Stolen Sunshine (eBook)

Chapter 2

New Orleans Police Officer Reese Hawking checked her watch for the fourth time in the last hour. Her shift had ended two hours earlier. She should have been home in bed, not working crowd control at the scene of a murder. A woman had been stabbed. Her body was dumped like trash. At least that’s what they’d told Reese– she had no desire to see for herself. Four homicide detectives and a crime scene unit were huddled over a dumpster in the dark alley off Dauphine Street. Ten uniforms, Reese included, kept the throngs of people at bay. The streets should have been empty at 3 a.m. on a Wednesday night, but the French Quarter is never really empty.

Reese observed the other officers fortunate enough to have pulled the same assignment as her– all men who had come for relief in the last hour. She wondered, only for a second, why she was the last one standing from the afternoon shift. Sure, she was the only Black female uniform on patrol in the Quarter, but that couldn’t be the reason. She laughed to herself. After six years on the force, Reese had gotten used to being overlooked. In the beginning, it had bothered her, but now, she couldn’t care less what a few arrogant men thought. All that mattered were the people she protected. Her people, in her city.

Twenty minutes later, her relief finally arrived and sent her back to the station. She dropped off her patrol car and signed out. By the time she peeled off her uniform and fell into bed, the sun was coming up. When her cell phone rang just before 7 a.m., she almost threw it across the room. Had it not been Ms. Gladys, she would have. Reese rolled over and hit accept on her cell. “Reese. Have you talked to Janae?” Ms. Gladys asked before Reese could say hello.

Reese rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Janae? No ma’am. Not since Tuesday. Why?”

“She didn’t come home last night. I thought maybe she was with you.”

“You sure she didn’t come home after you went to bed and left before you got up this morning?” Reese asked.

“I’m definitely sure,” Ms. Gladys said, sounding frantic. “Reese, something’s wrong.” 

Reese forced her eyes open. “Have you called her cell?”

“Of course, I have. I’m not crazy.”

Reese stared at the ceiling and tried to collect her thoughts “I know, Ms. Gladys. I’m just asking.”

“Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”

Reese thought about what Ms. Gladys was telling her. Then she weighed the source. Ms. Gladys had been diagnosed with dementia a year earlier. Was it possible that she had talked to Janae and forgotten? “Reese. Reese, are you still there?”

She propped herself up onto her elbows. “Yes ma’am. I’m here.”

“You need to go find her. You’re a cop. That’s your job, right?” Ms. Gladys snapped.

“We won’t consider her a missing person until she’s been gone for 48 hours.”

“That’s too long. Something is wrong Reese. You’ve got to do something now.” Ms. Gladys was yelling now.

Reese took a deep breath. “Okay, Ms. Gladys. Calm down. We’ll find her. Let me get dressed and I’ll be over there as soon as I can.”

“Hurry.” She was gone before Reese could say anything more.

Reese laid back for another minute, trying to force her body to move. She eventually got herself to a sitting position, then swung her legs off the bed. She called Janae’s cell while she pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. The call went straight to voicemail. She brushed her teeth and pulled her thick dark curls into a ponytail before driving to Janae’s house.

Ms. Gladys opened the door of the small shotgun house as soon as Reese pulled into the driveway. “Reese. Come in.”

Reese climbed the porch steps two at a time. Ms. Gladys’ house dress was wrinkled and her hair was tousled. Reese wondered if she’d slept at all. “Do you remember the last time you talked to Janae?” Reese asked as she stepped inside the living room.

Ms. Gladys was looking around as if she’d lost her daughter under the loveseat. “Yesterday when she left for work.”

Reese sighed. “You didn’t talk to her again after that?”

Ms. Gladys eyes snapped back to Reese. “No. That’s how I know something is wrong.”

“That is strange,” Reese said quietly.

Ms. Gladys pointed a finger at Reese then turned toward the kitchen. “Told you.”

Janae always called home at least once a day to check on her mother, Reese knew. She walked across the room to the cordless phone and pushed the button to review the previous calls. “Ms. Gladys, the phone log says Janae called yesterday morning and again at 4:30 in the afternoon. You sure you didn’t talk to her?”

Ms. Gladys put her hand to her head. “Did she? Yes, that’s right she called.”

Reese took a breath then replaced the phone on the charger. If Ms. Gladys couldn’t remember the last time she talked to Janae, could she be wrong about the last time she’d seen her? “Ms. Gladys, when was the last time you ate?”

“This morning,” Ms. Gladys said, nodding.

Reese walked to the kitchen. “What did you have for breakfast?”

“Now what did I eat?” The confused woman put her hand on her forehead again. “Oh, I can’t remember. But what does that have to do with anything?”

Reese opened the door to the pantry and grabbed a box of cereal. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

Ms. Gladys waved her off. “There’s no time for that. You need to go out there and find Janae.” Ms. Gladys pointed that finger at Reese again. “Tara Reese, don’t make me call your mother.”

Reese shook her head at the threat. Calling Reese’s mother was impossible since she’d been dead for almost ten years, but it seemed Ms. Gladys had forgotten that. “What time does Sharon come to stay with you?” Reese asked.

“When the morning news goes off.”

Reese looked at her watch. “She should be here soon. When she gets here, I’ll look for Janae. Right now, I need you to eat something and take your medicine.” She gently guided the worried woman into a chair at the kitchen table and got a bowl from the cabinet.

When Reese picked up the daily pill container from the bathroom vanity, she felt the first tinge of fear. Ms. Gladys’ evening pills from the night before were still in the container. Even if Janae had returned home late, she wouldn’t have forgotten to give her mother her medicine. For now, Reese filed that information away and handed Ms. Gladys her morning pills before making her way down the hallway.

The door to Janae’s room was ajar. There were a pair of jeans and a few shirts on a chair in the corner and a pair of running shoes on the floor, but nothing looked out of place. Reese dug around in the closet and bathroom. No purse. No phone. No wallet. Back in the kitchen, she got Janae’s work number from the white board on the fridge and dialed it from her cell phone. Janae’s voicemail picked up just as Sharon came through the front door.

“Good morning Ms. Gladys. Oh, hi Reese.” Sharon’s face fell when she saw Reese’s troubled expression. “Is everything okay?”

“Reese came to find Janae,” Ms. Gladys said from the kitchen table.

Sharon looked over to Reese. “Where’s Janae?” 

“Ms. Gladys says she never came home last night,” Reese answered.

“Ms. Gladys, are you sure she didn’t just come home late?” Sharon asked.

“I’m sure,” Ms. Gladys snapped.

“Sharon, what time did you leave yesterday?” Reese asked.

“I left at five, like I always do. Janae is always home before six. Reese, do you really think she’s missing?”

“I don’t know what to think,” she answered truthfully. “Her room looks fine, but she’s not picking up her cell or her office phone. When was the last time you talked to her?”

“I texted her yesterday to verify Ms. Gladys’ doctor’s appointment today. She called back on the house phone about a half hour before I left,” Sharon answered.

“Did she say anything about going somewhere after work?”

Sharon stared back at her, suddenly worried. “No, she didn’t.”

Reese put her cell in the back pocket of her jeans and started toward the door. “Sharon, take Ms. Gladys to the doctor. I’ll call you as soon as I find something.”

Reese was out the door and down the steps before either of them could answer. At 8am, the temperature had already topped eighty degrees which explained the sweat dotting Reese’s forehead– or maybe it was the dread rising in her stomach. Taking side streets to avoid the morning traffic, Reese drove to the electric company where Janae worked as an admin in the HR department. Ten minutes after leaving Janae’s house, Reese pulled up to the red brick building downtown.

A young blond woman came from a back office when she heard the bell on the front door. “Can I help you?”, she asked Reese.

“I’m looking for Janae Harper. Can you tell me if she came into work today?”

The young woman’s smile faded. “I’m sorry ma’am, but I can’t give you that kind of information.” 

Reese held up her badge. “I’m Officer Reese Hawking. Ms. Harper may be missing.”

The receptionist took a step back, startled. “Let me get Janae’s supervisor.”

A few minutes later, a balding man in a short sleeve white...