Obsession by Kathi Mills-Macias

reverting back to Toni's last question. “Where do we go from here? I can think of two things, at least as far as you're concerned. Didn't you tell me that Julie Greene's grandmother called you a week or so ago?” Toni nodded, taking a sip of water, and Abe went on. “Now, if you're not comfortable doing this, just say so, and I'll do it. But I think it would be best if you would, simply because of my official position here. I think you should call Julie's grandmother and see if you can get any more information at all out of her. Can you handle that?”
    “Sure. I can do that.”
    “Good. I think she's our best shot at getting anything new to go on, even though I imagine your dad talked to her extensively and noted anything she might have told him in the file. But you never know. Sometimes you can talk to people several times and think you've heard all they have to say, and then suddenly they remember some nugget of information that makes all the difference. Since you have your P.I. license, you can quite honestly explain that you're trying to tie up any loose ends before turning Julie's account over to anotheragency. Then, too, you might want to call the girl's parents.” He paused and glanced down at Julie's file. “Let's see… what were their names? Michael and Sarah Greene. Says here he's a minister.” He looked back up at Toni. “Have you had any contact with them?”
    “No. None at all. But I'll be glad to call them if you think I should.”
    “Try the grandmother first. She's the one who hired your father, and you've already had one conversation with her. It would make the initial contact easier. From the notes in Julie's file, your father seemed to feel the grandmother was the most helpful. The parents seemed to have a real hard time even discussing their daughter's disappearance. Of course, that's not difficult to understand. I can't imagine how hard this is for them.”
    Toni pressed her lips together and nodded as she held the water cup between her hands. Abe's reminder that Julie's father was a minister had suddenly opened an entirely different dimension of the situation that she had not considered before. “Her father's a minister,” she mused aloud. “I'd forgotten about that.”
    “Is that important?”
    “No, not really, but… I guess I hadn't thought until now how Julie's disappearance would impact the family spiritually. With her father being a minister, I can only assume she was raised in a Christian home, with countless opportunities to receive the Lord.…”
    “I'm afraid you're one up on me there. I'm not very familiar with the details of the Christian faith—or any faith, for that matter. We went to temple occasionally when I was young, but not often enough that I ever understood much of it. I didn't even study for or have a bar mitzvah, although my Aunt Sophie tried to convince my parents that I should. I guess she was the only faithful Jew in the family.”
    Toni raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Abe… Abraham. Of course. I hadn't realized you were Jewish.”
    “By heritage, not by practice. I remember when I was about ten and my Uncle David, Sophie's husband, died. Aunt Sophie sat shivah; I didn't even know what that meant.”
    “What exactly does it mean?”
    “I'm still not completely sure, but it has to do with a seven-day mourning period right after someone dies. Aunt Sophie was scandalized that she was the only one in the family who observed it, although I don't know why she was surprised, since she's also the only one who observes the Sabbath— Shabbat, as she calls it.”
    Toni smiled. “Your aunt sounds like an interesting lady.”
    “She is. You'd like her. I'll have to take you to meet her sometime.”
    “Oh, well… Does she live around here?”
    “Just up the freeway in Centralia. Not far at all. It would be a nice drive, don't you think?”
    Was that a generic question, or was he proposing that the two of them make a day of it and drive up there together?