a way to find her away from home, away from Titan and away from Axel Tiger.
Eight
It didn’t take long for Axel to be thoroughly convinced Dr. Herbert Wong was entirely innocent when it came to the death of Jennifer Lowry.
It was a Saturday morning when Dr. Wong usually had office hours, but he’d closed for that morning. He wasn’t taking patients, but he had called his staff in so that Axel and Nigel could question him and his staff.
“I don’t know what, but maybe someone knows something that will help,” Wong told him.
The dentist was about five-ten and lean with dark hair and eyes that watered whenever Jennifer’s name was spoken.
Axel wondered if they’d been having an affair.
But he doubted it. Wong was just extremely shaken.
Jennifer had come to work the day before she’d disappeared. They and other staff members had joked with her about a date she had planned for the following weekend. “It was supposed to be tonight,” Wong said, shaking, tears burning his eyes again. “She left as she always did, smiling and waving. I think it was close to seven. We try to close earlier, but things back up sometimes. She never minded. Never once complained. I pay overtime, of course, but she was just cheerful no matter what. A wonderful person. Then she just didn’t show up for work. We have no clue as to what might have happened. She just left work as usual. I don’t know if she got home. We all left her saying, ‘See you tomorrow.’”
Wong paused, his eyes once again burning with tears. “She was just a beautiful young woman, shy, stayed home. Oh! She did sometimes write opinion pieces. She was a big believer in equality, that kind of thing. Passionate.”
“So she might have had enemies?” Axel asked.
The dentist shrugged. “She never insulted anyone. She didn’t get political. She just wrote about the wonder of people—all people—citing good things. I can’t imagine she acquired any enemies that way.”
“Thank you,” Axel told him. He hesitated. He and Nigel had decided they would both question everyone in the office separately just in case something was said to one of them that wasn’t said to the other.
Wong hadn’t been offended by that; he had thought it a good idea.
“Please. I wish I could think of something, or someone...”
“Who was she going on a date with?” Axel asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. But I figure you might find out through her cell phone or her computer, maybe.”
“Techs are working on her home computer.”
“You’re welcome to the work computer system, too. Anything and everything on the system could be read by anyone here. The system was to keep up with patients and treatments, but my employees could do personal business from work during their breaks,” he said, giving his head a little shake. “My people are good. When they need to do something and they have the time to do it, I have no problem with them doing it at work, or as I said, through the computers.”
“Thank you. I will get that work computer to the right people. They’ll find something, if it’s there.”
“No texts on her cell phone?” Dr. Wong asked.
“We haven’t found her cell phone.”
“It’s probably at the bottom of a canal somewhere,” Wong noted.
“Quite possibly. What about her other relationships? Dates, friends or anyone out there you know about?”
“She spent a lot of time here. She was dedicated to the job. Jennifer was an introvert, great on paper when blogging about the downtrodden, but an introvert. The date was a big deal because she didn’t go on dates. If she had a boyfriend, it was before she worked for me.”
“I guess we’ll switch around, then, Dr. Wong. Thank you for your help, and for going out of your way to accommodate us.”
“I want to know who did this,” Wong said. “She was a lovely young woman with so much to live for. This was too horrible.”
Axel nodded and left him, passing Nigel in the hall.
They looked at each other and shook their heads. “Dr. Wong?” Nigel asked.
“Ready for you. And you—?”
“One at a time. Marci Alonso, Roger Martinez and Belinda Douglas. Coworkers. All loved her. Or so they say. They come off as sincere.”
Nigel passed Axel and went on in with Dr. Wong. Axel entered the staff office.
Marci was a dark-haired woman who was surely once beautiful; she was aging now, but doing so with a subtle finesse. Roger was young. Medium in height and build with close-cropped hair and a