The Kidnapping
Page 1
The Kidnapping
César Costa
Translated by Bianca B. Rosa
“The Kidnapping”
Written By César Costa
Copyright © 2019 César Costa
All rights reserved
Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.
www.babelcube.com
Translated by Bianca B. Rosa
Cover Design © 2019 César Costa
“Babelcube Books” and “Babelcube” are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
The Kidnapping
Chapter 1 – The Kidnapping
Chapter 2 – The Youngster Detective
Chapter 3 – An Eyewitness
Chapter 4 – The First Searches
Chapter 5 - Henrich
Chapter 6 – A Lot to Do
Chapter 7 – The Captivity
Chapter 8 – The Deputy’s Case
Chapter 9 – A Day Full of Emotions
Chapter 10 – So Close to the Truth
Chapter 11 – In a Dark Basement
Chapter 12 – The Doctor’s Secretary
The Kidnapping
An Adventure of Detective Carolina Mendonza
César Costa
1st Edition
CopyRight © 2018 by César Costa
All rights reserved
http://www.cesarcosta.com.br
Edition
César Costa
Cape, Revision and Layout
César Costa
Translation and Grammatical Revision
Bianca B. Rosa
Digital Edition
AKNOWLEDGEMETS
A thanks to my family and friends that always put up with me.
— César Costa
DEDICATION
To all people who, somehow, encouraged
and supported me on my path and on my work.
— César Costa
SUMMARY
Chapter 1 – The Kidnapping
Chapter 2 – The Detective Youngster
Chapter 3 – An Eyewitness
Chapter 4 – The First Searches
Chapter 5 - Henrich
Chapter 6 – A Lot To Do
Chapter 7 – The Captivity
Chapter 8 – The Deputy's Case
Chapter 9 – A Day Full of Emotions
Chapter 10 – So Close to the Truth
Chapter 11 – In a Dark Basement
Chapter 12 – The Doctor's Secretary
Chapter 1 – The Kidnapping
The news was on every media. The kidnapping has been going for four days already. The police waited for the ruffians' first contact, but it never happened. The kidnapped girl's parents couldn't take the lack of information anymore and pleaded daily on newspapers and over the television, begging they released their daughter. All police of Rio de Janeiro were engaged in searching the place of captivity. Deputy Mendonza personally took over the investigation. The case caused a lot of social commotion and the authorities were breathing on his neck already, expecting a swift solution.
"Yes, sir, I know. The appropriate measures have already been taken. Secretary, it's not necessary to remind me how important is this case, you're well aware that I have a personal interest on this subject. Yes, sir, as soon as news arrive."
Mendonza turned off the call, let out a suffering sigh and placed the mobile inside his back pockets.
He sat for a while to sort out his thoughts. The paperwork on his desk seemed endless. He just wanted everything to disappear, that none of that had happened. The Deputy was exhausted. In the last three days he couldn't sleep more than four hours each night. He looked five years older after all the angst lived in those never-ending moments. He couldn't take it anymore. If not for Fontes' help, he'd been overtaken by despair by now.
Deputy Mendonza brushed the sweat off his brow, stood up and headed to the station's toilet. He looked at the mirror and almost didn't recognize himself. He was pale and haggard. But the worst of all was that he didn’t know how many more days that martyrdom would last. He remembered the girl in captivity, imagined how much she could be suffering at that very moment and felt ashamed of his own selfishness. He tried to keep away from his head all the cruel things she could be undergoing, it was too much for his very tired mind. He needed to keep going at any cost and settle the issue as fast as possible. He sat on a toilet with its lid still shut and rested his elbows on the thighs. He didn’t even notice when Fontes entered the bathroom.
“Deputy?” the man called, cautiously.
Mendonza looked up, despondent.
“Ah! Hello, Fontes. Please tell me we have some news.” He begged.
“I’m sorry, Deputy. Not even a call or a note for ransom.”
“This doesn’t make any sense...”
“What’s the point in kidnapping someone and not demand for a ransom?” his friend scratched the scalp.
“What’s the point in kidnapping someone?” the Deputy patched the question.
“Well, yeah, but we can’t give up, I know we’ll find her alive.”
“But at what price, Fontes? What types of malignancy she went through? Is there worth living with so such an enormous trauma?” Mendonza punched the toilet stall.
“Let’s not give in to despair, sir, let’s work with the best outcome in mind.”
“To serve and protect... What kind of world do we live in, Fontes?”
“A world where we need to be strong and help the innocent.”
Mendonza stared at the and, for a brief second, managed a smile. He stood up, patted the detective and also his friend on the back, and returned to office, to his endless paperwork and unsolved case.
Chapter 2 – The Youngster Detective
It was just another normal day for Carolina Mendonza. After a dull session of two periods of Physics, one of Literature and other two of Geography, all she could think about was going home and sleep. Before that, however, she couldn’t not visit the café at the street corner and buy some ice cream with her friends Isabela, Nicole and Camile. She met the girls when classes were over and they walked lively and noisily towards the store.
“Mr. Ferreira, gimme one vanilla ice!” asked Carolina.
“For me and Nick it’s strawberry, Mr. Ferreira.” said Isabela.
“What about you, Camile, which flavor?” Carolina asked merrily.
“Hm... I don’t really want anything today, I guess.”
“What?!” asked all at the same time.
“Wait, let me check if she’s sick.” said Nicole as she placed a hand on her friend’s forehead.
And then all of them burst into laughter, even Camile.
“Nothing of that, you fools. I just went to the dentist to treat a channel. I was supposed to go back the day before yesterday to finish up, but the dude disappeared. Mom tried an appointment with another, but it’s been difficult. Talk about full agenda job, this odontology thing.
“Wait, what do you mean? The dentist disappeared?” asked a very confused Isabela.
“Exactly!”
“Disappeared as in went somewhere without telling anyone, or disappeared for real?” Nicole wanted to know.
“Disappeared for real, girls. Nobody knows where is, not even his secretary, nobody.”
“Hmm... This sounds like a case for Super Carolina, the youngster detective” joked Isabela, laughing.
“Come on, guys, this is serious. The man just vanished and you’re joking?!” Carolina yelled, annoyed.
“Ah! Carolina, the dude must have traveled to some beach to rest for a few days, seriously, get over it!” said Camile.
“The man is a professional, at least he’d tell his secre
tary. This is too weird.” Murmured the young detective.
“How about you investigate it, Carolina?” asked Isabela.
“I don’t know, my uncle has been busy and by myself is kind of very hard. Also, I’ve got him involved in enough trouble, already.”
“Ah, but it always worked out fine in the end. Give it a try! My toothache is killing me.” insisted Camile.
“... Alright, but I’m not bugging my uncle. I’ll investigate whatever I can by myself.” And the girl finished the discussion.
After the ice cream, Camile gave the clinic’s address to Carolina, the telephone number and the name of the dentist. Said she should talk to his secretary, an olive-skinned woman with not the best attitude. The amateur detective took note of everything in her little paper block, but she didn’t really expect to find out the reason behind the dentist’s disappearance, even more without the help of her uncle, who had been so busy these last few days. The girl headed home and, after a delicious lunch prepared by her mother, collected herself in her bedroom to rest and plan out her brand-new mission.
After resting for about two hours, the girl stood up and powered up her pink skinned notebook. Browsing the internet, she found the online list of telephones of Rio de Janeiro and looked for the dentist’s name. And like that, she discovered the address of her new target. As she thought, the man lived in a noble neighborhood of the city. Being a dentist was a very profitable profession, she concluded.
Researching some more, she found the site of the famous clinic of doctor Herminio Paschoal. In a big picture, he blinded everyone with a smile brighter than a white shirt fresh out of the store. Browsing some more, she found the innumerous services he offered, from simple cavities treatment to the most modern dental implants, besides piercings all types of dental fashion.
Again, the detective was impressed and thought the dentist was too much of a pro to just go and vanish without some notification. His clients were powerful people, rich, luxurious and prone to throwing fits. It was career suicide to disappear just because. Carolina decided to go back on her decision and bother her uncle just a bit. She grabbed her cellphone a punched the Deputy’s number.
“Hello, uncle Victor? It’s Carolina.”
“Hey, Carolina, how are you?” answered the officer on the other side of the line.
“I’m fine, uncle. Look, I know you’ve been super busy and didn’t want to bother you, but do you know if there’s a record of a missing dentist called Herminio Paschoal?”
“Herminio Paschoal? Hum... Not that I remember, Carolina, but I’ll have to check. I’ll pass you on to Paula, the one responsible for that, and she’ll answer you.
“Ok, uncle, thank you. And do your best at work!”
“Alright, Carol, thanks. Good afternoon to you.
Once the brief exchange was over, the Deputy transferred the call to Mrs. Paula who verified the records and informed the youngster detective there were no occurrences with the dentist’s name. The girl thanked her and ended the call. Grabbing one box of her favorite chocolates, she went back to the internet and looked up Herminio Paschoal.
She ended up in his social media, saw his pictures with a beautiful girlfriend. She wanted to know who was the woman. Denise de Moraes Bastos, she found out. Once again, the online telephone list was of great help and soon Carolina took note of the woman’s address. She researched a little bit more and also found Denise’s blog, which she read for a few minutes.
‘How come people give away free extremely personal information all over the internet.’ Thought Carolina. It’s super easy to know almost everything about someone’s life, even her most intimate feelings, like in Denise’s case, who wrote in her blog about the end of her relationship with Herminio and her consternation about it. Thinking about that, the detective quickly took some minutes to do in her own social media profile, delete some more personal pictures, block albums and her feed to unknown people.
Back to her investigative work, she verified which of the dentist’s contacts posted more messages and so concluded some of them were his closest friends. Once again, her research offered her precise information about people he never heard about.
The night approached, and after an afternoon spent on research, Carolina thought the first day very fruitful. She got precious data about the dentist, his girlfriend and half a dozen of close friends, which she intended to visit the next few days. Tired, the young detective gave up on more investigation, placed the notebook on her desk and laid down. While she slept, someone somewhere in Rio de Janeiro accessed her profile in a random social network and hacked his way into her computer, seeing her last entries and done searches.
Chapter 3 – An Eyewitness
The police station was very one huge frenzy. Police officers ran all over the place. Besides the big case Deputy Mendonza had in his hands, there was still the daily happenings like robberies, muggings, traffics accidents, and others. Barely anyone noticed a lean man, with wide and spooked black eyes, black hair, and about one meter and sixty-five centimeters in height, walking awkwardly in the entrance hall of the station. The young man approached an officer at the reception desk and said with a barely audible voice. “I want to talk to the one responsible for the kidnapping case.”
“Excuse me, lad?” Asked the officer.
“The kidnapping. The one in the TVs and newspaper. I want to talk to the leader.” Said the man even more shyly.
“And what would be the reason for the meeting?” The officer sounded quite disdainful.
“I saw something. I think it’s related to the case.”
The officer didn’t seem likely to cooperate, but all of them received a severe command that should be immediately passed directly to Deputy Mendonza, and the officer was not keen on getting reprimanded because he neglected something that could be important.
“Please, wait here. Do not leave this desk.”
“Thanks.”
The officer headed towards the Deputy’s office, who was in a meeting with a few agents and investigators. He knocked. Mendonza signaled he waited and came back later. The subordinate rolled his eyes and suddenly came in. Everyone turned towards the noise source and Mendonza snapped. “What’s the meaning of this? Officer...”
“Andre Cunha, sir. Excuse me for disturbing, but you...”
“Didn’t signal you to come back later?!”
“Yes, Deputy, but you also said that any information about the kidnapping should immediately be brought to you, sir.”
Mendonza’s countenance changed.
“Information? Of what nature?” he asked.
“A lad says he saw something related to the case.”
“What? Where is he?’
“In the hall, sir.”
“Bring him, immediately!” ordered Mendonza.
“Want me to guide him towards the questioning room?”
“No, bring him here! Sires, dispensed.” He said to the presents.
The officer from the reception desk headed back again to building’s entrance. However, upon arriving, he couldn’t find the lean man that should have been waiting there. Andre Cunha despaired; he couldn’t have lost the sole lead that came to light since the day the girl disappeared. He circled the hallways distressed, asking everyone if they’d seen the lad with that description. His neck was on the line, the Deputy must’ve been impatient in his office. When he had lost all hope, Cunha saw him. There was the lad, coming out the male WC. A sense of relief overcame his body. He approached the lad, saying harshly “Didn’t I tell you to not move away from the desk?”
“Yes, but I needed to use the toilet. I was just getting back, I swear!” the young man flinched, startled.
“It’s alright, come with me. Deputy Mendonza’ll welcome you.”
Grabbing the man’s arm, the officer led him towards the place Mendonza expected him.
Chapter 4 – The First Searches
The alarm clock sounded. It was six am and Carolina got up disgruntled like every other
morning. She eyed her notebook still open and powered, and saw a little window from the instantaneous message program blinking on her screen and got curious. She approached the desk and opened it. There was a mansage from someone she didn’t know that simply said ‘Hello!’ Carolina didn’t get it, rubbed her still sleepy eyes, scratched her head and finally closed the chat window and the also the notebook. Must’ve been a mistake, she thought. The young detective rushed to the bathroom, eager to relieve herself. Then, got into the shower where she’d stay for exactly 15 minutes. Once out the bathroom, put on her uniform, went back into her bathroom, brushed her teeth, then headed to the kitchen where she drank a glass of milk before going out, since she didn’t usually eat breakfast, especially when she had a case in her head to resolve. Once at school, soon she was dragged away by her friends.
“Hey, Carolina, any news?” asked Camile.
“Down, girls, that’s not how it works!”
“Do you know what you gonna do?” it was Isabela’s turn to ask.
“Well, I browsed the internet a lot. I have an idea of where to start, but rest assured, as soon as I find something, I’ll tell you. Come on, let’s go to class, the chime’s about to sound.
The hours of class were distressing. Carolina was anxious to go out once more and begin her searches to figure out another mystery. In the last period, of Spanish, she didn’t even pay attention to the incessant explanations about the verb hacer given by her teacher. When the chime signaled the end of classes, the girl grabbed her bag, already zipped up with everything inside, and darted to the exit intending to get out of school as fast as possible. Once outside, the amateur detective certified that none of her friends had followed her. Accelerating her pace, she headed to a different eatery from the one she usually visited with the girls.
There, she got her cellphone and called her mother, notifying her she wouldn’t eat lunch at home because she had a school project to finish. Which was not entirely a lie. Taking her paper block and checked the clinic’s address, the first place she’d visit. After some time inside the bus, Carolina got off and walked to the place indicated by Camile. She found herself facing a building filled to the brim with offices and medical clinics. She entered the building and, inside the elevator, she pressed the button for the 4th floor. She looked for the room number 407 and found Herminio Paschoal’s clinic. She entered, and right at the reception desk was the dentist’s young secretary.