“Good afternoon.” Said Carolina in a courteous manner.
“Good afternoon.” Answered the secretary with a smile so white it blinded. “How can I help you?”
“I’d like to schedule an appointment with dr. Paschoal. I think I developed some cavities.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry, but we’re not scheduling any appointments at the moment. Dr. Paschoal is out of the city.
“Hm, too bad... I was told he’s the best.”
“Ah, that’s very true! Dr. Paschoal’s the best in Rio de Janeiro. Check out how my teeth turned out!” and the secretary showed her a Hollywood star type of smile.
“Is he at some convention, or a vacation? When he’ll be back?”
“Actually, dr. Paschoal had to go on an emergency trip and didn’t say where he was going or when he’d be back.”
“Is that a common occurrence?” Carolina asked in the most disinterested manner she managed.
“Not common, no, but being an emergency...”
“I see... Have you been working here for a long time?”
“About three years, I guess.”
“Wow, so cool! I’m thinking about being a secretary one day, not only it’s an interesting job, but you also get to know about the life of other people and meeting all sorts of weirdos.” Carolina tried a juvenile mood, covering her smile with her hands.
“True enough, there’s some funny people and a fair number of weirdos. The other day a dwarf came here, a very funny fella, he made he laugh the entire time he was waiting.
“Wow, that’s neat! But there must be all sorts of scary people too, right?” Carolina inquired, still trying to act as casual as possible.
“Yeah, lately dr. Paschoal had been taking care of a very strange man, with a big beard and always wearing sunglasses.
“Hm, would dr. Paschoal mind if I look around his office? My friend said it’s super advanced.
“Whelp, he’s not here to mind, right?” and the secretary smiled maliciously.
Both entered the office and Carolina took advantage of the moment to analyze every single detail. She asked about what some tools were used for, just to keep the dialogue going and to show some interest for the place. The girl looked at every corner and observed if there was anything lacking or out of place. It really was a very pretty and modern clinic, the pride of its owner. After feeling satisfied, the detective said she’d come back some other day and thanked the secretary for her kindness. The lass entered the elevator once again, got off and exited the building.
Chapter 5 - Henrich
After a few minutes, the police officer Andre Cunha entered Deputy Victor Mendonza’s cabinet. By his side was the lean young man that claimed to know something about the so famous kidnapping.
“Here he is, sir.” said the officer.
“Thank you, Cunha, do close the door when you return, ok?”
“Yes, sir.” The man turned around and exited the room.
“Sit down, my boy.” Mendonza gestured the chair before the table.
The young man sat down, nervous.
“What’s your name?” asked the Deputy.
“Henrich.” Answered the lad shyly.
“Well, Henrich, before anything else, I want you to know you’re doing the correct thing and that it’s very important.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ve been told you have some information about the kidnapping.”
“Yes, sir. I’m so sorry I didn’t come here sooner, but I was so scared...”
“That doesn’t matter, Henrich. What matters is that you’re here now.” Said the Deputy, attempting to get him more comfortable. “What do you have to say?”
“Well, I think I saw the moment the girl was kidnapped.”
“And why do you say that?”
“I thinks it’s the girl in the newspapers pictures.”
“Right. What did you see exactly?”
“I was at the central square, sitting by the post office staircase, leaning against the handrail. I guess it was about eight o’clock in the morning when I saw the girl walking around there. A black car, I think it’s a Golf, suddenly pulled over. Two men got off the car, grabbed the girl, threw her in the car and took off in a hurry. Looked like those scenes in television action movies.
“I understand, my boy.” Mendonza took on a paternal approach. “And what else did you see? Could you catch the car plate?”
“I’m sorry, only the last three numbers, everything happened so fast!”
“The last three numbers? Great! Could you tell me?”
“7-3-5”.
“Alright.” The Deputy scribbled it down. “Anything else?”
“No. The men wore normal clothes. I thing they were both white. I couldn’t notice much more.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m 18.”
“Very well, one less complication. I’ll take you over to the scrivener, I want you to tell him everything the very same way you told me. He’ll take note and then you’ll sign it down, understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
Upon saying that, Victor Mendonza got up, gently held the young man by his arm e and accompanied him to the scrivener’s cabinet. Right afterwards, he sued an order to contact the National Traffic Department to find out which plates ending in 7-3-5 matched with a car with those characteristics, especially in Rio de Janeiro and the surrounding cities.
Chapter 6 – A Lot to Do
After exiting dr. Paschoal’s clinic, Carolina decided to go to his apartment, in the noble zone of Rio de Janeiro, where she expected to find a few clues about the dentist’s whereabouts. While she was in the bus, the detective considered what she saw and heard in the clinic. The secretary seemed sincere when she said she didn’t know about her employer. The clinic was extremely organized, although Carolina could notice some sort of residue resembling white powder besides a desk. Something was nothing adding up right. The girl looked at her phone clock. Two in the afternoon. There’s still a lot to do in the remaining afternoon.
Carolina pulled the bus lever to ask to pull over and got off. She found herself in front of a luxurious building of apartments. The one of number 803 should be where dr. Herminio Paschoal lived. She approached the gate and pressed the interphone button. The one who answered was the gatekeeper.
“Yes?”
“Good afternoon, I’d like to talk to Herminio Paschoal.”
“What’s your name?”
“Carolina... Carolina Mendonza.”
“Wait a moment, I’ll call him.”
The detective awaited, jittery, for about three minutes, until the voice talked back into the interphone.
“Sorry, miss, he’s not here at the moment.”
“There’s nobody home? A relative or a maid?” the girl insisted.
“Wait just a moment, please.”
“Wait just a moment, wait just a moment...” grumbled Carolina, frisky.
“I can still hear you, miss.” Informed the voice over the interphone.
“Ah, I’m sorry! I’m waiting.” And she blushed, embarrassed.
A few minutes later, an older woman got out the service elevator, overweight, looking like a traditional grandma. She came over the gate, observing the unexpected visitor.
“How can I help, young one?” asked the lady.
“Uhm, and you are...”
“Constance, Mr. Paschoal’s maid.”
“Mrs. Constance, my name’s Carolina and I really need to talk to your employer. Could you please help me find him?”
“Mr. Paschoal is on a trip, I dunno when he comes back.”
“Did he say where he was going? Did he leave a contact number?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“By any chance, did a bearded guy wearing sunglasses come visit him lately?”
“No, miss.”
“Ah! And did he look worried about something before traveling?”
“Actually, he’s been a bit fidgety in these last few days,
but I don’t really know what it was.”
— “Ok. Look, thank you so much for your time, Mrs. Constance. I won’t bother you anymore.
Right after she finished saying that, Constance simply turned around and went back into the building. The girls found her attitude a tad strange, but decided against wasting anymore time over there. She checked the time again, that joke cost her and hour and a half. There was a lot left in her to do list and not enough time. Carolina Mendonza ran towards the bus stop and waved for the first one that passed by, got on and left dr. Paschoal’s address behind. She decided her next stop would be the dentist’s girlfriend’s house, and there she headed.
Since she didn’t really know where she should get off, she asked the conductor where exactly she should stop, to which he indicated the exact moment she should pull the lever. Kind of lost, the girl asked a passerby elder about the neighborhood. Denise’s street was not very far from there, but it took her about 15 minutes of walking under the blazing sun to get there. Sweating and tired, she finally found a pinkish house. That’s the place. Carolina took a deep breath, gathered her courage and ringed the bell.
“Good afternoon, I’d like to talk to Denise de Moraes Bastos.” She said the moment the door was opened.
“Wait a minute, I’ll get her.” Said the woman that opened the door.
The young detective was tired of the waiting game. She wondered if everyone made everybody wait like that. She had never noticed that, and decided to do it from there on. After one or two minutes, the beautiful woman from the pictures appeared before her.
“Yes?” asked Denise, a little distrustful.
“Hi, my name’s Carolina Mendonza, a friend of Herminio and I’d like to talk to you.
“A friend of Herminio? He never said anything about you.”
“We’ve met just recently? Actually, he’s a friend of my parents.”
“Ah!” Denise didn’t seem so sure about what Carolina said. “And what do you want?”
“Can I come in and talk for a bit?” she asked.
“Well, I guess so.” said Denise, bewildered.
“Thank you.” The girl wet in right after the older woman gave her passage.
Sitting in the living room, Carolina observed the details around the room, which visibly unsettled her hostess, who drummed her fingers against her thigh nervously.
“So, what were you saying?” asked Denise.
“I’d like to know where I could find Herminio.” Said Carolina firmly.
“And why would I know?”
“Geez, aren’t you his girlfriend?”
“Me? Well, I used to be.”
“What? When did you broke up?”
“Look, girly, don’t give me that your parents are Herminio’s friends. It was Soraya that sent you here, right?” Denise asked back in an angry tone.
“Soraya?”
“Ugh, dear, do you take me for a fool? It was that hooker that sent you here, wasn’t it! Tell me the truth! Herminio already kicked her out, right? But tell that foppish little fool that underdog of a man didn’t come back to me!” Denise laughed out loud.
“Ok, but who’s Soraya?”
“Ah, girly, stop fooling around! I know very well who sent you. Think about it, he met her barely three weeks ago and already switched me, but that boyfriend stealer is an idiot if she thought this hook up would last. She’s pathetic enough to make a kid spy me.
“Look here, I dunno about this Soraya person, but if she can tell me where Herminio is, that already helps me a lot. Do you know where she lives?”
“It wasn’t Soraya who sent you?”
“Nope.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously!”
“Swear by your dead mom behind the door?”
“Hey, leave mom out of this?”
“Oh my gosh, I’m so embarrassed right now!”
“Don’t sweat it.”
“Wait right there, I’ll give you her address, I wrote it down somewhere to mail her a hate letter.”
“Hope so, I’ve nothing else the whole day.”
After receiving the paper with Soraya’s address, Carolina said he goodbyes to Denise, thanking her for the help and apologizing for taking some of her time. Denise apologized for the misunderstanding and said she’d wait for any news that Carolina found about the missing dentist. It was well past five pm and the girl decided to go back home for the time being.
Chapter 7 – The Captivity
It was a dark place, cold and smelling like mold. The girl couldn’t tell how much time she’s been there, since that day she was kidnapped in a square in the center of Rio de Janeiro. She was scared, cried most of time. She didn’t understand why she was in that predicament. What did they want, after all, those ruffians? During her time in captivity, she received only four meager meals. She was weak already, almost listless. She wanted to give up. Since she’d been captured, men she couldn’t see, as she’s always blindfolded and hand tightly tied up, asked her about the diamonds.
Although she was adamant about how her parents didn’t own such diamonds, the men wouldn’t stop asking. The young woman had no idea about the rescue efforts, or how were the negotiations for her freedom. She just wanted out of there, go back home, be found by the police or lose her life once and for all. She might not have suffered any physical aggression; the psychological damage might be irreversible.
Her kidnappers talked loudly, had rough arguments with each other and, sometimes, heard one of them saying they should get rid of her, that all of that could be for naught. Being ignored like a mere object, the men discussed plans and escapades in her presence, which led her to believe that as soon the ramson was paid she’d be thrown away and not returned to her family. But if her ransom depended on those blasted diamonds, they’d get nothing, because her parents didn’t own them. The girl was convinced the kidnappers had mistaken her and dragged away the wrong person.
However, as desperate as she was, the girl held strongly to her memories and love for her parents, and that gave her strength to not give up and live. There were moments she tried to appeal to those men’s humanity, but they acted not as people, but as monsters. Not even her most humble and suffering pleas were able to soften their hearts. At certain moment, she was afraid of being punished because she was so insistent, but the foreshadowed strike from the most hot-blooded kidnapper never happened.
And like that, the girl remained shrunken in a corner, her arms and legs sore, cold, hungry, thirsty and frightened. Why all that? Where were her parents and the police? She ended up with too much time to think and all the doubts just worsened her misery. She was agonized. Her suffering seemed endless. Not only she muzzled and blindfolded, her hand were tied behind her back and tied to a wooden bean.
She could feel the rats wanting to taste her flesh and the roaches walking over her hair. She tried shacking them off, but the insects seemed aware she couldn’t do anything. The ruffians kept on talking and she tried to eavesdrop and hear everything she could. She swore to herself she’s run away from there and have as much information as possible to hand over to the officers so they could lock those animals away.
Chapter 8 – The Deputy’s Case
Very tired, Carolina arrived at home and went straight to the bathroom take a shower and relax. After resting for a few minutes in her bed, she headed to the kitchen and ate the dinner her mother had prepared. Still intrigued with her investigation subject, she went back into her bathroom and started revising her notes. The case was still obscure and the detective couldn’t catch a glimpse of its resolution. Once again, the young investigator turned her notebook on. As soon as she connected the message program, a new window popped up before her eyes.
“Hello, long day, right?”
Intrigued, she typed back. “Who is there?”
“Don’t you know who I am?”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking?” she typed again, nervous.
“Just a friend. How was your day?
”
“How was yours?”
“Why have you been doing so much research?”
“Who ARE you?” Carolina started getting even more nervous.
“It’s not nice meddling in other people’s business.”
“What do you know?”
“Just enough...”
“What do you want?” Carolina was scared.
“I should be asking you that.”
“Let’s stop with this game, please?”
“Those who play with fire end up burnt.” Said the stranger in the end, going off line right afterwards.
Carolina was confused. Who could be on the other side of the dialogue? Was she being followed by someone? Was the dentist’s case more dangerous than it seemed? She needed to think, she needed to breath. Maybe that was the moment to sought her uncle’s help? She didn’t think so. However, she swore to herself that, should her case get too dangerous, there’d be no hesitation in getting her uncle into the picture, as busy as he was. The girl revised her plans for the next day. She’d visit Maycon Alves, one of Herminio’s friends in the social media. Then, it’s Soraya’s turn, the possible current girlfriend of the dentist and, at last, she’d go to the house of another friend of Herminio, called Dulcidio.
‘Dude, what kind of name’s that?’ she wondered.
There, Friday’s timetable was set. Now that she had a plan of action for the following day, Carolina couldn’t get the weird conversation out of her mind. She tried to deviate from her thoughts and went to sleep.
***
The Kidnapping Page 2
