Primary Valor by Jack Mars (smart books to read .txt) 📕

at the time. The familyare heirs to the original Seifert Beverage fortune, and continue to have asignificant minority stake in SBS Distributors Worldwide.”

Don nodded. “Continue.”

“Some time during the night, CharlotteRichmond disappeared. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. She left the groundsof the house with a seventeen-year-old boy named Robert Haskins, and walkeddown to the beach. Haskins is both the starting tight end and a linebacker onthe Hoggard High School football team in Wilmington. According to his coach, hestands about six foot three, and weighs a little over two hundred pounds. He ishandsome, or was until last week. He is apparently very popular with teenagegirls.”

“Is he a suspect?” Luke said. Hefound himself lured in by this Peyton Place–style mystery.

Trudy shook her head. “The localpolice consider him a witness, not a suspect. Also, he’s a victim. Haskins wasbeaten severely and knocked unconscious by what he says were two men. The extentof his injuries suggest a blitz attack by a person or persons well-versed inthe use of violence, who wanted to neutralize a large opponent quickly. Fivemissing teeth. Broken orbital socket around his right eye. Hairline skullfracture. Four broken ribs. Seven broken bones in his right hand, consistentwith a crushing injury. Internal bleeding and minor organ injuries, includingto the spleen and kidneys. He remains in the hospital as of this morning. Whoevertook Charlotte Richmond beat the hell out of this kid.”

“Did he get a look at them?” Edsaid.

Trudy shook her head again. “Thestatement he gave suggests he didn’t. It was a dark night with only a sliver ofmoon, he and the Richmond girl were quite far from the house, and there wererip tide and high surf warnings that night. The waves were booming, and Haskinshad been drinking beer since early evening. He told the local police he didn’thear anyone coming. He said that he and the Richmond girl had been flirting inrecent weeks, exchanging text messages, and he thought that the night of theparty might be the night they… consummated, let’s say… their relationship. Theywere together on the beach, talking, and were suddenly attacked by personsunknown.”

“And the text messages?” Don said.

Trudy shrugged. “They’ve beensubpoenaed from the telephone carriers. The Richmond girl’s phone is gone, andhas been disabled or destroyed. Police tried to ping its location, but there’sno signal. Haskins appears to have lost his phone in the attack.”

“That’s convenient,” Ed said. “Sothis girl’s been gone since early Friday morning, and now it’s Monday. We areway behind.”

“To be sure,” Trudy said, “acertain amount of time was lost because there was a delay in the reporting ofthe crime. Haskins was unconscious on the beach until sunrise Friday, when hewas found by a local man out walking his dog. Paramedics arrived and tookHaskins to the hospital. Police arrived twenty minutes later, questioned thepeople at the house, but either the kids weren’t aware that Charlotte Richmondwas no longer in the house, or they simply didn’t report it. By all accounts,it was quite a party. The fact that Charlotte was missing didn’t become clearuntil early afternoon, when the high school contacted her mother.”

“Keep in mind,” Don said, “I didn’teven hear about this until yesterday.”

“What about the mother’sboyfriend?” Luke said. “Does he have any relationship to this? An unrelated manin the house—isn’t he the first place to look?”

Trudy glanced at her computer. “Usually,sure. And he has certainly been looked at. His name is Jeff Zorn, Jr., he’s forty-threeyears old, and a self-employed publicist. His father was Jeffrey Zorn, apartner at Goldman Sachs investment firm in New York City. Zorn has been livingwith Charlotte Richmond’s mother, forty-year-old Joy Simms, formerly JoyRichmond, for the past eighteen months. Zorn is cooperating fully. He wasquestioned by local police, without a lawyer present. He voluntarilysurrendered two cars, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, and two cellphones—a private one and one he uses for business purposes. He is a person ofinterest in the case, but was not arrested.

“Zorn has a conviction fortrafficking in controlled substances—he was selling pills at a nightclub inManhattan—that stems from more than twenty years ago. He got off with twohundred hours of community service. He has no history of violent activity, isfive foot nine, weighs one-eighty pounds, and wears glasses. He is unlikely tooverpower a teenage football player. Given that the attack took place milesaway from the girl’s home, at a time when Zorn had a verifiable alibi, andgiven his level of transparency, I believe the case will move on without him.”

“Where’s the biological father?”Ed said.

“Deceased,” Trudy said. Shereferred to the computer again. “Thomas Richmond. He and the mother divorcedwhen the child was young. He was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer atthe age of thirty-two and died at the age of thirty-six, about six years ago. Hebecame severely debilitated in his last couple of years, and Charlotte wasshielded from spending much time with him. In a sense, the girl barely knew herfather. The paternal grandfather is Miles Richmond, a high-powered DC lobbyist.He apparently took over providing financial support for the child after thedeath of Thomas Richmond.”

Luke glanced at Don. His face didn’tchange in the slightest at the mention of the lobbyist.

“I’ve been looking into thatangle,” Trudy said. “But so far I haven’t come up with anything. Richmond isknown to play hardball and almost certainly has enemies. But the world oflobbyists isn’t the Mafia. They don’t kidnap each other’s family members. As ofthis moment, the Richmond connection seems like more of a coincidence thananything.”

“And the mom?” Luke said.

“Joy Simms,” Trudy said. “She’s anattorney with Edgemont Prender, a small firm in Wilmington. Local stuff—realestate closings, estate planning, drunk driving cases. By all accounts, she hasutterly collapsed since her daughter was taken. Very little of value wasobtained in her police interview. She is not considered a suspect.”

“What’s your gut?” Don said. “Whathappened here?”

“There isn’t much to go on,” Trudysaid.

Don shrugged. “Even so.”

Trudy nodded. “Okay. I’m out on alimb, but okay. It was a targeted crime, conceived ahead of time. CharlotteRichmond is a pretty, popular teenage girl. She’s a cheerleader and on thedance squad at the local high school. She spends her time