Page 46 of The Perfect Revenge
“Has she done something wrong?”Tropper asked with a worried frown.
Susannah took over but followed Jessie’s “kid gloves” lead.“Right now, we’re just hoping she can give us some information on a case we’re investigating.Is she home?”
“I’m afraid not.I haven’t seen her in several days.She said she was working a special job and wouldn’t be able to be reached for a bit.”
“Did she say how long she anticipated being gone?”Jessie wondered.
“Not specifically, but she thought she’d be back by the end of the weekend.”
“Did she describe what the ‘special job’ was?”Susannah was pressing harder now.
For the first time, Eileen hesitated.“I don’t think I should say.Not to be rude, mind you, but for privacy reasons.”
“Could the privacy concerns be because this is related to her surrogacy work?”Jessie asked carefully.
“You know about that?”
"Yes, ma'am," Jessie told her."We know a lot about Sienna.We wanted to have all the necessary background information when we spoke with her."
“In that case, I guess I can tell you.Yes, she said it was surrogacy-related.”
“We were under the impression that she could no longer carry a pregnancy to term,” Susannah said.
Jessie silently noted that they didn't know that for sure yet.Normally, she wouldn't approve of making the assertion, but suggesting it out loud to Sienna's mom might give them confirmation.
“She told me she was better now,” Eileen said with a deep sigh.“I advised her against getting back into this whole world.For the last few years, it’s only brought her pain.”
Jessie set aside the “better now” comment for a moment.“Yes, we understand that her distress led her to seek some in-patient care for a time recently.We know that was several months ago, but could she have had a relapse?Could she be unwell?”
“She seemed like she was doing well for a long time, until very recently.”
“What happened?”Susannah asked.
"I'm not sure, but whatever it was, something set her off in the last week.She was very upset, but she wouldn't say what about."
“Do you think that if you called her, she would answer you?”Jessie asked.
"No.I've already tried a couple of times, but I knew she wouldn't pick up.She said she was going 'radio silent' until she got back.She sounded like some secret agent or something."
Jessie didn’t like the sound of that.“When she left, was she driving her car?”
Eileen chuckled bitterly."No.Her car was repossessed a few months ago.She borrowed my husband's.He passed away about a decade ago, but I kept his car since it was paid off."
“What kind of car is it?”Susannah asked.
“A blue Honda Accord.”
“Do you recall what year it was?”Susannah wanted to know.
"Not exactly, but it was old.I remember that he got it when Sienna was in elementary school, so maybe the mid-1990s?"
“Thank you so much,” Jessie said, handing over a business card.“If Sienna reaches out, please let us know.We want to help her.”
"I will.Did you girls want to come in?I was baking some bread, but I just finished a batch of cookies.You're welcome to a few."
"I'm sorry," Jessie said, "but we have to go.Thank you, though."
They were walking back down the path to the car when Susannah said what Jessie had been thinking.“Mid-nineties Honda?It won’t have GPS on it.That means we can’t track its location except through traffic cameras.That could take a while.”
