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.
****
Dexter Hughes knew he wasn’t alone. He had seen the other locked doors and he could smell the stench of trapped humans. He jerked at his chain, it wasn’t going to give, and looked around for an escape. He wasn’t going anywhere, even if he did get loose.
“Dexter?”
He was startled to hear his name from the next cell.
“Who’s asking?”
“Suzanne Cooper. Are you Dexter Hughes?”
Dexter tried to place the name. He knew it but from somewhere way in the past.
“Yes. Do I know you? How do you know me?”
“Damn! Well, that seals it.”
It was a male voice and came from the far end of the room. Dexter also heard a female start to cry.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?”
The woman who had spoken first, her voice barely above a whisper, tried.
“The man in the far cell is Ed Garland. Next to me is Chelsea Burt. As I told you, I’m Suzanne Cooper. We guessed who you were because we all have a connection.”
Dexter slumped back against the wall.
“Billy Jarvis.”
“That’s what we think. Ed was taken first, Chelsea second and me third. We knew if you were the one put in the last cell, all of this had to be connected to Billy.”
“Who’s the guy that’s locked us in here?”
Ed spoke up from the far end.
“Hey Dex. Never thought I would speak to you again, especially under these circumstances. We think it’s Donnie Jarvis, Billy’s little brother.”
“But why?”
“We don’t know, he won’t answer us. Just keeps saying ‘We’ll find out soon’.
“Have you told him you know who he is and Billy wouldn’t want him to do this?”
“No! We don’t want him to know we’ve figured out who he is. We think it just increases the danger.”
Dexter tried to get comfortable on the blanket.
“Makes sense, I guess; if anything to do with this could make sense.”
****
The next morning Devin James prepared to leave the house but before he did, he called Dexter Hughes at home.