The Airnapped Child

by Sandra Ryan

  “You do look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?” she asked.

  “I think that may be possible. I’ve been on TV a lot the past couple of days.”

  She lifted her eyebrows quizzically. It was either she did not follow the news or she was a damn good actress.

  “I was entangled in the Benson baby kidnap,” he offered helpfully.

  “Oh. That was you?”

  He nodded. Her face was expressionless. He did not know what he had been expecting, pity maybe or disgust, he had not been prepared for her being expressionless.

  “Before we begin, I’d like to know how you became aware of us. My assistants tell me I have to obtain information like that so they could put it up on the firm’s website. So, please indulge me, will you?” she gave him the first smile since he came in.

  “A friend recommended you.” There was no point telling her that the friend was also his ex.

  “Who is this friend, if you do not mind sharing, that is?” She got out a pen and a notebook and began to write. “I would love to personally send my appreciation personally.”

  “Jewel Brooke. She said you helped her out on a case not so long ago.

  Her eyes lit up with recognition at the mention of the name.

  “Right! I remember how I know you now. She had hired me to help her out with something regarding you.”

  She was careful not to mention explicitly what Jewel had hired her to do. Again, Samuel did not bother informing her that she was aware of what their ‘business’ had been.

  “How is she these days anyway?”

  “She is fine. She sends her regards.”

  Holly nodded. Her face turned serious soon after that.

  “Before we go straight into business, I would love to make a few things clear. First, I do not deal well with dishonesty. If, for whatever reason, you feel you cannot be totally honest with me regarding the subject for which you hired me, I would sincerely advice that we not even bother in the first place. Oh, and if you are keeping anything from me I would find out about it. I mean, I am a private investigator after all.” She gave a wry smile.

  He nodded, staring frankly at her.

  “Another thing, I would try my best to maintain a professional air at every point. I would appreciate if you did the same.” He nodded again and she continued. She did not seem to be bothered by the fact that he spoke so little.

  “I can assure you that I would not be swayed by whatever public sentiments that exist at this point. If you hire me, you can trust that I would be in your corner for the duration of our arrangement. Damn, I am beginning to sound like I am making a pitch to you. I must be listening to my assistants a lot more than I care to admit.”

  It was his turn to smile. He liked her already.

  “That is all. Do you have any questions? Good, let’s get right to it,” she said when he indicated that he hadn’t any questions.

  “I assume that the help you need would be in connection with your involvement, or non-involvement with the missing baby, right?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “What exactly is the situation?”

  “You are aware that a baby disappeared on board a flight from Trinidad to JFK a few weeks ago?”

  She nodded. She could remember the news making headlines, mostly because the missing child’s father was really wealthy and the unusual nature of the disappearance mid-flight. She vaguely remembered the pale face of the child’s mother when she was interviewed on TV.

  Holly’s arms were folded across her chest. She fixed Samuel with a stare.

  “I was on that flight. Ever since I came back, I’ve had the distinct feeling that the police consider me to be the prime suspect in the kidnap.”

  “How did you come to this conclusion? Weren’t there over a hundred and twenty passengers on that flight?”

  “There were. However, the past couple of days a policeman had been tailing me whenever I left the house. Also, reporters are camped outside of my house. My face is plastered on every major news network. I mean, the police obviously leaked my identity to the press. And why would they do that except that they considered me a suspect in the case.”

  She nodded in understanding.

  “Why would they single you out as a suspect?” she had resumed jotting notes. When he did not respond she lifted her eyes and stared at him.

  “Is everything alright, Mr. Clark? Like I said earlier, if I am going to help you I would need all the pieces of information. So, was there any particular reason why the police would single you out of all of the other passengers?”

  “I have a record,” he answered finally. “But that was a long time ago, and I did time.” She gave no indication of what she thought of this new piece of information.

  “What you were charged with?”

  “Burglary. It had nothing to do with kidnapping or violence of any sort.”

  “Your prior crimes now are of little concern to me at this point. But I am going to be asking you just once, Mr. Clark, did you take that baby? Or do you by any chance have anything to do with that boy’s disappearance?”

  Ordinarily, he would have been offended by anyone asking him that question, but the frank way she had asked him the question told him that it was not borne out of spite.

  “I do not. I swear it to you Ms. Hackett.”

  She nodded, again, giving no indication whether she believed him or not.

  “So, I’m guessing that you want us to establish the fact that you had nothing to do with the bay’s disappearance? Clear your name?”

  “Not exactly that. Ms. Hackett, I need you to find that baby.”

  **********

  Holly stared at the man sitting right in front of her. She took pride in the fact that she was rarely ever blindsided; she had the uncanny ability to always anticipate what the other party was going to say at any point, but nothing had prepared her for what Samuel had just requested.

  “To be clear, you want me to just find the baby?”

  “No, I want you to both find the baby as well as establish that I had nothing to do with the bay’s disappearance,” he replied.

  “Okay, I understand that both are not mutually exclusive. I do think that if we find the child, we would by extension be clearing your name, however, what is it to you? I think we would be faster and more efficient if we focused just on clearing your name and leave the rescue of the lost child to the police.”

  He shook his head vigorously.

  “Ms. Hackett, I want us to find that child. I feel like I owe that to him, or to his mother, I’m not sure why or how. I don’t think I can explain it.

  Holly’s eyes were trained on him. His hands were shaking and appeared sweaty. He was looking at her in such a piteous way that she was almost moved by his sincerity. She had to remind herself to detach herself from the case.

  “In any case, it has been days now, the police have not been able to come up with any credible lead. If they had, we would have heard of it, considering all the noise that is being made over the issue right now. I mean, it would hurt to help solve the case now, would it?”

  Holly show not to answer. Instead she asked a question of her own.

  “What did you travel to Trinidad for?”

  “I was there to visit my sister and her family.” He paused. She knew he wanted to add something else so she let him have the time that he needed. “It was rough when I went away. My sister was the only one who kept in touch with me while I was in prison. I can’t imagine the toll this must be taking on her right now.”

  “What is your source of income?”

  “I work at the local diner. I am a manager there. Was, anyway. I can’t imagine that my boss would want to retain me with all that is going on right now. I haven’t been at work for the past two weeks, since the reporters started camping at my doorstep.”

  “So there isn’t any huge deposit in your account or any new account in the Cayman Islands with your name on it?”

  “None,” he r
eplied.

  “Did you know the Mr. or Mrs. Benson prior to this time?”

  “No.”

  “Did you have any contact with the woman and her child during the course of the flight?”

  “No. Sure I saw her a couple of times but we never interacted.”

  “So let’s go over this again: you were at Trinidad to see your sister, on your way back you saw the woman and the child but you did not interact with either of them. You two were co-passengers. The baby gets missing and the police somehow get the idea that you had a hand in the disappearance of the child. Is that correct?’

  “Yes.”

  ‘Okay, that would be all for now then.” She folded her notebook and stowed it away in a drawer.

  “So, what now? Are you going to take the case?” he was biting his lips and wringing his hands like a child.

  “I do not know yet. I would have to verify a few things then I’d get back to you. I understand the sensitivity of this particular situation so I would try as much as possible to get back to you before the end of today.”

  He nodded and got up from his seat.

  “About the reporters, would you like me to take out an injunction against them? I’m pretty sure what they are doing is illegal and a judge could grant a restraining order against them.”

  “Please do.” His voice came out tiny, as though he was forcing the words out through an opening that was too small.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CROSSROADS

  It was when Samuel left the office that Holly noticed the cold. How the hell had he been surviving with the air conditioner turned on so high? She got up and turned the entire thing off. She glanced at the notes she had made during the meeting, there wasn’t much there. The case seemed pretty straight forward, yet something nagged at her. She could not place what it was; perhaps it was Samuel and how pathetic he looked, or the fact that a missing child was thrown into the mix. Who the hell kidnaps a child off of an airplane anyway? How is that possible to pull off?

  She was not sure if he had been telling her the truth regarding his involvement in the whole saga. In her experience, she had met so many clients who were either too ashamed to tell her everything regarding the case or who just held back because they wanted to. She desperately wanted what Samuel was saying to be the truth. But then again, how was it possible that the police were building their case just based on that lone crime he had committed, for which he had even done time? It was either they were either desperate or clutching at straws, in the case of which Samuel would be right. Or maybe they had some other information which Samuel was not aware of or which he was not letting on. She had to find a way to verify his claims, but first she needed a drink. She pressed the intercom on her desk.

  “Hello, Judith. Could I get a glass of scotch please?”

  “Right away, Holly.”

  In a few minutes she was inside the office with the bottle of glass and a glass.

  “I figured you might need more than a glass,” Judith stated matter of fact. Holly smiled her thanks.

  “How did it go?”

  “Depends. I’m not sure if we are going to take the case yet.” Judith nodded. She knew better than to pry. Holly would let them in the moment she decided to take the case.

  “But what do you think of Mr. Clark’s character? Do you think he has it in him to pull off something like that?”

  “I’m not sure. You are the expert.” She laughed uneasily. “He does have some rotten luck though. Imagine being in a plane where a crime gets committed, and being the only one on a plane with a criminal record. Things are not looking good for him.”

  Holly gulped down the scotch and poured herself another. It wasn’t going to be an easy one for Samuel. The case seemed pretty straight forward, but she knew it was cases like this that gave the most challenges, springing up surprises along the way.

  “Is Olga here yet?” Olga was the other assistant.

  “She isn’t. She called to say she had a flat tire.”

  “That is the third time this month. She might soon find herself without a job at this rate.” Judith smiled. She had been threatening to fire Olga for so long that none of them took her seriously anymore. Holly did not know it, but Olga was exactly like her; impulsive, wild and really sharp.

  “Thank you,” she said when she was done. Judith carried the items back to the outer office. Holly made it a point not to have alcohol inside her office.

  “Judith, could you place a call to Mark for me?”

  She saw Judith hesitate by the door, then answer, “I would do just that.”

  *******

  Mark Black's desk at the NYPD was at the end of the hallway, close to the police chief's office, thus he was always careful to make sure that it appeared that he was doing something at every point, to prevent the chief from barging out of his office to meet him idle.

  On that particular day, he was playing solitaire on his laptop, while keeping an eye on the chief's door. The man had become especially salty since the big guys from the FBI showed up to take over the Benson baby case. It was nobody's fault that they had had no break in the case, but he acted as though they were to blame and drove everyone of the police officers like he was a slave master and they were his slaves. He had a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas, and everybody knew that he was really just trying to prove a point to the FBI. This was usually the case, it was as though there was an ongoing battle for supremacy, some sort of pissing contest between the chief and Kyle Burns. Meanwhile, Burns and his team were packed off to the other side of the room while they watched everything from their vantage point. When he phone started ringing and he saw that the call was from Holly Hackett, he stepped out into the hallway in order to gain privacy.

  "Hello, hot stuff. How are you doing today?"

  "Are you sure you are calling the right number, Holly? I do remember that the last time we spoke you called me a filthy swine fit for the gutters." He said.

  "Oh, come on Mark, you cannot hold a girl to something she said under the influence."

  He gave a small chuckle. "But you aren't like other girls now are you Holly? And I'm sure you had not been drunk."

  She sighed. He could imagine her lying on the couch in her office. That was where they had their last fight. Holly was his on again, off again girlfriend. Sometimes he had the feeling that she only strung him along because he worked with the police department and she always needed information from the department for most of her cases and thus always needed his help.

  "I did have a right to be angry. I mean, you fed more wrong information. My client almost went to jail because of that!"

  "And I apologized, didn't I? It was a mix up. "

  She sighed.

  "Never mind. That is all in the past right now. How are you?"

  "I'm very good. Still single," he replied.

  She ignored this last bit and plowed on.

  "How is work down at the station? I should come down there one of these days so I could pay the good chief a courtesy visit."

  "We are fine here. There isn't much happening at this point. I'm sure the chief would be glad to see you. He always did fancy you. You always had a calming effect on him."

  "Is he on the war path again these days? What tiled him up?" She asked amid laughter.

  "You know, normal office matters. Nothing serious," Mark answered evasively.

  "Well, you are not exactly chatty this morning are you?"

  "It comes with the job," he answered, and she roared in laughter.

  "I do need your help with an ongoing case," she said when the laughter died down. "I have a client who may be involved in the Benson baby's disappearance."

  "And here I thought that you called to check up on me and maybe even invite me out to dinner. Not fair, Holly."

  "Oh, come on mark. Don't be like that. I am currently swamped with work, but I would certainly find time for us to hang out really soon. Now please help me with this case, please?"

  "What do you want
to know?" He asked with a sigh.

  "Everything. I want to know if there are any leads, if you are pursuing any suspect. If anyone has been arrested? All of it." He could hear the scratch of pen on paper and he realized that her pen was poised over a paper, ready to begin scribbling as soon as he began speaking.

  "I am not at liberty to tell you much. And in any case, there isn't much to tell."

  "Oh, come on, Mark. I don't have to beg do I?"

  "I have a couple of things I would like you to beg for, my dear Holly, but information is not one of them. Really there isn't much to tell," he replied rather glibly.

  "Do you have a suspect?"

  "Sort of."

  "What do you mean by 'sort of'?" She asked.

  "We have a suspect we are considering. But there isn't anything concrete right now."

  "Then why hasn't an arrest been made?" She asked and he kept mum. "Right. You guys do not have enough evidence to tie him to the case do you?"

  He still did not respond.

  "Is there a possibility that I could get the identity of this suspect?"

  "You know I cannot disclose that to you, Holly."

  "Just tell me, is it that guy that every major news network is touting as the prime suspect, is that him?"

  "Again, Holly, you know I cannot tell you anything beyond what I have already disclosed."

  "I'll take that as a Yes then."

  "You know what; I have to get off the phone right now. The chief might step out of the office to find my desk vacant."

  "So you are not at your desk right now?"

  "No. I'm in the hallway. Why do you ask?"

  "No reason," she replied a little too cheerfully. "I just wanted to know is all."

  He didn't know what to make of her new chirpy tone. But then he decided to let it go.

  "So, when are we going to grab that drink you promised? You are always up for a drink if I remember right."

  "I will have to look at my itinerary and get back to you. I'll call you." She finished.

  He knew she was not going to call. He was sure the next time she would call him again would be whenever she needed something else.