Detective
Alex Garcia stared blindly at the Styrofoam container of coffee being extended
his way.He could not concentrate
on anything other than the previous day’s conversation with his former lover.Over and over again Dara Jensen’s words replayed in his head.‘It’s not like we were anything to each other…’
“Hey!”Marcus Taggert barked at his friend and partner to get his attention.He watched Alex raise unfocused eyes his way.“Hey, man, what is wrong?”
“Dara
quit her job.Quit her job, quit
her apartment… quit me.”
Marcus
plunked the coffee down on the table in front of his friend.“When did all this happen?”
“Yesterday.”
When
no further information seemed forthcoming, Marcus pulled up a chair and
straddled it.“You are going to
have to tell me more than that,” he said.
Alex
Garcia ran a hand over his close-cropped hair.“Dara’s office called yesterday and said that she had just suddenly
quit her job.I went by her place
to find out what was going on, but the super said that she didn’t live there
anymore.”Garcia shook his head
in disbelief.“Marcus, I had
dinner with Dara at her place just the night before.But when the super took me upstairs to see the apartment for myself, the
place was empty!Like no one had
ever lived there.”
“Dara’s
clothes were all gone?”
“Her
clothes?!?”The laughter that broke forth from Garcia’s throat had an almost
desperate quality to it.The sound
made Taggert realize that whatever the situation with Dara, it was more grave
than he had assumed.“Man,
everything was gone!There wasn’t
a stick of furniture or scrap of paper left!”Alex sighed deeply.“Then
Dara calls me and says she needed some change in her life.No other explanation.Just
that she needed a change.”
Marcus
stood abruptly.He pulled his cell
phone from his pocket and began dialing.“It
is time to find out what the hell is going on.”
His
partner’s calm, confident demeanor reassured Alex.For the first time in hours the worried detective began to believe that
some answers regarding Dara and her baffling actions might be forthcoming.If there was one thing that Alex knew, it was that once Marcus Taggert
set his mind to a thing, nothing and no one could deter him from seeing it to
the end.
There
had been occasions when that single-mindedness had been a source of conflict
between the two men.Taggert, when
absolutely convinced of his facts, could not be swayed from whatever course of
action he’d set.His partner Alex
tended to remain more neutral and passive.Garcia suspected that Commissioner Mac Scorpio had paired him with Marcus
for just that reason.Despite their seeming odd couple status, Alex Garcia could
not wish for a better partner.
“What
is it?” Alex asked in response to Taggert’s suddenly outraged expression.
“Her
new answering service just informed me that ‘until further notice Miss
Jensen will not be accepting my calls’.”
