Whenever they would offer a new desk or an office, he would politely decline and say he preferred the bustle of the press room and the feel of his old desk. Truth was he didn’t like the idea of being inside a ‘glass cage’, as he referred to the offices.

He pulled up the rolling chair that matched the age of the desk and got out his notes from the briefing. Something was nagging at the back of his brain and he couldn’t get it to come out. He knew if he was patient, it would eventually make its way to where he could remember it. Unfortunately, it was taking longer these days to make those nagging things come forward to his memory.

Devin James attachment to antiques ended with the desk. He got himself a new computer every year and this year was a very nice Dell laptop. He turned it on, waiting briefly for it to boot up, and began writing the story from the briefing.

As he typed out the three names, he couldn’t shake the feeling he knew them. It was like he’d done a story before where he’d typed these names out together. He stopped what he was doing and pulled up the search window for the San Antonio News archives. After typing in all three names, he hit search.

In just a few seconds, a story that James had written over ten years ago, popped up.

Of course. The Billy Jarvis suicide. I knew those names were connected somehow.

The reporter began to read the story and some of the details began to come back. He remembered showing up at the house in the north San Antonio neighborhood after hearing a scanner report. It was a tragic scene and stayed with him for a long time. A screaming mother, crying neighbors and the feeling it was so senseless.

As he went through the article, the three names he’d searched were highlighted in bold print but there was a fourth name. Dexter Hughes. He was also there that day. If the three missing were connected by the suicide, that meant Hughes could be next.

Devin opened up a phone book and ran his finger down the large number of ‘Hughes’ listed in the San Antonio area. There was no guarantee that the man still lived in the city but the first three people missing had all remained local, maybe Hughes was also still around.

There was over eighty ‘Hughes’ listed with the initial ‘D’. Most could be eliminated because the entire first name was listed but James was still left with seven names.

He began dialing and hoped Dexter Hughes was not an unlisted number. Four numbers later, no luck.

Number five was an answering machine.

“You’ve reached Dex, Trish, and the boys. Leave a message.”

Devin hung up. He checked the address that matched the fifth number. It was in west San Antonio and he made a note of it.

Next, he got up and went to the file cabinet behind his desk. In it, Devin James kept the files containing his notes from every major story he had covered. It took some digging but, in short order, he found the file marked ‘Jarvis Suicide’.

Taking it back to his desk, he opened it up and read what he’d jotted down ten years before. The main thing he was looking for was family of Billy Jarvis. If the disappearance of these people was tied to the death of Billy Jarvis, it made sense to James that a family member would be responsible. He hoped he had the names of the people close to Billy.

His notes revealed that Billy had a father who was already dead, a mother and a younger brother. Betty Jarvis was Billy’s mother. James went back to the phone book. He knew this time he was looking for a woman who may have remarried and no longer had the same last name.

James found the last name Jarvis had far fewer listings than Hughes and only ten with first names starting with B. One listing said Betty. He dialed the number.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Is Betty Jarvis there please?”

“Who’s calling?”

“My name is Devin James. I’m a reporter for the San Antonio News.”

“She’s not here. Can I give her a message?”

“Yes. Could you ask her to call me?”

“Sure.”

James gave the man the phone number and hung up.

****

Donnie put the phone down and stared at it. The call scared him. He had one person left to pick up. The last thing he needed was a reporter calling and asking questions. He’d watched the news on TV tonight and had seen the story about the missing people. The same one’s he had in his basement. It was clear he needed to move more quickly.

 

Chapter  15

 

Devin James decided to go past the Hughes house on his way home. He’d called again and got the machine for a second time. He needed to go by and check his theory before alerting the police. After all, he had nothing but his suspicion to suggest that anything might be wrong at the Hughes home.

He came around the corner and found the house numbers in this neighborhood were on the brick mailboxes by the street. He followed the numbers down the road until he came to the one on his paper. The house was a large, two story brick home with dramatic dormers on the second floor and an immaculate lawn. There were two of those trees you trim into shapes, one on each side of the black front door.

There was a car in the driveway with the trunk open. A tall, dark haired woman in a pant suit was handing bags of groceries to two children. She grabbed the last bag and walked towards the house.

James parked and got out, moving across the lawn towards the door.

“Mrs. Hughes?”

She stopped and turned towards the reporter.

“Yes?”

“My name is Devin James; I’m a reporter for the San Antonio News. Is your husband home?”

“I don’t think so, Mr. James, at least his car’s not here. Why are you asking?”

“I’m doing research for a story and his name came up as a source for some background.”

She continued up the walk and unlocked the door. The kids took their bags inside.

“Oh. Did you call Dex at work?”

“No, I didn’t have the number.”

“If you’ll wait a minute, I’ll get it for you.”

“That would be great.”

She disappeared inside with her groceries and returned a few minutes later with a business card.

“He’s a sales rep for a billboard company. This is his card with his cell number.”

James took the card and gave her one of his.

“If I don’t reach him, would you have him call me?”

“Sure.”

She closed the door and James immediately started dialing while on his way back to his car.

“This is Dex Hughes with Barnaby Advertising. I’m sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message and I’ll return your call as soon as I can.”

James hung up and dialed the office number also listed on the card.

“Barnaby Advertising.”

“Yes, Is Dexter Hughes in?”

“No, sir. He’s not been to the office today. Do you want his cell number?”

“No, thank you. I already have it.”

Devin James hung up. What to do next? He needed to know the whereabouts of Dexter Hughes but he didn’t want to create panic based on a ten year old news story.

He started his car and looked at the address of Betty Jarvis. It was east of the city. He would pay her a visit in the morning.

****

Donnie slammed the door on the fourth cell and snapped the padlock shut. A quick look told him the other three cells were all still locked. Tomorrow he’ll visit Billy one last time before completing the mission. Donnie wished Billy could be present to see the success of the plan and he would love to be watching when Billy received his final rest. Neither was possible but it would be an exciting day, anyway.