by JR Thompson
“If you know the answer, please raise your hand,” Remington suddenly heard Miss Aragon say. She was walking across the front of the class, trying to decide who to call on.
Glancing around the room, Remington noticed that every hand in the room was up, except for his. He raised his hand as well, hoping to not be called on since that last question was all he had heard his teacher speak during the last fifteen minutes of class.
“Remington,” she said.
He knew it! He knew he was going to get picked. Whenever he knew an answer, he never got called on — only when he didn’t have a clue, only when he was daydreaming or drawing or whispering to a friend.
When he didn’t know the answer, Miss Aragon was angry. She said she was going to send a note home to his parents and that she expected it to be returned, signed, on Monday morning or else.
That’s not fair, Remington thought. You never send notes home with anybody else’s parents because they don’t know an answer.
Somewhere buried extremely deep within him, Remington knew why the note was being sent home. He was making a habit out of disrupting the class, not turning in his homework assignments, coming in late from breaks, and, of course, daydreaming. At least I don’t backtalk, he told himself.
Remington did not want to take that note to his parents — he would not take it to them; not until after Saturday anyway. There was no way he would take a chance on getting grounded. He was determined to play detective. Nothing was going to get in his way. Especially not some stupid note from Miss Aragon.
Remington stuffed it into his backpack and promised to deliver it to them as soon as he got home. What Miss Aragon didn’t know is he had his toes crossed, which totally cancelled out his promise. Well, it cancelled it out as far as he was concerned. It might not have necessarily cleared the slate with Miss Aragon or with God, whom Remington knew was watching and listening to every word.
When he got home that afternoon, Remington asked Alayna for advice. He was not typically the most out-going child when it came to strangers. He was nervous around his peers and even with kids younger than he was. Somehow he needed to meet Malachi and somehow he had to befriend him.
Alayna told him the best thing he could do was to allow God to work through him. He shouldn’t plan anything ahead of time; he should just pray and wait upon the Lord.
The advice was simple, but following it was quite difficult. How would he recognize the kid? How would he initiate a conversation? What if Malachi didn’t like or didn’t trust him? Remington wanted to put together a plan. However, he asked his mom for advice and she had given it. How silly would he look if he made plans after she had already given him advice that said not to?
A couple of hours later Collin returned with Brock and announced there would be a family meeting right after dinner. Dad had some ideas and he wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. Failure was not an option.
◆◆◆
Saturday morning, Alayna got up at 5 am to bake some mouth-watering breakfast burritos for the road. The aroma of food stirred the entire house. To be fair, it was probably a combination of the smell as well as the fact that no one slept very well because they were full of anxiety about what Saturday might hold.
Around 6 am, Nikki pulled into the driveway; she was right on time. During Friday night’s family meeting, Collin had announced that Nikki would be joining them for their day of adventure. She was going to take Brock downtown to the Providence County Courthouse to see what additional information they could dig up regarding the other missing persons. If they could find a lot of information, they were going to spend the day outlining disappearance patterns. If not enough information was available, they would try to track down as many families as possible that had missing family members and would question them thoroughly.
The rest of the household was going to head to the Crowleys’ neighborhood. Collin knew it would be difficult or awkward for him or Alayna to attempt to approach a young boy to ask him questions; that’s the only reason they agreed to allow Remington to do the dirty work.
I’m glad we’re splitting up. I can’t believe Nikki’s wearing those crocs to the courthouse. How humiliating.
A couple of hours later, they arrived in Malachi’s neighborhood. Collin drove by his house — it was small and quaint; it looked well taken care of. He pointed the house out to Alayna and Remington, then drove around to the Harmony Community Park.
After finding a place to park and turning off the engine, Collin reminded his family of the plan, “We will walk around the playground together. When you’re comfortable, Remington, you need to approach boys that appear to be between the ages of about seven and ten. Ask if you can play with them and then introduce yourself. Hopefully they’ll return the favor. If you’re sure Malachi is not in the group, you’ll need to find a way to get out of there so we can move further through the park. To avoid suspicion, you might have to play with them for a few minutes. But don’t stay longer than you have to.”
Remington finished the rest of the spill for him, “And if I find him, I need to be careful to not come on too strong. I need to get him to talk about the kidnapping, but I can’t appear too nosy.”
The Russell family got out of their hooptie and headed into the park; it had a paved walking track that extended the whole distance around its perimeter. The Russells stepped onto the track and began a casual stroll.
They hadn’t walked far before Remington noticed a couple of boys playing basketball. “I’m ready,” he said.
Placing her hand on his shoulder, Alayna said, “Are you sure? You don’t have to do this if you’re not comfortable.”
“I want to do it, Mom!”
“Okay then. Go for it.”
For a moment, Collin and Alayna stood still on the track and observed. They heard Remington ask permission to join their game. The boys stopped playing for a minute and approached Remmy. Unfortunately, their voices didn’t carry and they couldn’t tell what was being said.
A minute later, Remington returned to his folks. He said neither of those guys was the boy they were looking for. They told him they were already in the middle of a game, but if he wanted to hang around, he could join the next one. That was an easy out for him.
They walked a ways further around the track; Collin pointed out a boy, “Right there,” he said. “See the kid wearing the red Nikes?”
“Where?” Remington asked.
“He’s the only one on the playground wearing red Nikes, boy.” Collin said, sounding annoyed. “Over there on the swing.”
It would have been a lot easier just to tell me to look at the kid on the swing, Remmy thought. He knew better than to share his thoughts out loud, so instead he replied, “I’m on it.”
He ran over to the boy and sat on the next swing over. “Hey, I’m new to town. My name’s Remmy.”
“I’m Seth,” the boy replied without even looking up.
Seth was not the kid he was looking for. “Nice meeting you,” Remington said before walking back to his folks.
Over and over again Remington introduced himself to different boys — there was no luck. Malachi was not in the park. It was time to move to Plan B.
The Russells left the community park and walked back to the Crowleys’ neighborhood. They walked around the block a couple of times, hoping to casually run into Malachi or at least into Mrs. Crowley. They saw plenty of people outside; an older teenager mowing grass, a couple of little girls jumping rope, an elderly couple sitting in a porch swing gazing into each other’s eyes — but no boys in the right age bracket.
◆◆◆
As much as he hated to admit it, Collin said it was time for Plan C. They walked up to the Crowleys’ house and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, a thirtyish-looking woman came to the door with a fashion magazine in her hand.
Alayna introduced herself, “Hi, we’re sorry to bother you. We saw a house for rent around the block. We’re just trying to see what kind of neighborhood th
is is. Have you lived here very long?”
The lady looked down at Remington and smiled. “We’ve been here for about five years. What would you like to know?”
I’d like to know how long you’ve been wearing those house slippers, Collin thought. I think my great-great grandma had a pair just like them.
Before he could say anything, Alayna replied, “Well, for starters, are there very many children in the neighborhood that Remmy could play with?”
The lady’s face lit up. She said there were a few other children in the neighborhood, but she had a son who was somewhat of a loner who could really use a friend.
Looking past her, the Russells could see a handsome blonde headed boy who was in the right age bracket. For a split-second, he turned to face them, but quickly spun back around to continue playing his video game.
Mrs. Crowley asked him to come over to the door to introduce himself. Reluctantly, he paused his game, and ambled to the door. “Hello, I’m Malachi.”
Yes! Alayna thought. I knew it was him!
“What are you playing?” Remmy asked.
“Football. You any good?”
With that, Mrs. Crowley invited them inside. Collin and Alayna were glowing. They weren’t the only ones. Remington was on cloud nine. On his first undercover assignment, he had won and won big, as President Donald Trump would have said it.
The boys played together for about an hour while the Russells made small talk with Mrs. Crowley. Afraid of overstaying their welcome, Collin apologized for their intrusion and said they had to leave.
“We could bring Remmy back over sometime though. We don’t know when we might be moving, but it would be great if the guys could get to know each other before then,” Alayna suggested.
“We’re free next Saturday. Would that work for you?” Mrs. Crowley asked.
“Absolutely!” Alayna said. “That would be perfect.”
◆◆◆
After leaving Malachi’s house, the Russells headed back for Clayville. They hadn’t really gotten any new information, but they had made contact. That was a start and for one day’s work, they felt it was enough. They hoped Brock and Nikki had made additional progress.
When they arrived home a couple of hours later, Nikki’s car was there. The Russells went inside to find the odd couple sitting at the kitchen table comparing notes. They had nothing concrete, but they had a little more to work from.
All of the disappearances had a couple of things in common. For starters, Harmony High School. The fifteen-year-old basketball player was a sophomore at the school. The thirty-four-year-old teacher taught at Harmony. The four-year-old girl had an older sister who was a cheerleader there. The father and son who went missing while camping lived right next door to the school. The eight-year-old boy who was attacked in the alleyway was being read to on a weekly basis by a senior at the high school who was doing community service.
From the information they could gather, it appeared that none of the families attended church. They realized that may not be significant, but they wanted to analyze every detail of the case.
Lastly, Officer Edward Branham had been an investigating officer on all five disappearances. They realized it was a small town, but it still seemed unlikely that the same investigator would have been involved in that many disappearances with no one ever being charged with a crime.
Brock seemed disappointed with the fact that the Russells had gone to the Crowleys’ residence. He felt their time would have been better spent contacting the families of the other victims as opposed to trying to get close to the boy who had falsely accused him. Something about that still didn’t set right with Collin, but he didn’t make a fuss about it this time.
Collin asked Brock and Nikki to join their family in an evening prayer. Locking hands, they all bowed their heads. Collin prayed out loud, thanking God for keeping everyone safe during the day’s activities. He asked God to bless their efforts and to show them fruit for their labor.
CHAPTER 13 – PLAYING WITH FIRE
At church Sunday morning, Pastor Brown preached a daunting sermon on everlasting damnation. “There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Lost individuals will be falling through a bottomless pit while they are being burned for all of eternity!” he said. “There won’t be any parties going on down there. I don’t care what people tell you. People that make their bed there won’t see another soul. They won’t burn up like a marshmallow. They will be there for every second of eternity.”
Brock had heard about Hell many times in the past. Somehow, it had never hit him quite as hard as it did that Sunday morning. He kept thinking about the fact that if he died, he was going to split its flames wide open. For the first time, the reality of his own sin and the penalty he owed for his wicked ways was real to him.
When the pianist started tickling the ivories during the invitation, Brock leaped out of his seat and made a game winning, touchdown sprint for the altar. The pastor knelt down beside of him and asked if he would like to get saved.
Brock didn’t even have to think about that one. That’s why he had went to the altar. Of course he wanted to be saved!
He nodded his head, but couldn’t seem to get a word to escape his lips. The pastor walked him through a series of Biblical passages and showed him how to get saved.
Bowing his head, Brock closed his eyes, and uttered a silent prayer.
When Pastor Brown questioned if he had asked Jesus to save him, Brock suddenly found his words and shouted, “I did! Not only did I ask Him, but He saved me!”
Pastor Brown asked the church to come forward to congratulate Brock on his decision to accept Jesus Christ into his heart. Brock watched as every member of the congregation stood to their feet and formed a line. One by one they shook his hand, hugged his neck, and welcomed him into the family of God.
Afterwards, Pastor Brown invited the Russells to his place for dinner to celebrate the new Christian birth. Thrilled for what God had done in their lives, there were no objections. God was doing great things in their midst.
◆◆◆
Approaching the parsonage, Remington asked Collin if he could stay home from school the next day so he could go investigating again.
Collin gave Remmy a look that said he should close his mouth and not bring the subject up again. It was too late — the pastor’s wife had overheard, “Go investigating? That sounds like fun. What have you all been up to?”
Alayna told her they had heard about several disappearances that had occurred over in Harmony and they were trying to figure out what was going on. Remington had always enjoyed reading mysteries and they thought it might be fun to do some detective work of their own. If they were able to solve the mystery, they could bring a lot of peace of mind to the community. If not, what harm could be done?
Pastor Brown’s face reeked of disapproval. He looked at Collin and said, “You are not being wise, my brother. When you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.”
Collin seemed confused, “Did we do something wrong, Pastor?”
Pastor Brown just glared at him for a moment. His wife spoke up in his stead, “I’m sure what my husband means is that things have been quiet for a while now. If you stir a septic tank, it’s going to stink. If you give this guy attention for making people disappear, he’s probably going to strike again. You don’t want to be the blame for another person coming up missing, do you?”
Remington never knew when to keep his fat trap shut, “I would rather be blamed for trying than to not try and something terrible happen to someone else. It has already happened at least five times. Somebody has to do something; it might as well be us.”
Pastor and Mrs. Brown exchanged looks of concern. Neither spoke a word.
Feeling completely uncomfortable with the topic at hand, Brock changed the subject, “Pastor, now that my soul has been born anew, what is the next step in my journey? Should I get baptized?”
The pastor, agreeing there was no use debating the other topic, gave
him a thorough understanding of baptism and spiritual discipleship.
“Can you immerse me in the river at the present time?” Brock asked him.
“I appreciate your enthusiasm, young man,” Pastor Brown said, “but let’s wait until next Sunday morning. That way the rest of the church can accompany us to the river. They will want to be there to celebrate with you!”
◆◆◆
When things quieted down that night, Remmy’s mind began working overtime, but this time it wasn’t because of the investigation — he needed to have a note signed. It was getting later. So late, in fact, that Mom was lightly snoring. He knew he couldn’t wait any later. It was now or never.
“Dad,” he whispered, “are you awake?”
“I am. What do you need, son?”
“Miss Aragon asked me to have you sign a note that I need to return to her in the morning. I forgot about it until just now,” he lied.
“It is 11:30 pm Sunday night and you are just now remembering?”
“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry. I’ll go get it.”
Walking out to the living room to get his backpack, Remington’s heart was racing. He knew Dad was not going to be very happy with him when he saw the note — especially considering the fact he was still grounded.
He unzipped the main compartment and pulled out the note, realizing he hadn’t even read it himself yet. He started to unfold it when Collin came into the room and said, “Hand it over.”
Collin finished unfolding the note and read it silently, “Not paying attention in class, huh? So not only are you getting into the habit of breaking rules at home, but now you’re not listening to Miss Aragon either?”
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“It’s too late to deal with this tonight, son, but tomorrow evening when I come home from work, you’re going to get it. If I was you, I would make sure to have the lawn taken care of before I get home.”
