“Mrs. Poulos, I am bringing in a police communications specialist to go over your house and set up communications equipment to monitor your telephone lines in case the kidnapper calls demanding a ransom. Now that it is dark, we can’t do much in the way of searching without any kind of solid lead. Tomorrow morning I am going to bring in a complete team to start searching for Nick.”
“Please do whatever you can. I am so worried about Nick! I don’t know what to tell his friends. They volunteered to have him stay with them so he would be safe. After I got the security upgraded here, I thought we were protected. I sure underestimated what this attacker was capable of.”
“Hang in there, Mrs. Poulos. We are going to do everything possible to find your son!”
Chapter 24
The Task Force Investigates
(Wednesday)
Tuesday night was a horrible night for Caterina. Consumed with worry about Nicolo, she couldn’t sleep. Every time she would lie down to relax, horrible images of the masked predator or Nick wounded or hurt in some way would pass through her mind. Samuel Washburn was with her inside the house. He had set up communications so that any telephone calls to the house could be traced and recorded. He also discovered one more bug that had been placed in a vase of artificial flowers. Eventually he dozed off around 1:00 AM. But Caterina continued to pace around the house until exhaustion finally overtook her and she had fitful rest until the morning.
Dawn arrived, and with the sunlight, Caterina resumed her awareness that her son Nicolo was gone. She brewed a pot of strong coffee for herself and Sam Washburn who woke up around 6:30. They sat together and talked for a while. Sam tried to give her hope while Caterina talked for a while about all the wonderful things that Nick had done recently. Then she went to the kitchen to do some cooking and baking. An hour or so later Captain Garcia’s task force would be arriving, and she wanted to have refreshments ready for them and of course Sam. As she busied herself in the kitchen, the routine of making food was welcome relief from the mental turmoil that she was feeling. It was now 7:45.
By 8:00 AM Caterina could stand it no longer, and got on the telephone. She called Jason and told him the sad news about Nick. Jason was very upset by this turn of events. Caterina told him every detail she could think of about last night and what Captain Garcia had told her.
“First of all, let me say how sorry I am about what happened. I know you are probably blaming yourself, Mrs. Poulos, but don’t! The more I have learned about this man in the ski mask who has been harassing Nick, the more I realize that he is a determined predator, with a definite agenda specifically against your son! For me, and I am sure for yourself, the question is ‘why’? Tell me something. Is Captain Garcia coordinating a search team?”
“Yes, he came down last night, and I expect that he will arrive shortly with a full team.”
“Good!” Jason replied. “I have worked with Captain Garcia on a number of cases now, and Daniel and I hope to be of assistance on this one. We made a pledge to Nick that we would help him deal with this masked predator, and I for one intend to keep that pledge! As soon as I can get Daniel mobilized, we will come down to your place.”
After his conversation with Caterina, Jason immediately went into Daniel’s room to wake him up. “Jason,” he said in a sleepy voice after Jason woke him, “why are you up so early? I was just turning over for another hour of sleep!”
“Sorry, Daniel, but forget about sleep. Nick has gone missing, and I am sure he was grabbed by that man in the ski mask! Get up and get dressed. We need to get down to his house right away. We must honor our pledge to Nick and do whatever we can to help find him. I have a very bad feeling about this. From what Nick told us earlier, that man had very definite plans for him, and none of them are good! I really fear that he intends to totally destroy the Nick we know through torture and abuse. We have to figure out a way to find him before it is too late!”
“That is the worst possible news, Jason! How long has he been missing?”
“According to his mom, Nick was grabbed last night in a parking lot of a large chain hardware store. The kidnapper must have been following them, because she said the trip was a spur of the moment thing. Nick had gone to get something to eat at a burger place nearby while his mom went to buy some plants. When she got back to her car, Nick was gone! Nobody saw anything but several people remembered a beat up tan pickup truck leaving the parking lot around the time Nick went missing.”
“So Nick mysteriously disappears out of a public place in daylight and no one notices a thing! This sounds very familiar, Jason!”
“Too familiar, Daniel! But that’s why we need to get down there right away. I think we may be able to provide Captain Garcia and his task force with some insights. There has to be a local connection to this somewhere in San Matthias!” Jason then called Captain Garcia to tell him that Daniel and he would be coming down to Nick’s house and offering whatever assistance they could provide to his taskforce investigation.
Quickly Jason and Daniel were up and dressed. Jason was telling Daniel’s parents about the telephone call from Caterina while they had some breakfast. “I want you both to be very careful,” Melinda said. “The last thing I want is for something to happen to you!”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Daniel replied. “We will be with Captain Garcia and his task force.”
About a half hour later, Jason and Daniel were knocking on the door to Nick’s house. Caterina answered the door. “I am so glad to see you boys! Please come in. Captain Garcia and some of his task force people are already here.”
Jason and Daniel were invited by Captain Garcia to join his briefing. Most of the other police officers already knew or knew of Jason and Daniel. Captain Garcia explained that he wanted to use them as consultants because they were friends of Nick and Jason’s own kidnapping had some similarities to the disappearance of Nick.
Captain Garcia then provided everyone with a briefing about what was known about the case. He went through the several attacks on Nick at his home and the events of last night. He told the task force about the telephone tap that he found in the telephone and the bystander reports that a beat up tan pickup truck was seen leaving the area. “Our next priority is to develop a profile of the kidnapper. Based on what you have heard and your own experiences, what can you tell me about this man?”
The members of the task force contributed ideas about the man. One of the members thought that there might be more than one person involved in the kidnapping, although it seemed clear that the same man was responsible for the attacks here at Nick’s home. Everyone felt that Nick’s attacker was very brazen, daring and opportunistic. His actions tended to indicate that he was young in age and athletic. The man also had a grudge against Nick or maybe his family. Clearly Nick was being targeted for some reason.
Jason then reiterated his belief that this was a local operation. He asked Captain Garcia if the task force had followed through on that suggestion after Ben Kessler went missing. Captain Garcia then described how they had investigated everyone that they had come into contact with but had found absolutely nothing so far.
“What about the lead of the tan pickup truck?” Daniel asked.
“The only person we have run into with a tan pickup truck was a young guy named Angelo Ciurro,” Captain Garcia replied. “He came forward after the Ben Kessler disappearance and told me that he had seen the boy riding his bike on one of the back roads that would eventually bring him to the convenience store. After Jason told me that he was sure that there had to be a local connection somewhere, I had the task force thoroughly check out everyone who came forward. We even drove out to Angelo’s house, which is east of town and heading into the hills. He wasn’t there, but the door was unlocked. We searched through the house and grounds but saw no sign of anything indicating that he had predator tendencies. We didn’t have a warrant so we left after checking things out. If he has a secret hiding place that he is taking kids to, it wasn’t there. Ciurro didn�
��t fit the description of the masked man who attacked Nick. That man was very menacing and direct in the way he threatened Nick. Angelo seems a little retarded in the way he talks. He has trouble verbalizing original thoughts. He ends up talking in clichés.”
Captain Garcia divided the task force into two groups. One group was assigned to thoroughly go over the parking lot and surrounding area where Nick went missing. The second group worked through Nick’s neighborhood to see if anyone had seen or heard anything in recent days or on the night when Nick was attacked at home. Captain Garcia also had Sergeant Malone checking out Department of Motor Vehicle records to see how many tan pickup trucks were registered in the San Matthias area.
Captain Garcia kept Jason and Daniel with him. He felt that Jason could help him with a possible scenario of the kidnapping and that both boys could give him a better profile of Nick and his mindset just prior to his disappearance. For the first ninety minutes, they drove around the area periodically checking in with each of the task forces. So far there was no new information. Sergeant Malone then radioed Garcia with his report from DMV records. There were five tan pickup trucks registered in the San Matthias area, but only one, the truck registered to Angelo Ciurro, was an older truck. The other four were late models and most likely wouldn’t have a “beat up” look like the eyewitnesses had described.
“Captain,” Jason stated, “I am really worried that if we don’t find Nick very soon that he will be seriously harmed and possibly killed. Remember what the attacker said last time he assaulted Nick.”
“You don’t think that this could be a kidnapping for ransom?”
“Unfortunately, no. Somehow there is a revenge factor here, possibly against the Feraducci crime family. Nick is a pawn caught in between. His grandfather Enrico Feraducci has been very concerned about this happening.”
“How would you know that, Jason?” Garcia asked. Jason and Daniel took turns telling the captain about their unusual luncheon with Enrico Feraducci.
“You two have certainly had your share of extraordinary experiences!” Antonio replied. “Why didn’t contact me after you were released? Despite what Feraducci told you about covering his tracks, he certainly was breaking the law and we could put a lot of heat on him. The nerve of him to think he can grab innocent kids even if his motives were well-intentioned.”
“That’s what I thought, too, Captain,” Daniel replied, “and I told Jason as much. But after Jason insisted that we meet Nick in person all of our anger just melted away when we got to know him and found out what a wonderful and talented person he was. And he really was in need of our help! Now he has become our friend and wants to play in my band. Like Jason, I am very worried about what these criminals are planning to do to him!”
“Captain, right now your investigation is at a standstill,” Jason added. “Just like my kidnapping last year, there is really nothing to go on, except in this case we have a possible suspect. The key to penetrating the kidnappers’ secret hiding place has to be through this Angelo guy!”
“We don’t know that for sure, Jason. We have absolutely no proof of anything right now.”
“But doesn’t this Angelo fit the profile for someone who might enjoy capturing and hurting kids?”
“Possibly, Jason. He has scars on his face from an accident when he was a teen and he has trouble expressing himself verbally. I’m sure he took a lot of grief for that. Being made fun of could cause someone to want to seek revenge. But again, there is no proof of that.”
“Why don’t you check him out at the local high school,” Daniel suggested. “There would have to be someone there who would remember Angelo and how he was treated by the other students.”
Feeling that they had nothing to lose by trying, Captain Garcia drove over to San Matthias High School. Even though school was out for the summer, there were office staff members there. Garcia showed his credentials and soon he and the boys were ushered into the office of one of the assistant principals, Gabriel Martinez.
“Angelo Ciurro,” Mr. Martinez began. “Yes, I remember him well. He always had a difficult time in school. He came from a single parent family. As far as I knew, he never had a father at home. He was raised by his mother, but she wasn’t the best influence on him, I’m afraid, because she earned her living being a waitress in various bars around town that didn’t have, shall we say, the most desirable clientele. Angelo was at best an average student, although I believe he was fairly bright. I don’t think he was ever encouraged to try and better himself, so he mostly slid by.
“Then he had that horrible accident when he was sixteen. He was working on a car with a friend, and the jack collapsed. The car fell right on him, severely injuring one side of his face. He still has the physical scars of that accident today. He was never the same after that. Although his body completely healed and he was physically strong, the accident some how affected his speech, and he had trouble processing original ideas. He was very good at doing things, when you would direct him and tell him what to do, but he had trouble just with normal conversation. Unfortunately, some of the other students chose to make fun of him, and picked on him. I remember reprimanding a number of them about their treatment of Angelo. Eventually, he got tired of be treated like a freak, and dropped out of school.”
“How did Angelo respond to this? Did he express bitterness about it?”
“Oh, yes, very much so. I encouraged him to get some counseling for it but he would never go to the sessions. One day he left his backpack in class and it was turned into the office. I looked into the notebook to see who it belonged to. There were all kinds of very disturbing drawings and images. I guess he retreated into a fantasy world as a way of dealing with the students who were picking on him. At this point, I recommended to the school district that Angelo be given some mandatory counseling, but within two weeks, he had dropped out of school, and I don’t believe he ever received any outside help for his problems.”
“Did Angelo have any friends at school? Was there anyone trying to help him out among his peers?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact. It was the student who caused the accident, I believe. What was his name? Oh yeah, now I remember. His name was Salvatore Butera. They were buddies before the accident. Sal felt terrible guilt about it, so he tried to help Angelo whenever he could. I heard that Angelo became a handyman after leaving school. Sal would often try to drum up business for him, since Angelo had a lot of trouble communicating with others.”
Upon hearing this, Captain Garcia now realized that Jason was on the right track. He thanked Mr. Martinez for his time and the information and he and the boys went back to his car.
“What we heard in there was very significant,” Captain Garcia began. “Salvatore Butera was another one of the eyewitnesses who came forward after Ben Kessler’s disappearance. Given what Mr. Martinez told us, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were working together somehow on this case.”
Daniel added, “What he said that seemed even more significant is that Angelo had serious issues with other teenagers after his accident, and that he was building up serious hatred, as expressed by the images Mr. Martinez saw in his notebook.”
“I think we need to pay Mr. Butera a visit and find out what he knows. Maybe we can shake some information out of him that will help break this case!” Captain Garcia said emphatically.
“I don’t mean to interfere with your investigation,” Jason said, “but I think you should approach Salvatore Butera with real caution. If he is a co-conspirator with Angelo in the kidnapping of Nick and other kids around here, he will be very reluctant to let you know that. And he could also tip off Angelo that the police are on their trail, which might force them to cut their losses and kill Nick if they are the ones who have him. The last thing you want to do is force them further underground than they already are!”
“So what would you have me do, then, Jason?” Garcia responded with a little irritation in his voice.
“I think we need to use Sal to set up
an undercover sting operation in which we infiltrate their hiding place, wherever it might be.”
“How could we possibly do that?” Garcia answered.
“These people go after kids, right? What if we set things up so that a new kid drops right into their laps. We make the situation so irresistible that Angelo will take our bait and grab the kid!”
“That is a lot of ifs, Jason. How can we possibly do what you are suggesting?”
“I will volunteer to be the kid! I would pose as a homeless boy hitchhiking through town, down on my luck, and looking for a meal and a place to crash for the night. We would set Angelo up through Sal. You would send in a female officer to his door and ask him about a handyman. She could say she had just moved into town and needed a couple of repairs on her place. She would tell Sal that a neighbor told her that he knew of a good handyman who was reasonable in price. Make the repairs simple and easy, offer a lot of money, and insist that he come tomorrow. Use one of the local officer’s homes for the repairs. Then when Angelo leaves to go home, I would be on the highway to his house posing as the homeless hitchhiker. If he truly is a predator, I don’t think he will be able to resist picking me up. When I tell him my story, he will be even more likely to want to kidnap me because I have no immediate family or friends.
“I would be wired so you could track my every movement after he picks me up. Once I get into his hiding place, you can move in with your task force and arrest him!”
“You can’t be serious, Jason!” Daniel exclaimed. “Why would you even want to get near another predator after what you have been through already in your life?”
Family Matters Page 17