by Roger Hayden
Her parents gazed upon her, teary eyed. Natalie had been missing for close to seventy-two hours, a lifetime for any parent. Seeing the family reunited was a touching scene, but April Johnson was still missing. And according to the police wire, another girl had just been reported missing by her family, this time in the nearby town of Midland.
Detective Hayes confirmed as much after calling the station as they waited. “Her name is Tara McKenzie, and she was last seen walking home from the bus stop.”
“Sounds like a familiar scenario,” Shelton added.
Hayes turned to him, his eyes focused and intense. “That’s not the half of it. Several witnesses saw a red van circling the neighborhood, even the McKenzie girl’s friend who last saw her.”
“A red van?” Shelton said, perplexed. “How many vans are we dealing with here?”
Miriam registered all the new information, feeling slightly overwhelmed. They turned from Natalie’s window and huddled toward the other side of the hallway as nurses and orderlies passed by. Several news vans had surrounded the hospital, with many of them eager for the latest scoop following Natalie’s recovery. The police captain was scheduled to deliver a statement from the Odessa station to quell the latest speculation about the kidnapper’s capture.
“We had to let the bike carrier go,” Hayes told Miriam.
She turned to him, surprised. “What did he say?”
“The package had arrived at their store through a third-party vendor. Untraceable. Whoever shipped that thing knew what they were doing.”
“And the finger?” Miriam asked.
“We don’t know yet,” Shelton said.
There was no official information about any “second kidnapper,” and for the time being Captain Vasquez and his superiors had made it clear to Miriam that they would entertain no such notion. The disappearance of another girl, however, forced the authorities to contend that others were involved. Finding them was now more crucial than ever.
“The man on the phone told me that he had just kidnapped another girl in addition to having April,” Miriam told the detectives. “Hardly a coincidence.”
Shelton turned to Natalie’s door, hopeful. “Maybe she saw this person come into Browning’s house. If they were working together, there’s a pretty good chance of that.”
Visibly stressed, Hayes glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s time to get a statement. We can’t stall any longer.”
“Agreed,” Shelton said.
They had a busy day ahead, the hospital being their first stop of many. The Food Mart was next on the list. Miriam had told the detectives of the mysterious employee known as Ken. What they had hoped was that they could get a description from Natalie. If any other men were involved, they hoped that she could describe them. Detective Hayes went to the door and tapped on it lightly with a curled index finger.
“Yes?” the white-haired doctor said from behind the door.
Hayes opened the door a crack, held up his badge, and asked if they could come in. There was a moment of hesitation and then Hayes entered the room with Shelton following. Miriam entered last, saddened to see Natalie’s bandaged face. The girl reminded her of her own daughter, Ana. Calls home to both Ana and her fiancé, Lou, went to voice mail. She left Lou a message, telling him that her phone was out of service and to call either detective’s phones.
“Good afternoon,” Detective Hayes said to Natalie’s parents in a friendly tone. He introduced himself, Shelton, and Miriam and asked the couple if they could talk to Natalie.
“We remember you, Detective,” Doug Forester said, one arm around his wife. “And your partner.”
Shelton stepped forward in acknowledgment and asked how they were doing.
“It’s been hard,” Kim Forester said. “But her return is a blessing.”
Shelton waved to Natalie and approached her bed. “We’re very relieved at the station. How are you feeling, Natalie?”
“Fine…” she said in a strained voice.
Doug looked up at Shelton with admiration in his eyes. “You told us that you’d find her. I remember the promise you made in the Food Mart parking lot. We can’t thank you enough.” He suddenly got up and rushed toward Shelton, hugging him. “Thank you so much…”
Surprised at first, Shelton did his best to reciprocate the hug as Doug cried in his arms. He looked up at Miriam as she smiled back and shrugged in a way that said, what do you want me to do?
Miriam’s renegade tactics had not been fully disclosed to the parents yet. She was hoping to be back in Phoenix by that point. For now, all the parents knew was that she had been found. Miriam walked past Shelton and Doug and stood over Natalie’s bed, taking the girl’s pale hand in hers.
“How are you doing, sweetie?”
Natalie looked up with recognition and offered a faint smile. “Better…” she whispered.
Kim took quick notice of their familiarity with each other. “You’ve met before.”
“I was one of the first detectives to find Natalie, yes.”
Doug finally released Shelton and then turned to his wife after catching a glimpse of Miriam. “Honey, don’t you know who this is? This is Miriam Sandoval, the detective mentioned in that note left to us.”
Kim leaned back in her chair and studied Miriam with clear suspicion. “Why do you think he asked for you?”
Miriam opened her mouth to offer a vague answer when Doug cut in, excited as though he was a fan. “She solved the Snatcher case, remember? The creep who took our daughter probably wanted to be famous too.” He pointed to the detectives, boastful and proud. “Glad you boys put a bullet in him before that happened.”
While the detectives tried to minimize Doug’s claim that they alone had been responsible for Walter Browning’s death, Miriam squeezed Natalie’s hand and then looked to the doctor who hadn’t yet said a word. “Have you run all your tests on her, Doctor?”
The man nodded as he glanced at his clipboard. A badge hung around his neck on a lanyard. Dr. Bryce Elliott, MD. “Natalie hasn’t told us everything yet, but we did find bruising on her face and sides.”
“He beat her,” Kim said with rage building in her tone. “That son of a bitch!”
Miriam released Natalie’s hand and approached the doctor while talking softly. “Was there any other kind of abuse?”
“No,” Dr. Bryce said with certainty. “There is only blunt force trauma to her face and side where she was hit and kicked.”
Miriam sighed with relief and then went back to Natalie’s side and took her hand. “Are you all right?”
Natalie swallowed and nodded with her eyelids growing heavy. “I’m okay.”
Miriam then looked to Kim and attempted to convince her in the most sympathetic way that time was crucial. Detective Hayes and Shelton stood to the side, notepads out and prepared for Miriam to take control of the situation. She seemed to be doing the job so far.
“We want you to rest and get better, Natalie. But first, it’s important that I ask you a few questions, then we’ll leave you with your parents.”
After a blank stare, Natalie nodded. Doug took a seat next to his wife and put his arm back around her. Her parents seemed every bit as eager to hear the details of their daughter’s harrowing experience as the detectives were.
“I need to know if you saw anyone else in that house, Natalie,” Miriam began. “Anyone at all.”
Natalie brought a hand up to her face and rubbed her forehead with a sigh. “No…” she said, her voice trailing. “I didn’t see anyone else.”
“Are you sure?” Miriam asked. She wanted more than anything to hear otherwise.
Natalie nodded as her eyelids flickered and she coughed.
“Here,” her mother said, leaning forward and grabbing the glass on her tray. “Have some water, dear.”
Natalie gulped back the water and then continued. “I woke up in a room. I couldn’t see anything most of the time. A strange man came inside. Said he drugged me and brought me there from the
Food Mart. Told me that we were going to have a good time together. I tried to escape. I even stabbed him with some glass.” She paused and clenched her eyes as tears squeezed out. “That’s why he hit me... I fought back.”
“Oh, honey,” her mother said, brushing her hair back. “I’m so sorry.”
Miriam released Natalie’s hand and stood up, realizing how hard it was on the poor girl. But she still needed to verify one last thing. “You’re absolutely sure you only saw one man? Did you hear any separate voices? More than one person in the house?”
For the first time, Kim Forester spun her head around and glared at Miriam, her impatience rising. “I think that’s enough for now, Detective.”
Miriam withheld further questioning and said no more.
Doug, however, seemed curious about the question. “What’s this about a second man? Is there someone else?”
Detective Shelton suddenly stepped in to put the matter at rest. “We’re just covering our bases. As you may know, April Johnson is still missing, and Natalie has said there were no other girls in the house.”
“Strange,” her mother said while petting Natalie’s head. “Maybe there is someone else, unrelated to what happened to our little girl.”
“We don’t know that yet,” Shelton continued. “We just hope we get as lucky with April as we have with your daughter.”
“Godspeed,” Doug added.
Miriam looked around the room while noticing Natalie’s drooping eyes. “Did you ever hear the name Ken?” she asked abruptly.
Natalie shook her head and drifted to sleep as her doctor opened the door. “I think that’s enough for now. If you have any more questions, I’d suggest coming back tomorrow morning once she’s rested.”
Miriam turned toward the door without question and followed the detectives out of the room. They thanked the doctor and the parents for their time, and as the door closed, Miriam sensed the temporary dissolution of anything leading to a second man.
They convened in the hallway and discussed their next move. The police captain was scheduled to release a statement soon, and they wanted to ensure his words were as accurate as possible. If another kidnapper was fast at work, it didn’t serve the public any good to declare the case closed, and that’s exactly what they were afraid Captain Vasquez had planned.
Miriam thought of her co-workers back in Phoenix, including her police chief. What would they want her to do? Her desk job the past year had been a huge change. She felt safer, from both criminals and making the kind of rash decisions that resulted in her getting into trouble. The thrill of the hunt returned, and the closer she felt to capturing the so-called Chancellor of Doom, the less anything else concerned her.
Detective Hayes drove the Crown Victoria to the Food Mart, the second stop on their list. Walter Browning’s name hadn’t been officially released, and Miriam was hopeful that none of the employees were aware of what had happened to their co-worker. They needed to catch them by surprise, especially the co-worker known as Ken.
Miriam sat up front with Shelton in the back, scrolling through his cell phone. The car radio was on as they awaited Captain Vasquez’s press release. The detectives and Miriam had taken advantage of the chaos surrounding the precinct to revisit locations and piece together their case from there. It was exactly that kind of police work that took her to Walter Browning’s house in the first place. But she had to be careful. The second man could still be watching her, just as he had before.
“Need to get that DNA match on the finger,” Shelton said, holding his cell phone up.
“Either it belongs to April Johnson, or it came from someone,” Hayes said as he pulled into a parking space next to a cart return.
Shelton set his phone down and then jumped as it rang. His face then dropped after looking at the caller ID. “602 area code? Who’s that?”
The number clicked and Miriam whipped her head around. “That’s Lou. My fiancé.” She reached for the phone as Shelton handed it to her with noticeable disappointment.
Hayes opened his door and stepped out. “We’ll be out here. Take your time.”
Shelton joined him, and Miriam felt grateful that they were giving her some privacy to speak. She was prepared to tell Lou everything and get it off her chest, but there were details she couldn’t discuss. Lou would be furious to learn what she did. Now wasn’t the time.
“Hello?” she said, glancing at her engagement ring glistening in the sunlight.
“Miriam?” Lou said with urgency. “Goodness. Where have you been?”
“We’ve been really busy, Lou. I’m sorry.” She could sense the worry in his tone and knew that she was going to have to keep the details minimal.
“It’s been a day since I’ve heard from you. I called your station, and they hadn’t heard anything from you yet either.”
“I know, Lou. I owe everyone an explanation. I—”
“No, Miriam. Your priorities should be your family. Ana asks me about you, and I don’t know what to tell her. Then I hear about some shooting over there and a dead kidnapper. This is madness.”
Lou had a point. Miriam had been neglecting everyone back home, but for good reason. She took a deep breath and spoke with conviction. “I only have two more days here, and I’m asking you to bear with me, just this one last time. We found one of the girls, but there’s still another one, and we’re close, I can feel it.”
“What happened to your phone?” he asked without hesitation.
“I dropped it, but that’s not important right now. The police, they found the man who kidnapped Natalie Forester.”
“So I’ve heard,” he said.
“And there’s someone else. He and Walter Browning were partners. We have to find him before it’s too late.”
There was a pause on the other end, followed by a long sigh. “I love you, Miriam, and I understand how important this is. Ana and I… we just want you home. We miss you.”
“I miss you too,” Miriam said with a sense of longing. “Can I talk to Ana?”
“Yeah, sure,” Lou said. “But first, tell me what has happened out there. I want to know everything.”
“Lou,” she said. “You know I can’t go into details about an ongoing investigation.”
“Can’t say that I didn’t try,” he said. “Hold on. Ana’s here. She’s bugging me to talk to you.”
The line shifted and Miriam glanced out the window to see Hayes and Shelton outside the car, observing the parking lot like two Secret Service agents.
Ana grabbed the phone, out of breath. “Hey, Mom. How are you?”
“Good, honey. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I was just outside, checking the mail.” Her tone was decidedly less worried than Lou. “Have you solved the case yet? When are you coming home?”
“We’re getting close,” Miriam said. “I’ll be home in two days.”
“I talked about you in school today,” Ana said.
“Oh yeah?”
“It was my turn to open class with a current event. I told them how you were trying to solve the kidnapping case in Odessa. Everyone is proud of you.”
“That’s good to hear,” Miriam said.
Ana then spoke softly into the phone. “Lou’s worried sick about you. What happened to your phone?”
“It broke. I know, honey. I’ll be home soon. Just try to take care of each other in the meantime.”
“Will do. I gotta go,” she said, distracted. “Some friends just got here.”
“Who?” Miriam asked. “What are you doing?”
“Relax, Mom. We have to work on a school project.”
“What kind of project?”
Miriam’s could sense Ana’s impatience as she sighed. “A science project. It’s due next week.”
“Well, you be good. I’ll be home soon, and we’ll all go out for a nice dinner.”
“Okay, Mom. Be careful.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too,” Ana said, passing the phon
e off. “Bye!”
Lou took the phone back as she could hear Ana running off to the sound of the doorbell ringing. “I thought you’d like to know that I’m the official custodian of four girls for the afternoon.”
“Lucky you,” Miriam said with a laugh.
“I guess I’ll order some pizza.”
“Anything to keep them at bay,” Miriam said. She looked out the window and could see the detectives pacing. For a moment, everything felt normal again. Lou and Ana felt only an arm’s length away. Her concern, however, shifted back to the case at hand. “I’ve got to get back to work now, Lou. I’ll talk with you soon.”
“Keep me in the loop, Miriam. It’s all I ask. I’ve been following the news, and it doesn’t sound good. Someone really has it in for you. I can’t tell you how hard it is being here while you’re out there. I may be a schoolteacher now, but I remember what it was like as a detective. I know the risks.”
“I understand,” Miriam said. “I’ll let you know everything that happens out here when it happens.”
“You know that I don’t like this…” Lou began. He then shifted his tone. “But I understand how important it is to you. They’re lucky to have you out there.”
“Thank you,” Miriam said. After a brief pause, they said their goodbyes for the day. Miriam promised to check in soon, though she knew that depended on where the case ultimately led her. She hung up the phone and opened her door as a strangely refreshing breeze flowed into the car.
Hayes and Shelton turned to her in unison as she approached and handed the phone back.
“How’s the family?” Shelton asked.
“They’re fine,” Miriam said. “My husband is worried, but I told him that everything was going to be okay.” At that moment, she didn’t even realize that she had referred to Lou as her husband.
“What did you tell them?” Hayes asked with faint suspicion.
“Nothing that would worry them further. One kidnapper down, one to go.”
“We can only hope,” Shelton added.
They walked through the Food Mart parking lot and neared the moderately busy store where customers entered and exited the store without worry. Reports of Walter Browning’s employer hadn’t seemed to make a dent in business just yet, and there were no news vans around to Miriam’s relief.
