Apex Predator

by J. A. Faura

  She couldn’t finish her sentence before she broke down again. “Honey, it’s nobody’s fault, it happens, children break away from their parents all the time. Let’s not think the worst yet. She is probably somewhere with someone who is trying to get her back to us.”

  Beth looked up again, “You really think so?”

  Steven kept his composure and answered his wife with a lie, “Sure I do, honey. Now just relax and make sure Bethany and Chris are okay. They must be scared.”

  Feeling a bit calmer, Beth went back to the bench and started comforting her other two children. But Steven Loomis was certain there was something else going on, something serious. His business was security and risk assessment, and he spent 20 years in the Navy doing nothing but investigating and learning how to notice things other people did not notice, and something was going on here, something he intended to get to the bottom of.

  He asked around and finally found Mark Mullins, the policeman he had spoken to on the phone. “Detective Mullins? I’m Steven Loomis. We spoke on the phone.”

  They shook hands and Mullins told Loomis, “I sure am sorry about this. I have two girls of my own and I can’t imagine what you are going through.”

  Steven appreciated the man’s sentiments, but at the moment he just wanted to get as much information as he could, “I appreciate it, detective. It is incredibly difficult. I’m still trying to process everything.”

  Mullins nodded in understanding, “So what can I do for you?”

  Steven needed to be careful how he approached this if he wanted to get as much information as possible, “Well, I wanted to get an update on what’s going on with my daughter.”

  Mullins responded without much preamble, “Nothing new to report. We have had a couple of sightings we followed up on, which unfortunately turned out to be dead ends. Every patrolman has a physical description of Tracy and we have detectives building a file.”

  Loomis listened to Mullins telling him all of this, all of which he already knew, but he also knew there was more. “See, that’s the thing, detective, I was an investigator in the Navy and I work in security now, and I can’t help but notice that there is a lot of activity for a child that’s been missing for a few hours.”

  Mullins immediately got defensive, “Listen, Mr. Loomis, we take missing persons very seriously, especially when it is children. Actually I’m surprised. Most people never think we are doing enough. I’ve never had someone complain that we are doing too much.”

  Steven raised his hands trying to appease the officer, “I apologize, I didn’t mean to come across as complaining. I just noticed that for the time she has been missing there is a lot of activity. It seems as though a case has been already developed and like it’s much further along than I would think if it was just a missing girl at Central Park.”

  Mullins looked at Steven’s eyes and could tell the man was not lying; he had the look of a cop, of an investigator. He knew if he lied to him he would see through it, and having the parent of a missing child not trusting the police during an investigation was no way to investigate anything.

  Mullins considered it for a moment and then told Steven, “Alright, you did not get this from me. It could mean my job, do you understand?” Steven nodded.

  Mullins went on, “You need to speak with Detective Grady, Robert Grady. He’s on the floor above. He should be able to give you more information.”

  Steven looked back at his wife and kids and once he made sure they were okay began to make his way to the floor where Grady was. After a few inquiries, he was asked to wait until Detective Grady could see him. Steven sat down and again observed a lot more activity than he would expect for a case like this.

  After 20 minutes, a short and stocky man came out to talk to him, “Can I help you?”

  Steven stood up, “Yes, I’m looking for Detective Grady and I was told he worked on this floor.”

  The man looked him up and down and responded, “I’m Grady, what can I do for you Mr. …?”

  Steven stuck out his hand, “Loomis, Steven Loomis.”

  As they were shaking hands, Steven saw a sign of recognition in Grady, who became extremely uncomfortable at the same time.

  “Detective, to be honest with you, what I’m trying to get at is what’s going on here. My daughter is missing and I appreciate everything your department is doing, but I’m in the business, in the security and intelligence gathering business, and there is clearly something more going on than just my daughter missing.

  “I just wanted to get the full update, I’m sure you can understand this is my daughter we are talking about and I want to know everything there is to know that is pertinent to my little girl.”

  Grady considered Loomis. He could also tell the man wasn’t lying, he was in the business.

  He also thought about his own daughters and what he would do and what he would want if one of them went missing, “Follow me.”

  They went past the rows of desks manned by investigators and other detectives and went into an office at the far end of the floor. After they were both in the room, Grady closed the door behind him, “Have a seat, please.” Steven sat down across from Grady and waited for what the detective had to say.

  “Mr. Loomis, I’m about to share something with you that has not been released for public consumption and I am going to trust that you will keep it that way. It is not something that is easy for me to tell you, and I imagine it will be even more difficult to hear it.”

  Steven was now losing his patience, “Can you just tell me what’s going on?”

  Grady leaned back in his chair and went on to tell Steven, “We have been working on a number of missing person cases over the past three weeks. At first no connection was made because the missing people came from completely different areas, but we are fairly certain now that all of the cases are related.”

  Steven was puzzled and did not quite understand, “What does that have to do with my daughter?”

  Grady was clearly uncomfortable with what he had to say next, “Mr. Loomis, without going into too many details, the reason we are fairly comfortable that the cases are related is because all of the missing persons are little girls, between four and seven years old.

  “The M.O. is exactly the same in every one of the cases, the little girls were there one minute and gone the next, always with a parent nearby, always without a trace, no witnesses and no clue as to where they went. We have a task force working on this, but we have not yet gotten anything significant.”

  Steven Loomis was speechless, he thought there was something else going on, but he never imagined that there might be a serial kidnapper or worse, a murderer, on the loose in New York. “Let me get this straight. You guys have known there might be someone out there snatching little girls off the streets and you’ve decided to keep it from the public?’

  Now it was Grady’s turn to lose his patience, “What exactly would you have us do, Mr. Loomis? Huh? Tell the public we have a serial kidnapper on the loose when we haven’t fully developed a firm connection between the cases? Create a mass panic only to find out that the cases are unrelated?

  “So far, everything we have is based on speculation, we do not have one single iota of physical evidence to go on, and let’s not forget that we are still speculating about these being kidnappings. Everything points to that being the case, but again, we do not have a single shred of concrete evidence that someone took these kids. So I ask you again, what would you have us do?”

  Steven held his head down as he listened. He knew the detective was right; they were doing the right thing by keeping this an internal matter until they had something else. “How many girls have gone missing?”

  Grady answered, “Six so far. We are scouring the system to see if there are any other cases whatsoever that could be related. Nothing’s come up so far.”

  With his hands interlaced on the back of his neck, Steven asked, “And you think that my daughter might be the
seventh, is that it?”

  Grady knew how hard this must be for the man, so he tried to soften the blow, “We’re not counting her as the seventh. Like you said, she has only been missing a few hours, so it could be that it is completely unrelated.”

  Steven looked up at the detective with a knowing look, a look that said, ‘You think she’s the seventh one and you think the rest of those girls are dead,’ but he didn’t say anything. He stood up and thanked the detective for his time and for his honesty.

  Grady tried to reassure him, “I will keep you posted on anything we get as soon as we get it. I’m really sorry about this, Mr. Loomis, I really am.”

  Steven nodded and left the office. On his way back down he had to decide whether this was something he would share with Beth. He decided that if he did share it with her it would not be until she was much calmer. Right then, she was teetering on the edge and he knew something like this would just push her over.

  He also had to decide what he was going to do. He just couldn’t imagine himself going back to live life as if nothing had happened with his little girl missing. For the time being, he had his kids and his wife to take care of.

  Chapter 2

  Trinity was finished with Tracy and was still enjoying the bliss of the experience. Those eyes had been sublime, and he had found the proper place for them and for the other beautiful parts he had harvested from her.

  Like every other time, however, he knew the feeling would not last long. He had started to notice that the feeling was in fact lasting less and less, so as much as he wanted to bask in the feeling he was still enjoying, he had to begin planning his next hunt.

  This last experience had also gotten Trinity thinking that he may have to do his work with more than one subject at a time. It would definitely make his work harder and he was aware that it might be more difficult to keep his activities under the radar, but the work demanded it. And who was he to deny the universe, destiny itself, of what was to be?

  For the next week, he went hunting every night and just couldn’t find the right opportunity. On Friday, when he went to work, his coworkers could see a distinct change in him. Donald had always been meticulous in his appearance and in his work, and today he was clearly out of sorts. He was clearly sleep-deprived and had been withdrawn all day.

  Had any of his coworkers been able to gain insight into what he was feeling, they would have realized that he was feeling like a drug addict without his drug of choice.

  As he was winding up his day and cleaning up his desk, Nancy Hunt, one of the administrative assistants at his firm, happened to be walking by with a girl of about seven.

  She was in her early twenties and had the typical look of a young, single woman in New York. Not unlike many of the other administrative assistants at the firm, she enjoyed having a good time and was on the constant prowl for “the one.” She had always been friendly to Donald and often wondered why such a nice man still found himself alone. He was not a bad-looking guy, dressed well, although he definitely was a little quirky.

  In the three years they had worked together, he had always been courteous and helpful to her. “Hi, Donald. Wrapping it up for the day?”

  He looked up from his desk and smiled, “Yeah, it’s been a bit of a rough day and I am ready to go home. And who is this young lady with you?”

  Nancy smiled and brought the little girl forward to say hello, “This is Mia, my niece.”

  Donald smiled at the little girl, “Well, hello, Mia, you sure are pretty.”

  Mia looked at Donald in the way of little girls her age but did not respond to the compliment. There was something about the man and the way he was looking at her that she didn’t quite like.

  Nancy turned to her and prompted her, “Mia, don’t be rude, say hello and thank you to the nice man.”

  Mia complied, “Hello and thank you.”

  Donald smiled as he looked back to Nancy, “No worries, she is just a little shy, that’s all. So I heard some of the girls are going to The Lion King tonight, are you going to be joining them? I am sure it will be wonderful.”

  Nancy exhaled in frustration, rolled her eyes, and with as much tact as she could muster she answered in a whisper, “No, I promised my sister I would watch Mia and her friend over at my place. She’s having a sleepover. My sister and her husband are off for the weekend to Niagara Falls. Second honeymoon and all that.”

  Donald was looking at Nancy and nodding, but in the deep recesses of his mind Mia enthralled him. Her curly dark hair, her perfect skin, it was almost as if destiny had brought her into his path, and now the perfect opportunity had presented itself. “You know, Nancy, if you want to go with the girls, I can babysit for you.”

  Nancy was a bit taken aback by the offer. Had she been older and had children of her own, perhaps there would have been red flags going off, but she was young and had really only agreed to babysit because she owed her sister.

  “Jeez, Donald, I don’t know, I mean, they can be a handful and I’m sure you probably have other plans.”

  Donald put on his most vulnerable and sympathetic smile, “No, I don’t have any plans tonight. I was planning to go home and work on some puzzles and watch some DVDs, and I can do that as easily at your place as I can at mine. Besides, I have plenty of experience with little girls. I have watched my nieces more times than I can count.”

  Nancy hesitated for a moment, but she really did want to go to the theater and hearing that Donald had nieces and that he had watched them gave her a bit more confidence. Besides, it would only be for a couple of hours, just so she could watch the show and maybe have a drink.

  She smiled, “Well, if you’re really sure and you don’t have any plans, then I would really appreciate it. It would only be for a few hours, just to see the show with the girls.”

  Donald’s smile broadened, “Sure, have some fun. I will bring some DVDs for Mia and her friend and I am sure we will have a great time, won’t we, Mia?”

  The child looked at Donald with caution. In her child’s mind, she could see something wrong with this man but she didn’t know what, and he looked like all the other men her aunt worked with, so maybe he was not really that bad.

  Donald went on, “Mia, what movies do you like to watch? I will bring some so you and your friend can watch them. I’ll even bring the popcorn.”

  Tentatively, Mia, still standing behind her aunt, said, “I like Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid.”

  Donald nodded and said, “Well, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid it is. What time would you like me to come over to your place?”

  Nancy thought for a second and responded, “By six thirty would be great. Thank you so much, Donald, I really have wanted to see that play.”

  Donald waved her off, “Don’t mention it. Like I said, I was just going to watch movies and do puzzles. I’ll see you at six thirty. Bye, Mia.” The little girl looked back and waved, but her eyes still held a hint of fear.

  As Donald watched them disappear, he was in utter bliss. He didn’t have any nieces and had never had the chance to spend extended periods of time just observing his subjects, the material for his creations.

  He knew he had to be careful and that regardless of how strong his desires were he would have to play along. The time would come for him to do what was needed, but for now he knew he would savor this experience, an experience he had not had the opportunity to enjoy. He would take the time to study them, to hone his craft to decide what he would take from them when the time was right.

  Drew Willis had just finished a 12-hour day at his law office, if you could really call it an office.

  In reality, it was storefront with a small desk for a receptionist, a room for a few paralegals, an office for him and one for his only associate, a sharp young woman two years out of law school.

  Willis had graduated from Yale Law School and had his pick of corporate jobs the day he graduated. He thought he knew what he wanted, t
he big office, the expensive car and house, and the prestige of working at some of the most prominent law firms in New York.

  The only problem with Drew’s aspirations was that they required that he conform to a strict set of billing policies, political wrangling, and virtually no social life. After spending some time as a corporate attorney, Drew Willis knew he had to get out, go out on his own and do things on his terms.

  He was deceptively intense and hard, given his physical appearance. He stood a lean five foot ten but would tell anyone who would listen he was six feet, and the way in which he said it was so matter of fact that even people that were clearly six feet and taller did not challenge his claim. He had intense brown eyes and a mane of unruly, curly, dark hair that he sometimes put in a ponytail.

  He had ventured out on his own as a “ham-and-egger,” someone who took any and all kinds of cases. As a general practitioner, he took on husbands trying to short their wives in divorce cases, insurance companies refusing claims, and criminal defense cases, with some wills and trusts thrown in for kicks.

  To start his small law office, Drew had used the inheritance he had gotten from his grandfather, and after paying school loans there was not much left for a fancy office. He found that the ability to take on the cases he wanted to and to run his business his way was far more satisfying to him than all the trappings of the corporate firms.

  To make ends meet, Drew also took on assigned cases from the court. These cases were all criminal defense for which he was paid a flat fee per case, cases that the public defender’s office could not handle because of conflict of interest or because of overflow. Almost every case ended up with a plea deal and the defendant copping to a lesser crime in exchange for considerations from the court in sentencing, so what he got paid for those cases wasn’t much.

  It was rare that an assigned case would go to trial, but when it did Drew held nothing back; he used every resource at his disposal to defend his clients to the end.