Read Online State's Evidence: A Beverly Mendoza Legal Thriller by R. Barri Flowers - Free Book Online Page B

his car and got on the
radio. “Gordon,” he spoke calmly to the detective roaming the park,
“you see anything suspicious in there?”
    “Not yet, Stone,” he responded. “Just the
usual litter, some kids necking, people swimming, hanging out—”
    “Well, keep at it.”
    It occurred to Stone that in some rare cases
people had been known to disappear completely and voluntarily from
one life to start another. Sometimes they were even declared
officially dead. Only to find out later they were alive and well,
having staged their own disappearance.
    That didn’t seem to be the case here. It
didn’t figure that a person would walk away from a brand new car as
part of an elaborate plan to disappear into the woodwork.
    Where the hell was she? Stone was
growing worried that there was more than a misunderstanding or
vanishing act here to account for Adrienne Murray’s
whereabouts.
    He went inside the building that housed the
telemarketing firm where Adrienne Murray was last seen, according
to the husband. Looking at the business index board, Stone spied a
variety of businesses sharing the space including a realty company,
janitorial service, investment firm, and ELNC Systems,
Inc.—Adrienne Murray’s place of employment.
    He took the elevator up to the fifth floor
and walked down a thin corridor till coming to the ELNC Systems
office. A pretty, young receptionist greeted him inside.
    “May I help you?” She brushed away thick
blonde bangs obscuring her vision.
    He flashed his I.D. “Detective Stone Palmer
of the Sheriff’s Department. I’m following up on the disappearance
of one of your employees...Adrienne Murray—”
    She frowned. “I’d heard that Adrienne was
missing. I hope nothing bad happened to her—” Color filled her pale
face. “You should probably to talk to our manager.”
    Stone nodded. “Good idea.”
    He followed her to the manager’s office where
a Latina woman met him. She was in her early thirties and wearing
way too much makeup on a sallow face. Her blonde bob somehow did
not seem to go with the rest of her.
    “Hi,” she said. “I’m Claudia Sosa.”
    The receptionist identified him before Stone
could, and the purpose of his visit, leaving them alone.
    “I last saw Adrienne yesterday just after
six,” Claudia explained calmly. “She seemed perfectly fine
then.”
    Stone jotted this down. “Do you know if she
went jogging in the park after she left?”
    “Yes, I think she did, actually. Adrienne ran
about three times a week, changing clothes in the bathroom.”
    “Does she ever go jogging with anyone?” Stone
looked at her intently.
    Claudia rolled her eyes. “Not from this
office. It’s an all female office and, aside from Adrienne, none of
us are exactly into working out, if you know what I mean?”
    “I think I understand,” he said uneasily.
“Has anyone ever come here to visit Adrienne that you know of?”
    “Yes. Her husband. He probably stopped by
more than he should, given that this is a business we’re
running.”
    Stone took that down. “No one else?”
    “No one that I can recall.”
    Meaning maybe someone other than the husband
could have visited Adrienne. Stone was looking for even the
slightest lead.
    “Could you show me where Adrienne
worked?”
    Claudia blinked. “Sure.”
    Stone was taken to a partitioned cubicle,
similar to maybe two dozen others. Each had a small desk, computer,
and phone.
    There was nothing particularly suspicious
about this cubicle. It was orderly and showed no signs of friction.
Stone used a pencil to nudge open a desk drawer at random. Inside
was a purse that he pulled out.
    “Is this Adrienne’s?” he asked Claudia.
    “Yes,” she identified it. “She usually leaves
it there when jogging.”
    Stone took a cursory look inside, not wanting
to contaminate potential evidence of a crime. There were the usual
things: wallet, keys, makeup case, checkbook. Again, no sign that
anything was missing.
    Just Adrienne Murray.
    She had