by Ronald Craig
"With your help, we hope to find his mother," Jenny said softly.
"You know I'll do whatever I can. I have an update from the Clawson's residence."
"Hold that thought, "Charlie said. "I need to take Shadow down to his favorite bush."
"I'll put some coffee on," Jenny added, heading to the kitchen.
They assembled around the dining room table when Charlie had returned with Shadow, who kept pacing between Jenny and the master bedroom door.
"That's Timmy, boy. He's going to love you," Jenny said, petting Shadow.
"So what did you find?" Charlie asked.
"Layers. It seems 'Crown Treasure Vault' was leased to a Stanley Corp. We found documents in a safe and records of lease payments from the CEO of Stanley Corp, William Trenton, aka, Frank Clawson. We were only able to make that tie from a fake driver's license with his photo on it."
"Anything linking them to the other children? Or the website they used?" Jenny asked.
"The lap top computer at the ranch house was new and still in the box. No computer was found at their residence. We figure they stashed or dumped the active ones in the panic move."
"We'll see what Timmy can remember," Charlie said. "Hopefully, Suzy and Josh will remember something to help."
"Captain Becker contacted the FBI en route to the residence, no choice. They'll take over the official investigation."
"The real FBI this time?" Jenny asked.
"Rest assured, Jenny, the real FBI, direct from the San Jose Field office."
"Then we can focus on finding Timmy's mom," she said.
"The Chief was looking forward to talking with Nelson Crown, but the FBI pulled him off. We have to find some satisfaction in what's been done to break up their network."
"We do," Charlie said. "We broke off the tip, but have no idea how big this iceberg is."
"I'd better run," Edwards said, heading toward the door. "We should have something on Julia Mason tomorrow."
"Thanks again for the mattress," Jenny said following him to the door.
"My pleasure, good night you two."
"Good night, Edwards," Charlie said shaking his hand. "We'll need all the help we can get."
Jenny slipped into Charlie's embrace as the front door closed behind Detective Edwards. He pulled her closer to him as he felt her crying. "We'll find her," he said.
"I keep thinking how helpless Julia must have felt when they took Timmy away and her thinking they were official welfare employees from the state. And Timmy so confused and frightened…"
"Tomorrow Jenny, let's get some sleep."
They found Shadow protectively curled up at the foot of the mattress Timmy was sleeping on when they entered the master bedroom. Jenny found a flannel night gown she wasn't in the habit of wearing and slipped into bed facing Timmy. Charlie removed only his shirt and shoes, then turned on the master bathroom light and closed the door halfway then slid in behind her.
Jenny found the escape of sleep beyond her reach and listened to Timmy's soft breathing a few feet away. She prayed for the Lord's help to bring mother and son back together knowing that they had been given that very task by Him. Thoughts of Suzy and Josh going home brought a peaceful smile and finally the sleep she needed.
Charlie woke as the first rays of sun were coming through the window. He reached for Jenny and found he was alone in bed. He sat up and saw her on the small mattress holding Timmy and both of them were fast asleep. He grabbed his shirt and shoes quietly and left the bedroom. Shadow followed him out with a limp that seemed to be healing quickly. When they returned from a walk outside Charlie headed to the kitchen to whip up some pancakes for breakfast.
"That smells wonderful," Jenny said, walking toward the kitchen holding Timmy's hand.
"That's my favorite," Timmy reported smiling.
"Pancakes or holding my girls hand little buddy?"
"Pancakes. You're silly."
When Shadow went to greet them Timmy knelt down very excited. "His name is Shadow, Timmy," Jenny said.
"Miss Linda has a dog. Mommy said when things got better…"
"That you could have your own dog?" Charlie asked.
"Ya."
"Did you and your mommy live with Miss Linda, Timmy?" Jenny asked, leading him to the kitchen table.
"Mommy cleaned Miss Linda's house. I played with Mac in the backyard. He loves to chase the ball."
"Do you remember where Miss Linda lives?" Jenny asked.
"We got to ride the train to her house."
Charlie put the pancakes on the table and they started eating. He turned to Jenny and asked, "Rough night?"
"Soft sobs, maybe a bad dream."
"He is welcome in our bed, you know."
"I know, didn't want to wake you. So Timmy, did you ride the train every day?"
"No. The best time was to see the monkeys."
"Monkeys are pretty funny, little buddy. Were there other animals there too?"
"Lots, but the monkeys are my favorite," Timmy said. His smile faded and he asked, "Can I see my mommy today?"
"We need your help to find her," Charlie said. "When you were on the train with your mommy, was there anything special you saw?"
"Big buildings… and the carousel house."
"The carousel house?" Jenny asked.
"Mommy said the carousel house was half way to Miss Linda's."
"Let's see if Chief Walker has anything to go on. Jenny, do you have the cities from the video?"
"In the office, but I don't need the list. San Jose, Stockton, San Mateo and Leann, the only real name we had was from Concord."
"All north of us, San Francisco has a train and zoo. I would think San Jose as well," Charlie said.
"Timmy let's get you dressed. When did you go to see the Monkeys?"
"On my five birthday."
"If we went to see the monkeys would you remember if it was where your mommy took you?"
"I remember my five birthday and the monkeys…before they took me away."
Chapter 21
They parked Charlie's truck in the Marina Police Department parking lot a little after 10 am. As soon as they entered the station, Jacque came around the counter.
"This must be Timmy," she said, squatting down to greet him.
"Is my mommy here?"
"No, Timmy, but we are all trying to find her," Jacque said smiling.
"Yes, little buddy, these are our friends," Charlie added as Detective Edwards approached them. "Do you remember Detective Edwards?"
"From the bad house?"
"Hello, Timmy," Edwards greeted him. "That’s right from the bad house." Edwards stood and faced Charlie and Jenny. "We may have something. Follow me back to my desk."
"Is the Chief in?" Jenny asked.
"On the phone. He'll be with us shortly." When they sat down in front of Detective Edwards desk, he continued, "We have a 'Julia Lynn Mason' born March 16th, 1976 to Frank and Lisa Mason at Downey Community hospital."
"Downey, in California?" Charlie asked.
"Yes, and we have a black and white photo from her high school year book, a sophomore in 1991 at Warren High School, in Downey."
"There has to be thousands of Julia Masons, why do you think this is her?" Jenny asked.
"We first found a birth certificate for a 'Timothy Allen Mason' born April 17th, 1992 at County General Hospital. Mother was listed of course, but no father on record."
"That would make Timmy five years old last month and Julia…maybe twenty one," Charlie said.
"My God, she was only sixteen when Timmy was born," Jenny added.
"Have you located her parents?" Charlie asked.
"Not yet but we're looking. Also, there's no driver's license issued in California to our Julia Mason," Edwards said.
"Her… wonderful father… has not seen nor heard from her since 1991, when she left their home," Walker said from his office doorway. He walked over to them. "Hello Timmy, how are you today?"
"I had pancakes and
Shadow likes em' too," Timmy replied.
"That Shadow is a pretty special dog alright. I think he'll love to play with you when his leg gets better."
"That’s what she said," Timmy said pointing at Jenny.
"You can call her Jenny, little buddy, and I'm Charlie."
"Sorry, I forgot."
"That's OK Timmy," Jenny said pulling him into a hug. "We are all your new friends and want to find your mommy."
"Timmy how would you like to watch some TV with Jacque?" Walker asked.
"Ok, I like cartoons."
"Follow me Timmy, we have a TV in the Chief's office," Jacque said taking Timmy's hand.
"Wonderful father?" Jenny asked when the Chief's door closed.
"I got the feeling they turned their backs on a pregnant daughter, not frightened parents looking for a runaway," Walker said. "Did you get anything from Timmy where home is?"
"A larger city with both a train or subway and a zoo," Jenny said. "The children from the video were all taken north of us. Maybe they lived in San Francisco, Oakland or San Jose area."
"He told us they went to the zoo on his fifth birthday and rode the train. That was not more than a month ago, so we were thinking taking him to some zoos might give us a location," Charlie said.
"Can I see her picture?" Jenny asked.
Edwards hit a few computer keys and the printer came to life. "It's not great, the senior photos are larger," he said while handing them the photo. "This photo from her year book is six years old, do you think Timmy will recognize her?"
"We have to try. She's a beautiful child, has dark hair like Timmy," Jenny said with a lump building in her throat.
Charlie looked at the photo. "Did her father give us any physical description, height, weight, hair or eye color?"
"Five-five or six, thin, dark brown eyes and hair. A good student until she wasn't, her father told me. Parents are divorced. Still looking for her mother, who according to him has all the photo albums," Walker said. "Any feel from Timmy on housing or lack of?"
"We've been taking the questions slowly… trying to keep it comfortable for Timmy," Jenny said.
"Probably a good idea and finding the zoo might work to establish the location. A lot of zoos north of us though," Walker said.
"Timmy told us they rode the train to her job cleaning a residence also," Charlie offered.
Edwards was working at his computer and said, "VTA is a light rail in San Jose and Happy Hollow Park is a zoo there."
"Thanks, Edwards," Jenny said. "Sounds like a place to start."
"What's happening in the Crown investigation?" Charlie asked.
"Out of our hands, but I have an officer running past Marina Professional several times a day. Any excuse and we're in there. Andy, Captain Becker will feed me anything he can get."
"Looked into your two new crew members, "Edwards said turning to grab a folder. "Stan Travis has been in the area a couple of years and does odd construction jobs. Arthur Dawson, however, is a little mysterious and I'm going out to talk to him later today."
"Art's our electrician," Charlie confirmed.
"Yes, and seems to live outside Marina. The finger prints found on the fire extinguishers didn't match Art or our John Davis in county lockup, who is still not talking about an accomplice."
"Don't worry, we are keeping an officer at Watson Manor," Walker said.
"Thank you, Chief. We need to do some shopping for Timmy," Jenny started to say then turned to face Charlie. "Then what do you think, Charlie, a trip to San Jose and that happy zoo?"
"Happy Hollow Park, here's the address," Edwards told them making a note of it.
"Works for me," Charlie said.
"It seems to me there are many rides, more of an amusement park than strictly a zoo," Walker added.
"That will make it that much easier for Timmy to remember it," Jenny said.
*****
It was early afternoon when they drove on the Interstate101 on ramp headed north toward San Jose. Charlie hadn't resisted too much but did remind Jenny that having Timmy with them was temporary as she filled the shopping cart at the local department store with clothing for him. His attitude changed dramatically in the toy department and Jenny made sure he realized the transition. Jenny packed a few things for them all before leaving Watson Manor in the event an overnight stay might make sense in their search. Timmy was making motor sounds from the back seat as his new fire truck and police car raced to save the day.
"Hey, little buddy, when it was bed time, did you sleep in a house like Miss Linda's?"
"Mommy called it our space, at the big place."
"Were there other families at the big place?" Jenny asked.
"Grownups mostly, Stevie was my friend but he went away."
"Was the big place with all the tall building you saw from the train?" Charlie asked.
"We walked a long way in tall grass, after the tall buildings."
Jenny spotted a large barn along the road and turned in her seat. "Look Timmy, was your big place like that?"
"Not that one."
"But was it a big place like that one?"
"More bigger and redder, not white."
Jenny turned to Charlie with a smile. "Sounds like communal living in a barn, outside the city."
"Good job, little buddy. Did you stay with your mommy every day?"
"At school, sometimes, when she went to work."
Jenny turned back to face him, "Do you know where your mommy worked, Timmy?"
"They have grill cheese, I went with mommy sometimes."
"On the train?" she asked.
"No only to Miss Linda's house."
"Did you walk to your mommy's work from the big place?"
"Yes, by my school. Miss Linda works at my school."
"Is your school big with lot of kids?" Charlie asked.
"No, two big like me and babies."
"Sounds like day care," Jenny said. "Maybe cleaning Miss Linda's house helped with tuition, and only part time at the restaurant. I hope we are close to the answers, Charlie."
"There's the sign for Happy Hallow Park and Zoo," Charlie announced slowing to take the exit. "We'll know soon enough."
They parked and walked toward the entrance. The ticket booths were arranged in a large arch with Happy Hollow Park and Zoo running along the top in large letters. There was a large round area outside the entrance for unloading passengers and for groups to gather. The area was filled with animal sculptures delighting the young children. When they reached the area Charlie lowered Timmy to the ground and he ran to a pair of bronze hippos.
Jenny watched him make the rounds to check out all the statues while Charlie walked over to the ticket booth.
"Does your zoo have monkeys?" he asked the attendant.
The gal handed him a brochure of the zoo and said, "We have some delightful Spider Monkeys."
"Thanks," he said then walked back to where Timmy was sitting on the shell of a large concrete turtle.
"Little buddy, are these your monkeys?" Charlie asked showing him the brochure.
"More bigger, like me with really long arms."
"He already told me this is a new place, not where he spent his fifth birthday," Jenny said sadly. "With so many different species of monkeys, it didn't occur to me to look in the store for a book with pictures."
"I'm thinking maybe a Chimpanzee," Charlie offered.
"Can we go, can we go?"
Charlie sat beside him and said, "I'll make you a deal. We have some more zoos to look at and if the next one is not where your mommy took you, then we'll go in anyway."
"Promise?" Timmy asked a little deflated.
"You can take it to the bank, little buddy."
"No, the zoo," Timmy said confused.
"Yes, Timmy, we are going in the next zoo, ok?" Jenny clarified.
"Can we go now?"
Jenny grabbed Timmy's hand and said, "Yes, race you to the truck!"
When they were all strapped in, Char
lie asked, "San Francisco or Oakland?"
"San Oakland," Timmy called out excitedly.
Charlie turned to Jenny, "He is a little boy, right?"
Jenny offered her playful slap on his arm, "What, little girls want it all?"
"If the shoe fits," he said laughing. "Hey little buddy, do you remember your mommy saying San Francisco or Oakland before?"
"No, can we still go to the zoo?"
"Yes Timmy, but think really hard. What did your mommy call the place where all the tall buildings were? Where the carousel house was?"
"She said downtown, the carousel house is downtown."
"Ok Jenny, your call."
"I think a night in San Francisco will be more fun."
"Works for me."
They headed northwest toward the San Francisco Zoo. As they passed through Burlingame on Interstate 101 with a view of the massive bay, they discovered Timmy had never seen it or played in the sand by the ocean. The San Francisco Zoo was 'way bigger' in Timmy's own words than the zoo he went to with his mother. His zoo didn't have elephants or hippos, but they were able to confirm his monkeys were Chimpanzees. After three hours exploring and with closing time approaching, they managed to leave the gift shop with one less 3 foot stuffed Chimpanzee.
"So, what do you think, if you are my little buddy and I am your big buddy, should we call your new buddy, buddy?"
"You're silly, too many buddies."
"How about Zee, short for Chimpanzee?" Jenny offered.
"I like that, Jenny. His name is Zee."
They found a motel three blocks from a cable car route that the four of them rode to dinner. The following morning they figured with Timmy never seeing the bay or ocean before that it ruled out the boarding communities. Charlie parked in the Bart light rail station parking lot and they felt a little more defeated when Timmy confirmed it didn't look like his train. Before leaving the station, Charlie moved Timmy's car seat to the far right side behind Jenny.
"I'm thinking Highway 1. Let's give him a view of that Pacific Ocean on the way home."
"Me too, me too," Jenny said playfully. "That’s a wonderful idea. Let's walk him over our dune when we get home, to play in the ocean."
"Above his knees and we'll need cold medicine. Maybe a week in Hawaii will help him remember?"
