The other annie, p.3
THE OTHER ANNIE, page 3
“Do many people share your opinion?”
“The police looked into Kai after his suicide, but they never found anything connecting him to Annie’s disappearance.”
“Do you know if Earl Razzle ever looked into his death?”
I reminded myself to read the entire binder—soon. I felt like someone who had come to a job interview unprepared. If Razzle had written about Kai, I should have known about it before talking to Annie’s father.
“Yes, I’m positive Razzle looked into him. The guy is kind of a jerk, trying to get on the news any way he can. But I’ll give him one thing: he was thorough. I’m sure he looked into Kai.”
“So you think Razzle is a good investigator?”
“Damn, I hate to admit this, but yes, I do.”
Connor Ryan was shuffling around in his seat. I wasn’t sure if he was nervous or maybe just old and getting a little tired of sitting down. We had been talking for quite a while.
“I’ll get out of here after a few more questions, Connor. Can I contact you again after I’ve done some more investigating?”
“Sure, why not? You seem like a nice young man. Taking this job was probably a fool’s errand, but I’ll help you if possible.”
“Thanks.”
“What’s your next question?”
“If you had to guess, do you think Annie’s disappearance was perpetrated by one of the younger generation or one of the older generation?”
Connor Ryan took several seconds to mull it over.
“That’s an excellent question, but I’m unsure I have an answer.”
He thought for a while longer.
“I guess, if I had to choose one, I’d say it was someone from the younger generation.”
“And why do you say that?”
“The kids could roam free at any family function, especially at William’s huge house. They were in and out of rooms, making messes, causing disturbances, etc. If one of the adults followed her around or, God forbid, went into a room with her, that would have stood out.”
“What do you mean by going into a room together?”
“I’m not saying anything was going on sexually. I have zero evidence of that. But Annie was fifteen years old and physically mature. It’s not impossible.”
He bowed his head again.
I couldn’t end the interview with this being the last thing we discussed.
“Tell me about one of your favorite memories with Annie, and then I’ll get out of your hair.”
Connor smiled for one of the few times.
“This one is easy. Annie loved the boy bands of the 90s. I was no big shot, but I knew my brother was, so I asked William for a favor. Justin Timberlake was the lead singer of a group called NSYNC and, by far, their biggest star. It was Annie’s 15th birthday, and we were having a family dinner in Hollywood. We were from Chatsworth, so going to Hollywood was a big deal for Annie. She could get pretty starstruck, as most teenage girls could. William had called in a few favors, and after dinner, just as we started singing Happy Birthday to Annie, who walked up to the table and started singing along? That’s right, Justin Timberlake. Annie let out the happiest scream you’ve ever heard. I can still hear it to this day. She leaped from the table and gave him a hug, before we had even finished singing. Her smile at the moment made it all worthwhile. It’s the lasting image I have of her.”
Connor Ryan started wiping away a tear.
“God, she was so happy that night,” he said.
Chapter 4
Ispent the next two days submerged in Earl Razzle’s case summary.
It was titled “The Disappearance of Annie Ryan.”
On the bottom, it read, “Researched by Earl Razzle.”
The line mentioning his name was in bigger font than the top line mentioning Annie.
I’d thought Razzle was pretty down to earth for a celebrity, but it was apparent he also had a massive ego.
He could write, though. I’ll give him that. The file was immaculate and exhaustive. He had done a lot of work.
There were a few things that stood out.
He was unconvinced that Kai Butler had killed or abducted Annie.
Razzle said that Kai and Annie spent a lot of time together and got along famously, but he’d found no evidence that they were at odds. No reports of them ever fighting or even getting into a minor argument.
Kai had killed himself by jumping off a bridge. He didn’t leave a suicide note. No foul play was suspected, and the cause of death was ruled a suicide.
Kai’s father was Doug Butler, who married Sophie, William, and Connor’s sister.
Although the Ryan clan was a big Irish family, they started marrying people with different heritages.
Connor’s wife, Emily, was of French descent.
William’s wife Penny's family had come from Holland.
And Sophie’s husband, Doug Butler, had come from England.
Yes, the extended family was predominantly Irish, but they were becoming a blend of cultures, as all families eventually become.
Doug Butler seemed like a standup guy and was beloved by the family. Unlike Connor, he had managed to move on from his son’s death (as much as a parent could) and was an excellent father to their other two children. At least, that’s how Razzle’s summary portrayed him.
The fact that Annie was Connor’s last surviving child had a lot to do with his inability to rebound from it. He had no children to fall back on.
Doug Butler had to persevere for the sake of the rest of his family.
I’d get in touch with him at some point.
Earl Razzle only spent a paragraph on each of the two caterers. No one seemed to believe they were suspects, and I tended to agree. They were in their fifties, and this was their first time meeting the Ryan family. They had zero motive and were busy throughout the entire dinner.
He didn’t spend much more on the valet guys.
The head valet was Ramon Estrada, who owned and operated Victory Valet, the company William had hired for the night.
On that day, he had two young men working with him: Luis Ignacio, who was twenty-four, and Victor Fuller, who was twenty-two. None of the three had any connection to the Ryan family, and like the caterers, this was their first time at the Ryan house. The three were together the whole time except for a few quick bathroom breaks.
Razzle was dismissive of them as suspects. Once again, I tended to agree.
The night in question sounded like a festive occasion.
There was prepared eggnog, a punch bowl that included rum, many cases of wine, and a full bar. The caterers even made some Irish coffees that some of the guests had after finishing dinner.
Jameson, Bushmills, and West Cork were your whiskey choices. The Ryan family had emigrated from West Cork in Ireland, so William Ryan included that whiskey with the heavyweights of Jameson and Bushmills.
So, there was plenty of booze at the party.
It likely had nothing to do with Annie’s murder, but if someone got drunk and, for some reason, had it in for Annie, it could have been a starting point. We all know how alcohol can exacerbate the worst in some people.
After reading Razzle’s findings a second time, I made an executive decision. I would focus on one or two individuals at a time. The sheer amount of names was overwhelming.
First, Kai Butler. His suicide was an obvious place to start. Even if he had nothing to do with Annie’s death, maybe he had discovered something which caused him to take his own life.
Second, I was going to do a deep dive into William Ryan. No, I didn’t think he had killed his niece. He’d hired me, after all. No, that didn’t eliminate him as a suspect, but he just didn’t strike me as a killer.
Then why look into him?
Because he was the money bags of the family, and if his fear was correct, and this might all have been a ransom gone wrong, I’d need to look into William’s connections, which were probably endless.
So, for the time being, I’d be looking into a young man who took his own life and an older man who’d accomplished a lot in his.
All the other family members could wait.
Chapter 5
Gina Galasso had a hard name to forget.
And it turned out Gina was hard to forget as well, but not in a good way.
She was forty-two going on seventeen, which was ironic because I wanted to talk about her teenage years.
Gina had been dating Kai Butler when Annie went missing, and in fact, Gina had been at the Christmas Eve party on the night in question. She was one of the seven family friends who had been there.
And she was still dating Kai when he committed suicide a few months later.
We met at her tiny, run-down apartment in Santa Monica. She sounded odd on the phone and initially didn’t want to meet with me, but I eventually wore her down. I can have that effect on people.
“Thanks for meeting with me,” I said.
We were sitting across from each other at the lone table in her apartment. Clothes were spread all over the ground, some used ashtrays were scattered around the room, and the air smelled stale. Those last two were undoubtedly related.
“Sure. Don’t know what you’ll find twenty-five years later, though.”
I was tired of mentioning having solved my mother’s twenty-year-old case and decided not to mention it unless asked.
“I come at it with fresh eyes,” I said, using my new go-to line.
“I’ll tell you what ain’t fresh? Annie’s body. She’s been dead a long time, and ain’t nothing going to bring her back.”
“How are you so sure she’s dead?”
“She’s been gone twenty-five years. The only way she’s alive is if she’s underneath some pervert’s house in some dungeon. So, if you look at it that way, maybe it’s a blessing she’s gone.”
It was a view shared by Connor Ryan.
“Have you always thought she was dead?”
I found it helpful to try to get people’s points of view both now and when Annie originally went missing. The differences can tell you a lot.
“Since about two weeks after she disappeared. I guess I held out hope for that long. After that, I knew it was ‘Sayonara, Annie.’”
If you were feeling generous, you could say Gina Galasso spoke her mind. I just found her to be crass.
“Did you know her well?” I asked.
“Probably better than some in her own family.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Kai and I would hang out with her a lot back then, and everyone knows that teenage girls don’t like to tell their parents anything.”
“What type of things did she keep from her parents?”
“Pretty much everything. Guys she liked. Pot she smoked.”
“Was she dating a guy when she went missing?”
There had been no mention of a boyfriend by William, Connor, or in Razzle’s binder.
“Certainly not someone she’d introduce as her boyfriend.”
“But she was seeing a guy?”
Gina Galasso laughed.
“More like guys.”
“She was seeing more than one guy?”
“Annie was a pretty girl. She could have a lot of guys if she wanted.”
“How many was she hanging out with?”
I tried not to sound judgmental.
“It’s hard to remember. I know she was talking to a few guys, but I don’t know how many of them she was balling.”
Gina took out a cigarette and lit it. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen someone smoking in their own house—or, in this case, an apartment.
“I’d ask your permission, but this is my place, and I’ll do what I want,” she said, seemingly reading my mind.
“It is your place,” I said, not exactly condoning her actions.
“Where did we leave off?” she asked.
“You said you didn’t know how many people Annie was sleeping with.”
“That’s right. I didn’t know. Could have been two or three, I guess.”
“Could it have been zero?” I asked.
Gina took a drag of her cigarette and pondered the question.
“I guess it’s possible. Annie was such a flirt, though; I just assumed she was balling at least a few of them.”
“Would Kai have known?”
“Annie wouldn’t have told him if that’s what you mean. They were close cousins, but a girl doesn’t go and tell her male cousin who she’s sleeping with.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Were you and Kai friends with the guys she hung out with?”
She inhaled another drag of her cigarette.
“We met them a few times but didn’t know them well since Kai and I went to a different high school. When Kai and I would hang out with Annie, it was often just the three of us. It would give Annie a break from her people, which everyone needs occasionally, especially in high school.”
“So you didn’t suspect any of the guys you saw her out with?”
“None of them was at the Christmas party, so no.”
I decided to move on.
“What do you remember from that night?”
“I remember having a great time right up until she went missing. A few of us teenagers stole a handle of vodka, and we hid it in one of the rooms.”
“Was Annie ever in that room?”
“Yeah, but early on. It was within ten minutes of her getting there. Word must have traveled fast amongst the under twenty-one crew.”
Gina then laughed, coughed, and took a drag of her cigarette, all in one fell swoop.
Her eyes were glazed over, and it looked like she was high on something. And I don’t mean nicotine.
“Did she stay in the room long?”
“No, she was in and out in a few minutes.”
“Did she have a drink when she was there?”
Razzle had mentioned that Annie had been in a room with the other teenagers, but he hadn’t mentioned that they were drinking. Either Razzle thought it didn’t matter, or none of the teenagers had ever mentioned it. That seemed unlikely, with a police investigation and all.
“No, she didn’t have a drink.”
“Do you guys remember if you mentioned the alcohol to the cops?”
“I don’t remember, but I’m sure we admitted to it. The cops didn’t care about underage drinking. Not when a girl was missing.”
She had confirmed my suspicions.
It was weird to look at the forty-something across from me. The way she talked and dressed reminded me of a high schooler. This seemed to be a case of arrested development. Gina Galasso had never grown up.
She had the cigarette stains on the carpet to prove it.
“Who did you think might have killed Annie?”
“I can tell you one person it wasn’t.”
“Who’s that?”
“Kai. I know people suspected him, especially after he offed himself, but trust me, he had a good heart. He wouldn’t never do nothing like that.”
Gina’s grammar had never made it past high school, either.
“They were close, though, right?”
“Sure they were. I think they were the closest in age of any of the cousins, so that helped. No, maybe that Ginny girl was closer. Well, whatever. They were close in age.”
“And you said they’d hang out socially sometimes?”
I tried circling back to the time she and Kai spent with Annie.
“Yeah, we all would. As friends. What are you trying to say?”
“No, that’s not what I meant at all,” I said, finding myself on the defensive. “You said you and Kai would see Annie out socially?”
“Oh yeah, you mean we would see her out together.”
“Yes,” I said.
“I already told you we did. And sometimes, they’d use each other as excuses.”
“How do you mean?”
“Like Kai would tell his parents that he was hanging out with Annie, and because they were cousins, they were cool with that. And then Kai would come to see me, or we’d go and do things we shouldn’t be doing. But Kai’s parents didn’t worry because they thought he was chilling with his cousin.”
I had so many questions.
“What type of things shouldn’t you be doing?”
“Drinking. Smoking weed. You know, the basics.”
“And neither set of parents would call the other parents and get suspicious?”
“No, because they’d say they were hanging with each other. And we didn’t have cell phones back then, so they just let us do our thing.”
It made sense, but it still seemed odd that you’d use your cousin for something like this. Isn’t that what friends were for?
“I’m sorry to do this, but can I bring up Kai’s death?”
“You can say suicide, you know? Ain’t no reason to sugarcoat it now. He’s long gone, just like Annie."
“Did you have any inkling that he was depressed?”
“Inkling? That’s an odd word to use.”
She was right. I should have chosen something different.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Did you have any idea?”
“Yeah, I had an inkling,” she said, laughed, and then ashed her cigarette, only getting half in the ashtray.
“We had lots of inklings,” she said and laughed again. “Lots and lots of inklings.”
“I get the point,” I said.
Razzle’s summary said that Kai was depressed but didn’t go into too much detail.
Gina put on a straight face.
“We all knew he was depressed. It wasn’t like he was shy with that information.”
“What type of things would he do?”
“It’s less about that and more about what he would say.”
“What would he say?”
“I’m going to commit suicide.”
Gina laughed again.
This woman who was ten years older than me - but acted fifteen years younger - was getting on my last nerves.
“Was he ever committed?”
