Then Walter dropped by late Sunday afternoon, and Ben was surprised to see Chanel was with him. That seemed like an odd mix. Ben was sitting on a blanket on his front lawn with Lucy, Tina, and the kids playing in the grass.
Walter smiled at them as he approached, and Chanel was grinning too as she watched him playing with Gretchen.
Ben handed his daughter to Lucy before standing and greeting his visitors. “Hi! I wasn’t expecting to see you two today!”
Walter’s expression became a little embarrassed. “Yeah, sorry. Something odd came up while we did the title search on Beth’s home. Before the Wilsons owned it, the property belonged to a numbered company. I was curious about that as I don’t see it too often with residential properties. I asked Grace to trace the ownership and follow the money to avoid any surprises. She found a name linked to the numbered company. It was buried deep, but Grace is very thorough. The name was Marion Spencer. I asked for a background check on this name to ensure there wasn’t anything nefarious behind hiding the ownership behind the corporation. That set off an alert with the local police for an old unsolved case. Chanel contacted me as she was assigned the cold case. Shelly was to drop off the keys to you tomorrow, but she agreed to come today and meet us there.”
“Marion Spencer. Is she a relative of Shelly’s?” Ben asked.
“He,” Chanel corrected. “He’s her uncle who was questioned in the disappearance of his niece Patty Spencer.”
Ben’s smile dropped away. “Oh. Oh damn. I just heard about that from Trish.” He turned to look at the home. “Wasn’t the home checked back then–” He stopped as he realized why they’d missed it. “The police didn’t know about his ownership of the property?”
“That’s right. He didn’t disclose he owned it, and the police didn’t have someone like Grace tracking the ownership,” Chanel said grimly.
Ben shook his head. “The house had a family living in it for years. They would have noticed something!” At their shrugs, he looked back at Tina and Lucy. “We’re going over to Beth’s house to look around.” They nodded and waved to the group, so Ben set off toward the home as the others followed.
As they walked, Ben’s mind spun with dark thoughts about what might have happened in the home before the Wilsons moved in. He glanced at the other houses on the block and realized there was no real way to know what happened in any of them. He knew from her own confession that Tina was being abused by her husband in her old home. Looking back at Beth’s home, he wondered, if the walls could talk, would he want to hear what they had to say?
He caught the motion of Shelly’s car driving into the court. “Does Shelly know?”
Walter nodded. “I explained what we found, and she was very eager to help.”
Ben looked to Chanel. “What are we expecting to find that Beth’s family missed for so long?”
“They didn’t know they should be looking for something. We’re just going to do an inspection now that the house is empty for anything that seems off. Like the footprint of the rooms is off, indicating a hidden room,” Chanel explained.
Shelly pulled her car into Trish’s driveway, shut it off, and quickly walked to join them. Ben did his best not to stare at the bouncing her quick pace was causing her chest to do.
When she got closer, Ben could see the anxiety around her eyes.
“Hi, Shelly,” Ben said, and she stepped closer to give him a hug. He thought he detected a slight tremble.
“You have keys for me?” he asked, and she nodded as she gave him a manila envelope with some paperwork and the keys inside.
As they approached the building, Ben eyed it once more from an architectural perspective. It really wasn’t a very stylish construction. Shutters had been bolted onto its surface by the windows, but they didn’t soften the visage. He was glad he was tearing it down. He looked over his shoulder at Chanel.
“My intent is to demolish it, foundation and all. Couldn’t this inspection wait until then?” he asked.
Chanel shook her head. “Heavy equipment might destroy evidence.”
“Do you really think my uncle could be involved in Patty’s disappearance?” Shelly asked with a quiet voice.
Chanel addressed her question. “Please understand, I was just assigned the case, and I haven’t completely familiarized myself with all the collected statements given at the time, nor have I read all the case notes. What I do know is that many people were interviewed, and many properties were searched. Your uncle indicated he only had the apartment he was renting at the time. Now, we’ve discovered that he owned this very large home but didn’t inform the police of this fact. This is a new lead in an old case. We will confirm if it gives us new insight or not by carefully examining it.”
Ben frowned. “Did your uncle have a family? It’s a large home.”
Shelly shook her head. “Uncle Marion never married. Never had a girlfriend, or a boyfriend for that matter. He seemed to spend most of his free time with some kind of club he was part of, but he never talked about it in front of us. Mom wasn’t comfortable around her brother-in-law, so he wasn’t invited to our place very often.”
“Is he still around?” Ben asked as he walked up to the front door.
“I heard he’s in the Sandy Pines Long Term Care Facility because his kidneys are failing. He’s on dialysis,” she said.
Ben unlocked the door, and they entered. He looked to Chanel.
“I suggest we start at the top and work our way downstairs,” she suggested.
They climbed up the stairs and made their way through all the bedrooms, checking the rooms for hidden doors, false walls, anything that could suggest a place to hide someone.
Ben saw little signs of the Wilson’s presence, and it made him smile but a little sad too.
They found the attic access, but only Chanel went up the ladder to look around. The space was hot, musty, and empty.
Moving to the ground floor, they poked walls, closets and took some measurements, but there didn’t appear to be any missing space.
The basement had a lot of open space. There had been walls down here, but they’d been removed sometime in the past. The painted concrete floors made Ben frown.
Walter noticed. “What is it, Ben?”
He glanced up, then shook his head as he cleared his frown. “No, I was just thinking of how much work it’ll be to bust up this cement floor to pull it out.”
“You’re going right down to the dirt? You can’t salvage any of it?” Walter asked.
“No, it all has to go,” Ben sighed.
They checked out the utility room and a storage room, now empty. They found no extra spaces. The footprint seemed fine. Ben went back into the utility room and picked up an old plumber’s pipe wrench he saw leaning against the wall, left behind by Beth and family.
“What do you plan to do with that?” Chanel asked.
He smiled at her. “I added an extended basement under the back yard for my house. I wondered if this place could have one too. This wall faces the backyard, and it’s drywalled. What if there’s something behind the drywall? It doesn’t matter if I bust up this wall as it’s all coming out.”
Chanel nodded and gestured for him to proceed.
Ben tapped on the drywall to find the spot between the studs. Then he swung the wrench. It smashed through the wall covering, and they saw insulation behind it. Tugging the stuffing out, he saw the foundation wall behind it. He shook his head to the others, moved three feet to the left, and tried again. He saw poured concrete again. He repeated this process two more times and got the same results. He shrugged as he looked at Chanel. “I’m not seeing anything other than the foundation wall.”
“It was a good try, Ben,” Chanel said and looked at Shelly. “The house seems to be just an anomaly. I’m not sure why your uncle didn’t report it at the time.” Shelly just shook her head with a sad expression on her face.
Ben carried the heavy wrench with him as they climbed back up to the ground floor. He locked up as they exited the home.
“I’ll let you know if we find anything when the excavation crew starts removing the building,” Ben said to Chanel.
She nodded and turned once more to Shelly. “I’ll review the case material now that it’s on my plate. I’ll keep you informed of any progress I make.”
“Thank you,” Shelly said to her.
Walter nodded. “I’m still having Grace chase down any and all information we can get on this property. That said, there doesn’t appear to be anything blocking you from moving forward with your plans.”
“Thanks, Walter,” Ben said and shook the man’s hand. The lawyer and the detective walked away with a nod to him and Shelly, who turned to look back at the house. Ben remained with her and watched the emotions pass across her features. There was a profound sadness in her eyes. Ben moved to her and pulled her into a hug. She trembled in his arms and sucked in a breath as her emotions swelled.
“I’m sorry you went through this. I was a single child and orphaned at an early age, so I have no frame of reference for the pain you’re going through, but I know what loneliness looks like and how it feels. Please know you aren’t alone. We’re here for you,” Ben said quietly and kissed her forehead, drawing a smile from the woman.
“Thank you, Ben.”
“Hey! Can I get in on that action?”
Ben and Shelly smiled as they looked toward Trish, who joined them on the sidewalk. Ben opened an arm, as did Shelly, and Trish didn’t hesitate to move into their embrace.
“Mmmm! That’s the good stuff!” Trish sighed, and Ben chuckled as he saw the loving smile on Shelly’s face.
Trish looked over to watch Walter driving away when they released their hug. “Was that Walter and Chanel with you two earlier? What’s up?”
Shelly looked back at the house. “Walter’s title search turned up that my uncle Marion once owned this house.”
“Get the fuck out of here!” Trish gasped, and Shelly nodded.
“We went inside to search for possible hidden rooms,” Shelly said with a shaky voice.
“Fuck! I assume you didn’t find anything,” she said, and Ben shook his head. “What’s with the huge plumber’s wrench? You doing a little fantasy roleplaying? Ben’s a plumber coming to take care of our pipes?”
Shelly snorted and slapped Trish’s arm as her cousin grinned at her.
“On that note, I’m going home,” Ben sighed and lifted the wrench to rest it on his shoulder. Both ladies gave his pose an admiring smile, and he turned to go.
Behind him, he heard Trish’s voice drop. “You’ve put me off long enough! I want all the details of your hot tub party with Ben!”
Shelly’s answering giggle was all Ben needed to hear to know there would be no intimate secrets withheld.