Fiction
Forbidden Love Part 9
A Sunny Alexander-Johnson and Henry James Series By P.G. & Sharon Barnett
My name is Sunny Alexander-Johnson, and I’m Henry James, and we’re writers for Dark Sides of the Truth Magazine.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8
After the Friday storyboarding session with our editor-in-chief of Dark Sides, Rick Mcdonnell, and the other staff writers, we headed back downtown to Austin Police headquarters.
We waited for Charlie to meet us at the admitting desk then followed him to the break room where a couple of detectives were sipping from styrofoam cups and chatting.
Charlie introduced us to his colleagues, Ruben Standifer and Harvey Goldbloom, both of them detectives, and both of them working their own fair share of cases.
“Nice to meet you gents. No offense, but Charlie we need to talk. We found some information you need to hear about the Gloria Salitos disappearance.”
“Okay Henry, shoot.”
“Uh…”
“Hell, man don’t worry about Ruben and Harvey. They’re working disappearance cold cases just like I am. That’s part of the problem. We’ve got more cases than people.”
After telling Charlie how we’d discovered J.B. Buchanan’s cabin and the information we’d captured we then told all three detectives our suspicions about Ginny Buchanan. The minute we mentioned the connection between Ginny and Gloria at St. Iglesia’s summer camp we got Ruben and Harvey’s undivided attention.
“Wait, slow down you two. You said Gloria went to St. Iglesia’s?”
“Yeah. That’s probably how they met.”
“Harvey? You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yeap. Charlie. Take ’em to the office where all the information on the Salitos girl is. Ruben and I are going to get our case information and join you.”
We had just made ourselves comfortable when Ruben and Harvey walked in, their arms loaded with stacks of folders. As we watched they sat, then arranged their stacks into five separate sections.
“Okay what you’re looking at here is five separate cold cases Ruben and I have been working over the years when we had time. Just like Charlie, we haven’t been able to do these girls or their families justice.”
“Until maybe now.”
“So what’s the deal, Ruben?”
“Sunny, every one of these five girls went to St. Iglesia's summer camp. At different times, but they all spent time there during the summer.”
“You said different times. Like how different?”
“What Henry?”
“What was the time frame? Did you two get that information?”
“Henry, what are you doing?”
“I’m calling Jason Bowers. Remember he said if we ever need anything to give him a call.”
“Two thousand…”
“Hang on Ruben. Yes, this is Henry James. Is Jason Bowers in this morning? Great could you let him know I need to speak with him for a quick second? Awesome. Jason? Yeah, it’s Henry. We may have. Can I put you on speaker? Great, hang on.”
“Jason? You there?”
“Yes, Henry. What’s up?”
“Okay, we found a photo in Gloria’s private journal that shows you and Gloria, two other boys and a girl by the name of Ginney…”
“Buchanan.”
“You know her?”
Hey, Sunny. Yeah, Ginney and I were the veterans. It was Gloria’s and the Johnson brothers' first year as counselors.
“What do you mean veterans?”
With a chuckle, Jason replied, “well it was our second year there so I guess that made us veterans. Ginney and I started when we were sophomores in school.”
“So how long did you and Ginney work there as counselors?”
“Both of us all the way through to our senior year then I bowed out to go off to college.”
“What about Ginney?”
“Well, we kind of lost touch for a while, but I met her a few months after Gloria’s disappearance when I was home for summer break. According to her, she planned on continuing the camp counselor thing. Said something about how wonderful it was to be with all the kids, you know kind of nurture them.”
“She used those words? Nurture them?”
“It’s been a long time Henry, but I’m pretty sure that’s what she said.”
“So when was that?”
“Well, let’s see. I think Ginney and I graduated in two thousand. She was in a different school district, but we were in the same grade. I know she did four years at UT, then another two for her masters. So if she did keep working as a counselor that would have put her there for about six years altogether.”
“Anything after that?”
“Not to my knowledge, Sunny. I haven’t spoken to Ginney in years. I think the last time I heard from her was about five years ago when she got back from Germany. She wanted to get together and talk about old times.”
“Jason, thanks so much. This helps more than you know.”
“No, problem Henry. The offer still stands. You two can call me anytime you think of something.”
After disconnecting we stared across the table at Ruben and Harvey. Both detectives were perusing through their respective folders and scribbling on notepads furiously. When they finally stopped they looked expectantly at us.
“You have the dates when this Buchanan woman supposedly stayed at the cabin?”
“Yes, Rueben we do.”
“Okay let’s do this. The first date goes to Charlie since Gloria’s case is older.”
“December 21st, 2000.”
“Check. Ruben?”
“Amanda Cotter. Attended St. Iglesia’s the summer of 2001. Reported missing October eighteenth, 2001.”
“Again check.”
“Danielle Harper. St. Iglesia’s the summer of 2002. Reported missing August fifteenth the same year.
“Yes, according to what we saw. Supposedly she was in the cabin during the same time period.”
“Okay, my two. Suzanne Miller, St. Iglesia’s the summer of 2005, reported missing September 2005.”
“And yes, she was staying at the cabin at the same time.”
“Last one. Diane Summers, St. Iglesia’s the summer of 2006, reported missing November twentieth, 2006.”
“Again yes. Any more?”
All three men shook their heads then Charlie said something we were all thinking.
“What did Jason say? This Buchanan woman was out of the country until five years ago? Okay, so we have a gap of about fourteen years. Was she out of the country the entire gap?”
“No way to verify that unless we bring her in for questioning Charlie.”
“I know that Rueben. Do you guys think we have enough to get a warrant and bring her in?”
“Oh, hell yes. I’ll tell the captain what we need and get in touch with the D.A.”
“Can we tag along with you guys Charlie?”
“Well, Henry I guess you and Sunny at least deserve seeing this through to the end. Tell you guys what. We aren’t making a move without a warrant so that’s going to take a bit. Why don’t you two head back to Dark Sides and I’ll pick you guys up before we head out.”
“Good enough. We’ll wait for the call.”
It wasn’t until almost six-thirty in the evening that we heard from Charlie. And we certainly weren’t expecting what he had to say.
“Sunny? Henry? You two are not going to believe this shit. We just received a call from dispatch about another missing person. Except this is a bit different. This is a lady in her forties. She and a pair of girlfriends share a duplex in the Fallsgate subdivision. Her roommates said she told them she was going to pick up a friend from the airport Thursday night and she hasn’t been seen since.”
“Maybe she had a sleepover with the friend.”
“Uh, yeah we thought so too. Until we ran a background check. Guess what we were looking for.”
“At one point in her life, she attended St Iglesia’s just like all the rest.”
“You got it, Henry. You two be ready to go. We’re going to need you to get us to the cabin.”
“We’ll be ready Charlie.”
The minute we disconnected we shut down and headed for the elevators.
“Looks like our little Ginney is all grown up and looking for a little bit more mature company these days.”
“You got that right Henry.”
Read On — Forbidden Love Conclusion
Let’s keep in touch: P.G. & Sharon Barnett ([email protected]) © P.G. Barnett, 2020. All Rights Reserved.