Part VI

"Is there anything else you need to know?" He sat there with his arm around her, and his chest all puffed up like a real tough guy.

"No." She sat there crying like the actors do in bad romance movies. She kept sniffling but she wasn't really crying. It was a cute try, but she wasn't cut out for acting. 

"...and if there is anything we can do just call us and we'll give you whatever you..."

"Ma'am, I got it." The husband stared me down the second I said it. He had blue eyes. I knew a girl who hated blue eyes; she rubbed off on me a bit.

"Okay so you have all our information, our contact numbers and all the account numbers and you have..."

"Mr. Seleck..." I gave him a minute, "...I have everything I need. I'll talk to the help..."

"Our staff! We take very good care of them."

"I'm sorry." I wasn't sorry at all. "I will talk to the staff and see what information I can gather about your daughter, and go from there. I have to tell you that it has been a few days now and the chances of her turning up are pretty slim..." she tried to cry harder, as if what I had said upset her. She must have done this in front of a mirror all morning. "...but, nonetheless, I will find out what happened to your daughter and the people responsible will be prosecuted." I stood up from the sofa. My stomach had flipped itself inside out and I really needed a smoke. 

"Thank you for taking our case Mr. Hu..."

"Jason is fine ,Mr. Seleck."

"Very well then, Jason." He had a firm handshake. You can tell a lot about a man by the way he shakes hands. His big blue eyes were fixed on mine the entire time, and the only time I broke eye contact was to watch his toupee bounce around when he moved. Everything felt fake. He let go of my hand. I didn't dare reach for his wife's hand. I just wanted to get the fuck out. 

"And if there is anything at all..."

"Cheryl! He knows. Just calm down sweetheart, Jason is going to take care of it." She was still all sniffles. She had mustered up a few tears but she wasn't selling it to anyone. I made my way to the front door. The husband walked me over and opened it for me. He didn't say anything. I stepped outside.

There is no reason to go into detail. Their house looked just like all the others along Park Avenue, and they had the same pleasure-to-meet-you plastic smiles as everyone else. But that isn't the point. Their daughter, Elizabeth, went missing about three days ago. No one has seen or heard from her and all her credit cards and accounts had been frozen. Her boyfriend of four years was the last person to see her; he was with the family and had an airtight alibi. I wouldn't have pegged him anyway, besides it was too early to line up the suspects. I needed more information about the girl. I figured I'd start with the help, see if I couldn't find something out that mommy and daddy didn't know. The fact that they all spoke different languages made it a bit trickier than I had hoped for but I figured I'd worry about it later. I looked around at the foot-traffic outside and took a long hard drag off my cigarette. I was a loaded gun, and this city was reason enough to pull the trigger. I had a fresh case; I had a job again.

Regardless of how I went about it I knew it would be a tough case.