Page 17 of Ground Truth

Neither Drake nor Flint worked at Scarlett Investigations, but the organizational lines between the three were blurry.

The focus was always on getting results for the clients. No one was overly picky about how those results were accomplished. Which was just fine with Gaspar. Debating the ethics of means and ends was fun for philosophers and students but a total waste of time for those who fought in the trenches every day.

Gaspar recalled the words one of his army drill instructors screamed two inches from his face during basic training.

“Soldier! Don’t EVER confuse effort with results!”

It was a lesson Gaspar never ignored.

Based on what he’d seen at Scarlett Investigations, Drake and Flint, and even Scarlett herself, lived by the same creed. Which was one of the reasons Gaspar felt at home now in a way he had no longer felt at the FBI.

“What’s the case about?” Gaspar asked.

“Missing woman. Maybe.”

“Maybe she’s a woman? Maybe she’s missing?” Gaspar teased with a smile.

“Nah.” Drake flashed a big grin in return. “I’m sure she’s a woman and sure she’s missing. But maybe she’s dead.”

Gaspar frowned. “Start with that.”

“The client is her sister. I dated Hanna Campbell in college. She’s had a rough time lately,” Drake said quietly. He cleared the emotion from his throat before he continued. “Because of her circumstances, Hanna hasn’t seen her sister in years. Not since their mother died. Makes it hard to know where to start looking for Greta.”

“Hanna and Greta? Seriously?” Gaspar joked. “Were their parents gingerbread bakers or something?”

“Dunno.” Drake shrugged. “People name their kids some crazy stuff.”

Gaspar’s five children all had normal names, but he agreed. He’d seen his share of fans naming their kids Elvis and Prince and Madonna and crazier names over the years. Thing was, crazy names could mess kids up. He’d seen that happen, too.

“What’s Hanna done so far to locate Greta?”

“The sisters were, I guess you’d say, estranged. Hanna tried to contact Greta for several weeks and got no response. She called me, but I was on a case. While she waited for a call back, she went to Greta’s last-known residence in Orlando, but someone else bought the place a couple of years ago. No forwarding address.”

“What about work? Did Greta have a job?”

“She was an on-air reporter for a local television station in Orlando. Hanna went there. Talked to the HR department. They said Greta died four years ago. Some kind of boating accident,” Drake replied. “They gave Hanna the name of one of Greta’s friends, but the woman is on vacation or something.”

“Sounds like the answer, doesn’t it?” Gaspar asked. “They’re saying she died. Doesn’t get much more final than that.”

Drake shrugged. “Except in this case, it’s not so final.”

“What do you mean?”

“Greta and her husband were on a smallish sailboat of some sort. The boat sank in a storm,” Drake explained. “They found pieces of the boat. But they never found the bodies.”

“Makes things a little less complicated, though, doesn’t it? If she’s been declared dead, she probably is.”

“Except Hanna thinks Greta didn’t die. And either way, she wants to be sure. I told her I’d help, but the investigation side of things is outta my wheelhouse.” Drake shook his head and swigged the last of his beer. “I can’t really ask Scarlett to take this on. Hanna doesn’t have the money to pay.”

“Scarlett might do it anyway,” Gaspar pointed out. “She’s got a softer heart than some people think.”

“She does. And I know she would do this. That’s why I can’t ask her,” Drake replied. “She’s got too much on her plate already.”

“Ah.” Gaspar paused a few moments to let Drake’s unspoken request linger. “So you think Hanna’s engaged in wishful thinking?”

“Possibly.”

“There’s another possibility. A more hopeful one. Even if Greta’s not dead, could be she isn’t missing at all. I mean, she’s an adult. She can come and go as she pleases,” Gaspar said. “Nothing says she has to be involved with her sister or anyone else, for that matter. People drift apart for all sorts of reasons.”

---