by Ella White
Chief Miles cursed, and Vickie raised an eyebrow. “That’s pretty suspicious. When was his last post?”
“Three days ago,” Rachel informed. “After Dr. Samson disappeared.”
“That raises a red flag in my book,” Susan declared. “What did you say his last name was?”
“Park,” Rachel repeated. “Christopher Park. His previous profiles all have different home locations, so we can’t use that to tell where he is.”
“Christopher Park.” Based on her tone, Vickie thought the Chief was writing the name down. “Okay, that’s something at least. I’m going to check all the schools Dr. Samson has lectured at and see which one Mr. Park has attended.”
Chief Miles immediately hung up the phone, leaving Vickie and Rachel to listen to the dial tone on the phone. They looked at each other, both wearing irritated expressions on their faces.
“Well that was rude,” Rachel commented.
Vickie just shook her head. “That’s Susan Miles’ for you. I bet you anything she’ll call back with some new information in the next few minutes.”
“I won’t take that bet. I believe you.”
As they waited for Susan to call back, Vickie returned to examining Rachel’s candles. “Are these beeswax?”
“No, it’s a palm wax…”
Rachel went on and on, explaining the process of candle-making, while Tyler sauntered over to the bowl with his deworming medication in it. He sniffed the pill before grabbing it with his teeth, ground it up with his teeth, and swallowed it. He gave a disgusted look, but finished eating the pill. Rachel gasped and pointed to him.
“Mom! Tyler just ate his pill!”
Vickie turned and saw that, sure enough, her cat had eaten his medication.
“Good job, Tyler!” Vickie picked him up and gave him a tight hug. “That’s a good kitty!”
Tyler meowed indignantly. He just finished grooming his fur! His human released him and he immediately began licking his paws again. now he had to start all over!
“What made him take it now and not before?” Rachel wondered.
“I don’t know.” Vickie scratched her chin. “What’s different now compared to then?”
“Maybe…no.”
“What?”
“About Gerard Samson’s disappearance…I was thinking Tyler was trying to tell us we were on the wrong track,” Rachel explained. “You know, how we thought it was Bridgette or Chief Miles thought it was Gwen for a long time. He didn’t want to take his pill because he thought we were being stupid.”
“And he took it now because we’re turning our attention to Chris Park instead?” Vickie shrugged. “I guess that’s possible. Tyler is one of the smartest cats I’ve ever met.”
Tyler stopped grooming for a moment to look at her, as if saying “Of course I’m the smartest cat.”
“But how would Tyler even know who the suspects are?”
“I have no idea, but stranger things have happened.”
“You do realize we’re talking about a cat knowing more about a mystery than either of us?”
“Oh no, my literature knowledge is useless in the face of the cat’s insight!”
The women laughed as Tyler continued to groom. He couldn’t believe his humans were so silly sometimes.
Chapter 8
It was too bad Rachel didn’t take the bet her mother made. To Vickie’s surprise, she didn’t hear back from Chief Miles almost all day. Vickie went to the café and went about her normal routine, waiting with her phone next to her the entire time as she waited and waited for news about Chris Park. As it was getting closer and closer to closing time for the Sip and Read Café, Vickie was beginning to wonder if she was going to get any news at all that day.
Rachel was no more patient. She didn’t want to miss a minute of the investigation, if she could help it, so she was nearly inseparable from her mother for most of the day. As a result Rachel spent all her time sitting at one of the café’s tables, staring at her computer. She kept an eye on all of Chris’ social media pages, which was much more easily done now that she had a last name to search for.
It turned out Chris wasted a lot of time online. He had at least six separate websites, mostly about biology, but there were also conspiracy-theory sites regarding the government, spying and mind control. Rachel cocked an eyebrow at some of the so-called “evidence” he used to incriminate various politicians.
“Microchips implanted under dogs’ skin during routine check-ups are, in fact, spying mechanisms for the FBI.” Vickie raised her head as her daughter read the blog. “These devices are able hear through the skin and transfer the recording to a secret base underneath government buildings.”
“Microchips in dogs?” Vickie echoed. “For government spying? Really?”
“Apparently so.” Rachel continued reading. “That theory’s not as bad as the one that claims they insert a mind control chip when you donate blood.”
“Is there anything remotely sane on his websites?”
“Oh there’s some, but it’s buried by so much nonsense it’s nearly impossible to find.” Rachel rubbed her eyes. She had been staring at her screen for too long. “There’s this one about a pizza place and how good it is. He says he should stock up on it for when the nuclear apocalypse happens.”
“I don’t think I want to know,” Vickie commented as she continued to clear the tables. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and stared at it. Closing time was almost upon them, and Susan still hadn’t gotten back to her about Chris Park. “Maybe something happened? Maybe Chief Miles had to run off to catch a criminal and just hasn’t had time to address the Chris Park issue?”
“The police don’t have a lot to do around here.” Carriage Cove was not a place crime tended to occur often. “What would keep her busy enough to keep her from this case?”
“Maybe she’s waiting for another lead…”
“I doubt it. The Chief always makes sure she doesn’t leave loose ends…you know that.” Rachel closed her laptop and stood, looking around the otherwise empty café. “I think she’s working on it and hasn’t had the chance to get back to us.”
“What if she doesn’t return my calls? I’ve left three messages.”
“Three? Mom, isn’t that a bit excessive?”
“I want to know what’s going on!”
“She’ll let you know. When has Chief Miles kept you in the dark before?”
“…Not very often.”
“So stop worrying about it,” Rachel insisted. “She’ll call when she has news…or when she needs our help, whichever comes first.”
As if on cue, Susan Miles stomped through the café doors. Her head spun as she searched for Vickie, and grinned slightly when she spotted the former professor. She strolled over and slammed her hands on the table. Vickie and Rachel jumped at the sound and stared at the Chief. Did something horrible happen?
“I should hire both of you as private detectives.”
Vickie and Rachel glanced at each other for a second before the latter spoke. “I take it you found out something about Chris Park?”
“I certainly have.” Susan straightened up. “He used to go to school at Saint Stephanie University in Ohio. He was a biology student there, and attended every lecture Gerard Samson gave, even if he wasn’t in the class.”
“So he was a dedicated student.” Vickie shrugged. “I had plenty of students attend classes I taught, even if they weren’t enrolled.”
“Mr. Park’s professors thought that too,” Susan confirmed. “But there have also been police reports of Mr. Parks following Dr. Samson around even when they weren’t in class. He’s followed Dr. Samson all over the country, attending every lecture and interview.”
“Sounds more like a stalker than a devoted student, if you ask me,” Rachel commented.
“I agree. His dedication to Dr. Samson’s teachings seems to have turned a little less innocent.”
“Why didn’t we see him in the internet footage?” Vickie won
dered out loud.
“Maybe he disguised himself?” Rachel reasoned. “If Gerard Samson didn’t want him following him around, he probably warned security about someone who looks like Chris.”
“So he needed to look like someone else.” Susan gave a jerky nod. “Makes perfect sense.”
“I guess that means he’s followed Dr. Samson all the way here.” Vickie took off her apron, folded it and put it on the counter. “Have you had any luck finding him?”
“I have officers out searching for him now.” Chief Miles turned to Rachel. “Any chance location sharing has been started again on the blog?”
Rachel shook her head. “No dice. He’s still anonymous, as far as location goes.”
“Maybe we don’t need to look for his exact location,” Vickie theorized, and the other women looked at her. “Maybe we need to find an in-between.”
“Like what?”
“Like a pizza place he likes.”
Rachel’s eyes widened at her mother’s words and she quickly returned to her laptop.
Susan watched in confusion. “What’s this about pizza?”
“Chris posted about a pizza place he likes,” Vickie answered. “If he orders delivery, we could ask them where he’s staying.”
“Or I can have one of my techs trace the call,” Susan stated. “Either way, we can find him.”
“Here it is.” Rachel pointed to the computer screen. “Millennium Pizza. It’s in Wolford.”
“That’s only an hour away.” Susan immediately pulled out her phone. “Rachel, can you get me the address? I’m calling my phone tech to tell him to meet us there.”
In no time at all, Vickie and Rachel found themselves in the backseat of Chief Miles’ police car, heading to Millennium Pizza in Wolford. Susan had her sirens on so she could get there as quickly as possible. As a result, mother and daughter were gripping the edge of their seats as the Chief of Police sped down the highway.
“Do you really need to drive this fast?” Vickie shouted.
“There’s no time to waste,” Susan argued. “In every missing person’s case, the chances of finding the person drops significantly after the first twenty-four hours, and it’s been long after that now.”
Three more police vehicles joined them as they made their way to the next town over, and it wasn’t long after that when they arrived at Millennium Pizza. It was a pretty standard pizza place, although there were numerous neon lights all over the place. Vickie supposed it was an attempt to make the place look like it came out of a science fiction book, but it was much too gaudy to be very effective. Then again, Vickie could be completely wrong and it was meant to represent something else, but she couldn’t tell what that might be.
“You don’t need to over-analyze everything, Mom.”
Vickie looked at Rachel. “What?”
“I recognize that face,” Rachel responded. “You’re trying to place what book this place is supposed to be from.”
“You can tell that from my face?” Vickie asked.
“You’re my mom, of course I can.” Rachel glanced around the restaurant. “I really hope this place isn’t based on a book, and if it is, that I never read it.”
“I don’t think it is.”
“How can I help you, ladies?” One of the servers at the front counter announced, trying to break into their conversation before his boss heard their opinion on the pizzeria’s decorations.
“I’m Chief Susan Miles, of the Carriage Cove PD.” Susan showed him her badge and introduced the other officers. “And these are Vickie and Rachel Matheson, consultants of mine. I need to ask you a few questions.”
“Is everything all right, Chief?” the boy asked. “Maybe I should get the manager?”
“Yes, please.”
The manager turned out to be a slightly older man named Matthew Cordone. He looked at each person with narrowed brown eyes before he finally addressed Chief Miles.
“Is everything all right?” he inquired. “What can I do for you?”
Susan flashed her badge again. “I’m Chief Miles of Carriage Cove PD. I need to ask you some questions about a recent customer of yours. A man by the name of Christopher Park.”
“I remember him. He came in a few days ago,” Matthew reported, glancing at his employees. “What did he order?”
“What he ordered doesn’t matter,” Susan interrupted. “When exactly did he come?
The manager went over to one of the cash registers and pulled out a few receipts. As he laid them out on the counter, Vickie could see they dated back to the beginning of the week. She frowned.
“You don’t get many customers, do you?” she questioned.
“Most of them are older people, and they mostly pay in cash,” Matthew explained. “We don’t bother to keep those receipts.”
Vickie wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Wouldn’t they need that information for taxes?
This never came up in conversation. Chief Miles looked over the receipts with Matthew until she spotted one with Chris’ name on it. She picked up the receipt and looked at it closely.
“This says he picked up his order.” Susan frowned deeply. “Has he called since then?”
“No, we have no more receipts from him,” Matthew answered.
“What if he paid with cash?” Rachel inquired. “Since you don’t keep those receipts, how would you know?”
Matthew didn’t seem to have an answer to that, and his cheeks flushed. Susan shook her head.
“I would like to monitor your phone calls,” she declared, not really making a request. “I understand he will likely call your restaurant again, and I need to find his location.”
“Sure, sure,” Matthew muttered.
Susan waved her hand at her officers. A few of them went around the restaurant to secure the building while others returned to the cars to retrieve some equipment. Once they returned they began to connect wires and recording devices to a laptop, which was then connected to each of the phones in the building. Most of the technological terminology between the techs went completely over Vickie’s head, so she didn’t try to understand exactly what they were doing. Susan noticed her confusion.
“They’re setting up monitoring and tracking systems to follow all the calls that come in at this place’s number,” she explained. “When Chris calls, we’ll be able to track him and find his location.”
“What if he calls from a cell phone?” Rachel inquired.
“Then we’ll be able to connect to the phone tower he is closest to,” the Chief continued. “That won’t give us an exact location, but it will narrow down the area he might be.”
The team had the tracker and laptop set up within a few minutes, while the restaurant workers tried to get back to business as best they could. Only one other customer came during the time the police were there, and she looked really nervous when she saw all the officers inside. She ordered her pizza and took off as quickly as her old body would allow.
“What if Chris doesn’t call today?” Vickie asked Chief Miles.
“We keep tracking,” she replied. “If he said he would call on that blog, he will.”
“But what if he changes his mind and doesn’t call at all?”
“This is still worth a shot. I’m actually hoping he’ll come here instead of calling, but we need to cover all our bases.”
“Even if he does come here,” Rachel began with a slow shrug. “Wouldn’t he just leave the minute he sees all the police cars?”
Susan’s eyes widened; evidently she hadn’t thought of that. She was about to order the officers to move the cars to a more inconspicuous location when the pizzeria’s phone rang. The tech immediately started recording the call, and he gave a thumbs up to one of the employees, indicating it was okay to pick up the line.
“Millennium Pizza! We are the future of pizza!” he announced. “How can I help you?”
“I’d like to order a pizza for delivery.” The laptop relayed the customer’s voice, and everyone in t
he room could tell it belonged to a young man. “I’d like a large multi-meat pizza with extra cheese, on stuffed crust.”
“Any salad or drinks with that?”
“No, just the pizza.”
“That’ll be seventeen twenty-five, including the delivery. Will you pay cash or card?
“Cash.”
“Can I get your name?”
“Chris.”
Everyone in the pizzeria paused, looking at each other. This had to be Chris Park!
“And for delivery, what is your address?”
The suspect gave the address, but Susan wasn’t paying any attention. She rushed over to the laptop to look at the map. A blinking dot indicated where the call originated.
“There!” She proclaimed as she pointed to the screen. “That’s where he is! Let’s move!”
The employee hung up the phone, and the manager scowled. “What about the pizza?”
“Seriously?” Rachel asked. “You’re worried about waiting for the pizza?”
“We are trying to run a business here,” Matthew complained.
“I’ll leave you a good review on your site.” Rachel rolled her eyes dramatically. “Trying to find a missing person is a bit more important, don’t you think?”
“Come on,” Vickie insisted. “We’re wasting time!”
“But what about—”
“I will arrest you for obstructing the law during an active investigation.” Susan glared at the manager, and he shut his mouth in seconds. “Good. If there are no more complaints, let’s move!”
Chapter 9
The resort was just outside of Wolford, so it didn’t take a long time to reach them. Susan had to do some negotiating with the security guard, who didn’t want to let them in without a good reason (or a warrant). Chief Miles had always been resourceful, however, and she was able to get a digital copy of a search warrant on her phone from a judge in town. All she really had to do was explain how they were looking for the esteemed scientist, Gerard Samson, and she was allowed to do nearly anything she wanted.