Page 32 of A Billionaire Dom

When he was released in 1994, he moved into an apartment in South Houston. The next car registered under Mark’s name was a 1987 Chevy Chevette that appeared to have been purchased used and with cash. His place of employment was listed as a local gas station.

By the time Mark had started serving his sentence, leads on Heidi’s disappearance had dried up. No hits on her credit cards or withdrawals from the joint checking or savings accounts, though most of the Titan family’s credit cards had been maxed out, and their bank accounts had been emptied.

I didn’t find any vehicles registered to Heidi at any point after her disappearance. That didn’t necessarily mean anything, though. A lot of cities had good enough public transportation that a person didn’t require a car.

So, again, nothing conclusive.

After Mark’s release, he’d started harassing the police, demanding they find Heidi. People’s opinions had varied about the real reason for his pursuit. Some had insisted that he’d genuinely been worried, but others said that Mark had more nefarious motives, not the least of which had been money.

With nothing to come back to, he’d essentially started from scratch. His parents had moved to Florida and lived on a fixed income, so even though they’d claimed loudly and often that Mark had done nothing to Heidi, they hadn’t been able to help him financially. What would have helped was the life insurance policy.

Since Heidi was still considered technically alive, Mark hadn’t been able to touch it. A lot of people had believed that he’d killed Heidi and had wanted the cops to give him the go-ahead to have her declared dead so he could collect on the life insurance.

That, however, was a two-edged sword. If Heidi had indeed been killed, all Mark would’ve needed to do to have her declared dead would be to leave an anonymous tip or something like that to lead cops to her body. Not having a body hurt Mark’s claim on the life insurance, which made the motive a bad one.

Absolutely none of this gave me a giant neon sign telling me what had happened to Heidi or who was responsible.

“Dammit.” I ran my hand down my face. I was starting to see double.

A glance at the clock on the microwave told me Kasey would be home soon, and as if my thoughts had conjured her, her key rattled in the lock. As she stepped into the apartment, the most wonderful smell accompanied her. My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn’t eaten all day. Which was probably why Kasey had brought dinner home. She knew I often got too caught up in what I was doing and forgot to eat.

“Take a break,” she said as she set the bags down on the table. “Food and sleep will give you a sharper mind in the morning. You’ll miss something if you keep going.”

She was right.

I closed my notebook and stood, my joints popping and muscles protesting. I’d get back to it tomorrow. I’d never forgive myself if I missed an important clue because I was too stubborn to stop for the night.

“Thanks,” I said as I went to the fridge to get something to drink. “I’m starving.”

“Yeah,” she said with a grin. “I know.”

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