Save Her Soul (Detective Josie Quinn #9)(76)

Josie said, “Did Vera steal their identities as well? She didn’t open credit cards in their names or anything like that? Bank accounts? Utilities?”

Gretchen jotted something down in her notebook. “No,” she said. “There’s no record of anything.”

“But if she wanted to rent a room in certain establishments—even with cash—or even an apartment, she’d need identification,” Josie pointed out.

“Don’t most landlords require a credit check these days?” Gretchen asked.

“I believe they do but if I were Vera, and I were using stolen identities, I’d try to find someone who wasn’t going to check my credit. Although, if the landlord did, and Alice Adams, for example, had good credit, that would only work in Vera’s favor.”

“True,” Gretchen said. “And if the real Alice Adams wasn’t monitoring her credit closely, she might not notice an inquiry. So you think she stole these driver’s licenses and put her own photo on them just to get an apartment?”

“And also to go to the doctor. As long as she never went to collections for an overdue bill, the real Alice Adams would have no idea that she was seeing doctors or getting prescriptions in her name.”

“That’s insurance fraud,” Gretchen said.

“Assuming she had insurance. You said the medical bills you found in her closet showed she’d paid them in cash.”

“That’s taking a big chance,” Gretchen noted. “Not having insurance. If something catastrophic happened, she’d be in real trouble.”

“True,” Josie agreed. “But look at the way she was living. Speaking of cash, we don’t even know how Alice survived. Where did she get her income? How was she paying for that apartment?”

Gretchen said, “She would also need identification to cash a check or a money order.”

“Right,” Josie said. “The landlord said she always paid cash, but she had to get it from somewhere.”

Gretchen took out her phone. “I’m going to call the local PD and see if they’ll interview some neighbors, ask around town, see if anyone spoke with her regularly or if she had some kind of under-the-table job.”

A few minutes later, she hung up. “They’ll get back to us,” she told Josie. Turning in her seat, she reached into the footwell and riffled through some of the documents they’d brought with them until she came up with the lease. She flipped the pages and skimmed over it. “All the utilities were paid for by the landlord and included in the rent,” she said. “Which means Alice Adams never needed to have any utilities in her name. Unless she needed cable, I guess.”

Josie thought about the small apartment and what it hadn’t contained. “There were hardly any electronics,” she said. “No laptop. No tablets.”

“There was a television though and a DVD player as well as all those DVDs.”

“She didn’t want her name on anything, and she couldn’t afford to have the real Alice Adams figure out that she’d stolen her identity. She didn’t want anyone tracking her down, but she’s been surviving all these years somehow. She had to have had help from someone.”

“We’re missing something,” Gretchen said. “Something big.”

As they came into town, Rockview Ridge rose high above them on the right-hand side. Josie put her signal on and turned toward it. “You know what? Let’s see if my grandmother recognizes the man in the photo with Vera. She saw Vera’s ‘friend’ a few times.”

A few minutes later, they pulled in. Poppy snoozed in her cage in the back. They left her there, certain that the cat would be safe in the car for a few minutes, and went inside. Josie’s leg ached after having been in one position in the car for so long but she managed to keep up with Gretchen. The door to Lisette’s room was open. She sat in her recliner staring out of the window, the sunlight making her silver curls gleam. She had a white shawl pulled around her shoulders—always cold even in her room, where Josie knew the thermostat was set to seventy-five. Her walker sat in front of her, between her bed and dresser. The rooms at Rockview were nice but very small. Josie knocked lightly on the doorframe to get Lisette’s attention.

Lisette smiled. “Hello, dear. Gretchen. Come in. Or would you be more comfortable if we went to the cafeteria?”

Josie gave her grandmother a quick kiss and sat on the foot of the bed. Gretchen sat beside her. “Here is fine. We had a photo we wanted you to look at, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Gretchen took out her phone and found the photo. She handed the phone to Lisette.

Josie asked, “Is that the friend you saw picking up and dropping off Vera by any chance?”

Lisette studied the picture. “I do believe that’s him, yes. It was a long time ago, but this looks like him.” She gave the phone back to Gretchen. “I wish I knew his name. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”

“You are being of help, Gram,” Josie told her.

Gretchen said, “Could you think back and see if you remember any other details about him? Any little thing could be of use. Maybe something else that Vera said about him? Did Beverly mention him at all the day Vera was passed out and she came to school instead?”

Lisette shook her head slowly. “No, no. Beverly never mentioned him. Not in front of me. I don’t remember Vera ever saying anything about him except that he was the friend who gave her a ride. But, oh, wait!” She lifted a gnarled finger in the air. “He always wore this… uniform of sorts. I only ever saw him in the car, but he always wore the same shirt. A blue thing, very thick, sometimes dirty. It had a name tag sewn onto it, but I was never close enough to see it.”