Page 41 of Backwater Justice
“Good thinkin’.” Maggie got up. “Come on, Izzie. Let’s go get more respectable.”
“Bummer. I was enjoying the plush.” Izzie chuckled.
“You can plush all you want later. We have dinner coming, and we have to bring everyone up to speed. Go. Vamoose!” Annie clapped her hands.
“Be back in a flash,” Maggie said.
“Just don’t go flashing anyone in the hallway,” Myra called out.
Twenty minutes later, Kathryn rang from her room, which was also down the hall. “I have arrived. Ready for duty!”
“Excellent. Come on down to the suite,” Annie said.
The three women whooped it up in the hallway, high-fiving and fist-bumping. “Here we go!” Izzie said as she knocked on the suite door.
Annie greeted Kathryn with a big bear hug. There was no other kind when it came to Kathryn. Even Myra, who was slightly thinner than Annie, managed to wrap her arms around the biggest member of the crew. A lot of chatter followed until Annie took the reins. “Okay, Sisters! As you know, we are here to investigate two missing women. One a teen, and the other in her early twenties. I am happy to report that the first girl, Vanessa Rowan, has been found and is with her parents. But before we get down to business, we should have dinner, and then we can get busy.”
Everyone applauded. “But,” Annie cautioned, “we have not notified anyone, including Milton.”
There was a knock at the door, announcing room service had arrived. The server rolled the cart against the dining room table. “You can leave it there. Thank you.” Myra signed the check and gave the man a cash tip.
Everyone took a seat at the dining room table while Myra handed out the piles of steak and potatoes. The side dishes went on the table for everyone to help themselves.
There was a lot of chatter, and then Myra hushed the group to say Grace. Maggie finished the prayer with her usual irreverent, “Let’s eat!”
During dinner, they discussed the latest news, or lack thereof, in their lives. “I feel like my life is boring,” Izzie said. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my work, but by the time I’m finished with a project, I am ready to take a nap. Like, for a few days.” She went on. “Abner has been traveling a lot, so it’s me and Rufus. A girl can take just so many walks with a big oaf like him.”
“I thought you said Abner was traveling,” Kathryn teased. Everyone burst out laughing.
Izzie rolled her eyes. “I’m going to have to put one of them on a diet.”
When they finished their meal, they piled the dishes back on the cart and wheeled it out into the hallway. Annie called room service and asked them to send someone to pick it up. “We don’t want anyone disturbing us once we get started.”
* * *
When the table was clear, the women opened their laptops, grabbed pads and pens. Annie went through the story of Vanessa’s ordeal and how she’d come to find the girl at the hospital. “She and her parents should be arriving in Lake Tahoe shortly. We are keeping everything under wraps until we can make the connection between Vanessa’s abduction and what we believe could be an illegal pill distribution network.”
Myra chimed in. “Unfortunately, there is a very strong reason to believe Spangler Enterprises is involved, but we don’t know to what extent. You may have already heard that a woman disappeared from the Cascade Inn in Eugene yesterday. Izzie, that’s where you come in.”
Izzie nodded.
“Tomorrow morning, you and Kathryn will go to the hospital and visit Milton. It will be yourinterview.” Myra used air quotes. “Izzie, you will be taking the role of Regional Facilities Manager for the Cascade Inns. Kathryn, you will be on-call driver.”
“Obviously, we want both of you to keep your eyes and ears peeled for anything that may look out of the ordinary,” Annie said.
“Is there anything in particular?” Izzie asked.
“We were able to get some information from Vanessa about the man who abducted her. Bart something. Charles and Fergus are looking into him.” Annie continued. “When we were visiting Milton earlier, the two men showed up but were hustled away by Oliver, Mill’s younger son.”
“Oliver also has very expensive tastes,” Myra added. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but according to Charles, Oliver has spent a huge chunk of money on luxury items. With cash.”
Murmurs swept the room.
“These pills that Vanessa got a glimpse of, could she tell what they were?” Izzie asked.
“Unfortunately, no. Mr. Bart-something knocked her out. When she regained consciousness, she was in a basement,” Myra replied.
“So far, we think we should proceed like this: Maggie, you go back and interview everyone again. Then go and interview the George family. It’s their daughter Lori who disappeared from work.”