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thing there and get her to talk to me. I got her email address from Adam, so I can send something now.” I took a minute and sent a quick note to her, explaining my business and the offer of a free consult.
    Sheila was busy typing away on her own device. She sat there quietly looking at the screen. She finally looked up. “Did he mention his parents at all? It’s only been about 14 years or so since the murder, but I’m not seeing any sign of them in the system. No deaths, no taxes, nothing. Seems very odd.”
    I shook my head. “He didn’t mention them at all. How do people drop off the map that way? Maybe I’ll have better luck with the sister,” I suggested.
    She took a deep breath. “So what’s after the sister? You’re pinning a lot of hopes to her. If she doesn’t come through, what’s the back-up?”
    I explained to her my theory that Frias could have been killed by one of her clients after she’d seen something that she wasn’t supposed to. She nodded, but stay silent until I was finished. “That’s a good second line of investigation, but we’ll have to look into that. I don’t know if any of those people were ever questioned about the killing. I’ll ask around. I’m still stuck on the dog not barking and the lack of information on the parents. It’s like they disappeared.”
    I winced, and then I shook my head. Even though I knew logically that Susan was alive and living in another city, my instinctual reaction after so many years was to feel the pain of her disappearance in my life. It was hard to think that this pain was a phantom, almost like the phantom pains that people with missing limbs had. In this case, my sister was actually alive and while I knew it, my entire being still felt the pain of those years of thinking she was dead. I knew that it would take time for those wounds to heal, but at the same time, I resented the emotions I was forced to feel because of a lie.
    I checked my email again, but there was no word from the Gillespie girl yet. I checked the house again, but there had been no activity outside that home since I’d left. Gillespie had lied twice to me in a matter of minutes. He was definitely on the list of people I wanted to look into further. Could it be that his questions about Susan had been a ploy to find out if she was still alive and where she lived? That could explain why she was still concerned about her safety after all this time.
    Sheila looked exhausted, so I took her back to her place and stayed long enough to ensure that she’d made it to bed. I made no comment about the fact that this was my first time here with her in the house. I didn’t want her to leave to start her own investigation as soon as I left, though that was exactly what I would have done. I didn’t want to rush home though. I suspected that I’d have a request from my mother when I returned, and I was in no mood to deal with her.
    However, when I managed to pull in the driveway thirty minutes later, I didn’t have a choice. She and Sergeant Siever were parked directly across the street from my home. I got out the car and had nearly made it to the door when they came up behind me.
    “We need to talk,” my mother said, sounding ominous.
    “I’ve wanted to talk for a long time, but all you do it yell and tell me to back off. I need some answers if we’re going to talk. I’m tired of asking questions and getting nothing in return. That’s not talking.” I pushed open the door and was greeted by the dogs. It’s hard to stay mad, especially when you have a face full of Corgis, but I was about done with the lies and the deceit that my mother had been spouting.
    Both Siever and my mother came into the house without prompting and sat down. I took note that my mother sat in the same place that Sheila had occupied earlier in the day. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. At this point in my life, I trusted Sheila more than my own family. I put it out of my head as I focused on them.
    “So