Without Trace

by Rae Richen

  His smile and his interest made her dismiss the awkwardness of the young assistant and put a little more trust in this place. She put the basket on the countertop.

  Chewbacca’s little face peaked out from under his overly-enthusiastic eyebrows. The two canine teeth of his underbite stuck straight up beyond his lip, making him look as if he had just eaten cake and was trying to hide the evidence.

  “Aren’t you a cute little fellow?” the doctor said as he lifted him up.”

  He started carrying Chewy to a side room and spoke over his shoulder. “Come on in. Let’s figure what’s bothering him.”

  On the steel table, Chewy couldn’t get a purchase, so stopped trying, sat down and barked once.

  Doctor Vanly felt Chewy all over, which made the little dog growl, but he didn’t snap.

  Willie looked around the room. Advertisements for Super Healthy products partially covered paint on smooth walls. One Certificate for an Interstate Business Association hung next to Doctor Vanly’s Veterinarian’s license.

  Out in the main room, she heard the doorbell ring again. A man’s voice said, “You got the stuff?”

  “Sure. You got cash?” the young assistant said.

  Henry nudged Willie. She realized the doctor had been asking her a question.

  “Oh, sorry. Nice dog and cat photos,” she said lamely.

  “What has Chewy been eating?”

  “My friend has been buying something she calls Extra Natural dog food.” She didn’t want to end up having to turn down Super Healthy. Extra Natural sounded good enough.

  Doctor Vanly frowned. “That’s not a brand I’ve heard of.”

  “Well,” Willie said, listening to the exchange of money in the next room. “Well, maybe she said Super Natural. I’m not remembering exactly.”

  The man in the next room left.

  “Doctor Vanly,” Willie said. “How well do you know your young reception fellow?”

  “Hired him three months ago. Why?”

  “Ahh...” Willie said. “You know he’s a little ... shall we say, he’s rude.”

  The good doctor stiffened. “I can’t find anything wrong with Chewy, here. If he is eating only what your friend buys,” and here the doctor glanced at Willie’s short round self, “and only dog food, he should be all right. Cakes and cookies are not good for dogs.”

  Willie felt herself stiffen, but then the doorbell rang a third time. She stopped to hear the exchange in the next room.

  Henry took over. “Our friend, who is Chewy’s regular feeder, may have taken him into the park a few times. You never know what a dog might find in a park.”

  “That’s true. Are you all the caretakers of the same dog?”

  “Retirement home,” Henry said. “People share pets in a retirement home.”

  “I see. Well, make sure that Chewy doesn’t find things in the park. Since he’s probably on a leash, that shouldn’t be too hard.”

  Willie came back from her listening venture and said, “What do we owe you for the exam and the advice?”

  “That will be sixty dollars.”

  Willie hauled a fold of twenty dollar bills out of her purse, handed them to the doctor and said. “Thank you very much for your help.”

  Doctor Vanly said, “Please take care of this with Charles at the front desk.” He scratched something on a pad and handed it to her.

  “Oh. All right,” Willie said, looking at it.

  Exam. Feed only food appropriate for dogs. No chocolate.

  At the front desk, she handed her money to the young man, along with the doctor’s bill. The young man said nothing to her, stamped the bill paid and opened a register to insert the bills.

  The doctor retired to the back of the building, where they could hear a chorus of meows and barking until the door shut behind him.

  Just then, another customer came in, hovered in the background and waited until Willie backed off the counter.

  She fumbled with her purse and with Chewy’s leash. Henry stepped up and took Chewy from her. She glanced at Henry and said, “I need to straighten the contents of this bag again.

  The new person said, “Do you have my dog’s medicine?”

  “Yes, we do.” The young man reached under the counter and handed over a package. The new visitor handed him some bills, and the young man put the bills under the counter.

  Willie finished her fishing expedition in her purse and again took Chewy into her arms. “Well, we are done here, Henry.”

  Henry nodded, and they walked out the door just as the new visitor opened it.

  Willie hustled herself into Henry’s taxi. As she buckled in, Henry said, “I know. Follow that man.”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  Henry waited until the man had climbed into a car halfway down the block. Then his engine rattled to life.

  He said, “Willie, write down license GBS059, white Chevrolet.”

  Willie wrote and then said, “When we’re done following, we should take this vehicle to the garage. Something needs adjusting.”

  “I believe my muffler suffered from some shooting metal during the van roll-over,” he said. “He’s turning left on MLK.”

  “I thought so.”

  “Okay,” Henry said, “Where do you think he’s going?”

  “He’ll hesitate at the Hiltown Moving and Storage on Second Avenue, but he’ll go back around and on to the offices above the pharmacy on MLK.”

  “And you are so sure because...?”

  “Each transaction that took place this morning, except one, happened without dog or cat, and happened without any money going into the till.”

  “Except your money, which the doctor billed.”

  “Right. And when the fellow we’re following goes upstairs in that Grand Avenue Pharmacy building, we call Captain Reese and give him this location and the veterinarian offices to put on a watch.”

  “And then...?”

  “And then we get your taxi fixed and filled up, because I think we’re going on a road trip.”

  “There he goes. Right into the driveway at the Storage joint.”

  “Maybe he hasn’t been told about yesterday’s fiasco,” Willie said.

  “That was three days ago, Willie. We’ve all been at the hospital, remember?” Henry turned the corner and parked where he could see the driveway to the storage space.

  “Dang. Those girls are lost to us. Poor Geneva.”

  “Willie,” Henry said, looking into his rearview mirror, “What does all this have to do with Geneva Oppenheim?”

  “I have to show you her notes. She suspected... more, she knew and quit working because she was afraid they knew she knew. I believe this kidnapping business is what got her acting oddly.”

  “How did she know?”

  “She was secretary to the finance officer of one of the companies involved.”

  “So, explain the road trip,” Henry said, flexing his mirror to cover more of the storage buildings.

  “Road trip. Captain Reese has covered all the big cities in California, but we know they were headed to Chico.”

  “He’s coming out.” Henry started his motor. “Wow. That’s some hurry he’s in. Straight down Second.”

  Willie said, “Let’s head back to Grand Avenue and wait for him at a corner, if you can.”

  “Still think he’s headed for the pharmacy building?”

  “Yes. Angry that he wasn’t told and went into the building to meet police.”

  “Why didn’t they hold him?”

  “Hear the sirens?”

  They both fell silent as they listened. Henry pulled over again at Taylor and Grand Avenue, where four lanes hustled north.

  “He’s gonna try to lose them,” Henry said. “And we don’t want to be on the street when he careens up Grand Avenue.”

  “Okay, we sit tight,” Willie said.

  The sirens faded into the southern distance. They sat in silence, each one petting the small dog between them. Finally, Henry said, “
We’re not getting out and following anybody. You got that?”

  “I don’t think we’re going to get the chance. Sirens have stopped. They probably got him.”

  About two minutes of silence went by. Henry said, “I think you’re right...oh hell. Here he comes on our street.”

  Willie glanced in the makeup mirror. “License GBS whatever, and white.”

  Henry followed the white Chevy, turned the corner onto Grand. He signaled and scooted into the right lane two cars behind the white Chev. In a couple of blocks, he turned right, following the Chev as it hunted for parking. They slowed for a stop sign, watching the fellow pull into a parking spot half a block in front of them.

  Willie tried the passenger door. “Let me out.”

  “Nope,” Henry said. He turned on his flashers. I’m stopped here, just follow him with your eyes. If you’re right, the pharmacy building is one block in front of us, and you’ll be able to see him enter it.”

  Willie fumed, but sat tight, fiddling with mirrors since she couldn’t turn around far enough. Cars came up behind them, got frustrated and went around on the left.

  “I got him in my sights,” Henry said.

  “Is he?”

  “Just as you predicted. Side door to the upper floors. Let’s see what lights go on up there. Oh, there’s already a light on the third floor, east corner.”

  They waited. Finally Henry said, “Second floor lights, the whole floor, looks like.”

  “Good enough,” Willie said and took out her phone to call Captain Reese.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Captain Rob Reese sat in the chair next to the bed of Officer Sidney O. Seneca when his phone began to buzz.

  “Drat all heck,” he said, looking at the phone screen.

  “Mrs. Stamps?” Sidney asked.

  Reese nodded and spoke into the phone. “Wilhalmena Stamps, where are you?” He knew he better get that info first.

  “Uh-huh,” he said, and pulled a note pad from his hip pocket. “Uh-huh. So, then you... Is Henry Crick helping you do this stuff?”

  He nodded a few times. Officer Sidney O. Seneca tried to turn over to see his Captain’s face better, but the jagged pain in his back stopped him. Sweat broke out and ran down his neck.

  Captain Reese handed him a tissue and nearly yelled into the phone. “You are to stay in the car. Oh, that’s good. We’ve already got someone watching that place. Yes, since Arwain followed that skinny buzzard into it.”

  He listened a moment and then spoke. “Elmore’s Vet on MLK. Okay. Why not the doc, too? Who’s inventorying his Ketalar, after all?”

  Officer Seneca watched Reese listen. At the moment the big question in his mind was the location of Mrs. Stamps’s granddaughter. If the granddaughter were anything like the brother and the grandmother then...”

  “Where’s Arwain?” he whispered. Reese didn’t hear him. So, he shouted, “Where’s Arwain?”

  Reese held the phone away from his ears. Sidney O heard loud and clear.

  “She better be in school or I’ll have her hide.”

  Sidney yelled, “Not snooping with you, eh?”

  “Young man ...”

  Reese took over again. “Wilhalmena, how come it is okay for you to go hunting up trouble, but not Arwain? Is this ageism?”

  “I take Glyn with me,” she defended.

  “Well, you got him in the hospital and if you keep on keeping on, you’ll have Henry in the hospital, too. Put Henry on the phone.”

  Henry said, “We’re on speaker phone.”

  “I don’t care if we’re on satellite TV. You stop aiding and abetting that woman before she gets you killed.”

  “Got her locked in my car.”

  “Yeah? I tried that myself. She escaped.”

  “Yes sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Reese said, “Pick up Leneld and take them down to the prison. She’s got a class to teach this afternoon, and Leneld is chomping at the bit to accompany her.”

  **

  At the prison, toward the end of the writing class, the fellows were reluctant to leave. Leneld didn’t budge from his seat next to George Wilson as they puzzled out the route that a van might take to get rid of contraband – Grandma Willie hadn’t said what kind of contraband, but the guys in the class had guessed it was the kidnapped kids.

  “Damn,” Alliteration Artimus had said, “We were hoping you had them rescued by now.”

  “Me too,” Willie said, but she didn’t mention the one van and the police tail and roadblock or the injuries. Leneld knew Glyn was getting better, but the policeman who hauled Glyn and Claudia out of the truck had a nasty infection in his back. That had Willie very worried.

  George said to Leneld, “They’ll know the police are lookin’ in the big cities, so they’ve got a place to stash them that’s not obvious – some minor way station has become the main holding pen ‘til they think it’s blown over.”

  Leneld nodded. He didn’t know what to tell George, so he left it.

  “Thanks,” he said. “We’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Naw,” George said. “The police have blinders on, like all the time. Thinkin’ they got the bad guys figured out. So, look at the by-ways.”

  Leneld nodded. “I think Mrs. Stamps has been wondering that same thing. Wanna talk to her?”

  “Sure.”

  **

  After the class, Leneld and Willie drove north to Portland and to Emanuel Hospital. The two of them worried about many people.

  They knew that while they waited out Sidney Seneca’s infection, Merlyn and Susan Jones had joined Augusto and Camelia Aguirre on the road. The four were on their way to Chico, California. As soon as Captain Reese had assured Augusto Aguirre that they were looking in all the big cities, Augusto had tumbled to the same thought that George Wilson had given Leneld.

  “The kidnappers have to know about the over-turned van,” Mr. Aguirre had said to Merlyn. “They will have pulled all their Moving and Storage vans off the highway and stopped all traffic where it was.”

  Merlyn had agreed. “The best we know is that Chico was at least a stop.”

  Augusto whipped out his phone. “Gonna call Rosaria’s god-father.”

  “Who’s he?” Merlyn asked.

  “Adalberto Mendez, Sheriff of Chico County. Remember, we lived there for a long time. I think we head there.”

  When he got off the phone, Augusto said, “Adalberto says he’s been getting calls from Truckers Against Trafficking about Hiltown Moving and Storage. They suspect that company of human trafficking. But he hasn’t seen any of their trucks in his jurisdiction for many days.”

  Susan said, “Truckers Against Trafficking? That’s great that they want to help stop this.”

  Merlyn said, “I guess you and I are off to Chico California.”

  Camelia and Susan wouldn’t let them go alone. Camelia’s argument was the clearest. “As strangers, two couples are a lot less threatening than two thugs like you.”

  Merlyn had chuckled at being called a thug.

  Augusto said, “But Sheriff Mendez will vouch for us.”

  “Yeah,” Camelia said. “Right after the local police shoot you for wearing that ugly shirt while being Mexican.”

  So, in about five minutes, the Aguirres and Joneses planned a trip together, and then Merlyn pulled his Ford Taurus out of the garage. They piled four small suitcases in the back.

  Willie had not been at all happy about their decision, but Merlyn and Susan told Willie she’d done enough by rescuing their son and daughter. Now she was to make sure Glyn did his physical therapy and stayed the heck out of it until they figured out where the kidnappers had taken Rosaria and Liza.

  Claudia’s parents spent long hours in her room. Liza’s parents were working with the police to figure out who the boyfriend really was, since Trace had heard Liza talking to a Chuck as if he were one of the kidnappers.

  “Mom,” Susan had said. “You have to make certain Glyn comes out of this who
le. We’re going to Chico.”

  So, Leneld and Willie had come to the hospital. They first checked on the guards outside driver Peterson’s hospital room door. Then Leneld went to find Glyn in the physical therapy room.

  Willie discovered her granddaughter alone in a waiting room.

  “Arwain?”

  Arwain tried to brighten up, but her smile was only mouth motion.

  “What’s the matter?” Willie asked.

  “Claudia is talking.”

  “That’s good news. How is Sidney?”

  Arwain looked away, but Willie could see the pucker of fear around her eyes.

  “Not doing well, eh?” Willie said.

  “He shouldn’t have been there. I should have gotten out faster. I shouldn’t have let Claudia come with me.”

  Willie sat down. “You had a good plan, and you two were together because that’s safer. The kidnappers caused the situation by taking you. Then they used drugs they didn’t understand. Finally, the reason Sidney got hurt is that Peterson tried to evade the roadblock.”

  Willie put her arm on Arwain’s shoulder, and suddenly Arwain fell into her grandmother’s arms, crying. “I wanted to help,” she hiccupped. “I only wanted ... wanted Violeta’s family together again.”

  Willie decided not to tell her yet about Merlyn and Susan. She had enough to worry about. So, she just rocked her and remembered when Arwain had been a little girl with scraped knees from scootering too fast.

  After a few moments, Willie asked, “Tell me what’s happening with Sidney.”

  New tears welled up as she said, “They’re about to operate on him again.”

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  An hour later, back in the hospital, Captain Reese hovered in the waiting room with Arwain and Glyn. Willie and Leneld sat next to Glyn’s wheelchair, where his leg lay on a board, straight out from his hip.

  They all awaited the outcome of a second operation on Sidney Seneca. The doctors had seen a hint of a small piece of shrapnel deeper inside Sidney’s back. They believed that accounted for the sudden onset of an infection. Everyone in the room hoped they were right. Hospital-caused infections were very difficult to get rid of.