Rick Mofina - Into the Dark

After tidying up in the kitchen, she went to work in her home office, reviewing and updating her patient notes. All of her patients had worrisome cases, but the patient Claire felt the most concern for was Amber.

It had been about two weeks since Amber’s estranged husband, Eric, had assaulted her and threatened Claire in the office parking lot. Amber had since resumed living alone in the house in Alhambra. But Claire was still wary of Eric, having experienced his wrath firsthand that day. As Claire reread Amber’s file, she slid her small silver cross back and forth on her necklace chain.

Claire did not like the fact that after the attack Eric had violated the court’s no-contact order by writing to Amber and pleading for reconciliation; something Amber had considered, despite Claire’s advice to the contrary. Claire was concerned. Eric was a dangerous, manipulative man and Amber seemed to be weakening. Claire consulted the calendar. Amber’s next session was coming up soon. Good, Claire thought, there were a number of areas they needed to address.

Claire’s cell phone rang. The caller’s number was blocked.

“Hey, Claire.”

She’d recognized Julie’s voice.

“Hey, there.”

“Sorry, it’s been ages,” Julie said. “We’ve been swamped. So how are you?”

“Oh, you know, the same old-except I’ve just started the treatment.”

“I see.”

The silence that passed underscored where they’d left matters-with the understanding that Claire was going to wait on her treatment until Julie had taken care of Claire’s request she check out Robert’s phone history.

“I couldn’t put it off,” Claire said. “It’s timed to my cycle and my doctor would’ve had questions, then there’s the cost.”

“It’s okay, I know,” Julie said. “Congratulations. My fingers are crossed for you. I called to let you know that I did not forget my assignment. I looked into the phone numbers like you asked.”

“And?”

“I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. All pretty innocuous stuff, nothing tied to Cynthia that I could see.”

A tiny wave of relief rippled through Claire.

“I guess this confirms that I was being silly.”

“I did discover something.”

“What do you mean?”

“In trying to find Cynthia’s surname, I had a search done of California’s divorce records. Nothing surfaced for her, nothing at all. In fact, there’s no record of Robert Bowen’s divorce in the State.”

“Oh, well, that’s not surprising. I think he was married in Montana, or someplace like that. Before we met he’d lived in a lot of different places.”

“Yeah, I remembered you telling me. So, seeing this as a challenge I had a search done nationwide of all court records, thinking surely we’d find Robert and Cynthia’s papers.”

“And?”

“Nothing. It’s quite the mystery, very odd. I was thinking that if you might be able to somehow get a bit more info, like where they were living at the time of the divorce, or where they were married then I could…”

Claire went deaf to what Julie was saying. She felt the earth shift under her, resurrecting her doubts. How could this be? How could I be married to him and not know something so basic?

“Claire? Did you hear me?”

“Sorry.”

“You and Robert were married in Mexico, so you both had to supply divorce decrees, remember?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll work with our contacts in Mexico and see if I can get information on Cynthia from the documentation Robert would’ve provided the Mexican authorities, okay?”

Silence passed.

“Hello? Claire?”

“Yes, sorry.”

“So, do you want me to keep looking into this?”

Claire’s mouth had gone dry and she licked her lips and swallowed.

“Yes.”

San Marino, California

Arriving at work the next morning, Claire saw two San Marino police cars in her parking lot.

Their revolving emergency lights were splashing red and blue throughout the neighborhood. Claire spotted a third police vehicle in the lot, an SUV with a caged rear interior. A ribbon of yellow tape stretched around the building. Uniformed officers were talking on the front sidewalk with staff from the offices of the dermatologist, optometrist and dentist that were also in her building.

Claire parked, grabbed her bags and got out.

Alice, her assistant, materialized and went to her at the same time as barking echoed from the rear of the building. An officer in tactical clothing hurried behind the taut clinking leash of a dog with its snout to the ground, tracking a scent leading away from the building and deep into the neighborhood.

Alice’s face was creased with worry. “Someone broke into the office last night!”

“Oh, no!”

“I got here first thing this morning and saw broken glass on the floor at the back. The door frame was all splintered. They went through all the offices, trying to pry open filing cabinets and going through desks.”

Police radio transmissions crackled. The women turned and Claire recognized Deena Freeman, one of the officers who’d responded when Amber’s husband assaulted her in the parking lot.

Freeman said, “Ten-four,” into her shoulder microphone, then walked over to Claire, while paging through her notebook.

“Officer Freeman, what more can you tell us?” Claire asked.

“It looks like they were going after Dr. Ramsallie’s office.”

“A dentist’s office?”

“They went through every office, but it appears they were looking for cash, drugs and maybe gold used in fillings.”

Dr. Ramsallie approached them, patting his tanned brow and thick moustache with a handkerchief.

“Please put in your report that for insurance purposes, we have very little gold on-site, just a few pebble-sized pieces for a few crowns, worth only a few hundred dollars. We order gold when we need it.”

“Yes, sir,” Freeman said. “We’ve noted that information.”

“I took a closer look from the window. I think a few canisters of nitrous oxide are missing, but I need to go inside to inspect my supplies.”

“Yes, sir, we have that. Please don’t lift the tape and walk through the scene again. I ask you to bear with us. Our forensic people are on the way. Until they’re done processing, we can’t allow anyone inside.”

“You must arrest these criminals. They must be punished.”

“Yes, sir, we’re working on it.” As Freeman waited patiently, Dr. Ramsallie left her alone to continue her business with Claire.

“How long before we can go inside?” Claire asked. “I was expecting to see patients this morning. We’ll have to scramble to reschedule.”

“I know. Our crime scene people should be here at any moment. They’ve indicated that they’ll have things wrapped up later today.”

“Can’t you let us in to get our hard-copy files so we can start calling patients, to tell them what happened?” Claire asked. “Some may be on their way. I need to reach them. Given our recent history in this parking lot, this situation makes me a little anxious.”

“I know and I assure you that we’re not discounting the complaint history of this address.”

“So what are you doing about Amber?”

Freeman nodded. “I’ve requested Alhambra P.D. to check on Amber’s welfare and alert her as a precaution.”

“You’re aware her estranged husband works at installing security systems?”

“We’ve requested Sacramento P.D. confirm Eric Larch’s whereabouts for the last forty-eight hours. We want to ensure he’s complied with his bail conditions and the terms of the restraining order. This is all being done as a priority this morning.”