by Roger Hayden
Detective Shelton looked to the officers, his eyes concealed behind sunglasses. “Please get a written statement from her before she leaves.”
The officers nodded as Detective Hayes handed the woman his card and told her to call them if she could think of anything else. It wasn’t the most specific of information, but they had a potential suspect and a vehicle, which was a big step forward.
Sergeant Kline escorted Mrs. McDougal away, leaving the detectives deep in thought. Captain Vasquez then signaled his second in command, Lieutenant Alex Van Hise, over from the crime scene.
“I want an APB on every blue van within a fifty-mile radius. Every block. Every parking lot. Every intersection,” he told the lieutenant with soft intensity. “This prick couldn’t have gotten far, and I’m inclined to trust Mrs. McDougal’s instincts.”
Lieutenant Van Hise, a fresh-faced, by-the-book type in his early thirties, held up an evidence bag up with an envelope in it. “We found this resting on the passenger seat.”“A letter?” Hayes asked, curious. There was no writing on the envelope itself, but as Van Hise held it under the sunlight, they could see a message showing from inside the envelope.“Figured we’d take it to the crime lab first,” Van Hise said. “Could be from the kidnapper or junk mail for all we know.”
Had Natalie’s kidnapper actually left a note? Such a turn of events would be a huge development and could quite possibly lead them right to the girl before it was too late.“Get that into evidence,” the captain said, “along with anything out of the ordinary, inside or outside the vehicle.”“I want that letter,” Hayes said, taking it from the lieutenant. “This is our scene. Detective Shelton and I will take it from here.”“Easy there, Detective,” Lieutenant Van Hise said. “We’re all on the same team here.”
He then backed away with his radio in hand as he issued an alert for a blue GMC van. The police helicopter jetted into the horizon, presumably in search of the blue van.
Sirens wailed in the distance as a small crowd neared a pair of barriers, approaching the scene. Odessa hadn’t seen such commotion in some time, but the story was already picking up steam: two missing girls in a small town within the same week.
Captain Vasquez pointed at Detective Hayes and Shelton with unflinching eyes. “Keep this thing quiet. Work fast, and find the girl.”“Yes, sir,” Hayes said with confidence.
The captain hurried off without another word, approaching a shiny cruiser with its lights flashing. It looked as though he was headed back to the station, prepared to report the latest developments to the higher-ups. Nothing could get a town riled up like a potential kidnapping.
Hayes knew that the captain had the responsibility of controlling the panic, while their responsibility was to find the girl. However, he and Shelton were also tasked with solving the April Johnson disappearance and had made little headway throughout the week.“You see anything yet?” Hayes asked his partner as they neared the ambulance.“Found a candy wrapper on the ground,” Shelton said. “Right outside the passenger door. Could be nothing, but I had ‘em bag it for evidence.”“Good.”
They arrived at the back of the ambulance in which Kim Forester rested, sitting up in a wheeled gurney with her husband at her side. The paramedics stood nearby, looking ready to leave.
Kim Forester’s face was puffy, red, and drenched in tears. Doug Forester looked up at the detectives, his pale face stricken with fear and his eyes watering. “Our daughter’s really gone, isn’t she?” he asked in a vacant tone.“We don’t know for sure, Mr. Forester,” Detective Hayes said. “But we’re putting all of our resources into finding her.”
Doug suddenly rose, angered, yet still clutching Kim’s hand. “It’s not good enough,” he said, pointing beyond them to the busy road in the distance. “Our little girl was taken. I’m sure of it. Now you find that bastard before he does anything to her, or so help me God—”“We will, sir,” Detective Shelton said. “Rest assured. We will find her.”
Hayes glared at his partner as though he couldn’t believe what he had just said.
Shelton leaned inside the ambulance and then held up the sealed bag with the envelope inside for Kim to see. “This was found on your passenger seat, ma’am. Does it belong to you?”
Kim leaned forward, squinting. “No. I don’t believe so.”
Hayes cut in. “We believe it might have been placed there by our suspect.”
Doug’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about? Like some kind of ransom note?” He stumbled forward, beside himself with frustration. “Well, open it already. What the hell are you waiting for?”
Shelton lowered the bag from view. “I’m sorry, but it’s evidence now. It could contain fingerprints or DNA, and we don’t want to corrupt it.”
Doug sat down, flustered and exhausted. He was noticeably on edge and conflicted between staying calm or going crazy. Hayes could relate, having a daughter of his own, but as with anything else, there were protocols and procedures. Nothing happened instantly, though in cases involving kidnappings, every second was crucial.“Just find her, please,” Doug said, wiping his tears. “It’s all we ask…”“We will,” Shelton said, receiving another perturbed glare from his partner.“Is there anything you can tell us, Mrs. Forester?” Hayes said, notepad out. “It’s our understanding that you were in the grocery store for approximately six minutes. Your daughter was waiting in the car with doors locked and engine running.”“I’d like to think that the doors were locked, but I just can’t remember,” she said in a strained voice. “When I returned to the car, I found the door open…” her eyes clenched shut as tears fell. “Her little sandal was on the ground. I knew someone took her. I just didn’t want to believe it at first.”“That’s enough, honey,” Doug said, rubbing her back. He then looked at the detectives with a stern expression. “Don’t you think so, Detectives?”“Yes,” Hayes said, beckoning his partner away. “We’ll be here when you feel like talking.”
They wished the couple well and walked back toward the crime scene as Hayes quietly admonished his partner. “You never promise the parents of a missing child anything. What is wrong with you?”
Shelton remained composed and not the least bit bothered by Hayes’s anger. “Technically the girl isn’t considered missing until forty-eight hours have passed.”“Knock it off,” Hayes said. “You damn well know we’re looking at a kidnapping here.” He then held up two fingers. “We’re looking at two kidnappings here, and what do we have? A man wearing sunglasses? A blue van? A ransom note, maybe?”
Shelton stopped and pointed down to the greasy fried chicken box at their feet. “What do you think? Should we put that in evidence too?”The hunt was on, and the detectives knew that they weren’t getting any closer to finding the kidnapper by standing in a Food Mart parking lot. There were answers that could only be found with a trip back to the Ector County station, ten miles away.
***
The bright and sterile forensics lab offered a satisfactory environment for examining the two most significant pieces of evidence collected at the scene: the sealed envelope and the candy wrapper. Both could carry enough DNA to track down their kidnapper. Their man wouldn’t know what hit him—though anyone foolish enough to leave their DNA behind at a crime scene deserved to be caught in the most expedited fashion.
Detectives Hayes and Shelton stood aside, wearing mandated lab coats, as Nancy, the lab technician, carefully unsealed the envelope with a heat gun in her latex-gloved hands. She had already swabbed the candy wrapper for traces of DNA, and the results were inconclusive. Despite this first blow to their investigation, Hayes and Shelton felt optimistic that their suspect wasn’t going to get far.
As they stood in the lab, observing Nancy at work, Hayes’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He reached inside with his gloved hand and pulled the phone out, sighing as the captain’s number appeared on the screen.“What’s going on, sir?”“Damn it, Hayes. I want you and Shelton in my office now.”“We’re in Forensics, examining evidence,” Hayes sa
id.“In my office, now!” Vasquez shouted.
Hayes hung up and looked at his inquisitive partner. “Our presence is requested.”
Shelton shook his head, frustrated, as Nancy continued working the letter. “We’ll be right back,” Hayes told her.“Okay. Don’t take too long,” she said.
The detectives left in a hurry, discarding the lab coats in the outside quarantine room. They then left Forensics and moved swiftly down the hall toward the captain’s office in their suits and ties, ID badges dangling from their necks.
Captain Vasquez’s door was open, and there were many officers gathered around the captain’s television, which was mounted in a high corner of the room.
From his desk, Vasquez called to Hayes and Shelton, pointing at his screen. “I thought you were going to talk to the parents. What the hell happened?”
The detectives looked up at the TV to see Doug and Kim Forester holding each other before the cameras as lights flashed all around them. The news alert banner at the bottom of the screen described the event as an “exclusive statement from the parents of the latest kidnapped victim.”
Hayes’s mouth dropped open. Shelton wasn’t sure what to say. It was hard to think the parents would run to the cameras so quickly, but they understood that fear and desperation often brought out rash, impulsive decisions in people, especially when the life of a loved one was on the line.“This isn’t good, ladies and gentlemen,” the captain said, shaking his head. “The parents jumped the gun before we could even release a statement. Now we’re going to be left holding the bag.”
From the looks of it, the Foresters had simply walked to the camera crews in the parking lot, ready to talk. Doug held a wallet-sized photo of Natalie up to the camera, holding back his tears.“This is our beautiful daughter, Natalie. She’s an eleven-year-old honor roll student and the light of our lives. And today she is missing. I urge the community to help find her, please. It’s all we ask, and we couldn’t be more grateful for your assistance.”
The captain spun around to face the crowd in his office. “We need to take charge of this situation.” He smacked the surface of his desk with both palms. “I want all of you out there doing your part. Lead the search parties. Find this girl!”
So, officially, more or less, it was a kidnapping.
Hayes’s cell phone rang from his pocket. Anticipation ran high when he saw that it was Nancy from the lab. He stepped out of the office and answered.“Yeah, what’s up, Nancy?”“Detective Hayes? I read the letter, and I think you should get down here right away.”“Okay, Nancy,” he said. “Thank you.”
Hayes stepped back and moved away with a quick tap on Shelton’s shoulder. As his partner turned, Hayes signaled toward the hall, his eyes wide with excitement. They hurried down the hall toward the modest forensics lab, where most evidence in any case made its first stop. Standing in the dressing room–like divider between the station and the lab, they slipped on their robes, hair covers, and gloves and walked inside, where Nancy was examining the letter.“It’s a message,” Nancy told them, holding the sheet open with a pair of tweezers. “Could be a ransom note, but I’m not sure.”
Having dressed in robes, hair covers, and gloves, b
oth Hayes and Shelton rushed over, eager to get a look. The message had been written using letter clippings from magazines, like something out of a movie. Hayes’s eyes darted across each line, reading the message several times over.
I’ve got the girl. Don’t try to find her. You never will because I don’t want you to find her. Find Miriam Castillo, then maybe we can talk. Goodbye.“Miriam Castillo? Detective Shelton said, confused. “Who’s that?”
The Expert
Day 1
Miriam had gone through several different last names over the past few years. She had used her maiden name, Castillo, after the divorce from her husband, Freddy. Changing to her maiden name was one thing; changing it to protect herself and her daughter was something different altogether.
She was now Miriam Sandoval, a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, where she worked at the Youth and Family Services Bureau of the Phoenix Police Department. It had been one year since the celebrated Snatcher case—a case that had nearly cost her everything, and as she sat in her office that Tuesday morning, recounting the experience with a local reporter, it was hard to believe so much time had passed.
Phillip Anderson had been a notorious child predator, known as the Snatcher, who had plagued South Florida for years. He was also the owner and operator of Anderson Auto Salvage, a lucrative family business he ran with his parents and three brothers. The Anderson family was well known in the town of Palm Dale and had a contentious relationship with law enforcement.
But no one had ever suspected Anderson himself of being the man who had kidnapped children, holding them in a secret underground lair as his “playmates.” Miriam, then a police officer with the Lee County Police Department in Palm Dale, had found that out the hard way. She’d lost her partner, Deputy Joseph Lang, in the line of duty while pursuing the Snatcher—a moment she would never forget.
During the highly-publicized Snatcher case, Miriam did find Anderson, and in another way, he found her. He tracked Miriam down during the investigation, murdered her ex-husband, Freddy, and kidnapped her then eleven-year-old daughter, Ana.
Miriam had managed to find her daughter and stop the Snatcher through sheer perseverance, but it had come at a heavy cost. Ana was left traumatized without a father, and Miriam soon blamed herself. Her involvement in the case had been the catalyst for everything. With the challenges of reaching normalcy ahead, Miriam strove to regain her life however she could.
A year after moving to Phoenix, she was beginning to feel like herself again. The counseling had certainly helped, though she knew things would never be the same. Enough time had passed to allow her to be more open about the experience with the Snatcher case, and when a reporter from the Phoenix Sun had called to ask for an interview one early Tuesday morning, she said yes, in part to begin putting the past behind her.
Miriam sat at her desk, morning sun shining through the blinds in the window behind her. To her side was a wall filled with plaques, awards, and framed newspaper articles—a modest display of her achievements throughout her seven-year career in law enforcement. She looked beyond her computer screen at the reporter sitting across from her, setting her recorder on the desk and taking out a long, skinny notepad with a spiral binding at the top.
She sipped some coffee and then set the mug down next to a framed picture of Ana resting upright on her desk. She had dozens of files around her—another busy week—and the nice-looking bookcase in the corner behind her was filled with law enforcement regulations and mandated operating procedures. The police station was busy that morning as always, and Miriam’s recent promotion to lieutenant afforded her an office of her own—an exciting perk, she had to admit.
Her short black hair hung just above her earlobes, and she was dressed up for the interview in a coral blouse with black dress pants and heels, expecting to have her picture taken at the end.
The reporter had introduced herself as Tammy Shapiro, a local writer for the Phoenix Sun. She was an enthusiastic blonde woman dressed sharply in a gray blazer and pants with a professional aura beyond her years. Miriam felt comfortable with her and prepared to discuss the past despite her suppression of certain memories that brought too much pain.“Okay, Lieutenant Sandoval,” Tammy said, pressing a button on her digital audio recorder. “I’d like to thank you again for setting aside the time to speak with me.”“It’s my pleasure. And please, call me Miriam,”“Of course, Miriam.” Tammy paused and looked down at her notes. “How’s everything going? Are you more at ease now? How often have you found yourself contacted for interviews and appearances?”“That’s a lot to answer at once,” Miriam said with a laugh.“I’m sorry,” Tammy said. “I’ve been wanting to interview you for a while.”“Not a problem,” Miriam said, looking beyond Tammy as her boss, Captain Keith Watterson, walked b
y her office window, glancing inside. She found herself momentarily distracted but wanted to get back to the interview. “We’re managing,” she began. “Ana, my daughter, is almost done with the seventh grade. I have this wonderful job working with the best people in law enforcement and doing something that I’m passionate about. I never thought Phoenix would be so perfect for us.”“How does this compare to Florida in the heat department?” Tammy asked with a smile.“I’m used to it,” Miriam said with quiet laughter. Another email notification then popped up on her desktop. Her work inbox was filling up, and she could already sense that she’d be at her desk for a long time. “I’m learning to move on and enjoy life.”“That’s great to hear, Miriam,” Tammy said. She then leaned in closer with a playful smile. “Is there anyone special in your life right now?”
Miriam shook her head, perhaps too quickly, as Tammy laughed. “So, who’s the lucky guy?”
Miriam hadn’t planned on divulging personal details, but her reaction had seemed to have given it away. “I’ve been seeing an old friend of mine for some time now. He’s been great. A blessing.”
Tammy held her pen above her notebook, waiting. “Can I get a name?”“His name is Louis Garcia. We worked together. He was a detective on the force back in Palm Dale.”
Tammy beamed. “You met him on the job? That’s so nice. Is he still a detective?”
Miriam nodded. “No, he’s actually a schoolteacher now, teaching at the same school Ana attends.”“Wow… that’s so interesting. I’m sure he has plenty of stories for the kids,” Tammy said.“He sure does.”
