Jonathan: Hi April, I'm Jonathan Steel. We spoke on the phone earlier.
April: Mr. Steel, come in, would you like some coffee?
Jonathan: No, but thank you, I drink too much coffee as it is. Shall we discuss your son, Rich?
April: I'll get Mark as well; we will tell you what we know.
Jonathan: Hi Mark, it is nice to meet you. I'm Jonathan, the private investigator.
Mark: We are the Rivera family. Thank you for coming, Jonathan. We didn't know where else to turn, the police have already begun to move on to more urgent cases...
A two-year-old case for a missing person, this is something new... and supposedly the police have limited their resources to this investigation.
Mark: I really hope you can solve this mystery...
Jonathan: I did a bit of research before coming. Rich has been missing since April 2007, correct?
Mark: Yes... we wanted him to find a job and the day before he vanished, he called to tell us he found a job...
Jonathan: Interesting... for the sake of the investigation I need full honesty, what kind of job did he get?
Mark: Well, this is the puzzle... My wife and I have no idea... Rich said his job was a surprise...
Jonathan: From what I found, Rich lived in an apartment to the east, about 7 miles, right?
These parents were that out of touch with their son? Why would Rich call his parents to tell them he got a job, but say nothing about it? Are Mark and April hiding something... they must know more about Rich.
I need to keep in mind that no one can be trusted. But if these two aren't entirely innocent why would April hire me? Something is already puzzling here.
April: Yeah, he wanted to move out. Rich had some issues finding a job, so we had to give him money quite often.
Jonathan: He had no source of income at all?
They must have been giving him tons of money... the Riveras are quite well off.
Mark: He had no income, we were paying for the apartment... Up until two years ago, when he vanished...
Jonathan: Where do you two work again?
April: Well, Mark works at the Border Patrol office and has his own side business that is very successful!
Jonathan: Very impressive, can you give me more details?
Mark: I don't think my job is all that relevant to the situation, to be honest... I would like some privacy, and also, we should move on and talk about more relevant things...
Usually, parents of missing children are eager to give me all the details they can think of... but Mark appears to already be hiding something.
I'll ask them who their son was close to... If they can't give me this answer then something is very strange here.