Meanwhile, the officer tried to convince Mark and Agnes to tell him what they knew, but they stubbornly continued to repeat they would only talk to the detective. He continued to badger them for an hour before he finally gave up and called in his superior. The officers spoke for a few minutes, and then the first officer left, and his superior tried to extract the information from Mark and Agnes. They continued to stubbornly refuse to tell anyone but the detective they had seen on TV. He gave up before long and took the two of them out of the interview room and then took all four of them to a conference room where they could wait for the detective. It was apparent he wasn’t happy with Agnes and Mark, but short of torturing them, he had no recourse as they stubbornly refused to tell him their story. What he didn’t understand was they themselves couldn’t shed any light on the kidnapping. Only Adam could possibly come up with any information, but that was not a sure thing, and they were not going to tell him why and how they thought Adam might be able to help.
They all waited in the conference chatting idly as Mark had stated the room was probably bugged and they shouldn’t talk about anything significant. They were in the conference room for about two hours before the detective they had seen on TV finally came into the room.
He shifted his gaze from Mark to Agnes ignoring Adam and Sarah. “I’ve heard you may have some information on the murder of my wife and the kidnapping of my daughter.”
“We might. But first I want to know if this room is bugged,” Mark said.
“No, of course not,” Robert said.
Agnes shook her head at Mark. “He’s lying,” she said simply.
Robert was shocked. “How could you…I mean what do you mean I’m lying?” he changed in mid-sentence.
“Because you told me,” Agnes said.
“She’s right,” Adam said, “and you know she’s right.”
“What do you mean I told you? How…,” Robert looked chagrinned.
“Never mind how,” Mark said. “Just take us someplace that’s not bugged.”
“I don’t’ have to. I’ll tell them to stop recording.”
“That’ll do,” Mark agreed.
Robert left the room and was back in less than a minute.
“We’re not being recorded now?” Mark asked.
“No. I had the technicians turn it off.”
Mark glanced at Agnes who nodded then at Adam who also nodded.
“I’m Detective Robin Simmons,” Robert said as a test.
“No, you’re not,” Agnes said.
Robert studied her and then Adam who shook his head.
“Your name is Detective Drummond. Robert as I recall,” Adam said.
“You’re right. But how do you know that? Can you read my mind?”
“No,” Agnes said, “nothing as dramatic as that. We, my son and I, can simply tell when someone is lying to us.”
He regarded Agnes and then Adam. “Then how did you know my name?”
A slightly embarrassed look crossed Adam’s face. “We saw you on TV, so I already knew your name. But I could tell you were lying.”
“How?”
“That’s not important right now,” Agnes said. “What is important is that we think that Adam might be able to help you.”
“Help me what?”
“Don’t be obtuse, Detective,” Mark said. “Adam wants to help you find your daughter if he can. We’re not sure he will be able to, but he wants to try.”
“Did you see what happened?” Robert seemed hopeful and skeptical at the same time. Understandable, considering the situation and the people who were not giving him straight answers.
Adam shook his head. “No, sir, I didn’t. However, my family and I have certain umm…, abilities, as you observed, and I have one that no one else in my family has.”
“And what might that be and how will it help me find my daughter?” Robert shook his head in doubt.
“I’m not sure it will, but, as my mother said, I’d like to try.”
“Try to do what? I don’t understand how you can help if you didn’t see anything at the crime scene.” Robert started to clasp and unclasp his hands in frustration. “You’d better start giving me straight answers, or I’ll have you arrested as material witnesses.”
Mark’s eyes grew wide. He thought Robert might do that though he hadn’t believed the other officer. “You can’t do that.”
“I can and I will if you don’t start telling me what I need to know.” His voice was starting to rise. “We’re talking about my daughter and maybe my wife.” He slammed his fist on the table causing everyone to flinch.
“I thought your wife was…” Mark started to say.
“We don’t know that yet, but we do know that my daughter is missing. Now give,” he said more forcefully than he had before.
“Let me try to explain,” Adam said. “Some of what I’m going to tell you will require a leap of faith, but keep in mind we did know you were lying to us about the recording.”
“I’ll give you that,” Robert said. “But you might have just guessed that I was lying and you admitted you already knew my real name.”
“Let me show him,” Sarah said excitedly.
Agnes turned to Mark. “Do you think we should?”
Mark shrugged. “If it helps him trust what Adam may be able to tell him I guess it can’t hurt.” He turned to Sarah, “Go ahead, sweetheart.”
Sarah spoke to Robert. “Do you have a playing card sir?”
“A playing card? As in a card from a deck of cards. What do you want a playing card for?”
“That is what she meant,” Agnes said. “But I guess any small piece of paper will do. And it will be easier to show you what it’s for than to explain.”
“How about one of my business cards?”
“That should probably work,” Agnes said. “Do you have one handy?”
Robert nodded and extracted a business card from a pocket inside his suit coat. He held it up. “What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Just set it on the table,” Sarah said.
Robert sat the card on the table. “Now what?”
Sarah closed her eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, before Robert’s startled eyes, the card slowly rose from the desktop and hovered about three inches above it.
“What…? How…?” Robert sputtered.
Sarah opened her eyes, and the card dropped to the tabletop. “Ain’t that neat?” She enthused. “I just learned how to do it.”
“I’d say it’s neat,” Robert said humoring her a bit. “But how will tricks help me find my daughter?”
Sarah appeared slightly hurt that he thought what she just did was only a trick. She was trying to impress him of her ability, and he only tossed it off as some kind of gimmick. She was sure it wasn’t every day he saw somebody that could do what she just did.
He saw her excitement fade and felt guilty. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant…exactly.”
Agnes smiled slightly. “Before you put your foot any farther down your throat you’d better let Adam explain what he might be able to do to help you.”
“Yes ma’am,” Robert said. Turning to Adam, he asked, “So?”
“First I’d like to say what you just saw Sarah do was not simply a trick,” he said defending his sister. “If you think it was, please explain how she did it.”
“I can’t explain how magicians do what they do, but I know there’s no such thing as magic so their accomplishments can’t be explained as anything except sleight-of-hand or misdirection.”
“I’m sure we would all agree with you there,” Agnes said. “We know there’s no such thing as real magic. But did you see Sarah move anything or did she try to draw your attention to anything except your business card? And you know there’s nothing special about the card since it’s your own card.”
“Okay, I feel suitably chastised and, Sarah is it?”
Sarah nodded.
“Sarah, I humbly apologize, and you can ask your mother if I’m
anything less than serious.”
Sarah looked at her mother who nodded.
Robert turned back to Adam. “Okay. Now that we’ve established you people can do some amazing things, what’s your story?”
“Well, I know this will be hard for you to accept but if I touch something or someone I sometimes see a vision in my mind of an event that has happened to them in the past, something that is going to happen now or sometime soon, or even sometime later.
“You’re right. I do find that hard to believe.” He frowned at Adam.
“Would you be willing to let Adam try to prove it to you?” Agnes asked.
“I guess that can’t hurt anything. What do you want me to do?”
Adam eyed his mother questioningly not knowing what she had in mind.
“Do you have anything that either your wife or daughter might have touched?” Mark said trying to help.
“I don’t…” Robert had a sudden thought. “Would my lunch bag do? Molly always fixes, fixed my…lunch for me,” he said hesitatingly.
“I don’t know,” Adam said. “But it would be worth a try.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back,” Robert said as he left the room
Chapter 12
Robert was back in less than a minute. He started to hand a green cloth lunch bag with a black cloth handle to Adam, but Mark reached out to stop him. “Before you do that, you need to understand that Adam’s shoulders will shake, his face will turn red, and he will almost look like he’s having some type of fit. But don’t let any of that bother you because it’s normal. It only means he’s having a vision. But that will only happen if he does have a vision. As we’ve been trying to impress upon you, his having a vision is not a certainty.”
“Okay, I’m glad you warned me.” Robert handed the lunch bag to Adam whose face grew red and his shoulders shook just like Mark had warned. The part that wasn’t visible to the others was the part that was only in Adam’s mind. In his mind, Adam saw a woman with shoulder length blonde hair standing in a living room watching a towheaded baby in a playpen. The woman called to Robert, and he came out of a room off the living room and accepted the lunch box from the woman whom he then kissed. He reached down and tousled the baby’s hair before walking out the front door. When Adam came out of his vision, he explained what he’d seen to Robert’s growing amazement.
Robert was impressed, but he had to be sure. “Can I ask you a few things about what you saw?”
“Of course, but remember, I only saw what I described,” Adam said.
“Okay. What was my wife wearing?”
Adam thought for a second and then said, “She was wearing a light blue bathrobe.”
“And my daughter?”
“You mean what was she wearing?”
Robert nodded. “I do.”
Adam had to concentrate longer this time. Finally, he pictured the baby standing up in her playpen. “The playpen had white netting on the sides, and the attaching plastic was yellow. The baby was wearing…something… red or orange. I didn’t get a real clear image.”
“That’s good enough for me, but I don’t know how that will help me find my daughter.”
“I’m sure that little bit won’t. But it’s a start. I assume you now believe I can pick up images from objects.”
“I guess I have to,” Robert shook his head in wonder. “So where do we go from here?”
“The only thing I can suggest is you take us to the crime scene and let Adam try to get something from the burned-out car or the baby’s stroller. I know this is hard to take in but can you really deny the evidence?” Mark asked.
“I already admitted I believe he can do what he says, so I guess I can take you to the scene,” Robert sighed with resignation and relief. He hoped Adam might be able to give some answers. After being driven crazy by the reporters who expected answers that he didn’t have and others, such as the CSI techs, who could add nothing to help him get those answers he wanted even more than did the reporters, he finally had some hope—tenuous as that hope was. But right now, tenuous was all he had.
When they got to the scene, which was surrounded by the typical police tape, there were still some CSI techs and other policemen along with a few reporters milling around. Robert, Adam, and the rest walked over to the burned out car. The reporters started his way but Robert waved them away, and they surprised him by going elsewhere. Robert asked the tech in charge if it was okay if they examined the hulk. He said it was okay as long as they didn’t disturb anything because the transport for the car was still on its way to take the car to the lab where they would go over it more thoroughly.
“Okay,” Robert said. “Do whatever you need to do.”
“I’ll need to put my hand on the car. I assume it’s cooled off by now.” Adam put his hand close to the car and felt no heat. Before he touched the car, however, he turned to Robert. “I hope you understand that I can’t guarantee I’ll get any image from the car. When we first met you I did say I simply wanted to try. But no promises.”
“I understand that. Just do what you can. If you can.” Robert seemed resigned to getting nothing more from Adam.
When Adam put his hand on the car his face immediately turned red, he bowed his head, and his shoulders shook. His mind expanded, and he seemed to be looking through someone else’s eyes. That person seemed to be in the park looking at a flower garden full of roses. Since he was unfamiliar with his surroundings, Adam did not know if it was the park beside the parking lot or not. While he watched, someone came from behind a tree, and he heard “himself” call out to that person “What are you doing here Rupert?” All at once Adam was back to himself, and the vision was gone.
“What did you see?” Robert asked. He assumed Adam had experienced a vision because when Adam touched the car, he reacted the same way he had when he’d touched Robert’s lunch box.
Adam had never had a vision where he became someone else, so this experience was something new. He would have to describe it the best way he could. But first, he had to know something. He cast his gaze around and into the park beside the parking lot. “Does this park we’re beside have a rose garden?”
“Yes, it does. Molly loves…loved roses. It’s across the street from our house. The rose garden is the major reason we bought the house. Why?”
“Because in my vision I seemed to become someone else and that person was looking at a rose garden. A second question if I may.”
“Of course,” Robert was becoming impatient and excited at the same time. He still had trouble wrapping his mind around what Adam was telling him. He could only hope this young man could uncover something that would help him find Mary Beth. He had already come to the realization one of the bodies in the car must be Molly. When he first arrived on scene, he had held out the faint hope that the body in the passenger seat was not Molly. However, after being at the crime scene for several hours, only a few hundred yards from his house, and not seeing Molly or Mary Beth, he knew Molly must be the body in the burned-out car, and Mary Beth must have been stolen.
“Do you know someone named Rupert?” Adam asked.
Robert stiffened in surprise. “I do. But…why…how?”
“In my vision, I saw someone come from behind a tree and the person, I am presuming to be your wife, said something like ‘What are you doing here Rupert’. I’m sure it was said by a woman.”
Robert had had a suspicion that the other body in the car was Rupert. He had no proof yet, but Rupert was the first person who came to mind when he first saw the burned-out vehicle. “Did you see anything else?”
“No, I’m sorry I didn’t,” Adam said reluctantly. “I know this probably wasn’t a whole lot of help, but I did tell you there were no guarantees.”
Robert was disappointed but was not ready to give up on the slim hope Adam could help. “I have another idea if you’re willing.”
“I’m willing, depending on what it is?”
“Mary Beth’s stroller is over by the rose garden.
Perhaps if you touched it or something in it, you might…” Robert couldn’t continue the thought.
“I’m willing to try. It’s all right, isn’t it Mom?”
“Of course it is, hon. You need to help in any way you can,” Agnes said.
“Where is the stroller?” Adam asked.
“Follow me,” Robert said heading away from the car into the park.
When they reached the other side of the park, Adam recognized the rose garden. “This is the garden I saw in the vision.”
“And this is my daughter’s stroller,” Robert said as he nodded to a CSI tech beside the stroller. “Get any fingerprints or anything else from the stroller?”
“Lots of fingerprints from the handle but little else. I think they’re probably all from your wife. At first look, they all seem to be from the same person. We’ll know more when they’re checked out in the lab.”
“Probably,” Robert said dejectedly. “I was hoping for something.”
The tech shook his head. “We might be able to get some DNA from the bear that we found but probably no fingerprints. It’s been taken to the lab.” The tech knew it was virtually impossible to get fingerprints from material—especially fuzzy material such as that found on a stuffed animal.
Robert nodded. “Okay. Keep me posted.”
“Yes, sir.”
Just then Robert turned toward his house. His father-in-law’s car was in the driveway. He turned to Mark and Agnus. “I need to go across the street to my house. I think my father-in-law is there.”
“That’s fine,” Mark said. “Do you want us to tag along?”
“You can if you want to.” He pointed at Adam. “You might be able to get some information from something in the house if you’re willing to try. And the rest of you can come as well.”
“If I won’t be intruding,” Adam said.
“Of course not. You came here to help, and I’d like to give you every opportunity to do just that.”
“Okay,” Mark said. “Lead the way.”
The Dog Who Ate The Flintlock Page 8
