Chapter 2

The next morning at seven am sharp, a shoddily dressed man of about forty-five entered my office and handed me a large manila envelope.

"From Mrs. Honeycutt," he mumbled through disgustingly filthy teeth.

"Right. Give her my thanks and my assurance that young Sophia will soon be found and will hopefully return back into the family fold of her own accord."

The man snorted in way of reply, turned, and left the office.

"Good riddance, you curmudgeonly old fart," I said after he had safely shut the door. "All righty then, let's see what's up with this Sophia person."

I opened the envelope and shook its contents on to my desk. Four items tumbled out: A check in the amount of $200, a leaf of paper with a list of names, numbers, and addresses written in purple ink, photograph of a pretty, smiling, fresh-faced, strawberry blonde with amazing green eyes, and an elegantly written letter to the missing girl from her Granny. At a glance it appeared to be a passionate plea for the prodigal child to come home to her adoring family. I assumed I was to give it to the girl once she had been located to further entice her to come to her senses. Of course, if it turns out the girl's been abducted the letter certainly isn't going to do much good.

In the thirteen years I had been practicing, I had taken on only one case which I had not been able to solve. The man had simply vanished. Many others, I found, were missing on purpose, and still quite a few of the remaining ones knew they would be considered missing, but planned on returning to their former lives…eventually. My clients need to know up front, that even though I am quite confident that I can find their loved one, (or in some cases, their enemy) I cannot force them to do anything they don't want to do…like go home. That is entirely up to them. Quite understandably some people are very upset when this happens and a few refuse to pay up because of it. I tactfully remind them of the contract they have signed stating that I am a finder not an enforcer, and that I have no qualms about settling matters in small claims court. That usually does the trick.

I dug into my file cabinet for just such a form and soon had it ready to send out to Mrs. Honeycutt complete with one of my self-addressed stamped envelopes. I found that those envelopes greatly improve my chances of getting the signed form back.

I decided my first visit should be to the roommate. She seemed the most likely person to provide any worthwhile information. My next stop would be at the Bait and Switch, the nightclub where Sophia had been working tending bar. I knew this place by reputation and it was a rather dubious one. It had been raided a few times in the last dozen or so years of its existence and had been shut down once for a brief time due to a rather suspicious death on the premises, the cause of which was never found.

After lunch, I drove to 1969 Ophelia Lane not knowing whether I would find anyone there or not. I spotted a light blue Dodge Neon in the driveway so I decided to try my luck. I knocked on the door and was greeted by a small blond holding an ipad.

"May I help you?" She inquired.

"I certainly hope so. That is, assuming you are Adrienne Williams. My name is Randi Newman…."

"Oh yes," she interrupted, "of Newman Detectives. I suppose Sophia's family sent you here. And yes, I'm Adrienne. You might as well come on in; although I don't possibly know what else I could say that hasn't already been said."

I gave her a weak smile. "Yes, her grandmother told me she had talked with you about Sophia's disappearance. Actually, I would like to hear it all straight from you if you wouldn't mind. There may be something, even the slightest detail that may be helpful. Often time it's the littlest thing that someone thinks is insignificant that ends up being the biggest clue."

"Do sit down." She said, and motioned to a mauve and gold flowered love seat.

I reached into my suit pocket and took out an old fashioned notebook and a much-chewed pencil. No smart phones or what not for me…yet.

"How long have….err…did you and Sophia room here together?"

She laid the ipad down on a nearby end table. "Well, I've lived here for five years. Sophia moved in with me about two and a half years ago. Of course, she could have lived at home, or I imagine her granny would have taken her in."

"Have you known each other for long?"

"We met in our Cultural Studies class in college… the local college here in Olympus Ridge. I don't think Sophia's parents, or her grandmother, were too thrilled about her attending a community college. I suppose they thought she should have gone to Brown or Princeton or somewhere like that. Anyway, we were both twenty and in our sophomore year."

What was Sophia's major?"

"Anthropology. So was mine, although neither of us knew exactly what we were going to do with it. I dropped out during my junior year. I needed a second job to survive and it was all just too much. Sophia graduated though. She was luckier than me with those rich grandparents you know. She never had to work; not to survive that is."

"So I guess you obviously continued your friendship."

The girl smiled. "Oh sure, we had some great times together! We both love hiking and camping. Then we started going to a few nightclubs. It seems like we always ended up at the Bait and Switch though. We'd been going there practically every Saturday night for about six months when this man, who we later learned was a co-owner, walks up to us and offers Sophia a job… right there on the spot. I think she accepted it almost as a joke. When we got home later that night she said she only intended to work it for a little while. She was bored half the time and always looking for something to do anyway."

I chewed my battered pencil a bit more, spit out a couple of splinters, and asked, "Did she ever try to find employment in the archeological field?"

Adrienne pushed a few strands of stray hair back behind her ears. "Yeah, well her grandfather got her a little gig in Bolivia once, but she decided not to go at the last minute and that was the end of that. She was interested in learning about it, but not in the hands on aspect of it I guess."

I sat my pencil and pad down and cursed myself that I hadn't brought my tape recorder with me. The old 70's style machine scared some of the younger generation. I guess they likened it to some sort of surveillance equipment; like I was secretly recording their life's history or something. I decided to just trust my memory for this. I continued.

"Tell me about the Bait and Switch. I know it has a rather…um…questionable reputation. Why would a nice educated girl like Sophia want to waste her time in a place like that? What made you girls go there to begin with?"

Adrienne snorted. "Oh, come on! You're not that old! Haven't you ever done anything just for the thrill of it; the danger perhaps? We knew it didn't have the best reputation, but it was fun and honestly we never saw anything that bad going on. Sure a little pot, a little ecstasy here and there, but it wasn't like there were junkies shooting up in the corners. Sometimes the sex could get a little hot and heavy…and okay maybe a bit embarrassing. Tits and ass of all kinds were everywhere, but hey…we just minded our own business. And we made a few friends. At least Sophia did."

This last sentence was said with a scowl on the woman's face so I pounced on it. "You don't seem to be overly thrilled that she made these new friends?"

"Oh, it's not like I was jealous…ok maybe I was at first, but…I don't know. They were just different."

Ah ha! Just the sort of wording that piqued my interest. "Different…how?"

Adrienne grabbed a stool and pulled it up beside me. "It's kind of hard to describe. There were three of them, two women and one man."

"Did these three have names?"

"Of course, the girls were Daisy and Pepper, and the man was called Christian. I don't know any last names. And Christian, he seemed to be in charge of them or something. Every time he told them to do whatever…like sit this dance out or go get him a drink…they just… did it. Almost like robots. They were always buying us food and drinks, so it was a cheap time, and they danced, and joked around, and laughed a lot so they were cool that way, but…"

"Yeeessss," I prodded, "but what?"

"Oh, the three of them always seemed to have their hands all over each other and not in a loving way either; a totally creepy way. They acted like they would have loved to extend those hands over to Sophia and me, but I think they could tell we were kind of turned off by it. They did do it to a few other girls though. Come to think of it, it was always women, never men that they approached."

"So you're pretty sure Sophia wasn't interested?"

"Well she told me she wasn't. Of course I wasn't there with her all the time, especially after she started her job. At first she just checked people in at the door, but after about two months they 'promoted' her to barmaid. She made great tips I must say. Now I was jealous of that! Anyway, about three weeks after she started the bartending gig I thought she began acting a little funny….and I don't mean like funny ha-ha either."

Adrienne gave me a sideways glance.

I bit. "OK, shoot...funny how?"

"As she worked the night shift up until closing time, I expected her home late. Most nights it was 2:30…3:00 before she came home, but then, she started coming home at dawn all the time."

"How do you know these times," I asked, "we're you always awake?"

Adrienne snorted. "No, but Sophia was very noisy! She didn't even try to be quiet and she woke me up almost every time. It was extremely annoying I must say. I'm glad I didn't have any real reason to get up early or it might have been an issue. Anyway, she would sleep until early evening, get up and shower, then spend a ton of time on her laptop. She didn't want to go hiking or any of the other things we use to do, and I never saw her eat a thing anymore. I don't know what she existed on. She was still as friendly as ever towards me, but at the same time seemed a bit distant. I don't know how else to explain it, it was kind of odd behavior I thought. And then, she just didn't come home one day. I've called her a couple of times and she always says she's fine. Plus, like I said, she always pays her share of the rent. And there, I've told you way more than I told her grandmother!"

I sat for just a minute soaking all this in, rubbed my chin and asked, "And you don't believe there's a boyfriend somewhere in this?"

Adrienne threw back her head and laughed. "A boyfriend? Hell no! Sophia isn't into boys, although I doubt Granny knows that…or would approve. But, as to a girlfriend….maybe, I just don't know."

In spite of myself, a smile escaped me. "And there was never nothing...ummm...between the two of you?"

Adrienne sobered up fast. "No…and yes a lot of people have asked us that question. I don't know… the relationship subject just never came up between us. We hit it right off as far as a platonic friendship goes, but romance? I guess neither of us ever felt any sparks where that's concerned."

"So, you haven't been back to the Bait and Switch lately to see if Sophia's still employed there?"

"Actually, I did go there a couple of times, but I didn't see Sophia around anywhere. I didn't see Christian or the girls either so I couldn't ask them. But, I did ask Sophia the last time I talked to her if she was still working and she said yes. I assumed she meant at the Bait and Switch although I suppose it could be somewhere else."

"When did you last talk to her?"

Adrienne scratched the back of her head. "Hmmmm….let's see. Now that you mention it, I guess it was about two months ago.

I stood up and gave a little stretch. "Well, Adrienne, thank you. This has been very informative and has given me quite a bit to mull over. I'll keep you updated if you'd like. Oh, and uh, if you talk to Sophia again, please let me know. I'll give you my card."

I reached inside my vest pocket and produced a rather dog-eared, business card embossed with my name and number over a background of a sinister looking ebony eye. I hated the look of the darn thing, but as I had shelled out almost a hundred and fifty bucks for two hundred of them, (enough to last me a lifetime I figured) I handed them out to everyone like candy in church."

Adrienne stood and extended her hand to me. I shook it and said, "Until then, Ms. Williams."

She left her hand lingering for a minute too long I thought; like she was expecting me to kiss it or something. I finally withdrew mine and headed for the door.

I decided that I had gathered enough info for one day on Ms. Sophia Honeycutt and chose to forgo visiting the Bait and Switch that evening. I went home, made myself a cup of hot cocoa, put on my favorite Mary Chapin Carpenter CD, slipped into my red silk PJ's, and settled down with my laptop and my memory to lay my plans. It certainly looked as though the Bait and Switch was going to be my best bet at getting to the bottom of where the lady was hiding out. As she had been in fairly recent contact with Adrienne, I didn't really consider her missing…just misplaced. I wouldn't let the elder Sophia know about any of my findings until I had actually located and spoken to her namesake myself. It felt a little bit like cheating and not being totally honest with the old woman, but I was starting to get personally curious about this Sophia, (odd for me) and besides…I needed the money.

Sophia's boss and the three touchy-feely friends seemed the most likely people to talk with next, followed by any other customers who may have spoken with the lady. And then, I would hit up the parents. Grandma may not be all that thrilled about it, but they may well know something she doesn't and besides, if Granny really wants her Granddaughter brought home, I must explore every possible avenue.