“Not nearly as often as he used to. Once things fell apart with Life Fulfilled, there seemed to be some strain and tension between him and his mother. She says there were a few days where she heard him on the phone, trying to apologize to them but then demanding they put her higher up on the list.” As she said this, Jasmine seemed to understand what all of this might mean. Her eyes trailed off to the side as she seemed to consider it all for the first time.
“When is the last time you saw him?” Rachel asked.
Jasmine took a moment to think it over, sipping absently from her own cup of coffee. “Ten days ago, I guess it was. Maybe eleven. He came by to check on her and they watched Jeopardy back in her bedroom. He didn’t say a word to me. He just left.”
“And what about Mrs. Foster?” Rachel asked. “What’s her diagnosis?”
“Breast cancer. The chemo was brutal on her, but the doctors have seen some improvement. She’ll never….well, she’ll never actually beat it, but they think she’s going to make several years beyond what they’d originally thought.”
“What was the end result with Life Fulfilled?”
“Well, they took her off of the list for a while, but I pleaded with them a few weeks ago. They put her back on, and we know she’s way down on the list. But even if it takes a year…anything they can offer is going to be amazing.”
“Jasmine, would you happen to know where Charlie lives?” Rachel asked.
“I’ve never been there personally, but yes. I’ve got it on an envelope around here somewhere if you want me to hunt it down.”
“He’s local?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, over in Midlothian somewhere. But…I really don’t think he…I mean, I’d be very surprised if he had it in him to actually murder anyone.”
“I’m not sure we’re quite jumping to that conclusion,” Rachel said, though she wasn’t quite so certain. She took another long sip of her coffee and nodded to Jasmine with a smile. “Thanks for your time…and the coffee.”
“Also,” Jack said, reaching into his inner coat pocket and pulling out a business card. “When Mrs. Foster wakes up, please let her know we stopped by. Just in case she can think of anything else that may help us.”
“Of course.”
Jasmine walked them back through the house and opened the front door for them. Rachel thought she could sense a severe shift in the woman’s attitude—a stark difference from the smiling, bright woman who had greeted them.
“I do apologize if this bit of news has you upset or frightened,” she said. “Please feel free to use that card if you think you may be in danger of any kind. Keep the door locked and maybe just be a bit more aware over the next few days.”
“Yeah, I will be,” Jasmine said. “Thanks for stopping by.”
Rachel and Jack returned to their car, Jack making sure to take the wheel. “God, I hate to spook that poor woman like that,” Rachel said.
“I think she appreciated the honesty, though,” Jack said. He’d pulled out his phone and scrolled to a number. Rachel didn’t have to ask what he was doing; they’d worked together long enough for her to know the next step. He was calling up the records department back at the field office, looking to see if there were any red flags on Charlie Foster.
With the call placed, he set it to speaker mode and handed it to Rachel. She had to remember that she technically wasn’t even supposed to be there, making sure to keep quiet as the other line started ringing.
A somewhat familiar male voice answered the phone, tired and seemingly excited to get any sort of call. “This is Monty, with records.”
“Monty, it’s Jack Rivers. Can you run a criminal report for me?”
“Yeah, sure thing.” Rachel could hear the light pattering of fingers across keys and then Monty said: “What’s the name?”
“Charlie Foster,” Jack said. “Should be a current address listed as somewhere in the Midlothian area.”
“One second.” Again, the sound of keys being typed clattered through the phone. Rachel wondered what it said about her that she found the noise rather pleasant. Ten seconds or so passed, and Monty’s voice came back over the phone. “Charlie F. Foster, born March 8, 1981. I’ve got two assault charges and one count of harassment.”
“How recent?” Jack asked.
“Nothing any more recent than two years ago. But the assault charges came within just a few months of one another. Both filed by the same person…a woman listed at the time as his wife. The harassment charge is from five years back, filed by someone named Mark Scotts. Hold on…” A few clicks, and then he was back again. “It took place at a minor league baseball game. The police report says he started a fight when he was harassing a man about allegedly talking on his phone through the entire game.”
Rachel tried not to get too excited. They were red flags for sure, and it did line up with the behavior that took place at the Life Fulfilled offices. But it was far from a smoking gun. On the other hand, it was more than enough to warrant him a visit.
“What’s the address?”
As Monty recited it, Rachel tapped it into her own phone, pulling it up on her maps app.