I saw Drew, William, and their bodyguard-cop walking up from the restrooms. Nothing could knock William’s smile from his face. Every few steps, he’d wrap Drew up in his arms or mess with his hair. The twelve-year-old kid, who’d already shown he’d mastered the art of cussing—just like his younger brother—kept his hands in his pockets. Stan had said I could sit in on the questioning. While both Drew and I earlier had provided a quick description of the kidnapper to allow the SAPD to conduct their search and put out an all-points bulletin, we’d yet to sift through all of the details. I was very curious as to what Drew would share.
“Let’s start by going over how this scene went down,” Stan said, looking to Drew and then me.
“Before we get started…” Brook moved within our space, lifted her eyes to the group. “I’ve verified with both foster families that both Ricky and Claude are safe.”
The same thought had briefly entered my mind, but I’d never had time to think it all the way through. A couple of hours earlier, I’d questioned if the kidnapper had Drew, if this ransom exchange for Drew was nothing more than a farce. And then it had all changed in an instant.
“Holy crap, I hadn’t even thought about it.” William smacked a hand to his forehead. “How could I be so stupid? But do you really think this guy is trying to get to all of my grandkids?” William pulled Drew closer. The boy rubbed his eye with his fist, but stayed silent.
Brook stared at William for an extra second.
“What? What did I say?” he asked.
“I know we have mixed company.” Her green eyes shifted to Drew then back to William. “But I was hoping you could tell me.”
“I …I don’t know what you’re getting at, Detective.” He scratched at his chin with one hand, ran his fingers through his grandson’s hair with the other.
Brook stuck out her jaw, her eyes unblinking. A moment passed. Then she said, “We can discuss this later, once Drew is headed back to his home.”
“Home? I don’t want to go back to that shithole,” Drew said in a whining voice.
William leaned down, kissed the top of Drew’s head, his eyes still on Brook. Then he got Drew’s attention. “I’ll see if I can work something out with your foster mom and get all of your brothers together this weekend. A little celebration.”
Drew’s face lit up like a Fourth of July fireworks show. I hoped William wasn’t promising something he couldn’t deliver. From my experience at CPS, I knew it would take a lot of coordination, a good amount of begging, and luck to pull off that kind of family reunion. The Texas foster care system just wasn’t structured in a way that allowed for flexibility, certainly not for kids spread across four different families. I knew that Drew and Billy had already suffered tremendously, even if they didn’t have the scars to show from the kidnappings. Their scars were hidden, something that might not be visible for years to come. If ever.
“Drew,” Brook said, “your foster mom is on her way down here to pick you up.”
He looked away, twisting his lips. Just then, I noticed something odd about the little boy. He hardly had any eyebrows.
“Everything okay at home?” I asked.
“Yeah, I suppose.”
He wasn’t very convincing. Or perhaps he just missed his family, and not just his brothers and grandfather. After all, his mom was in prison. Every kid needed his mom.
“Hey,” Stan said, “since I know we’d all like to get a good night’s sleep, let’s get through all of these questions so we can head on home. What do you say?”
Drew stared at a pile of ponchos as he leaned into his grandfather. I was still thinking about Brook’s comment, implying that William would know why two of his grandsons had been kidnapped in the last two days.
Stan held up a finger. “Actually, I just saw a sopapilla shop around the corner. I’ll buy you an entire order if you’re really good at answering questions.”
Drew stood straight up. “I’m hungry, so fire away.”
I couldn’t help but giggle.
Stan’s opening questions were directed at me. I started with how I’d seen the kidnapper running away with the bag of money and then chased him down, only to stumble over Drew after I rounded the corner. I then described pulling off the duct tape
“Had to pee like a race horse,” Drew said with a twang in his voice.
“I can see red around your mouth. Probably hurt, didn’t it?” I said.
“Yep, but nothing like when that lady pulled the duct tape off my eyes.”
I had begun to glance at Stan, but then did a double-take back to Drew. “You had duct tape covering your eyes?”
“You didn’t see that woman pull the tape off my eyes?” he asked.
I realized I’d probably missed that while I was trying to recover from my fall. “Sorry. I didn’t see it.”
Drew touched gingerly around his eyes. “Hurt like a motherfucker.”
That was probably why he was missing most of his eyebrows.
“Drew. Speak with your church voice,” William said, trying to contain his laughter.
All of us cracked a smile.
“Did this man keep duct tape over your eyes the entire time he had you?” Stan asked, resting his elbows on his considerable belly.
“All except when I got into his car. Damn, I was stupid.”
“It’s okay, Drew. We all have things we wish we could do over,” Brook said. Perhaps she was applying that lesson to her own life, in particular her current marriage. A cop came up and whispered in her ear as Stan continued the questioning.
“You said earlier that you never got a good look at him, right? Not even when you got into his car?”
“The sun was in my eyes when I first got in the car, so I just saw a guy. I was paying more attention to the Pokemon cards he had in his hand. He let me look through them and said he’d take me to get some ice cream, then bring me back home. I only really looked at him one time.”
“And what did you see? Can you describe him to us?” Stan had his pen touching his notepad.
“He had on one of those fake noses and black glasses. He kind of looked like a clown.”
Brook rejoined the discussion. “Where were you when you noticed that?”
“Um…” Drew tapped his chin. “I think it was near that ice cream shop. The one with the red and white sign.”
“What were you thinking when you noticed his weird outfit?”
He looked up at his Gramps, then back to Brook. “I kind of got scared. But, you know, I tried to not think about it. I just hoped he wouldn’t be a bad guy.”
“And he never touched you?”
“Hell no,” Drew said. “He tricked me into thinking there were more Pokemon cards in the back seat. That’s when he grabbed me and put duct tape over my eyes and mouth. Said he’d kill me if I tried to run off.” He looked off. The little guy had tried to act tough, but he was still just twelve years old.
His grandfather put his arm on his shoulder. Drew took in a deep breath.
Stan looked at me. “So, all you saw is a lanky guy running away with floppy hair.”
“I’d say he was five-ten or so, probably no more than a hundred fifty pounds. But still pretty strong,” I said. “He was moving at a quick clip with that heavy bag of money. Oh, his hair was a dirty-blond color.”
I saw Drew nodding.
“Did you see the same thing?”
“Kind of. I thought he had curly black hair, but when he was trying to put the duct tape over my mouth, his hair moved and I saw a light-brown color.”
A slow nod from Stan. “He wore a wig. Just like the woman.”
“Aren’t there other witnesses who might have gotten a better look at the guy?” I asked.
“Nothing so far.” Brook blew out a frustrated breath. “And don’t even ask about the cameras. An officer just filled me in.”
“The signal was jammed,” I said as more of a statement.
“Mother…” Stan turned his back to us and mumbled the rest of
the phrase.
I was concerned that Drew was internalizing a lot of our discussion, but when I turned to look at him, he was examining a card. “What you got there?”
“A Pokemon card. I put it in my pocket when the man wasn’t watching.” He tried to laugh, but he never got there.
Stan then went through a series of questions around what Drew had seen or heard while he was being held captive. Drew had little to share. He only said that he was tied to a chair and occasionally heard strange music. He couldn’t describe the music.
We all yawned within about ten seconds of each other. “Just a couple of more minutes.” Stan walked over and looked up the aisle where I’d chased after the kidnapper.
“I want to go back to when you saw the kidnapper, Ivy.” He looked at Brook. “Do we still have those other witnesses in the back room?”
“The count I got was sixteen.”
“I want to talk to the guy who choked Ivy.”
“He claims it was self-defense. Typical.”
“Self-defense. Are you kidding me?” My anger went from two to ten in a split second.
“No worries, Ivy. He’ll be charged, and I’m sure we’ll get a conviction,” Stan said.
Brook stepped closer. “Why are you asking, Stan?”
It just hit me, and I jumped in with my thought. “Do you think he was part of some kind of setup to distract us, allowing the kidnapper to grab the money bag?”
Stan held my gaze, glanced at Brook, then crouched lower to get at eye level with Drew. “Can you remember at any time hearing your kidnapper talking to anyone on the phone?”
Drew shook his head, then wiped his eyes. He suddenly looked exhausted.
“Drew, I need for you to think real hard. The hardest you’ve ever thought about anything.”
“Detective, you need to cut Drew a break,” William said. “He was blindfolded the entire time, probably scared out of his wits. He just needs to get a good meal in him and have a good night’s sleep. Even if it’s not at my home.” With a tear in his eye, William took a hard swallow. The more I got to know William, the more I could see how much he cared for his grandsons. For whatever reason, Brook had acted like William might have an idea as to why his grandkids were being targeted by this kidnapper. I only saw a man who’d lived a hard life, who might have some regrets, but had reached a point where he knew how important family was, how there are only so many days in a person’s life. To miss an opportunity to feel that familial bond and to create memories with your grandkids was nothing less than a wasted life.
Still, my inquisitive nature and protective gene would pull me to inquire further about what Brook knew, or suspected, about how William might have some insight into why his grandkids were being targeted.
“It’s okay, Gramps,” Drew said, affectionately looking up at his grandfather. “I don’t mind trying to help. I don’t want another kid to be taken away like I was. It was kind of scary.”
William gave his grandson a tight-lipped smile, then rustled his hair.
Just then, Drew turned his head.
“Did you think of something?” Stan asked.
“Pizza. I smell pizza.”
Stan shot Brook a quick glance. “Cheese, pepperoni? Name your favorite, and I’ll have Detective Brook get you a slice.”
“Well, my favorite is cheese. That smell reminded me of when I was being held in that room. I guess it was an apartment or hotel or something like that. I heard people’s voices on the other side of the wall.”
“This is good stuff, Drew. What else do you remember when you smelled that pizza?”
“The man was mean to the guy who delivered the pizza. Called him an asshat.”
“Why?”
“Uh…” Drew looked to the floor.
“What is it Drew?” Brook asked with urgency.
“Give me a second, will ya?”
“Son, don’t be rude,” William said.
“Sorry. I’m just trying to think. My brain hurts like a sonofabitch.”
Stan and I tried not to crack smiles at Drew’s trashy language. We all stayed silent for a good minute, giving Drew time to think. Brook, apparently, had run out of patience.
“Drew, if we have any hope of catching this guy, keep him from harming another kid, we need to know what you know as soon as possible.”
His head shot up. “Cartoon characters. I heard cartoon characters.”
Stan’s meaty forehead crumpled. “You remember hearing cartoons on the TV?”
“No, nothing like that. After the pizza showed up, I got real hungry. I thought the man might hear my stomach growling, but he never gave me a piece.” He paused and realized our eyes were all on him. Then he said, “I started paying attention more. I could hear a cell phone buzz, and then he started talking. But he was using cartoon names.”
“Seriously?” Brook asked.
Stan lowered his eyebrows at her, then asked Drew, “Was he talking about his favorite cartoons?”
“Umm, I don’t think so.”
“You said cartoon names. What names did he say?”
“Wile E. Coyote, Penelope Pitstop, you know from Wacky Races,” he said, tapping a finger into his opposite hand. “Oh yeah, he also said Bart Simpson.”
Brook looked to Stan. “What could this mean?”
“Who the heck knows? Can I get my pizza now? I’m starving.”
Brook got one of the uniforms to bring Drew his pizza. Within minutes, melted cheese was dangling from his face. He didn’t care. He chowed like he hadn’t eaten in two months. With his mouth still full with the last bite of crust, he walked over to Stan and tugged on his shirt. “Hey, is it okay if we get that sopapilla now?”
“Uh…sure, Drew. Your foster mom is just outside. So maybe you can take it with you.”
“Okay.”
He and Stan started walking away, and then Drew stopped in his tracks. “Hot damn!” he said, turning around to face us.
“What is it, Drew?” I asked.
“I remember what the man said, because he had this weird laugh after he said it.”
“What did he say?”
“I’ll send you Penelope Pitstop’s location. Have fun.” Drew looked at me. “Then he laughed, like this wicked laugh. Gave me goose bumps.”
Drew headed off with Stan to get him his dessert.
Brook was pulling on her lip, thinking. She finally muttered what all of us were wondering. “Who is this Penelope Pitstop person, or better yet, the person on the phone with the kidnapper?”
I had an idea, but I wanted to wait until Stan was back and William and Drew had left.
23
Drew pressed his forehead against the rear-seat window of his foster mom’s car while William stood on the sidewalk, waving, with tears rolling down his cheek. His shoulders were slumped, his head tilted to the side. The emotional strain he’d suffered in the last couple of days appeared to have drained his body.
The car drove off, maneuvering around a plethora of police cars before it turned west on Commerce.
William just stood there and stared blankly into the flashing blue and red lights from the top of the police cars. He was either sleeping with his eyes open or reflecting on all the unpredictable twists and turns life had thrown his way.
I walked in his direction, but Brook beat me to it. “Go home, William. I can see you need some rest.”
He scratched the back of his head, slowing turning to look at her. He didn’t say anything.
“We need to talk more. But let’s do it tomorrow, once you’ve slept.”
Was she showing him some compassion, or was there a reason she was putting off their conversation?
“Well, okay,” he said. “Nothing else I can do here.” He shuffled his feet while spinning around, looking like he wasn’t sure where to go.
“You need a ride home?” Brook asked.
“Well…” He scratched his head again. He seemed as lost as I’d ever seen him.
Brook put two fingers
in her mouth and let out a whistle that could have been heard a mile away. She signaled for an officer to bring a squad car around. When it arrived, William opened the back door, then turned and looked at me. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything, William. I’m just glad that Billy and Drew are safe.”
He brought a fist to his mouth, as if he were trying to hold back another emotional response. Then, without warning, he lunged forward and hugged me. He pressed me against his chest and held me tight. I didn’t resist. He was alone and in pain. His wife was no longer around, and I got the feeling he was trying to avoid the bottle. I could feel his protruding bones against the side of my face.
“Sorry,” he said, pulling back.
“Glad I could help. Take care of yourself.”
He slipped into the back seat, and the squad car drove away.
Stan and Brook both came up next to me.
“I found out he served time,” Brook said.
I turned and faced her. “Is that why you suggested he might know why his grandsons had been kidnapped?”
“I wanted to see how he’d react, yes.”
“So you don’t have any evidence that he might know something about these abductions?”
She looked at me like I was nuts. “I think it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t know anything,” she said. “But he has a past. Is there any way that his felony conviction could somehow make him a target…you know, through his grandkids?”
Our space was as still as the nighttime sky for an extra beat.
“What was he convicted of?” I asked.
“He was caught hauling a truck full of coke into Louisiana. He’d already been arrested twice before on possession charges, but he never served time. The judge decided to teach him a lesson, from what I read earlier.”
I nodded. “William has had a hard life. I’ve got a feeling a lot of it is because of the decisions he’s made. It’s obvious he’s got drinking issues, he lost his wife, his daughter’s in jail…” A thought came to mind. “Wait a second. If we’re looking at this prison angle for William, doesn’t it make sense to do the same for his daughter?”
The Ivy Nash Thrillers: Books 4-6: Redemption Thriller Series 10-12 (Redemption Thriller Series Box Set) Page 11
