by Rick Polad
“You wouldn’t have a record. It would all be smoke and mirrors.”
“Have you talked to your friends?” he asked.
“Not yet.”
He grimaced and nodded. “How about you do that before we go any further with this? And even then, I’m not making any promises.”
“Understood.”
My pager went off as he wiped his mouth and laid the napkin on the table. The message was 911, Stosh’s code for call now.
I asked Harvey if he would mind another free breakfast on Wednesday. He said he never turned down free food, thanked me for breakfast, and donned the jester hat. I laughed quietly. I had no idea why, but the hat was part of why I trusted him.
I used the restaurant phone and called the station. They had found a body that matched the description of Samantha’s father. There was no ID on the body and his pockets were empty.
“Ring?” I asked.
“Nope, but maybe someone stole the ring.”
“Where was he found?”
“Alley over by Clark and Montrose. Looks like a hit and run. Lots of broken bones.”
I told him I’d pick up Samantha and head to the morgue.
***
Samantha was understandably shaken. She was flustered and tried to think about what to shut off before we left the office. I told her to just grab her keys and not worry about it. In the car, she asked non-stop questions. I tried to keep her calm and figured her asking questions was the best way to do that.
“It’s probably Dad, isn’t it, Spencer?”
“There’s no way of telling, Samantha. There’s just as much chance it isn’t.”
She started to cry. “I’ve been trying so hard to keep up hope. But, I mean, he matches the description. What are the chances it’s some other man who was out wandering the streets?”
I shook my head and turned into the parking lot of the morgue, a two-story brick building with very few windows. “There’s always a chance. Would you like to wait a few minutes?”
She sniffed and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief she had taken out of her purse. “No. It’s not going to change if I wait.”
I had a hard time opening her door. Feeling like I was leading her into hell, I did it slowly and offered my hand. I put my arm around her and led her into the building.
After telling the man at the front desk what we were there for, we sat for a few minutes before another man in a white lab coat asked us to follow him. I didn’t dare look at Samantha. I was out in the middle of nowhere hiking when my folks were killed and Stosh had handled this part. I couldn’t imagine what Samantha was going through.
The attendant pushed open a pair of metal doors and we entered a white room with a wall of drawers. He pulled open one of them, slid out a tray, and unzipped a grey cover. Samantha was squeezing my arm. As the man pulled back the sheet, she collapsed against me and started to tremble. I put my arms around her and held her for a minute before gently pushing her away.
Looking up at me with tears in her eyes, she said, “It’s not him.”
As the man zipped the cover, I pulled her back to me and we turned toward the door. I heard a gentle whoosh as the attendant slid the drawer back into the wall with a peaceful finality.
She was still holding my arm as we walked back out into the sunshine.
“I never gave up hoping, Spencer.”
“Good to have hope.” I opened the car door and let her in. As I walked around the front of my Mustang, I thought of Rosie. I had some hope left for her and me but not much.
On the drive back to the office Samantha asked what my plans were for the day.
“Well, I’m going to pay another visit to Mr. Block. I’d like to go back to the park, but it’s closed on Monday so that’ll have to wait until tomorrow. How about you?”
She smiled. “Just waiting for the phone to ring.”
I patted her arm. “Thanks for doing that. I know it must get boring.”
“It’ll be a lot better than it was an hour ago.”
“Glad it worked out this way.” I was happy for Samantha, but there was someone else whose life was going to turn upside down. I asked Samantha to call Block’s office and see if I could get an appointment for sometime today. I felt perfectly okay just walking in unannounced, but this gave Samantha something to do. As I pretended like I was busy at my desk, she called out that I had an appointment at two. I pretended some more and then took her to lunch. There was a Martin poster in the deli window.
Chapter 17
When I walked in the office, Miss Randel nodded to a chair and said Mr. Block was on the phone. I could see her phone from where I sat. There were no lights lit. I listened to WGN from the radio on her desk. I had cleared my throat three times before she told me, ten minutes later, that I could go in. What had I ever done to deserve her?
I sat in the same cushioned chair in front of Block’s desk.
“Well, I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again so soon, Mr. Manning. Actually I had hoped not to see you at all.”
I gave him a disappointed look. “That seems to be the mood around here.”
He looked confused. “What does that mean?” He picked up a pencil and rolled it between his fingers.
“Miss Randel is none too fond of me either.”
His look changed to surprise. “My remark had nothing to do with you personally. I had hoped all this would be cleared up.” He laid the pencil down parallel to the right edge of the blotter. “What do you mean about Miss Randel?”
“Not too friendly. Treats me like I was serving a summons.”
He laughed. “My apologies. I’ll have a chat with her.”
“No need. I won’t take it personally. Has she been with you a while?”
“Depends on what you consider a while. Her first day was the fifth of July two years ago.”
My surprised look got an answer to my question without asking.
“Not easy to forget the fifth of July. The fourth is a huge day at the park, and she had to hit the ground running. Jumped in with both feet. She’s been a blessing.”
“What happened to your previous secretary?”
“Just up and quit. No notice. Just called that morning and said she was quitting.”
“Did that surprise you?”
He spread his hands palms up and laughed. “You bet. And I could use several other words that I won’t mention. She left me high and dry.”
“Why do you think she did that?”
He slowly shook his head. “No idea. Must have gotten a better job. But people usually don’t behave like that.”
“Had she done a good job?”
“Excellent. No complaints.”
“What’s her name?”
With a look of surprise he asked why I wanted to know.
“Just curious. I gather facts, especially odd ones, and then let them roll around for a while. Once in a while some of them stick together.”
After a deep breath, he said, “Gertrude Morgan.”
“Do you have an address?”
He shifted in his chair. “I’m sure we do, but I see no reason for sharing that. I’m glad to help with what’s going on at the park, but that can’t have anything to do with Gerty.”
I actually was happy about that. Tracking down Gertrude would give Samantha something to do.
“Well, how about this? I’d like a list of full-time employees hired after Walters.”
“Again, what does that have to do with the kids and the murder?”
“Again, just collecting information and following a hunch. I can have the police make it a formal request if you’d prefer.”
He sighed and pressed a switch on his intercom. My favorite secretary answered.
“Miss Randel, would you please put together a list of full-time employees hired at the park after Walters started?”
“Yes, sir.”
He gave me a hard stare. “I don’t think you’ll find any problems with my employees. Most have been with me f
or a long time. I take good care of them.” He turned his stare out the window. “This all started when my grandfather held shooting parties for his friends. Then he added a carousel for their families, and now it has grown into this.” He pointed to the large aerial photo of the park. “Once a year I close the park and have a day just for employees and their families. Everything is free.” He looked back at me and shook his head. “No, you won’t find any problems with employees.”
“Good to hear, Mr. Block. I’m sure you’re right. But it’s not the ones who have been there a long time that I’m wondering about.”
He straightened in his chair. “Now, if you’re finished…”
“One more question. How did you find Miss Randel?”
He looked like he was trying to remember. “I guess it was just pure luck. I was in a bind and got a call from Chief Walters about something else. When I told him I had just lost my secretary he said he had someone who would be perfect. She was in the office two hours later, and she was.”
“Was what?”
“Perfect. As I said, she’s been a blessing.”
“Okay. Thanks for your time.”
He nodded. It was a pretty warm nod compared to what I knew was waiting for me in the outer office.
Miss Randel was concentrating on something in the typewriter when I walked out. I sat in a chair along the wall opposite her desk. She stopped concentrating and started typing. I assumed it was my list, but it would have been nice of her to mention it.
Ten minutes later she was still typing. I had decided to ask her about it when the phone rang. Her responses were terse but polite. When she hung up I asked about the list. She disgustedly pulled what she was working on out of the roller, put in another piece of paper, opened a file, and started typing again. Two minutes later she pulled out the paper and handed it to me.
I had told Block that I didn’t take her treatment personally, but it was hard not to. It was me standing there being ignored.
Without thanking her, I folded the sheet in half and left the office. As I waited for the elevator, I looked at the list. Harvey had given me three names. This list had six, and two of them were women. Harvey’s three were also on the list. Block was right about his loyal employees. Any company with that little turnover was doing something right.
A warm breeze was blowing from the south as I walked out into the noise and bustle of Michigan Avenue. Just to the south was the water tower that had been the northern limit of the fire that had wiped out most of the city in 1871.
I stood for a minute and thought about Rosie, but my thoughts quickly went back to a summer up in Door County some fifteen years ago when I had assured Dad I was old enough to take care of the rowboat. He had walked up to the cottage with the fish we’d caught and left me to tie it up for the night. I hadn’t done such a good job. When I looked back from the top of the hill, the boat was drifting out into the bay. My only thought was to swim after it, but I knew my folks were real serious about not swimming by myself. I had no idea how I was going to get it back.
A honking horn brought me back to the city and I headed for my car.
Without a plan for the rest of the day, I decided to drop the list off with Samantha and put her to work on addresses. I’d stop by her apartment building and start knocking on doors, asking if anyone had seen her father. I added Gertrude Morgan’s name to the list and handed it to Samantha. She was thrilled to have some work to do and told me she’d leave the completed list on my desk in the morning. I thought she was being optimistic.
Chapter 18
Halfway to Evanston my pager went off. Stosh’s emergency number again. I was close enough to the office to go back and save a dime. Samantha was surprised to see me. She was doing something in the file cabinet and seemed a little flustered. I explained why I was there and told her it was tough being so popular. She agreed.
I had to wait five minutes before Lt. Powolski came on the line.
“Another kid is missing, Spencer. Worked at Riverview. I’m putting together a task force and we’re meeting in my office in thirty minutes.”
“I just left.”
***
As I pulled into the police lot I wondered what I would say when I saw Rosie. She would probably be at the meeting. Six people were already in Stosh’s office when I got there. I knew three of them, one being Steele. Rosie wasn’t there. I found a spot on the wall to lean against as Lt. Powolski introduced me to the three I didn’t know and passed out a list with the missing kids’ names. There were now seven on the list. Five had a capital R next to them, including the latest, Rodriguez. All were boys.
“As you all can see,” Stosh began, “we have seven missing kids going back almost two years, and five worked at Riverview. That connection was made by a case Spencer is working on… that would be Martin Lisk. All are males between the ages of fifteen and seventeen and there is no particular ethnic bias.” He paused as the door opened. My heart skipped a beat. I had actually felt relieved that Rosie wasn’t there. It was another detective I didn’t know. Stosh nodded to her and she found an empty spot against the wall opposite me.
“Spencer has done some legwork on Martin, and Steele and Jenks have been working on the others, but we have very little. And then there is the murder of Benny Parker. Steele is working on that also, and we also have very little on that. Please share information and consider the two related. They may not be, but I’m not a fan of coincidences.” He leaned on the desk and asked Steele and me to share what we had.
The basic information was that five of the kids, including the two not from Riverview, were from group care facilities where they were waiting and hoping to be placed in a foster home. But older kids rarely found a home. Most people wanted babies or younger kids. Two, including Martin, had families, so there was more information in the file, but it wasn’t of much help. In all cases, the kids had just disappeared without a trace.
When we had finished, Stosh assigned names to pairs of detectives and asked that we meet again after more legwork. They all left, leaving behind an air of hopelessness. It was always hard not having any leads to follow, but being about kids made it worse. I stayed and sat on one of the wooden chairs.
Stosh let out a sigh and slumped in his chair. “Always sad when kids get caught up in adults’ screw-ups, but when it’s all about the kids…”
“And what the hell is it all about?”
He closed the file. “Damn good question. I assume you have nothing to add to what you said.”
I shook my head. “Just as frustrated as you. But I have a feeling I’m making some enemies, and that’s always a good sign.”
“Well, you’ve always been good at that. Just be careful who they are. Any particular plans?”
“Not really. But I have an inside man who may be helpful.” I told him about breakfast. “Meeting again Wednesday.”
He nodded. “I know your gut says you trust this guy, but keep your eyes open. Many a man has been stabbed in the back while their gut was smiling. You don’t have eyes in the back of your head.”
“Will do.” I pushed my chair back, but before I stood up I asked about Rosie. “Kinda thought Rosie would be here.”
“She’s on a night assignment. Probably sound asleep.” He gave me a disappointed look. “I assume you still haven’t called her.”
“No. I think I’d rather not know.”
“Yeah, that’s the easy way out. Good luck with that. Now get the hell out of here and find out if all this is connected.”
As I stood up, I thanked him for the call about Samantha’s dad.
“Sure. Not easy. And as time goes by… Sometimes I hate this job.”
I started to walk out and turned back. “Don’t mean to be a pest, but did you get a chance to check on Belva?”
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Oh hell, Spencer. I completely forgot. Sorry. I’ll get someone on it this afternoon. I must be getting old.”
I smiled. “Last I checked we all a
re, just some are getting there faster than others. I’ll close the door so you can get a nap.”
He picked up a vase, but I was gone before he could throw it. When Francine was alive the vase had always held fresh flowers. Now it was empty.
Walking down the stairs, I thought about Rosie with mixed feelings. Not approaching her meant I didn’t have to hear her answer, and the more time went by the more I was sure of that answer. Thankfully, I had other things to think about, but getting sleep was not going to happen for a while.
***
The sunny day had disappeared as the sky clouded over. I decided to use what was left of the afternoon to do some legwork for Samantha and parked right in front of her building at about three. I rang the eight bells in the building and got three answers. All three were willing to chat but none had seen Samantha’s father. They didn’t even remember seeing Samantha. Not much community spirit in apartment buildings, but there’s usually at least one watchdog who collects all the gossip. Maybe I just hadn’t found that person yet—but that person was usually home all day.
I checked the two adjacent buildings and the stores across the street with the same result, and then took a walk around a few blocks, hoping that some miracle would occur. It didn’t. The closest I came was a brief chat with an older couple who assured me they hadn’t seen any lost old men. It was strange that he hadn’t turned up somewhere by now. Either he was confused—and someone would surely help out a confused old man—or there was something else going on. I felt pretty helpless, but this was something the police did well and they were doing it.
When I got back to the building it was almost five and I tried the bells that hadn’t answered before. Two more answered. Still nothing, but one woman did remember Samantha moving in.
I vacated a great parking spot for some lucky commuter and stopped to get a frozen pepperoni pizza on the way home.
I read on the deck until I lost the sunlight, then just sat and listened to the crickets until the moon rose in the east. My plan for Tuesday was to check in at the office to see if Samantha had come up with any addresses and then pay another visit to the park. And maybe Stosh would have something on Belva. So far I was getting a whole lot of nowhere.
