Chapter 26

Nate wound his way through a small subdivision to find the one house that belonged to Jessica Rappaport’s father, David. Nate had not been the one to break the news to David about his wife Lea. For that he was grateful. Maybe the fresh face wouldn’t bring back so many bad memories.
After circling the neighborhood for what seemed like hours Nate came upon a small stucco house that looked like the small stucco house next to it except this one was painted a light brown while the other was painted a light mauvish color. Nate couldn’t be sure. Both homes had Spanish tiles on the roof, brown painted garages and no less then three palm trees in the front yard.
The yard was neatly trimmed but on the brownish side. This didn’t surprise Nate since they hadn’t had much rain lately. The sun was still up but hanging on by a thread. It was Fall, October to be exact and the sun was going down earlier and earlier but still there was a twinge of light at 7 in the evening and Nate was grateful for it.
The neighborhood was strangely quiet for so early on a Saturday evening. No children on bikes or playing in driveways. No elderly men and women sitting on their chairs on their porches watching the world go by. Instead there was nothing. He didn’t think his car was too obviously a police vehicle nor did he think this neighborhood would have been that concerned. Maybe there was something he didn’t know.
Nate lifted his hand to knock but before any sound came the door opened. A woman with a bikini top and very short shorts stepped out. Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her skin was a leathery tan like she had been outside too much. She pulled sunglasses over her eyes as she stepped into the sun. She didn’t look Nate’s way.
“Get back here woman!” A man’s voice came from inside the house.
“I ain’t comin’ back. Besides, you got visitors.” The woman replied as she climbed into the Ford Mustang Nate had been sure not to park behind.
“What the…?” The man’s words were cut short when he saw Nate on his front doorstep. “Who the heck are you?” Only he didn’t say “heck” and his question was followed by more curse words. Nate waited without saying a word. Then, “Well, what do you want?”
“Mr. Rappaport?”
“That’s me. Are you some kind of reporter? Cause I’m sick of talking to reporters and I don’t got nothing else to say.” David Rappaport wore no shirt and his shorts were far enough down that Nate could see his underwear underneath. The distinct smell of cigarettes and alcohol had assaulted Nate the moment the door had opened. The smell was stronger when David was in front of him. David’s hair was what anyone would call “dirty blond” with a mixture of blond and brown. Unfortunately for David his appeared to also be truly dirty. It also lacked any style and was sticking up and laying down in no particular order on his head.
“No, sir, I’m with the FBI and I need to talk to you for a moment.”
“The FBI?” David’s brown eyes bore into Nate full of suspicion and wariness. This seemed odd to Nate since he had checked the man’s record and he’d had none. What was there to fear from the FBI or the police?
“Yes, sir. I’m here to talk to you about your daughter.”
A quizzical look crossed David’s face. “My daughter?”
“Jessica. You are David Rappaport, are you not?”
“Call me Dave.” A string of curse words followed his statements. Then he added, “Come in.” Dave stepped aside and Nate stepped through the door next to him. The smell became stronger like a stale bar that hadn’t been aired out in months. A non-smoker Nate was almost overwhelmed by the stench. There was almost no furniture in the small house. A torn up sofa sat across from an older but quite large TV. A TV stand table sat next to the couch. Empty beer bottles took up most of the tabletop.
The living room connected to the dining room which was empty except for a hanging chandelier indicating where a table should go and a desk to write on sitting against the wall. An opening above the desk gave Nate a peek into the kitchen beyond.
“Did you find her body then?” Dave asked with no emotion in his voice. Immediately Nate got suspicious. Why would he ask such a thing? Apparently sensing his uneasiness Dave added, “I seen the news. I ain’t no idiot. If you’re here that has to be why.”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Rappaport that is why I’m here. We found Jessica’s body this morning beside a lake in Sarasota. Do you know anything about this?”
“Look, Jessica was Lea’s kid. I adopted her when she was six to make Lea happy. I’m not really into kids so I didn’t much care for her but I liked Lea enough.”
“Mr. Rappaport, I have to tell you that I have come here to inform you about Jessica’s death. I must also tell you that Jessica was murdered so for me to hear a response like that from you does not make me think well of you. Do you understand what I’m saying?” The last sentence came out slowly and carefully to ensure that David Rappaport did not miss Nate’s meaning.
Dave quickly back peddled making clear to Nate that he understood. Dave threw his hands up in the air, “Look man, I didn’t have nothin’ to do with Lea’s or Jessica’s death.”
“Looks like you’ve moved on pretty quickly.”
“Her?” Dave indicated outside the window with his thumb. Nate nodded. “She’s just a friend.”
“Do you have a lot of ‘friends’?” Nate held up his fingers to indicate quotes.
“I have a few.” Nate looked at Dave again. His hands went up again. “It’s not like me and the old lady was getting on well. We had a few fights, no big deal. I’ve made a few new friends since we got married and Lea ain’t happy about it. But she was getting over it. She had to if she wanted to keep me.” Dave paused then added, “And she did.”
“Because you’re such a wonderful guy?”
Dave shrugged.
“Mr. Rappaport, did you have any idea that Jessica was pregnant?”
“What the…?” Dave proceeded to curse again. More than once. Saying things about Jessica that Nate had never wanted to hear. He was talking about a twelve year old girl. His words should not be coming out of a grown man’s mouth.
Nate cut him off, “Do you have any idea who the father is?”
“How should I know? That girl ran around with anybody.”
“Mr. Rappaport, she was twelve. I haven’t met any twelve year olds who run around with people.” Nate moved closer, “If you did anything to her, I swear that you will not get away with it. I will personally see to that.”
“Check me out, man, I’m clean.” The hands were in the air again.
Nate nodded. “I need to check out Jessica’s room.”
“Sure, fine.” Something flashed across his eyes. Then it was gone. “This way.” Nate followed Dave down a small hallway that ended abruptly in a bright pink room. The room was painted a bright pink on all four walls. Underneath the lone window opposite the door was a twin sized bed. It was covered in a black and white animal print comforter. The matching pillows and shams had a pink trim. A black-painted dresser was on the bed’s left. A matching desk was on the bed’s right. Animal print and pink trim were everywhere. Nate smiled. This girl had taste.
The room was perfectly neat and tidy. Not a thing was out of place. The bed was made and all the toys were put away. Pictures hung straight on the wall and sat straight on the desk. A pink laptop lay closed on the desk. Perfectly placed. Nate threw open the closet doors and found small clothes lined up in a row. The top of the closet was empty, the bottom was lined with shoes. Also perfectly straight. Three white boxes the size of shoe boxes were stacked in the closet corner. Flipping them open he found some papers inside each one.
Nate didn’t know that many kids but he had yet to meet one that kept their room this perfect without a reason. That reason was either a parent made them keep it this way or a parent did keep it this way. As Nate looked over the room Nate was betting on a little bit of both.
For all its cleanliness the room looked searched. When Nate opened up the desk drawers they had definitely been rummaged through. There were no papers in any of the drawers. There were plenty of pens and markers and crayons but no paper. The girl had to write on something.
Next Nate moved to the dresser and opened each drawer. Instead of being neat like the rest of the room the drawers were a mess and overflowing. Shorts were mixed with tops were mixed with pants. The entire room had the feel of being gone through and then straightened out afterwards in an attempt to make it look like no one had been there.
Someone had been looking for something.
Nate looked under the bed. Nothing.
Walking slowly across the floor Nate listened for a squeak or a crack. The floor beneath the carpet felt solid. Even at the corners and molding.
Assuming the obvious places had already been searched Nate checked out the less obvious ones and carefully began cutting open the mattress. Without a warrant he had to do his work discreetly. He had been given permission to search the room but if it appeared that he was tearing the place apart Dave could quickly ask him to leave. Then, if Dave had been the one to search the room he would search again and possibly find what he had been looking for and hide it. This was assuming he hadn’t already found it.
Nate couldn’t think about that.
Whatever might be hidden was not in the mattress. Or the pillows. Or under the bed.
Feeling between the mattress and box spring Nate felt something strange. A lump that shouldn’t be there but could easily be missed if one was just glancing. The question was how to get at it without attracting the attention of Dave who had left Nate alone to get a beer.
Nate knew he had left for a beer because he had offered Nate one. Twice. The man was into this alcohol. No surprise to Nate.
Quickly Nate unmade the bed and flipped the mattress. He ran his hand over the mattress again and found the same discrepancy. He cut into the mattress with a pocket knife. If Nate had been honest he would have hoped for a diary. The kind that spilled her guts. Said everything that needed to be said. Told him who got her pregnant and why she was kidnapped.
Instead he found a piece of paper with one word: zebra98
Nate made it for a password of some kind. Glancing at Jessica’s laptop Nate had a thought. But first he had to remake the bed as carefully as he had found it.
“Find anything?” Dave was standing in the doorway with his beer. Nate took a deep breath and hoped that Dave didn’t see him jump.
“Nothing yet.” Nate made a show of smoothing out the bed’s comforter and passing over the rest of the room with his eyes. His eyes landed on the laptop. “Can I take the computer? Maybe she stored something in there?”
“I don’t know, maybe. I checked around the room a bit, didn’t find anything.” He made a swirling motion with his beer to indicate the entire room.
That would explain the lousy search job.
“I understand. I’m going to take the computer and a few boxes from the closet. Maybe something in there will give us an indication as to who the father of her baby might be. DNA takes time.”
“DNA? What can they test?” Dave asked.
“Technicians will take DNA from the baby. When we have something to compare it to we’ll be able to tell who the father of the baby is.”
“And how long does that take?”
“Right now we have nothing to compare it to. Once we do it depends on how quickly the lab can get us the results. Sometimes a week, sometimes as much as six weeks.”
“Hmm, yea, I hope you find something.” Dave stepped out of the doorway and towards the front door of the house. Nate took that as his cue to leave, grabbed Jessica’s computer and a few boxes, then followed Dave to the front door.
With a wave and a nod the two parted ways and Nate made his way back to his cruiser. He left Dave staring after him on the front doorstep. Not for a second did Nate buy Dave’s innocent and helpful act. Nate could only hope Dave’s secret was contained in the laptop and three boxes he had taken from the house. And that that secret would lead to a break in his case and not a bigger set of complications.