Alison said, “Please sit down, Detective. Can I pour you some coffee?”
“Sure. Just black. Can I use your bathroom?”
“Of course. It’s down the hall, second door on the right.”
“Thank you.” He really did have to use the facilities. But being alone also gave him a chance to listen behind closed doors . . . see if he could detect any movement and hear anything suspicious.
Nothing.
He returned a few minutes later, and his coffee was waiting along with a plate of cookies. The Taylors were sitting together on the sofa. Alison was wearing a loose shift dress with sandals on her feet. Guy wore a white guayabera shirt over olive linen pants.
Sitting opposite them, Decker said, “I’m just here to give you an update. There have been some new developments in Bertram Lanz’s case, but no progress in locating him. I don’t know what Mangrove PD has found out about Kathrine. They’re playing it close to the vest, and since Kathrine is not my case officially, I have to respect how they are proceeding.”
Both of them nodded. Both of them said nothing.
“I’ve actually come to ask you if you’ve heard from Mangrove PD.”
A pause, then shakes of the head.
“This may seem like a blunt question, but have you heard from your daughter?”
Nervous eyes. “What would give you that idea?” Alison said.
“Well, like I told you, it’s Mangrove’s case. But I have checked in with them. You haven’t phoned them or asked for updates. Being a cop for a long time . . . that tells me that maybe you don’t have anything to ask because you know what happened to her.”
Guy said, “We don’t know anything—”
“She’s safe,” Alison blurted out.
Silence.
Decker waited for them to make the next move.
Alison looked down. “That’s all we know.”
“You talked to her?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t think about reporting the conversation to the police?”
“She said she’s safe,” Guy told him. “That’s all we know and that’s all we care about.”
“You know, we’ve expended quite a bit of energy looking for Kathrine and Bertram. It would have been nice not to spin our wheels.”
“We just found out a few days ago,” Alison said. “We should have contacted the police. We’re very sorry.”
A pause. Decker said, “Okay, I’ll let Mangrove PD know. Is Bertram with her?”
“We don’t know,” Guy said.
“Hmm, I suspect you do.”
“No, we don’t.” Guy added, “It was a thirty-second conversation.”
“Who did she talk to? You or Alison?”
“She called me,” Alison said. “We put her on speakerphone.”
“Did you talk to anyone else besides Kathrine?”
“No,” Alison said.
“And what precisely did she tell you?”
Alison put her thumbnail to her mouth. “Just that she was safe and not to worry.”
“And?”
“That was it.”
“No, I don’t think so. I think she probably told you not to call the police.” His response was met with silence. “She still may be in danger.”
“She’s not.”
“And you know that because . . .”
Guy said, “Because she said she was fine.”
“She sounded okay,” Alison added. “Even happy.”
“She was with Bertram?”
“We don’t know and that’s the truth.” Alison shrugged. “But yes, she could be with Bertram.”
“And you have no idea where she is.”
“No.”
“Overseas maybe?”
“I don’t know.”
“The phone number came up blocked,” Guy said.
“We have ways of unblocking the phone number,” Decker said.
“It’s not necessary,” Alison said. “No sense in you spinning your wheels, like you said.”
“She told you not to call us, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not concerned about her safety?”
“I’d be more concerned about her safety if I didn’t do what she told us to do.”
“‘Don’t call the police,’” Guy said. “Those were her words.”
Alison said, “She was adamant.”
“Okay,” Decker said. “You don’t know where she is.” A pause. “Where do you suspect she is?”
“Can I tell you something in confidence?” Alison said.
Decker thought a moment. “Okay. What?”
“She’s in Germany.”
“Ah. And you think she’s in Germany because . . .”
“The blocked number. We actually did hire a tech person to unblock it. He couldn’t get the complete number, just the country prefix.”
“You know you can get the number by requesting her phone records.”
“No authority,” Guy told him. “She’s an independent adult.”
“You think so?” Decker asked.
Alison looked down. “Bertram’s parents are wealthy. If she’s there with him, we don’t have anything to be concerned about.”
“Unless she and Bertram were kidnapped.”
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Guy said.
“She suddenly decided to go to Germany?”
A long sigh. Alison said, “You said this isn’t your case. Let it go.”
“If you know for a fact that she’s with Bertram, you need to tell me that. Bertram is my case.”
“I suspect she is. But I don’t know that for a fact.”
“Are you sending your private eye to Germany?” When neither Guy nor Alison answered, Decker said, “We’ll probably be looking into it, you know.”
“But why?” Alison was exasperated. “If Kathrine and Bertram are safe, what do you care?”
“Because there might have been a crime committed at Elsie Schulung’s house.”
“The nurse who worked at Bertram’s residential care?”
“Exactly.”
“What does she have to do with Kathrine?” Guy asked.
“Maybe something, maybe nothing,” Decker said, “but Bertram and Kathrine may be together. And Bertram is our case.”
“Bertram wouldn’t hurt Kathrine,” Guy said.
“He might not, but Elsie Schulung might not be as attached to Kathrine as Bertram is.”
Alison said, “Getting the police involved might do her more harm than good. Have you considered that?”
“Of course I’ve considered that.”
“You and I are at cross purposes, Detective,” Alison said. “You want to get a crime solved. We want to keep our daughter safe. You go solve your crime, sir, but you’re going to have to do it without our help. The only thing that matters to us is our daughter’s safety. And like I said, she sounded happy.”
“Okay.” Decker stood up. “I understand what you’re telling me. I’m a parent myself. I’d like to know exactly where Kathrine is before I let go. On the other hand, I don’t want to screw up her safety. I’ll talk to my captain and get back to you. But I will have to tell Mangrove PD that you’ve heard from her.”