I hated these calls; most times a kid goes missing because they run away. They get mad at their parents or they fall in love and split town. The parents usually know this, but they’re in denial and must think it was something other than their bad relationship that drove their kids away. Sometimes, however, it is real; the kid is missing because someone took them, that’s where I come in.
“Do you know where 4515 Easton Street is?” I said.
“Yea, yes, that’s downtown isn’t it? I’m actually not far from there. Do you want me to meet you there?”
“If you can, if not I can meet you someplace else.” I offered. Clients liked to feel like they are doing something proactive when in this situation, coming to the office makes them feel this way.
“No, no it’s fine; I’ll be there in ten minutes.” She said. Her desperation almost spilled through the phone and onto the floor. I heard the line go dead and I hung up.
“Well?” I asked aloud.
The phone call originated not far from here, in a residential neighborhood approximately eight minutes away if you obey the posted speed limits. The house was recently purchased after it had been on the market for six months. That is all that I can find.
Like I said, we really didn’t need a computer.
“Keep an ear to the ground, let me know when she gets close, I’m gonna grab us something to eat.” I headed towards the front door.
My lord? Neal said.
I stopped with my hand on the knob. I knew what he was going to ask, he knew I knew, but I still wanted him to ask it.
Will you pick me up something to eat as well?
Even Neal had to eat.
“Sure, what do you want?” I smiled at him.
Cat food, please. He said, I could see him staring at me, if he could feel anger, I know he would be seething with it.
“Okay.” I left, it’s the little things, ya know?
I walked down the street for about a block, there was a nice burger joint on the corner and I went inside and placed my order, then I left to get Neal his food. I hurried over to a small market and picked up a couple of cans of his favorite cat food and hurried back to pick up my burger. I had just returned to my office, set Neal’s food down in a bowl in front of him and settled down to eat my cheeseburger when my door opened.
She’s here. Neal said, almost smugly, I might add.
I entered the small seating area at the front of my office and knew I was about to get a job. In the detective books it’s always some leggy beauty that saunters in to hire the out of work P.I. Her story as flimsy as her brazier, but the P.I. takes it anyway because he just can’t say no to a pretty face. The woman who walked through my door wasn’t a long legged damsel in distress. She looked more like a soccer mom barely holding on to her composure. She was middle aged with a few hints of grey in her hair, hair that hadn’t been brushed, or maybe she had run her hand through it so many times that it looked disheveled. She was overweight, but not obese; she just carried with her a few extra pounds that showed she spent more time behind the kitchen counter than in the gym. She had a soft face and gentle blue eyes that were rimmed with red puffy skin, the eyes of someone who had been crying. She clutched a handbag for dear life, as if she expected someone to jump out of the shadows and try and take it from her. She was a caring mother, racked with worry over her missing daughter, and I knew at that moment if she said aliens had taken her daughter I would search the heavens to find her.
“Hello, Mr. … Jack?” She said, questioningly.
“You can just call me Jack, please sit down.” I motioned to one of the seats and I took the one across from her.
“Caroline, Caroline Bennett.” She reached over and shook my hand.
“So, what is it that you think I can do for you Caroline?”
She looked scared, afraid to start but more terrified of leaving, and doing nothing.
“It’s okay, you can tell me.” I said.
“Well, it’s my daughter, Jessica, she hasn’t come home, she wasn’t on the bus and I know something bad has happened. I just know it.” She started crying, her whole body shaking.
She pulled out a tissue from her bag and began wiping her tears away.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what to do, I called the cops, but they said they couldn’t do anything and I’m afraid if I wait too long it will be too late. I know there are people out there who take children and do horrible things, I can’t let that happen, I just can’t.” She was holding on, but just barely.
“Why don’t we start with when you realized she was missing.” I said.
“Okay, okay.” She looked at me with hope, “I went to pick her up at the corner, where her school bus always let her off. I watched all the children come off, but she never did. I thought maybe she was playing with me, hiding on the bus so I went on and looked, but I couldn’t find her. I asked the driver about her and he said he hadn’t seen her get on, neither had any of the other kids.” She stopped for a second, blowing her nose, before continuing.
“I went back home and called the school, but they said she wasn’t there, not in the nurses office or with her teacher. I drove to the school to look around, see if maybe she had stayed with her friends to play, I didn’t know. A million things were running through my mind. I went to the playground near the school and found her backpack on the ground near the swings. I knew that something had happened, I immediately called the cops, but they said they would have to wait, that she was old enough to have run away, they asked if I was divorced and suggested that my ex had taken her.” I saw anger flare up in her then; a deep hatred that only a mother has when something happens to her children.
“The bastards didn’t care, I knew I only had a few hours before her trail went cold, at least that’s what all the shows say. I got online and saw your company and called.” She finished with a rush, as if telling me had helped her somehow.
“Is there anyone who she knows that might have taken her, her dad or other family member?” I asked.
“No, her father moved away five years ago and has never been the sort to take her. He’s too self-absorbed. There is no other family, our parents are all gone.”
“Do you have a picture of her, maybe something that belonged to her?”
“I have a picture right here.” She began to reach into her purse when she stopped, absorbing my second question.
“Wait, you’re not going to try and track her by her aura or use something of hers to follow her psychic trail? Because I’ll walk right now, I don’t have time for nonsense.” She was dead serious.
I smiled slightly, “No, if we can go to somewhere she might have been, my dog has a wonderful sense of smell, he may be able to track her scent.” On cue, Neal came over and sat down next to me. I scratched him behind his shoulders.
She looked to me and then to him and her body relaxed a little. Following an aura was silly but somehow my dog being able to follow a scent hours old from an old trinket was believable. Actually that’s exactly what he was going to do, but it didn’t count, he wasn’t a normal dog.
“Okay, here’s her picture, I have her backpack in the car, I’ll be right back.” She handed me a small photo and then stood up and left.
I looked at the picture and my heart turned over in my chest. She was about twelve, her black hair held back in a ponytail and she sat on a swing. She wore a simple tee shirt and shorts, an easy smile lit up her face. She looked so familiar, something about her tugged at me, but I couldn’t figure out what.
Caroline came back in carrying a pink backpack with a popular cartoon character on it. I wasn’t sure which one.
“This is all that I found.” She held it out to me.
I reached over and took it, looking inside. There were a few library books and a folder filled with worksheets and a permission slip for a field trip to the zoo.
“So how does this work, do I pay you now?” She never mentioned
the amount but I knew she would give me everything she had if I asked.
“I charge two hundred a day, plus any extemporaneous expenses occurred while on the job. Payment is due after your child is returned. If I am unable to find your daughter then all payment is forfeit. If you don’t get what you want, neither do I.” I said.
“You mean if you can’t find her you won’t charge me for your time?” She was shocked.
“That’s exactly right. Be assured, however I have every intention of finding her. Now if that seems agreeable to you, I just need a number or email address where I can reach you. In the meantime please try and stay patient.” I handed her a blank piece of paper and a pen.
“What was the name of the park where you found her bag?” I asked.
She looked at me for a second, deciding if she could trust me. Irrational fear and worry rushed over her and she quickly scribbled down a phone number.
“Chandler Park, across from Johnson Elementary.” She said in a rush.
“I know the place.” I responded, I had no idea where it was, but I knew Neal would.
“Thank you, thank you so much.” She was close to tears again.
“Don’t thank me yet, just get home and wait by the phone, it’s possible your daughter may come home on her own and you should be there to greet her if she does.”
“Yes, yes of course, thank you so much.” She kept saying as I ushered her out of the office.
I didn’t want to be rude, but in order for me to get started she needed to be gone. I closed the door gently behind her and looked over to see Neal already sniffing the bag. His nose was almost touching it. I gave him a few moments, letting him get the needed information.
If there is a viable trail at the park, I should be able to track it, so long as she has not boarded an airplane or boat.
“Right then, let’s get started.” I walked past my uneaten burger, my stomach growling in anger, I reached out to grab it and wrap it up, intent on eating it at the park when Neal’s thoughts came to me.
There are four werewolves approaching, two from the front, two from the back, all four of them are carrying pistols, individual threat levels minimal, together I would advise caution.
I had about two seconds to absorb that information when my front door exploded in a hail of gunfire and I felt three rounds hit me in the abdomen.
I grunted from the impact and felt as one of my ribs was cracked from the rounds. I tabled the pain and hurried into the back of the office, heading towards the stairway that led up to my apartment. I snatched my sword from where I had put it by the stairwell, the cloaking pin kept it hidden from anyone looking for it, but me, and I hurried upstairs, hoping the bastards hadn’t done anything to my bike.
Neal followed me and as I entered my apartment I heard one of the werewolves yell, “Your insult to the pack will not go unanswered, come die like a man!”
Yeah, that was not something I was willing to do.
Your pistol is still in your saddlebag. There is nowhere to go from up here.
“I know, that’s why we’re going to jump out of the window.” I answered.
Sounds like a reasonable plan, my lord.
I know he wasn’t supposed to be capable of sarcasm, but at that moment I couldn’t be sure. I reached the window that opened up to the back alley and peeked out. Two werewolves were standing, waiting for me to try and run out the back so they could shoot me dead. I never bothered opening the windows; they would hear that and know I was up here. I only had a few seconds, it was possible, if they were good enough, for them to hear me anyway, but I think the gunshots had deafened them for a few minutes.
“Don’t call me lord.” I said and jumped out of my perfectly good window with Neal right behind me.
The sound drew the attention of both werewolves and they spun towards us almost instantly. Neal released another sonic blast and both of them cringed at the noise, causing them to miss as they began shooting. I unsheathed my sword on the way down and landed right next to one of them. With a quick slash I watched as his head rolled off his shoulders.
Neal landed on top of his target and his bulk drove them both to the ground. He bit down on the werewolf’s wrist, severing the tendons that allowed him to grip his gun. His weapon clattered to the ground. Neal released his grip and went for his throat, but his opponent managed to get his other arm up and hit Neal with a devastating backhand that sent him into the side of the building.
I rushed over and with a quick series of slices took off his good arm at the shoulder and watched as he tried to keep his intestines from falling onto the ground. I spun and landed a powerful roundhouse to the side of his head and he fell in a heap.
Neal had recovered and came over to me.
We must hurry; the other two are coming through your office.
“I’m getting tired of running.” I said, getting on my motorcycle anyway.
Thankfully they had not hurt her. That would really have pissed me off. I hit the throttle and rushed down the alley away from my home.
I understand, but if we killed them all we would have to clean up the mess, this way they will take care of their own, saving us the burden and making sure the authorities are not called.
No one wanted the cops called. Humans had a way of being far more powerful in mobs with pitchforks and torches than the most dangerous vampire.
Because I counseled you to.
I couldn’t help it, I let out a hearty laugh, I know he didn’t mean to be funny, but that just made me laugh even harder.
Chapter four
The park was directly across from Jessica’s school, just like Caroline said. It was a normal looking play area. There was a multicolored plastic playground set that had a straight slide on one end and a tunnel slide that twisted like a corkscrew on the other. On one flank was a climbing area and on the other a swing set.
The sun was almost set and dark storm clouds had begun gathering, a stiff cold wind was whipping my hair around. The time of day and incoming weather made sure the park was empty of other children.
Neal stood by the swings, trying to locate Jessica’s trail. I stood nearby, patiently waiting.
There are many different scents in this area. Locating just one out of the many is difficult.
That I did not say, I believe I have found a positive match, it is faint and leaving fast, I fear if it rains, the water will wash away any vestiges of her. We must hurry.
Neal raised his head and pointed it north, for a second he looked exactly like a pointer dog, who had found his target, then he shot off like a rocket, keeping his head level, following Jessica’s trail.
I hurried to my motorcycle and fired it up, rushing to follow. We didn’t talk much, when Neal was on a scent it required a lot of his attention so I tried not to distract him.
He kept to the shadows and alleys, while I used the main roads. He had to stop and wait a few times, while I caught up after getting stuck in traffic, but thankfully the weather held and we made our way farther north, where the residential and downtown areas made way for the industrial district. We passed a bunch of warehouses whose windows had been broken and the smell of chemicals and oil permeated the whole area. The work day was over so there wasn’t much activity right now, but once in a while a big truck transporting some harsh liquid or processed metal would pass us.
Eventually Neal stopped in front of a rundown old building. There were no markings on it making it hard to determine what it had been used for, it could have been a storage area or housed large pieces of equipment used to do everything from making signs to processing, housing and transporting volatile chemicals. The smell of dust and grease lay thick in the air. A few birds that had taken up residence on the buildings eave made some noise as they were disturbed by my motorcycles engine. I turned it off and the silence was somewhat oppressive.
I waited while Neal made a quick circle of t
he building. People would think a person snooping might be suspicious, but never thought twice about a dog looking around.
There is a white van parked in the back and my sensors indicate three distinct heartbeats within the facility. Two are deeper and less frequent; the third is far more rapid and would indicate that of a child, one that is in a heightened state of emotional excitement.
The plan is simple, yet sound.
Neal padded off towards the side door, probably used for employees, needing to get out and take a smoke break. I quickly got into position and stood below an open window that was almost ten feet off the ground.
Neal began barking, at first it was like any other dogs bark, but he kept getting louder and soon it was deafening.
I crouched and then leapt, easily reaching the bottom of the window. I grabbed the edge and pulled myself up high enough to get a view of inside. The area was a large empty space, there were old pieces of mechanical equipment scattered haphazardly around the dirty floor. Off to the side, near the back of the building I saw two men sitting on a couple of chairs. They looked like the metal fold up kind used during company functions. It was hard to discern any of their features, but they both just sat there, not moving at all. At first I thought they may be asleep, but then one of them blinked and turned his head towards the sound of Neal’s barking.
Jessica sat in a large dog cage behind them. She was curled up to fit in the small space and had her knees bent so they were below her chin. She was hugging her shins and rocked back and forth slightly. Her hair hung down almost to her waist and its deep black color almost shone in the dingy light.
Lost Son Page 3
