Mystery: Missing Mystery (A Suspense Thriller Mystery novella): (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) (Alaska Mysteries Book 1)

by S. C. King

  Unfortunately, he was dead before he could say anything about the boy’s whereabouts, and Davis once again found himself helpless to find the little boy.

  “We need to search his house,” the detective told Wood. “There must be some clue to what happened to the boy after he was given to the man in black.”

  “Maybe now Logan will speak.” Wood said, also feeling helpless.

  “I will call the captain and ask him to interrogate him again, given the new circumstances,” Davis agreed, thinking that the criminal was their only hope now.

  After the mayor’s body was taken away, Davis and Wood went first to his office and then to his house. They called his secretary to open the office for them and went through his papers. Unfortunately, there was nothing of importance there and after a few hours, they left the town hall and went to knock on his house door.

  Mrs. Brown was already informed about the events of the night, and was sitting in her kitchen with a friend by her side.

  “We are very sorry, Mrs. Brown, for what happened to your husband,” Sergeant Wood expressed their empathy. “Not one of us intended this night to end with a dead man.”

  “I knew nothing of what he was doing,” the mayor’s wife sobbed into her hands. “I am so sorry for what happened to that little boy.”

  “We know that, Mrs. Brown,” Davis said to her. “We are here to see if there is something that might help us to find Tommy.”

  “You can look everywhere,” she said quickly. “I have no secrets, but my husband usually kept all his important document in his study. You can see for yourself.”

  She pointed them to the right door, and the policemen went to search through his desk. There were multiple files and documents there, but thankfully they were all well arranged in separate sections. Both Wood and Davis took a pile of files, and sat down to look through them.

  Back in Fairbanks, Captain Ross, Davis’ direct boss, was interrogating Ian Logan for a third time. The man was still refusing to talk, but they had enough against him to keep him in jail.

  “Mr. Logan,” Captain Ross said. “There has been further development in the case of Thomas Harrison.”

  “I don’t care,” he answered. “I have nothing to do with it.”

  “We found the man who hired you to dispose of the boy’s body,” the officer continued calmly.

  “And what do you expect me to do with this?” The arrogance in his voice was driving the captain mad with rage, but he kept his expression calm.

  “Mr. Brown, the mayor of Stronghill was one of your closest friends from the time you were in college together. That is why we know that you have a lot to do with the case.”

  “What do you mean, he was?”

  “William Brown, the mayor of Stronghill, was killed last night when he tried to escape the police.”

  “Oh, my God,” Logan exclaimed. “You killed him?”

  “He was a criminal, just like you are Mr. Logan. He chose to shoot against the police officers and tried to escape arrest. He was killed, because he almost shot a policeman in the back.”

  The captain explained, and watched Logan trying to regain some calmness.

  “Now, I think it is time for you to tell us what happened to the boy, after Stone gave him to some mysterious man in the woods outside the city?”

  “I don’t know,” Logan relented. “William sent him. When I called to tell him that the boy was still alive, he told me to tell Stone to bring the boy to the woods.”

  “What then?”

  “Nothing,” he answered. “He paid me, I paid Stone, and that was all.”

  “Do you have any ideawhere the boy is right now?” the policeman continued to insist.

  “No, I know nothing about the boy,” Logan said exasperated. “My friend asked me to help him to dispose of the body, and that is all I know.”

  “Okay, Mr. Logan, I am sure that you will live to regret your decision,” the captain stood up. “I will make sure you are convicted for what you did, and finally end up in prison for a long time.”

  Captain Ross exited the interrogation room and went to call Davis.

  “He insists that he has no idea where the boy might be,” Ross told the other detective on the phone. “Logan, however, finally admitted that he was hired to dispose of the boy’s body. But when Stone found out that Tommy was still alive, Logan called Brown, and he told him that he would send someone to take the boy.”

  “Okay, thank you,” Davis said. “I am looking through Brown’s documents right now, with the hope of finding some new lead.”

  “Call me, if there is something else I can do.”

  He ended the call, and went to finish the documents that would help to send Logan to jail for a long time. There was a unique satisfaction in knowing that you are doing something that will make a difference.

  Chapter 15

  Sergeant Wood found a bank statement for a payment made to a Mrs. Joan Roberts from Fairbanks. According to the statement, Brown paid a good amount of money to Mrs. Roberts for some kind of service, which was not mentioned in there. That fact awakened Wood’s interest, and he looked more carefully at the piece of paper. And there it was – the money was transferred the very day Thomas Harrison was transferred from Stronghill to Fairbanks.

  “Sir,” he called softly. “I think, I have found something.”

  Detective Davis looked up from the folder he was examining and saw the excitement Wood was trying to contain. “What is it?” he asked him.

  “Here is a payment made to Mrs. Roberts by Brown the very day that Tommy was taken.”

  “So?” Davis asked, still unsure of how that would help them.

  “He paid her a lot of money and nowhere could I find a reason for him to give it to her. I think that we should go and speak to her. Her address is right here,” Wood explained.

  “Okay, you are right,” Davis agreed. “But first let’s finish looking at everything here. There might be something else to point us in the right direction.”

  They spent the next two hours going through the papers in Brown’s desk. Mrs. Brown brought them something to drink and eat, and once again tried to say how sorry she was for what her husband did. Wood calmed her down, and explained to her that William Brown did not deserve her.

  They left her in the loving hands of her neighbor and went to freshen up, before heading for Fairbanks. Wood found a few minutes to call the Harrisons and give them the good news. He was afraid to give them too much hope, but on the other hand, he knew how important was for them to know that they might see their boy soon.

  They were both very tired, but no one even thought of sleeping or waiting before going to see who that woman was and how was she connected with the case. They easily found the address, and Sergeant Wood rang her apartment’s bell.

  Mrs. Roberts opened the door at the second ring of the bell, and looked very shocked to see two men standing in front of her.

  “How can I help you?” she asked.

  “Mrs. Roberts?” Wood said. “This is Detective Davis and I am Sergeant Wood. We are here to ask you a few questions about your connection to Mr. William Brown, the mayor of Stronghill.”

  “Come in,” she said when he stopped speaking. “I told him that this would not end well.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Davis asked her, surprised at how easily the woman gave in.

  “William and I, we were together a few years ago, before he became a mayor.” She started her story. “We separated, but remained friends, so when he showed up at my door a few days ago, I could not refuse to help him.”

  “Was he alone?”

  “No,” the woman said. “He had a boy in his arms. The boy was sleeping, and William was very nervous and afraid. He asked me if I could take care of the boy, until he made other arrangements for him. I asked what was it all about, but he said that it was better if I knew as little as possible. It was all too suspicious, but he was so afraid that I could not say no.”

  “What happened n
ext?” Davis asked, impatient to find out where the boy was.

  “He left the boy with me that night, and called the next day to ask me how he was. The boy was still too shocked and disoriented to tell me anything, but that morning I saw his picture on the news. I asked William about it straight away, and he told me everything.”

  The woman stood up and started walking nervously up and down the room. “I know that I should have called the police right then, but he prayed me not to, and then when I still wanted to return the boy to his parents, he said that I was also part of it and I could go to prison.”

  “So, what did you do next?”

  “William asked me if I knew someone who could care for the boy until he thought of a way to return him to his parents without exposing himself and his brother. That is when I thought of my grand aunt, who lives alone a few miles from the city.”

  “Is the boy still there?” Wood asked, already getting ready to go.

  “Yes,” Mrs. Roberts confirmed. “I spoke with Aunt Ann last night. She lives a very secluded life and does not own a TV, so she knew nothing about the missing boy. She told me that Tommy was asking for his mother and father, but I convinced her that the family had problems and the boy needed a safe place to stay. My good aunt is always ready to help, so she did what I asked her to.”

  “Give us your aunt’s address, please.”

  The woman wrote down the address and telephone on a piece of paper, and said that she was ready to answer for her involvement in the kidnapping. Wood had already called the uniformed officers to take her to the precinct.

  “What did Mr. Brown give you the money for?” Davis continued to ask questions even after she confessed everything.

  But Mrs. Roberts surprised him by bringing the check with the whole sum. “Here,” she said. “This is the money he forced me to accept. I never touched it. William wanted me to have it so that I would look guilty and would not report him to the police.”

  Chapter 16

  The detective and the sergeant, together with two other police officers and an ambulance, headed immediately for Ann Roberts’ house the great-aunt of Mrs. Robinson. On the way there, Wood called Jake Harrison and gave him the address, inviting him to come along. The boy, he suspected, would be disoriented and afraid, and the presence of his parents would be a blessing for all of them.

  Wood heard Jake Harrison cry into the phone and could only imagine his relief to finally have some good news about his little boy. The case had proven to be very trying on the nerves of all involved. The sergeant still could not understand how a simple road hit had turned into such a complicated case of kidnapping and even attempted murder.

  The house where the boy was hidden was an old building, painted in white and with dark green shutters on the windows. Mrs. Ann Roberts opened the door for them after a few moments with a worried look in her eyes. “What is going on?” she asked, before letting anyone inside her home.

  “Mrs. Roberts we are here for the boy your niece asked you to take care of,” Davis said politely to the old lady. “He was taken from his home and family, after a man hit him with his car and thought that the boy was dead.”

  “I knew that there was something going on with that boy,” the old lady exclaimed, and stood aside to let the policemen inside. “Don’t you worry, the boy is well, but he really needs his parents.”

  She led them inside his house, and pointed at the door behind which the boy was sleeping. Wood looked inside the room, but did not go inside. The boy was sleeping peacefully and he did not want to wake him up before his parents were here.

  Davis, on the other hand, was already on the phone with his captain, telling him the good news. “We found the boy,” he said. “Tommy is okay, and we have already arrested everyone involved in the case.”

  “I am glad that everything is over now,” Captain Ross said. “Keep me posted on everything that goes on.”

  After making sure that the boy was okay and calling his parents to make sure they were close, Davis and Wood sat down with the kind old lady in the living room. She offered them tea and biscuits, and asked them to tell her the whole story.

  Wood was the one to narrate all the facts about the mystery that puzzled them for so long. He started with the accident and the reaction of Brown and his brother. Mrs. Roberts expressed her empathy for the little boy’s family, and was very sorry to hear that her niece took part in such a cruel crime.

  “The only thing that helps me accept this is the fact that the boy is okay and he will be back with his family soon,” she said when Sergeant finished his narrative.

  “Yes,” Davis agreed with her. “He was also fortunate to have you to take care of him.”

  “Where is my son?” Lora and Jake Harrison ran into the house through the open door. “Is he okay?”

  “Yes, dear,” the old lady went to hug her. “Your little boy is okay. Come and see for yourself. He is sleeping right now.”

  Mrs. Roberts walked them to the room where the boy was sleeping and almost cried when she saw the happiness of the mother and father after so many days of agony. Lora fell on her knees near the bed, and started kissing Tommy’s hands and face. “I am here... you are safe now... I will never leave you alone again...” she murmured quietly.

  Jake stood by her side, and from time to time bent down to caress Tommy’s head and his arm or simply to touch him, as if still unsure that he was real. There were tears coming down his face, but this time they were tears of happiness.

  Mrs. Roberts and the two policemen stood by the door and watched the tearful reunion of the small family. They could see that the noise and touches were slowly awakening the boy. Tommy opened his eyes after a while, and looked confused at his mother and father.

  “Tommy,” Lora said softly. “We are here, sweetheart. And now everything will be okay.”

  “Mom?” the little boy asked, still not sure about what was going on.

  “Yes, yes...” she said and hugged him tightly. “Mom is here...”

  Jake sat on the bed behind his wife and embraced them both, as if wanting to protect them from all the evil in the world. The policemen and Mrs. Roberts left them alone and walked back to the living room. They were all moved by the scene they had just witnessed, and stayed for a long time in silence.

  After a while, the paramedics from the ambulance asked to see the boy, and Sergeant Wood accompanied them to the room. The boy had a few cuts, and had sustained a hard blow to the head, but his condition was good. The paramedics asked the parents to bring the boy for further examination in the hospital as soon as possible, and left them alone.

  Jake’s mother and her husband also arrived at the house and assisted the two overwhelmed parents in bringing the boy to the car. The two women stayed with the boy in the car, while the Jake and Richard walked back to the house.

  “I want to thank you for everything you did for Tommy,” Jake took Detective Davis’ hand, and shook it gratefully. “Without you, I don’t know what could have happened.

  “We are glad that we were able to help,” Davis smiled at the younger man. “Just make sure that Tommy is okay and happy. He will forget all this in no time, you will see.”

  “Thank you, thank you...” both Jake and Richard said again and again.

  Davis told them about Mrs. Roberts and her involvement in all this, and they went inside to thank the kind old lady for everything she had done for their boy. The policemen watched the two cars disappear, and also thanked Mrs. Roberts and climbed into their car.

  On the way back to the city, they were silent for a long time, each of them thinking about the case and the way it had ended. Wood still imagined the family’s happiness at seeing their son alive and well. He wasn’t married, but the feeling of relief that emanated from everyone involved was tangible even to him.

  Detective Davis, on the other hand, thought of the way people made the worse possible decisions in their lives, while trying desperately to save themselves. Brown brought so much pain to so
many people, just because he was not able to accept his fault and the consequences of his actions. And the result? The result of all that was the suffering of a small boy, the desperation of his family, the destruction of so many other families, and even the death of a man.

  “Nothing is worse than man’s desire to hide his mistake...” he said to Wood, and watched the sun coming behind the hills.

  Thank You

  I hope you enjoyed ‘MYSTERY: Missing (A Suspense Thriller Mystery novella)’ and would love to know what you thought about it. If you have a moment to spare, I would appreciate it if you could leave a review of this book at Amazon. Your opinion goes a long way in helping others decide if a book is for them.

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  Thank you so much.

  S. C. King

  Author of ‘MYSTERY: Missing (A Suspense Thriller Mystery novella)’

  Booklist

  A list of other books published by S. C. King:

  1. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Angles-Demons-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00WAJZ2G6/ref=sr_1_24?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429805149&sr=1-24&keywords=mystery

  2. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Betrayal-Dunmore-Thriller-Suspense-ebook/dp/B00W40KRTS/ref=sr_1_25?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429805192&sr=1-25&keywords=mystery

  3. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Countdown-Mark-Thriller-Suspense-ebook/dp/B00W1RSO1C/ref=sr_1_22?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429805014&sr=1-22&keywords=mystery

  4. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Private-Suspense-Novel-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00XLFTPU2/ref=sr_1_51?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1431540014&sr=1-51&keywords=mystery

  5. http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Silent-Scream-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00XZGF20Y/ref=sr_1_54?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432171088&sr=1-54&keywords=mystery