Love in the Shadows

Chapter Thirty-Three

(Lucy's POV)

I've had enough therapy in my lifetime to know that one of the side effects of not being loved the way I should have, by the people that brought me into the world, has been that I'm the opposite. When I love, I love hard and I don't stop.

Whether I liked it or not, Sam's confession just now had just cemented himself right into my heart, forever.

As such, I don't think I would've been a fan of the woman that opened the door at the Sanchez house either way, but it was hard to know because the wave of revulsion that passed through me as I thought about how she treated Tash and Sam felt more like a tsunami than a ripple.

I swallowed my disgust, flashing my badge and stating, "Hello Mrs. Sanchez? Can we steal a moment of your time?"

Her eyes ran up and down my body and her curled lip made it obvious that she found me lacking. I knew her type immediately. Whether it be the shape of my body, my clothes covering those curves or the lack of makeup and jewellery. She was not a fan.

Just like that I knew, I wouldn't have enjoyed this woman or this visit regardless of what Sam had just told me. Mrs. Sanchez was officially a dick.

Her perusal of my body was over quickly and she dismissed me turning to Sam. Her eyes widened in surprise and giggling she asked, "Sam Tayor is that you?" The sheer pitch of her voice irritated my nerves, further.

Not waiting for a response, she reached out and hugged Sam, who stiffened and stepped back.

Get your hands off him, Lady.

"Why, have you ever grown up?" Her syrupy tone had his jaw clenching and those two twin spots of colour appearing on his cheek.

I lightly brushed my hand over his back and he gave me a little smile before turning to her, remembering to play the game. "Afraid this isn't a visit for pleasure, Mrs. Sanchez." She gave a little giggle at the word pleasure.

"Oh please, call me Barb." Her hand lightly rubbed his arm.

Revolting. How did a fantastic woman like Tash come out of a woman like this?

I spoke up, "We're here regarding the disappearance of Tanya." I didn't miss the look up comprehension that passed over Barb's face. The one that said, oh of course, you're a cop.

It never failed when I ran into a woman like this, it made me think of that line in Matilda, "I chose looks, you chose books."The thing was, it wasn't necessary to pick one or the other.

So why am I letting this woman make me feel like I'm less than?

This time it was Sam's hand in the small of my back, reminding me that this woman didn't matter. Tanya did. We were here for Tanya.

"Oh that?" She waved a hand in the air to show her nonchalance.
"I think that's just a misunderstanding."

"Pardon?" I blinked my eyes in confusion.

Barb Sanchez gave me her full attention now, brittle annoyance, pouring out her being. She spoke slowly, as if I couldn't keep up, "Tanya's, not missing. Both my girls are weird, and would be considered troublesome."

She took a deep breath and gave a little shrug, as if expecting sympathy. "We think she's just gone somewhere to cool down, reevaluate what she wants in life and think about her choices."

What the actual fuck.

"Mrs. Sanchez, it sounds like you know where your daughter is?" It was Sam who spoke up and he sounded pissed. I looked over to catch those spots, deepening on his cheeks.

"No sorry, no. I don't know where she is." She was sputtering now trying to back track. "Look, it was Natasha that filed a missing persons report. We think, myself and the girl's father, that Tanya is just taking some time away. She's taken off because we were obviously sad and disappointed in her and her choices. We are not okay with how she's been acting."

This fucking woman was the worst. Disappointed in the fact that her young daughter had trusted her boyfriend with some pictures of herself, and he decided to share them...illegally?

I considered how to play this, wanting to lash out but knowing it wasn't smart. The elongated silence let me know that Sam was probably battling the same demons. I swallowed and asked, "The day that you last saw Tanya, a friend of hers said you had asked her to come home right after school. Why?"

Any attempt at pleasantry was wiped clean off of Barb's face. I wasn't exactly sure why she was pissed, but she was. I wasn't proud that with her rising anger, my tension seemed to ease.  

"If you must know, we had an appointment with our church minister Mel, he was going to talk to Tanya about her choices as of late because God knows she wasn't talking to us. Listening to us..." She paused and chose now to show some concern.

I mulled it over, that's what this felt like, a show. She sighed dramatically before continuing. "But, she never made it home."

Fuck.

Somehow in all the kerfuffle since yesterday, I hadn't contacted Snapchat to get the records of Tanya's last interactions.

I pulled out my little notepad, finding our conversation with Stephen and starring the fact that he had seen her at home in their last snap. I flipped it shut, considering Barb. I needed to catch this woman in her lie.

Why would she not want us to know that Tanya had come home?

"So you and your husband..." I looked over at Sam in question.

"Alexis." He filled in the blank but let me keep going.

I nodded, "Were both home, waiting for Tanya to get home?"

She gave me a weird look, "Of course. We waited all night. We were so disappointed when we had to call Mel to tell him that she didn't show."

"Mel is the minister for Crossroads, right?"

She gave a sharp nod, "He is. Great man. We had explained that we were worried about Tanya and he offered to talk to her."

Worried about her embarrassing you, more like it.

I bit my tongue, keeping my judgments locked away and thinking about the information that we knew so far. There were so many things about all of this that didn't add up. However, now wasn't the time. We needed to put in the work first. "Okay thank you for your time Mrs. Sanchez. If we have any further questions you'll be hearing from us."

And you'll be hearing from us as soon as fucking possible, Barb.