Dividing Zero Read online

  Her frustration exploded; she spun on her heel and slapped his hand away.

  ‘Don’t touch me.’

  She glared at him and when he didn’t respond, walked away.

  Big mistake!

  The thought came into her mind and fled just as quickly when Baldy charged at her with an angry yell and there was no more time for thinking.

  She turned her body sideways, presenting a smaller target to Baldy, and waited for him to come near.

  He approached rapidly, his mouth opened wide, snarls escaping him, his eyes narrow pinpoints of rage.

  Beefy hands reached out to grab her and crush her.

  She waited till the last moment and just as a hand came close to her face, she took a half step back, grabbed it, and swiveled.

  Baldy rocked forward and when he got closer, she shot a leg out and swept his feet away from underneath him. Baldy went flying.

  He crashed into a garbage bin, tipped it over, and sprawled on the sidewalk.

  He lay motionless for a few moments and then struggled to his feet, swung his head slowly till he spotted Beth.

  ‘Bitch,’ he shouted and lumbered into a run towards her.

  She bent beneath the outstretched arms, braced herself for impact, and jabbed a sharp elbow in Baldy’s midriff.

  Baldy collapsed on top of her and his breath left him in a loud grunt.

  She twisted sinuously before he could recover, applied a hold over his neck and brought him face down, on the concrete.

  She planted a knee on his back, twisted his left hand behind, and rendered him immobile.

  She looked at Baldy’s companions.

  Lean and Wiry was similarly sprawled face down, Meghan’s knee on his back.

  Zeb was facing Average, standing relaxed, his hair ruffling in a light breeze.

  Her frustration vanished in an instant and a grin lightened her face when she heard Zeb address the third man.

  ‘I haven’t hurt anyone today. You want to be the first?’

  An embarrassed Baldy and his companions disappeared into the depths of the city forty-five minutes later, after profuse apologies.

  They had been in a bar poring through their social media feeds and had spotted the kidnapping comments. Alcohol, heat, and the coincidental appearance of Beth had led to an ill-thought act.

  The excuses tripped off their tongues when Beth and Meghan questioned them and threatened them with calling the cops.

  Beth held a hand up, stalling them when she had heard enough and watched them leave.

  She felt Meghan’s eyes on her and turned to meet them.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said and made everything good between them.

  They were in Baybush the next day, ninety-six hours after Maddie’s disappearance, to verify Amy Kittrell’s story.

  Beth had given Werner a task before they departed; to track Amy Kittrell’s internet and social media profile. To check into various dating sites and see if she had used them.

  Over the years, Zeb had done several favors for a Middle Eastern royal family. In one, he had rescued the royal’s daughter who had been kidnapped. In another, he had found the killer of another royal family member.

  The royal had presented a check with several zeros in it to Clare in gratitude for the first favor. Clare had turned the check over to Zeb and had insisted that he take it.

  Zeb and his crew had bought the entire building on Columbus Avenue with the reward and had made shrewd investments with the remaining funds.

  The royal had gifted Zeb with a Gulfstream for the second favor and refused to take No for an answer.

  The Gulfstream was now at the disposal of the team and its pilots and maintenance were funded by the investments.

  The twins took the aircraft to Baybush and on landing, rented a vehicle at the small airport that serviced the local region.

  Meghan got into the driver’s seat of the Escalade, donned her shades and when Beth gave her thumbs up, set off to the Civic Center.

  Baybush was similar to thousands of small towns across the country. Main Street housed businesses, stores, restaurants, and several civic offices.

  Several streets branched off from the heart of the city and led to parks, schools, hospitals, and residences.

  Meghan headed to a small street that paralleled Main Street and parked in front of a red bricked building.

  It looked like a large residence but for the sign in front of it.

  Baybush Police Department.

  Chief Leroy Althof was waiting for them when they arrived at the entrance.

  Althof cut a reassuring figure in his uniform and spit polished shoes. His blonde hair and mustache were trimmed and his tanned face looked strong.

  The twins were tall at five feet ten inches; however, the chief had a few inches over them.

  He gripped their hands in a warm handshake and a smile split his face.

  Reliable was the impression one got on meeting Chief Althof.

  Meghan knew, from their research that he was nearing retirement; however age didn’t seem to slow him as he walked them through his department offices. The department had twenty-five officers and a support staff that looked after the small town’s policing needs.

  Althof introduced them to various key staff, outlined the various divisions and missed the silent glance the twins exchanged.

  He’s killing time.

  Their fears came true when he took them to his office, seated himself, clasped his hands and looked at them.

  ‘You have wasted your time.’

  Chapter 14

  ‘I told the New York cops all that we had. Josh Kittrell died in a traffic accident.’ He widened his hands as if apologizing for a wasted trip.

  ‘There was nothing suspicious about his death. We investigated it, not that there was much to investigate. Traffic pile-ups happen. It was well covered by the local media at the time.’

  ‘I hunted out the reports for you.’ He pushed a file towards Meghan and handed Beth copies.

  ‘The coroner’s report is in there too.’

  They skimmed through the accident scene reports, witness statements, various other papers that made the file. Most of the material was familiar to them, as Chang had already shared it with them.

  ‘Any of these cops still around, sir?’ Beth asked, knowing the answer.

  He shook his head. ‘Nope. As you can see, we are a department full of old timers,’ a smile spread on his face. ‘We come to Baybush when we are nearing retirement.’

  ‘Bob Glines and Vern Mabie were the lead officers. They were first on the scene too. Bob died of a heart attack three years back. Vern is somewhere in Mexico.’

  He rummaged through a drawer, brought out a pad of sticky notes, and scribbled a number from memory.

  ‘That’s Vern’s cell phone. He hasn’t changed it since time began. I tried calling him but didn’t get through.’

  ‘He lives there, sir?’ Beth took the note, memorized the number, and passed it to Meghan.

  Althof laughed, a deep belly laugh that reverberated in the room. Even the laugh was reassuring.

  ‘You could say that. He loves sailing and has his own boat. He spends a lot of time in the Gulf, with Tampico as his base.’

  A knock sounded on his door and an officer poked his head through. The chief waved him inside, signed a few papers, and when he left, glanced discreetly at his watch.

  The twins got the message.

  It may be a small town, but there’s still work to be done.

  They asked him a few more questions and then rose and followed him out of the office.

  It was while he was shaking their hands that he surprised them. ‘You knew all this. You came to Baybush for some other reason, didn’t you?’

  His face had a shrewd look as he assessed them. ‘Maybe to check the town out? Get a feel for it?’

  The belly laugh sounded again when he saw the sheepish looks on their faces. ‘I may be nearing retirement, ladies, but I still have it.’
r />   Beth watched him grow smaller in the mirror and then disappear as Meghan turned onto the street.

  ‘He’s good.’

  ‘He would be,’ her sister replied. ‘He spent twenty years in Miami PD. His daughter works here at one of the defense contractors. Chang said he and his wife wanted to be closer to their grandkids, and that’s why he took this job.’

  ‘You realize both the defense firms here are Mayo and Kane’s clients.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  Beth stifled a yawn and leaned her head against the window. ‘Where to, now?’

  ‘The Baybush Daily Times.’

  The newspaper’s office was on Main Street, above a bar whose signboard displayed a long iron bar.

  ‘No confusion there,’ Meghan chuckled and climbed a short flight of stairs, and pressed the buzzer in front of a glass door that had the newspaper’s logo.

  A short, lean man approached the door and opened it. His narrow face took them in and burst into a smile.

  ‘You must be the Petersen twins. I’m Mitch Reeves, editor. Welcome to the Baybush Daily Times, the largest newspaper in town.’

  ‘It so happens, it’s the only one,’ he whispered and chuckled at his own joke.

  He led them past the small office which had people bent over desks, some on phones, some others huddled in cabins, and took them to a glass encased office.

  ‘Great location,’ Meghan complimented him.

  ‘Having the bar downstairs is handy,’ Reeves agreed. ‘We just stamp our feet on the floor when we’re hungry, and they deliver food.’

  He clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair when pleasantries had been exchanged.

  ‘Why the sudden interest in Josh Kittrell? That was a long time back. Not many people remember him.’

  ‘What did the NYPD tell you, sir?’ Meghan deflected him.

  ‘That his daughter has gone missing. They didn’t reveal anymore.’

  Meghan nodded. ‘She was kidnapped three days back when she was visiting us. We’re looking into motives, various threads.’

  ‘The family left our town five years back, ma’am. I’m not sure there’s any connection to this town.’

  His gray eyes rested unwaveringly on them, conveying a clear message. I might be a small town editor, however I am not dumb.

  ‘Mr. Reeves, can you keep something confidential?’

  ‘No, ma’am. I’m a newspaper editor. We print secrets. We don’t keep them.’

  He smiled at the astonishment on their faces. ‘There’s something larger behind the kidnapping, isn’t there?’

  Meghan nodded.

  ‘Can I get the story direct from you ladies if I help you and the child is found? I know the NYPD won’t be of much help.’

  ‘Of course, sir.’

  He told them everything that he knew, which again, wasn’t new to the twins.

  He confirmed that Josh Kittrell was an only child. He also confirmed that the Kittrell family line was scattered all over the country. They weren’t especially close.

  He gave them the reporter’s details, the one who had covered the accident, and had interviewed the witnesses.

  ‘Doug’s traveling in Southeast Asia. I’ve left several messages for him.’

  He broke off suddenly and looked away, a far-away expression on his face.

  ‘I should have thought of her,’ he said to himself.

  ‘Who, sir?’

  ‘Why, Julie Peltier of course. She taught in the local school.’

  He smiled at the blank looks on their faces.

  ‘She was their long time neighbor.’

  Chapter 15

  ‘Let’s go to his old office, first.’ Beth suggested when they left Reeves.

  It was a bright sunny day, blue skies smiled down at them and normally the twins would have wandered on Main Street. They loved small towns and browsed through antique stores and boutiques in such towns whenever they got the opportunity.

  Maddie, and the sense that they might find some answers, chased away any inclination to dawdle.

  Mayo and Kane’s Baybush office was less than a mile away from the newspaper’s. Meghan had called ahead and when they reached it, a man in a blue suit was waiting for them.

  ‘Zach Quam,’ he introduced himself. ‘I am the partner for the southwest region. Josh Kittrell, the New York one, said you were looking into the other Kittrell’s death.’

  The Baybush office was small; most of their work came from the two contractors in town.

  ‘Those two firms came to Baybush about eight years back and changed the face of the town,’ he explained. ‘They set up their facilities, and brought jobs into the local economy. Along with their arrival came a heck of lot of outsiders.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he smiled ruefully as he gestured at a couple of seats. ‘I’m an outsider myself, originally from California. Several of the permanent residents of the town benefited from the influx. Some of them sold their homes to the newcomers; many of them rented their houses.’

  ‘We lived in Jackson, Wyoming,’ Meghan explained in reply.

  ‘You know how it is then.’

  The twins did. Jackson’s population swelled and ebbed with the influx and outflow of tourists. Its economy and its residents benefited from the visitors.

  ‘Did anyone here know Josh Kittrell?’ Beth ended the pleasantries.

  Quam frowned and stood up to survey the few people in the office outside his cabin.

  ‘We have ten staff here, and all of them arrived after Kittrell. I myself took on this role after he died.’

  He stuck his head out and called out to a co-worker, ‘Jerry, anyone knew Josh Kittrell?’

  She heard an indistinct reply.

  ‘No, the Kittrell who died.’

  Quam thanked the man, shut the door, and shook his head regretfully. ‘Nope, no one here who knows him. There was one lawyer, but he retired earlier this year and left the state.’

  ‘Can we have his details?’

  ‘Sure. Give me a second.’ He went out and returned with a name and a number scrawled on it.

  ‘Ken Pellot. He was our senior litigation lawyer, and now lives in Chicago. I will email him and tell him you might call.’

  They thanked him and left after another half hour of learning nothing new.

  They were climbing inside their Escalade when a shout stopped them.

  Quam came running and thrust another piece of paper in Beth’s hand.

  ‘Kittrell’s manager, the one who retired. He lives in Birmingham. He knew Kittrell and his family well. He’s your best bet.’

  Kittrell’s manager, Chuck Keyser, wasn’t at home when Meghan called. She left a message and set out for the Kittrell’s old home.

  The old home was behind a church and had a For Sale sign on it. Meghan stopped in front of the sign for Beth to note the realtor’s number.

  ‘Didn’t Althof say the house was now owned by another family?’

  ‘He did. Looks like they’re selling.’

  Meghan drove two hundred yards away and parked on the street, just outside the driveway of the neighboring house. It was nearly identical to the previous house and looked equally uninhabited.

  She walked up the drive, pressed a buzzer and waited.

  Beth pointed at the stack of newspapers and flyers lying on the entrance porch and mouthed silently, ‘Peltier isn’t here?’

  ‘Maybe she’s at school,’ Meghan whispered back.

  ‘Nope. Reeves said she’s retired and lives alone.’

  They waited for a few more minutes and when the door remained stubbornly shut, circled the house.

  Meghan tried to peer through a couple of windows but they were too high. They were grimy and looked like they hadn’t been washed in a while.

  Beth went to the rear of the house which had a glass fronted door that opened into a garden. The garden turned into lawns at each side; lawns that were shared with the neighbors.

  A thicket separated the neighboring hou
se on the left, a hedge from the one on its right.

  She climbed a couple of steps and was preparing to knock, when a dog barked.

  They turned at the patter of feet and presently a small dog trotted into view. It was white with black splotches on its face and was trailing a leash.

  It stopped a few feet away and cocked its head at Meghan and then at Beth.

  Its tail wagged and when they didn’t move, it barked.

  ‘Does she have a dog?’ Meghan wondered aloud.

  ‘What part of she lives alone, didn’t you get?’ Beth snorted.

  ‘Bruno?’ a female voice called out before Meghan could reply.

  Bruno turned his head, barked once, and turned back to the twins.

  A woman came round the thicket, spotted Bruno, and chided him. ‘There you are, you naughty boy.’

  She spotted the twins, came to a stop and planted her hands on her hips.

  ‘Who the heck are you?

  ‘We came looking for Julie Peltier, ma’am,’ Meghan replied calmly, aware that Bruno had picked up on the woman’s voice and was growling softly.

  ‘Julie doesn’t live here anymore.’

  Chapter 16

  Meghan’s heart sank when she heard the woman’s words. Nonetheless, she put on a smile and introduced herself and her sister.

  ‘We wished to talk to her about her neighbors, the Kittrells.’

  ‘They’ve been gone a long time,’ the woman answered. ‘Get back, Bruno.’

  Bruno reluctantly turned back from sniffing their shoes and wagged his tail and looked up at her.

  ‘Don’t make those eyes at me. You have been very naughty. I am very angry with you.’

  The tail wagged harder, at which the woman melted, picked him up, kissed him, and set him down.

  The dog barked happily, and darted away in search of new distractions.

  ‘Sorry, Bruno can be a handful. He is not fully trained yet.’ She was friendlier now and her brown eyes beneath dark hair, sized them up.

  ‘What happened to the Kittrells?’

  ‘Their daughter has been kidnapped.’