The Boy Who Appeared from the Rain

by Kevin David Jensen

"He found us." Craig touched Kara's arm and pointed down the street as Eddie strode briskly around the corner and up the sidewalk toward them. They were on the south face of Queen Anne Hill, overlooking downtown Seattle in the near distance. The Space Needle loomed before them a mere mile away, making it easy for Kara to imagine that Zach was, or had been, very near this place.

  Officer Garrenton stood beside her patrol car across the street from them, speaking into her radio. A host of police officers and FBI agents had descended upon the hill, rushing through its neighborhoods and going door to door at qualifying apartment buildings in search of anyone who might have noticed Zach.

  Kara greeted Eddie as he rejoined them. "You tracked us down."

  Eddie looked almost as nervous as Kara felt. "It wasn't hard," he shrugged, motioning to a police cruiser that crept past them up the street. "Just follow the cops." He glanced toward Officer Garrenton, who approached them through the light rain. "Looks like they've found something."

  Officer Garrenton's expression was focused, the warrior within her motherly demeanor asserting itself. "Someone made an anonymous 9-1-1 call," she reported as she reached them. "They claimed to have seen a boy matching Zach's description being taken into an apartment a few blocks from here. Agent Nyler is headed there now. He'd like you both to be there." She took a deep breath. "You need to prepare yourselves—we don't know what to expect. Just…keep praying."

  Kara nodded, refusing to acknowledge the knot of dread in her belly. She and Craig moved to follow Officer Garrenton.

  Eddie stepped politely away, but the officer shifted to face him. "You can come, too, young man."

  "No, that's okay," he declined. He drew back from her so slightly that Kara only barely noticed. "I shouldn't even be here, really. Besides, I don't have any desire to ride in the back of a squad car."

  "Ride in the front, then," she told him matter-of-factly, "but you've been saying you want to help, so you're coming."

  Eddie swallowed hard, but noting the determination in her face, he came along without further protest, riding in the front. Officer Garrenton drove them six blocks east to a nondescript, three-story apartment complex on the south side of the hill, with balconies facing south and west.

  An agent awaited them in the drizzle as they exited the vehicle. "Agent Nyler just sent word. Your boy's not up there."

  Craig let out a disheartened sigh. Kara moaned. She put her hands over her face and rubbed her sore eyes.

  "But he wants you to come up anyway. He found something that might belong to Zach."

  "So he was there?" Craig asked.

  "Maybe. Come take a look."

  They followed the agent into the building. Eddie hung behind for a moment, but Officer Garrenton poked a finger into his back. "You, too, Mr. Eddie," she ordered. "This is no time to be bashful."

  He caught up with them as they reached a flight of stairs. The agent took them to the third floor and down a hall to an apartment the back of which faced south. There was a balcony there just beyond the kitchen. A dozen FBI agents, most of them in armored, olive green uniforms with helmets, some with high-powered rifles slung over their shoulders, scurried about the scantly furnished apartment. A few dusted for fingerprints; others took pictures or swept the place for other clues. All of these people, even the rifles, all so we can find our son, Kara noted, grateful but overwhelmed. Maybe they did this sort of thing all the time, but to her it was surreal.

  Agent Nyler was waiting for Craig and Kara. "Does this belong to Zach?" he asked as they entered. He held up a dark green backpack.

  Kara recognized it and frowned, pursing her lips.

  "Sure looks like his," Craig confirmed in a tight voice.

  Agent Nyler unzipped it and lifted Zach's school ID tag from within it. He examined the tag, gave Craig and Kara a moment to register it, then handed it off to an agent who added it to a small collection of evidence on the kitchen counter. "I didn't want to open the backpack until you were here," he explained. "Nobody was home when we arrived, but obviously"—he waved a hand around at the barren décor—"the place isn't used much. Seemed like a strange spot to find a child's backpack." He took a deep breath. "Looks to me like this is where your son called from."

  With a gesture, he led them out onto the balcony. The Space Needle did indeed look close from here, particularly from this height, on the third floor of a building halfway up the side of the hill. And there was a small, heavily-treed park just a block away to the southeast, partially obscured by other buildings.

  "Oh, Zach," Kara groaned, taking in the view he had seen in the dim, pre-dawn light not two hours ago. Craig put an arm around her shoulders and gave them a small squeeze. She could feel his arm trembling, just as she was.

  Agent Nyler clicked his tongue. "I'd guess we missed them by an hour at the most. There's still water on the walls of the shower and in a cup by the sink. They didn't eat breakfast, that I can see—not here, anyway. We found the phone Zach called from. Someone who didn't want it to be traced powered it off, destroyed it, and threw it in the trash."

  The agent took a breath as he gazed out across the city. "We found hairs on one end of the sofa—brown, like in the picture you gave me. Zach may have spent the night lying there. They found gray hairs on the bed in the back room—an older person, I would assume a man, possibly one of the Asian fellows." As he said that, he eyed Eddie, who had stationed himself at the sliding glass door and returned his gaze nervously.

  "Any clue where they've gone?" Craig inquired.

  Agent Nyler frowned. "Not yet. An hour—they could be anywhere. But my guess is that they're still in the city. If they had intended to leave, they could have gone last night. I don't understand why they brought the boy here." He reached up to scratch behind his ear, cocking his head to the side. "It sure would be nice if we could get another tip from that anonymous caller."

  Eddie inched toward the door, but found Officer Garrenton blocking his path.

  "You can just stay right there," she advised him.

  Agent Nyler nodded to Officer Garrenton. "Thanks for bringing him, Jackie. Nicely done." His tone hardened as his eyes landed on Eddie again. "I had the dispatcher play the anonymous call for me. Imagine my surprise. I wasn't entirely certain it was your voice, but that little attempt to leave just verified it for me. So, Eddie, why don't you begin with how you knew the boy was here, and then we'll get to why you didn't tell us straight out."

  "No, thanks," Eddie declined, meeting Agent Nyler's eyes boldly now. He wasn't hiding sheepishly or trying to sneak away anymore. "I don't do self-incrimination."

  "The Fifth Amendment doesn't protect you if you're withholding evidence about another person's crime," Agent Nyler pressed him. "Either you talk right now, or I take you in as a person of interest."

  "You might get to ride in the back of my car after all," Officer Garrenton informed him with a dry smile.

  Eddie defied Agent Nyler with a glare. "You have nothing on me. A similar voice. Anybody could have made that call."

  Agent Nyler stepped nose-to-nose with Eddie; they were nearly the same height, eyes at the same level, confronting each other. "Son," he spoke in a hushed tone, "this boy you claim as your friend is out there somewhere. Now, I know you didn't have him when he called two hours ago, but somehow you knew he was here, in this apartment. Either you start explaining that to me, or you go to prison for withholding evidence and whatever else I can dig up on you. And I'm starting to get the feeling I won't have to dig very far."

  Eddie merely continued to glare at him, hardly blinking. Kara had never imagined that Eddie could be so obstinate. He had always seemed so meek.

  Agent Nyler waited several seconds before he finally broke eye contact with Eddie and looked over to Officer Garrenton. "Take him, Jackie."

  She reached to her hip and pulled out a set of handcuffs.

  Shocking herself, Kara darted between Eddie and Officer
Garrenton. "Wait!" she entreated the officer. Turning to Eddie as Officer Garrenton paused, she met his green eyes. "Eddie," she pleaded, "think of Zach. If you know where he is, please—Eddie, help us find him. I know you care about him. Tell us what you know…for Zach."

  Eddie, so defiant a moment before, seemed suddenly shaken. His eyes darted around the balcony as if seeking an escape route no one else could see. "I'll—" He gulped. "They'll put me in prison until Zach is grown up," he whispered to her. "I can't—" His eyes flicked to Craig for a moment and back to Kara.

  On impulse, trembling, she drew closer to him. "Is he in danger?" she asked in a low voice.

  Eddie drew in a deep, shuddering breath. He lifted his eyes back to Agent Nyler, who waited, facing him with arms folded. "I knew your name last night because you once investigated my father."

  Agent Nyler lifted one eyebrow. "Did I?"

  Eddie shrugged. "He knew you never had enough evidence to prove anything. But you will this time. That gray hair you found—it's his."

  "Your father has Zach?" Kara blurted out.

  Eddie nodded awkwardly.

  Craig gaped, then frowned. "Eddie, how does your father even know who Zach is?"

  "He raised Zach. Well, very loosely speaking."

  "Eddie," Agent Nyler asked, "who is your father?"

  Eddie hesitated just a moment before answering. "Dr. Bill Lerwick."