by Robin Mahle
“Well, I suppose most people would prefer that and the law can dictate, to an extent, where someone can live, if they’re a serial offender. However, most can still choose where to call home.” He shut her door and walked around to the driver’s side.
Once inside, he turned the engine. “Besides, they’ve already paid for their crimes. We just have to hope the treatment programs and rehab worked so we can keep these communities safe.”
They pulled out onto the street and Katie attempted a discreet glance at the detective wanting to ask more questions, but figured it might make her appear amateurish.
“What is it?” His eyes maintained contact with the road ahead.
“I was just wondering what’s come to light that the police need to question these people again.”
“We have a hotline for anonymous tips and so far, we have received about 300. Now, several of those tips aren’t valid, but we have to exhaust the ones we think might be legitimate. On Friday morning, we received a tip that a neighbor spotted a small, white, older model Chevy pickup parked on the street the day Isabelle went missing. They said it had been there at that same time for the previous two days.”
“Why did this person wait so long to call it in? She’s been missing for more than two weeks.”
“Hard to say; maybe they didn’t think it was relevant or had forgotten about it all together. Who knows. People sometimes don’t like to get involved. Anyway, we cross-referenced everyone within a five-mile radius of Isabelle’s house who owns a similar type of vehicle. We found six; two are registered sex-offenders, the other four are within the search radius. These are the people we’re going to talk to today. We had to go through the proper channels and are trying to get search warrants for the vehicles now. I’m hoping to narrow that down by the responses we get today. It’s not the strongest lead, but it’s something.”
“But there are still volunteers and police out there looking for her, right?”
“Oh yeah, like I said, we’re following up on every lead we can. The problem is, Kate, is that there is a very small window of opportunity to find a missing child unharmed. Generally, it’s only about three hours. A very high percentage of children won’t be recovered alive after that. Not to mention the fact that it can sometimes take a parent a few hours to realize their child is missing in the first place. There goes the window.”
“So, do you believe Isabelle is still alive, Detective?”
“We’re going to exhaust every lead and continue our search to find out.”
They pulled alongside the front of an apartment complex. Detective Avery verified the address on the building with his paperwork. “Okay, this is it. When we get to the door, I want you to fall behind me, got it?”
“Yes.” She inhaled a deep breath, feeling anxious and excited at the same time.
“Let’s go.” Avery hopped out of the car and Katie followed closely behind as they approached the door of the ground-floor apartment. He didn’t tell her who they would be interviewing first. She had her pen and paper at the ready.
The door opened just a fraction at the knock.
“Mr. Lopez, I’m Detective Avery from the San Diego Police Department. Can I ask you a few questions about Isabelle Thompson?”
“I already talked to you people. I told you I don’t know anything about that missing girl.”
“I understand, Mr. Lopez, and we thank you for your help. But we just have a couple more for you if that’s all right?”
The man was silent, but opened his door a little more.
“Thank you, sir. This is Kate Reid; she’s just here to take some notes for me.”
The man grunted in her direction.
“Do you own a white Chevy pickup, Mr. Lopez?” Detective Avery continued.
“Yeah. What about it? Has it been stolen?”
“No, sir. A white Chevy truck was spotted on San Miguel Drive the day Isabelle went missing. The witness said it had been parked there at the same time for a few days.”
“It wasn’t mine. I use it for work every day.”
“And where do you work, Mr. Lopez?”
“Not that I have to answer your questions, but just so you know I’m cooperating, I work at the JBS body shop on Estrella. That’s pretty far from San Miguel Drive, Detective.”
“Yes it is, Mr. Lopez. I don’t mean to imply you are a suspect. We’re just trying to narrow down our search. We just want to get Isabelle home to her parents. I’m sure you can understand that.”
The man’s face softened. “I understand. I’m a father. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”
“You’ve been a great help and we thank you for your time. Good day, sir.” Detective Avery turned back toward Katie. “Let’s go.”
Katie waited until they got in the car before speaking. “Wow. That’s it? You just take his word for it? He seemed pretty ticked off by the questioning.”
“Wouldn’t you be? Someone coming to your door and implying you are somehow involved in the disappearance of a child? We have to make them feel like we aren’t accusing them of anything. We don’t accuse unless we have evidence. That’s what we’re looking for today. And as far as ‘taking his word for it,’ I can tell you that I’ve been doing this long enough to tell when someone is hiding something. That man was no more guilty of taking Isabelle than you or me.”
“I’m sorry, Detective Avery. I didn’t mean to imply…”
“Don’t worry about it, Kate. I’m not easily offended. This is your first go around and it’s understandable that you’d have questions.”
The more people they spoke with, the more at ease Katie felt. Detective Avery handled each of them with respect and kindness. It became obvious that the more comfortable they felt, the more willing they were to answer his questions. Still, they weren’t any closer to finding the owner of the truck parked on Isabelle’s street that day.
“Listen, let’s go grab a bite for lunch. It’s already 1:00 and I’m sure you must be starving. After that, we only have two more people to question.”
“That sounds good. I am hungry,” Katie replied.
“There’s a great food truck that stops at G Street. We aren’t too far from there and they have the best barbeque pulled pork anywhere in town.”
Detective Avery left the truck holding two baskets and approached the table where Katie sat. “I’ll be right back with the drinks.”
She looked at the gooey sandwich with barbeque sauce oozing out of the bun. It was piled high with pork.
He set the drinks down and climbed over the bench to sit. “What are you waiting for? Dig in.”
With hesitation, she picked up the enormous sandwich and proceeded to take a bite. The thing wouldn’t even fit in her mouth, so she was only able to pick off some of the meat.
“It’s good, right?” Detective Avery wiped sauce off the corner of his mouth. “So, what do you think of the book I left for you? Have you had a chance to get into it yet?”
“A little bit, yeah; I took a look at it on Saturday morning and it’s really fascinating. Unfortunately, I’ve got a million things going on right now, so I didn’t get to read too far into it, but I’m hoping to this week.”
“So, you married, Kate?” The observant detective easily spotted her engagement ring.
“Engaged, due to be married at the end of the year.”
“Congratulations. That must be one of the million things you’ve got going on.”
“Yes, part of it.” She returned a pleasant smile.
“And the rest of it? You mentioned going back to school or something and studying forensics?”
Katie felt guilty for lying to him at their first meeting. After watching him question people all morning, she spotted the same look in his eyes when he asked her about this. He was looking for something she might be concealing.
Lying wasn’t her strong suit and she cast her eyes downward in search of an answer he would buy. “Yeah. I was thinking about it. I’m not sure yet. With the we
dding and all, I’ve been pretty busy.”
“Uh huh. You know, I thought it was interesting that you requested to join this case. Didn’t you work in what--fund raising or something—for the Advocacy Group before?”
She began to consider that he might not be buying it after all. “Yes, I did some research too, but I was looking to make a difference and find something more rewarding.”
“After you asked me for help the other day, I went back through my collection and found that book. Then I thought, cold cases are an interesting and very specialized unit, not a common subject for someone wanting to study forensics.”
Katie’s pulse began to rise as the lie began to crumble. It wouldn’t take much to run her name through a database. Although she had been a minor, her parents would have been on record for filing the missing persons’ report, not to mention the local media stories. She wasn’t ready to tell anyone else about what happened to her. Certainly not someone she’d only met a few weeks ago.
“Well, anyway, I hope the book helps. Don’t hesitate to ask me anything. I’m not an expert in that area, but I can point you in the right direction. I’ll help where I can, Kate.” He washed down the rest of his food with a final drink. “You ready to get out of here? We still have a couple of people to talk to, then I’ll let you be on your way.” Detective Avery gathered the baskets, tossing the trash away and returned the baskets to the truck. The shade from the trees lined the sidewalk on his return and his face was obscured in shadow.
She watched his approach carefully. He walked with such confidence. The man was proving to be a very fascinating individual. It was as though he could look right through a person and see their true intentions. Something she’d have to keep an eye on the more closely they worked.
The two drove off to speak to the next person on the list. Katie had been unable to decide and Detective Avery was unwilling to reveal which of the leads had been the sex offenders. Her assumption was that it would be obvious, but so far, she had been wrong about many things today.
Approaching the door, Detective Avery cautiously glanced into the front window. The curtains were pulled back slightly, which only allowed him to see a small section of the living room. He knocked on the screen door. “San Diego Police. I’d like to ask you a few questions, Mr. Johansen.
They stood there for a few moments, with no reply. He knocked again. “Mr. Johansen, this is Detective Avery from the San Diego Police Department, can I speak with you, sir?” He looked back at Katie and nodded, as if to say, everything’s fine.
Had she appeared nervous?
Just as they were about to leave, the door opened. A man, appearing to be in his mid to late twenties stood in a t-shirt and denim shorts and looked like a surfer. He was clean shaven with short, highlighted hair. The screen door remained closed as Detective Avery began questioning the man.
He behaved differently, more guarded than the others. But surely, he was not one of them, not this handsome, albeit thin, man around the same age as she was. Maybe his behavior was just reactive, as if he was used to the police coming to his door.
“Sir, can you tell me if you were in the vicinity of San Miguel Drive on April 10th?”
“No, I was at work, like I am every day. What is this about, Detective…?”
“Avery. Were you in possession of your vehicle on that day? The white Chevy pickup?”
“No, sir; I let a friend borrow it a few weeks ago. Dumbass let it get jacked a few days later.”
“Stolen? And has it since been recovered?”
“Hell no, I’ve had to bum rides for the past two weeks. You find it, you let me know, detective.”
“Of course. Thank you, Mr. Johansen. I appreciate your time. By the way, is there any way to reach your friend who borrowed the truck? I’d like to ask him some questions.”
“Good luck trying to find him. He lets my ride get stolen, then skips out on the 200 bucks he owes me.”
“Does this friend have a name?”
“Hernandez. Steven Hernandez.”
“Thank you, Mr. Johansen.” Detective Avery motioned Katie to follow as they walked back to his car.
Katie got back into the passenger seat. Detective Avery said nothing more. He started the car and pulled away. It wasn’t for several more minutes that he began to speak.
“Michael Johansen said his truck was stolen a few weeks ago. That would have been somewhere around the 12th or 13th, a few days after Isabelle disappeared.”
“Right.” She waited for further explanation.
“The witness said the truck had been there at that same time for at least two days. This guy’s friend is nowhere to be found, no truck to be found, either. I never said why I was there. I only asked whether he was around San Miguel on the 10th.”
“Okay, I’m not sure I follow you exactly.” Katie was good at figuring things out, but this was well beyond her reach. She didn’t think like a detective; she couldn’t even tell whether this man was one of the offenders.
“This investigation has been all over the news, but we usually leave details out, in this case, where the victim lives. As far as the general public knows, Isabelle was taken on her way to school; they don’t know she lived on San Miguel. The neighbors do, of course, but certainly Johansen, who lives several blocks away, wouldn’t know that unless he knew her. So, she disappeared on the 10th. Doesn’t it seem a little strange that Johansen said his ‘friend’ had borrowed his truck and a few days later it was stolen? The timing of his story seems a little too suspicious. Nope, I’ve got a bad feeling about this one. It won’t be hard to find out where he works, since he’s registered. And he never reported the truck stolen because it would have come up on the search.”
“He’s registered?” she asked.
“He’s a Level 2 sex-offender. We know everything about him. It’s getting late in the day, I can handle the last one. I’ll go ahead and take you back to the station. You’ll need time to draft the reports from the interviews.”
Katie’s eagerness to learn from the detective ended with her exposing an apprehensive and naïve girl who had no business entering a world of which she knew nothing. He must have seen as much. It occurred to her that if she continued on this path to finding her captor, it would likely be someone far worse than Michael Johansen. This wasn’t a game; this was real and she would be dealing with a very real and very dangerous individual.
It was still light when she arrived back at the apartment that evening, signaling that spring was nearing its end and summer was coming. Spencer would be home late as his team prepared for trial. Such was the life to which she would grow accustomed. However, this gift horse would provide her an opportunity to continue perusing the cold case textbook Detective Avery lent her.
Continuing where she left off, Katie read about something called NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. This system was available to the general public in addition to coroners, medical examiners and law enforcement. There were three separate databases that could be searched: The Missing Persons database, in which anyone could enter information about a missing person, but it had to be verified by NamUs first; then, there was the Unidentified Persons database, which could also be searched by anyone and contained data on bodies that have not been identified. Finally, the Unclaimed Persons database, for people who had been identified, but no next of kin had been found.
She began to think of the possibilities. Could the other children, whose disappearance the police suspected had been connected with hers, be included in one of these databases? Was it likely though? Given the fact that the reports had been filed on each victim long ago and if a body was discovered, the local police would easily be able to identify it, unless of course, identification was impossible. The thought sent a chill through her.
Katie didn’t know if anything that happened in her dreams actually occurred or not, save for the escape, but the thought of what could have happened to those other poor kids who didn’t escape, well, it was
too much to think about.
The focus had to be on how this information could help her. Was it possible to dig up any information that would give cause to the Rio Dell police department to reopen the investigation? Was this what she really wanted, especially after today?
Katie set the book down and walked into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. With her wheels spinning, she thought perhaps she did have something. Now that she could recall at least some details, albeit uncertain of what happened and what didn’t. Would that be enough to reopen the case?
What do I have, really? Some random memories about being chased in the woods? That I had a scarf tied around my eyes and I was kept in a dark room? Frustration grew at the seemingly wasted time spent on her hypnotherapy. Nothing of any significance had been uncovered in recent days.
It was in that moment that the evidence presented itself to her. Oh my God, the necklace. The missing girl from Arcata wore a necklace in her school picture. I remember now. It was a heart pendant; something as ordinary as a little girl’s heart pendant necklace in a school picture. It was the same one I saw in the dark room during my last session. And the necklace I saw on that woman at the fundraiser. God, my mind has been trying to show me this whole time. How could I have not seen it before? What was it about the necklace? Does this connect our two cases?
8
Katie vacillated back and forth for the next few days as she tried to figure out how to handle this newly exposed information. This would be a giant step in getting the case reopened and that would have dramatic consequences on her relationship. Spencer would not be supportive of her flying home and digging up more of her past. And would it be possible to continue to be productive on the Thompson case while her mind was occupied with her own abduction?
As she sat in the conference in preparation for the weekly meeting, maybe the time had come to ask someone who was detached from the situation, someone who could offer realistic advice as to whether she had enough to warrant a new investigation. She trusted Detective Avery and he was who she needed to consult, even if it meant sacrificing the responsibilities of her new position.
