with my mom. If I'd been up there then, that would not have happened."

"Why not?" asked Cindy.

"Uh, I'd have beaten the crap out of Billy Joe if he'd tried to fuck my mom like that." said Danny. "And by the way, I also heard that some of the other kids were trying to get Jimmy to make a play for my mom, and if he had, I would've had to beat the shit out of him, too."

"Did Jimmy know you would do that?" Cindy asked.

"Oh, nawww..." said Danny. "Look, and excuse my language in advance: Jimmy was a pussy. He was weak, a wimp. He was scared of girls. No way he would've had the courage to try to fuck my mom. Now Jimmy sometimes would try to hang out with me and some of my buddies, at least when his brother wasn't around. We would dare him to ask out girls, and one guy offered him 500 bucks if he scored with a woman, but we knew that bet would never be paid out, and I don't think Jimmy even tried."

"Why did your dad attack Jimmy?" Cindy said. "Why did he single Jimmy out?"

"I have no idea, Captain." said Danny. "Maybe he thought Jimmy knew something. But I don't think he did, and he sure as hell wouldn't have protected Billy Joe."

"Oh, the brothers didn't get along?" Cindy asked.

"Are you kidding?" said Danny. "They hated each other. Billy Joe thought Jimmy was a pussy-, er, a wimp, and Billy Joe was always fucking with Jimmy: if Jimmy showed interest in a girl, Billy Joe would start dating her and get into her pants, have sex with her, then taunt Jimmy about it. Billy Joe knocked up two girls doing that shit."

"So the word was that someone wanted Jimmy to seduce your mother," said Cindy, "and based on what you just said, Billy Joe might step in on that. Even if he didn't try to seduce her, he might have flirted with her, and might've taken her to that upstairs room just to drive Jimmy nuts."

"Again," said Danny, "I don't even know that they went up there; I was in the kitchen with Rhonda."

"Danny, why is your father so upset at all this, at you, at us? What's he afraid of?" Cindy asked.

Danny acted as if he were thinking about it, then said "I don't know, but if you ask me, he just wants the money from the insurance company. Times have been tough, and he lost his job and his pension when King & Ebenezer went bankrupt. He got on with BigAgraFoods, but it's still been tough. Not knowing if Mom is alive or dead, not knowing if she left him or not..."

Danny added: "And what's more: Willa's been good about the cooking and cleaning, but she's a burden. She went to junior college, but didn't make it into the nursing program. She's had some jobs. She was a desk clerk at the University Hotel, but they let her go. I think it's her appearance, she's not getting any thinner, if you know what I mean. She's not dating anyone, and so she won't be getting married anytime soon. So it's been hard for Dad. I'm surprised he doesn't drink like a fish."

"Like your mom did?" Cindy asked, her blue eyes boring into Danny's.

"Yeah." admitted Danny, his face a mask of resignation. "Like my mom did."

As he got up to go, he said, "If you'd like to talk some more about it, how about over coffee?"

Cindy gave a faint smile, noting that Danny was confident, aggressive, and not that bad looking... for a guy. But she flashed her ring as she said "Sorry, bud, I'm engaged. But thanks for the offer."

"Figures." Danny replied. "Lucky guy, whoever he is..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Now, dear," said Phyllis to Willa Mason in Interrogation-A, "I'm so sorry about all that commotion. Now let me ask you about what happened that day. When was the last time you saw your mother?"

"As near as I can remember, it was at our house before I left for the party." Willa replied. "While I was at the Tolson's house I was inside most of the time, mostly in the kitchen snacking on the finger foods there, and I think my mom stayed outside with the other mothers the whole time."

"Do you think something happened to your Mom, or did she just leave, and by that I mean ran away with Billy?" Phyllis asked.

"I... I don't know." said Willa, then let the words flow. "I... let me just say this: I think my mom did go up to that room with Billy Joe. Billy Joe liked seducing women. In fact, he dated me. He took me out, treated me nice, and so after a couple of months I... did it with him. And almost immediately after that, Billy Joe dropped me and went on to his next conquest. I was hurt by it, but it was my own fault for being willing to sleep with him. Billy Joe and I stayed friends, but didn't date or have sex again."

"What about Jimmy?" asked Phyllis. "Did you ever go out with him?"

"Oh no, never." said Willa, her face becoming a scowl. "I tried to be nice to him, but then he asked me out a couple of times, and I turned him down. Jimmy was... he was that awkward, nerdy kid that everyone made fun of, that nobody liked. Some of the girls tried to set me up with him on blind dates as a joke, but I would find out and tell them I didn't want to go out with Jimmy. I wasn't the hottest girl in school by any means, but if I'd gone out with Jimmy, I'd've been the joke of the school, and they'd've call me 'desperate' and probably worse."

Willa then added "I did think of using Jimmy to get Billy Joe interested in me again. It was pretty well known that Billy Joe would steal any girl Jimmy was interested in, just to mess with Jimmy's head and cause Jimmy pain. But I didn't do that because I didn't want to hurt Jimmy. I didn't hate him or anything."

"So the brothers were not friendly?" Phyllis asked.

"Oh God, no." said Willa. "Billy Joe was embarrassed that Jimmy was his brother, and Jimmy really hated Billy Joe for all the years of bullying and taunting."

"So what do you think happened to your mom and Billy Joe?" asked Phyllis.

"I don't know." said Willa. "I could understand if my mom wanted to run away from my dad-"

"Oh?" Phyllis interrupted. "Did your dad abuse your mom?"

"No!" Willa almost shouted. "That's not what I meant to say or was going to say. My dad never hurt my mom at all. But he always thought she was cheating on him, and if she came home late he'd ask her questions to no end. I think he thought she was having sex with some of those younger guys, and it was killing him inside that she was cheating on him. If he'd caught her with Billy Joe, it might've been ugly, but he never got physical with her, and she yelled at him just as hard as he yelled at her."

"Willa," said Phyllis, "you were in the game room during that time?"

"I went up there, and it was right after Mom and Billy Joe went into the upstairs bedroom." Willa said. "Jimmy was on the computer, and he told me they'd just gone up there. Penny, that was Penny P., not Penny D., said she saw them go up, as well. I was shocked, and then Jimmy said he was going to sneak upstairs and see what they were doing."

"How'd he get up there without making a lot of noise?" Phyllis asked. "I was on those stairs myself today; they are very creaky and loud."

"Oh, we had a game, Rebecca had us play it before, to try to get up and down those stairs without making any noise. There are spots on each step where you can step and they won't creak, but it's tricky. I think Jimmy knew how to get up there without making noise."

Phyllis thought about that as she brought the interview to a conclusion.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Phyllis and Cindy came into Interrogation-C together to confront Art Mason.

"Okay, are you going to answer our questions today?" asked Cindy.

"My lawyer has advised me it's in my best interest to," said Mason, "but I'll stop if you try to say I did anything wrong."

The lawyer spoke up: "I'm advising you that the assault on Jimmy Tolson is well past the Statute of Limitations."

"We're not interested in prosecuting your client for that." said Cindy. "But in the interests of keeping this proceeding completely aboveboard, I am going to read Mr. Mason his rights." Cindy did so, asking if Mason understood the rights, and he said that he did.

"Okay," Cindy said, "on the day your wife disappeared, you went up into the game room, then into the upstairs bedroom, looking for her, is that right?"

"Yeah." said Mason. "I was trying to catch her cheating with that young asshole Billy Joe Tolson."

"Do you think they were having a sexual affair?" asked Cindy.

"Yeah, I think they'd hooked up before, and I heard something about someone offering Jimmy Tolson a thousand dollars to make a play at my wife. Jimmy's a fucking punk, too gutless to do anything like that. But his brother might have tried to seduce my wife, and she would've done him, too, the slut."

"Do you have any proof of your wife's infidelity?" asked Cindy.

"Never actually caught 'em." Art said. "If I had, I'd've divorced her."

"Did you ever hit your wife, Mr. Mason?" asked Phyllis.

"No. Never." said Art. "You can ask my kids about that, and they'll tell ya..."

"Did you ever verbally argue with your wife?" Phyllis continued.

"Yeah, we argued." Art said. "She'd come home late and I'd ask where she was, and she'd lie, I could see in her eyes she was lying. She'd start yelling at me and I'd yell at her to tell the truth... but I never hit her."

"When was the last time you saw your wife, and the last time you saw Billy Joe?" asked Cindy.

"I didn't see Billy Joe that whole day." said Art Mason. "I don't think I'd seen him in days, maybe a week or two. I last saw my wife during the party, but can't say exactly what time that was."

"What do you think happened to your wife, Mr. Mason?" asked Phyllis. "Do you think she ran away with Billy Joe? Or did something happen to her?"

"I don't know." said Art Mason. "But I think something happened to her. I think she's dead. I think if she was alive, we'd have found her by now. I think the Police or FBI may have found evidence she's dead, but that god-damned insurance company has done all it can to keep the truth from coming out, so they wouldn't have to pay. But the bastards are going to pay, mark my words."

"You seem sure that she's dead, Mr. Mason." said Cindy. "Are you sure you have no idea of what happened that day, of how they disappeared?" The lawyer leaned over and whispered something to Mason, who nodded.

"Don't start trying to twist my words." said Mason. "I don't know if you're working on behalf of that filthy insurance company, but what I do know is that my wife disappeared, she has never been found, and I think something happened to her."

"If I may, Mr. Mason," interjected Phyllis. "You apparently rushed to the house looking for your wife. What gave you the idea she was in that bedroom with Billy Joe?"

"Oh, that." said Mason. "I got a phone call on my cell phone. The voice was muffled, but said that my wife was fucking Billy Joe Tolson in the attic bedroom of Tolson's house. I thought it was Jimmy that called; that's why I shook him to get the truth out of him. But he told the cops later that he didn't make any phone call, and he passed the lie detector test on it, so I don't know what to think now..."

Part 6 - Missing Persons Bureaucracies

Entering the FBI offices in the City, I went to Jack Muscone's office.

"Before I take you down to Missing Persons," said Jack, "let me fill you in on where we are on following the Wargrave records."

"Sure." I said.

"I'll warn you that this is going to be slow and laborious." said Muscone. "His wife knew nothing at all about his finances. She had two credit cards, one Visa and one Mastercard, she didn't abuse them, and he had them paid off every month. But she did give us permission to examine most of what he had, and we ran with that ball even though it might not've been fully permissible to do so in some places."

"And you've found?"

"Wargrave had 33 separate corporate entities, and ten of those were wrapped up in trusts. Lots of protection, legal hoops that way. They covered his real estate dealings, his transportation hubs, and his port hubs. One of his biggest companies, Acme Consolidated, is the father company of 126 entities, including KSTD in your County, and just a host of small companies. Some did medical research, some did agricultural research, several patents, leased to bigger companies."

"And nothing illegal?"

"We're getting there." said Muscone. "Some of the companies, especially the transportation hubs, have some sketchy stuff. Kind of like your buddy Ward fudging his production numbers... Wargrave's minions probably had 11 boxes when they listed 10 on the manifest. There've been some 'random acts of accurate reports', and we're putting together the anomalies. They'll lead to bigger finds."

"And nothing leading to any certain Consultants?" I asked.

"You know, there may be." said Jack. "But we might be looking it in the face and not know even know it. So sometime in the near future, my boss wants you to scan as much of the stuff as you can. We're collating and indexing everything now, so it'll be easier for you, but you might see something we won't know we're seeing."

"Sounds good." I said. "If I survive the SBI investigation of his death, I'll take a look."

Jack laughed. "That fucking little prick Lewis, he's something, ain't he? But if he assigns his poodle Ferrell to mess with you, let me know. I'd love to beat the dog shit out of Ferrell again."

"And I'd love to let you." I said. "But maybe he got religion after the Reverend Steven Ikea laid hands on him."

Jack could not stop laughing for a moment, and it was infectious as I joined him in the amusement. Finally he recovered. "Okay, ready to head down to Missing Persons?" he asked, getting up.

"Sure." I said. "But before we go, let me ask this. Is Clark Webster up for a promotion?"