Page 8 of Hart of Darkness
If it was the same girl, and the scar was a dead giveaway, I would bet she was even more beautiful now.
I pulled out my phone, tapped in her cell phone number, then handed the card back to him.
“You’re calling her now?” Eddie sounded horrified. “She’s probably sleeping.”
He should have known that finding my sister took priority over anyone or anything.
The line rang four times before Maggie’s voice mail picked up. “Hi, Maggie. I don’t know if you remember me. Dillon Hart?” I proceeded to give her my number and the address of the shelter, where she could find me. “I would like to talk to you when you get a moment.”
Eddie motioned to the door. “I’ll walk you out. Hopefully Maggie will return your call.”
I wasn’t worried. If she worked for the paper, I knew where to find her.
I handed Eddie a Benjamin as I always did when he called me down to the morgue.
He slapped me on the back. “Oh, and I wouldn’t contact Detective Hughes this time of night. He’s kind of a prick.”
I had kind of forgotten about the detective when Eddie mentioned Maggie anyway.
“Thanks for the advice,” I said before trekking to my car.
Maggie Marx. I didn’t know if she could help me, but I had a butterfly feeling in my stomach. I didn’t get the chance to determine whether it was my gut trying to tell me something or not because my phone rang. For a brief second, my pulse sped up until I saw Rafe’s name on the screen. Then my pulse really took flight. “Did something happen?”
“Norton is back. No gun this time. He was trying to break in through the basement door in the backyard. He’s drunker than a skunk. I had to knock him out. He’s sleeping on the lawn chair. When you get back, I’ll drop him in front of the police station. Are you on your way?”
“I’m getting in my car. The cops won’t do anything with a drunk. Take him to Manny’s.” If Manny couldn’t help him, then I might have to involve the cops.
Rafe chuckled. “Manny isn’t going to be happy. He likes those who want to get help themselves.”
“True, but Manny can handle Norton. Besides, Norton likes to beat women not men.”
“He pulled a gun on you, man.”
I started the engine. “Not really.” Norton had the gun at his side. “My gut tells me he was scared.”
“You do come off kind of scary,” Rafe teased.
“And you don’t.” I laughed. “I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.” I hung up.
As I drove back through the empty city streets, save for a car here and there, I tried to shed the image of the dead girl. I honestly didn’t know if I could look at any more dead girls.
Maybe Rafe was right. I should let Grace go. I had to consider that maybe she was dead. But until I laid eyes on her body, I wasn’t going down that road, especially not after questioning a handful of prostitutes over a year ago. I’d had a mini breakthrough when a girl named Daisy recognized Grace from the picture I’d shown her. In particular, she’d recognized Grace’s birthmark. According to Daisy, she had seen Grace at a soup kitchen on Asher Street. Even though I’d come up empty after weeks of staking out the joint, I wasn’t ready to give up on finding my sister.
