Vlad flipped through the pages. “There isn’t much here.”
“Back then, they didn’t keep digital records. I was lucky to find even that. Someone must have uploaded them but included only the most basic information.”
“So we don’t know how bad it was.” Which was a relief.
If he had to look at pictures of a battered woman, Vlad would have gone nuts with the need to tear Wendy’s father to shreds.
“Regrettably, I couldn’t find anything else, not even Wendy’s birth hospital records. I’m sure the paper files exist, but that doesn’t help us. What surprised me, though, was that Margaret’s maiden name wasn’t Simmons. It was Taylor.”
“Maybe she changed her last name? Though, why would she?”
“That was my first thought, but when I searched further, I found out that Margaret Taylor was the daughter of Greta and Thomas Taylor. So, I switched my search to Edgar Simmons and found out that he had a sister named Greta. Wendy’s mom wasn’t his sister, she was his niece, which makes Wendy his great-niece.”
“Why did he lie about that?”
“I have no idea. Maybe it gave him more leverage over Wendy’s father. Anyway, Greta and Thomas had only one child, Margaret, and they both died young. She was eighteen when she married Wendy’s father and orphaned only a few months prior. He was twelve years older than her at the time.”
“The bastard caught her at a vulnerable time. No wonder that she didn’t realize what kind of vermin he was.”
“I thought the same thing. So, my next line of investigation was to check Roger Miller’s criminal record. All I found were the old police reports of domestic abuse, but charges had never been filed, a few DUIs, and a couple of drunken bar brawls. At one time, he had his driver’s license suspended for a year.”
“Charming fellow,” Vlad bit out.
“Run-of-the-mill nasty drunk. Still, that doesn’t mean that he didn’t kill Wendy’s mother. Most murderers don’t have prior records.”
“What happened to her after she left him?”
“I couldn’t find a single thing.” Roni leaned back in his chair. “There are thousands of Margaret Millers and Margaret Taylors, but I ran them through my program, and none matched her date of birth and her maiden name. Then I ran her old driver's license picture through the facial recognition software and also got nothing.”
With a sigh, Vlad plopped down on a chair. “Then she must be dead.”
“Not necessarily. She might have changed her last name, remarried, or have gotten great fake documents. If she contacted her uncle after running away from her abusive husband, he might have helped her disappear.”
“But since Simmons is dead, we have no way of finding her. Provided that she’s alive, that is.”
“What about Wendy’s father? He must know what happened to her. You can get it out of his head.”
“If I get anywhere near him, I’ll kill him.”
Roni chuckled. “I doubt that. You are too nice of a guy to murder anyone.”
“He abused my mate. Trust me, I’m capable of tearing his throat out with my fangs.”
Roni grimaced. “That’s a gruesome image, but I get it. If anyone abused my Sylvia, I would be capable of that as well.” He smiled evilly. “But then no one can accuse me of being a nice guy.”
Vlad waved a hand. “I know that your nasty attitude is a smokescreen to keep people from asking you for favors all of the time.”
“There is some truth to that. But mostly it’s just a habit. When I was imprisoned and forced to work for the government, I had to be prickly to survive among all those middle-aged agents who sneered at the teenager heading their computer hacking department. It was a defense mechanism, and the attitude stuck.” Roni chuckled. “Or at least that’s what Sylvia is trying to convince me it was. But back to your problem. What do you want to do?”
“If any of what Wendy’s father said was true, then Margaret had a drug problem. Could you check records of rehab centers?”
Roni shook his head. “It’s the same problem as with any other records from that time. They weren’t digital.”
He sounded as if Wendy had been born in the Stone Age. Things couldn't have been so primitive only eighteen years ago.
“Wendy is nineteen. I’m sure they had digital records when she was a baby.”
“Some places did, but most didn’t. The systematic digitalization of health records started only eleven years ago.”
“A drug problem is not easy to shake. What if she checked in recently?” Vlad rubbed a hand over his jaw. “But if she did, it probably wasn’t as Margaret Miller or Taylor.”
“Right. But if they have photo records, the facial recognition software might help. I’ll need to run her driver's license photo through an aging application, or you will have to hire Tim to do it.”
Vlad hesitated. “Do you have time for that? I know how busy you are.”
Roni grinned. “I love a good mystery. I wasn’t able to find my grandmother, who I know for sure is an immortal and is hiding somewhere, and it drives me nuts that she’s managed to elude not only me but also Turner. But maybe I’ll be able to find Wendy’s mom.”
51
Rufsur
“So, what else is there to do in the village?” Rufsur wrapped his arm around Edna’s shoulders.
“Why? Don’t you love sitting in my backyard and enjoying a good cup of coffee?”
“I do, very much so. I just want to be aware of all the benefits. If I want to convince Kalugal that it’s a good idea to move in here, I need to know about as many selling points as possible.”
“We have a movie theater in the underground structure, and because Brandon is a Hollywood insider, he gets us all the latest releases. We also have an Olympic sized swimming pool in the underground, a shooting range, and a gym. But you already saw that during Richard’s ceremony.”
“That’s it?”
She nodded. “The café is the central hub where everyone meets, and just strolling through the village is a pleasant activity. But for those who seek more lively entertainment, the city is not too far away.”
“Kalugal likes fancy restaurants.”
“There are many in the city. But it’s a schlep.”
“What about the rescue missions that Kian keeps mentioning? Are all of them in the Los Angeles area?”
“We cover all of Southern California, which is the size of a country. There are nearly twenty-four million people living here, and plenty of that is going on. We eliminate one place, and another one pops up somewhere else.” She turned to look up at him. “Why? Do you think that Kalugal will want to take part in it?”
“Not likely. He assigned the management of his contributions to Jacki, and it’s up to her where the money goes. That’s the extent of what he’s willing to do on the ground level. Kalugal is more the big picture kind of guy.”
“Donating money to the cause is good, but there is no global solution to the problem. As long as there is big money to be made in trafficking, it’s going to continue. Do things like that bother him at all? I thought he was mainly interested in making money, not making the world a better place.”