by Jason Davis
She was so sure the man should still be there, she waited another hour before calling the authorities. Oh how her face went red when Rob walked in. She really did believe he had something to do with his disappearance. As soon as he left, she probably rushed to call county to accuse him of not taking appropriate notes. He would get a call in the next hour or so, letting him know she had lodged a complaint.
His cell vibrated in his pocket. He looked at the screen, seeing a local number, but not one he recognized.
“Hello?”
“This the town deputy?”
“Yes. Can I help you?” Maybe someone was calling in a tip. Maybe the day would get better.
“Yeah. Find my damn daughter. She’s missing.”
Rob felt his chest tighten. “Who is this?”
“Name’s Jake Bloom. I got your number from Henry.”
Rob wasn't sure who Henry was, but he must be someone he had dealt with before. He wasn’t accustomed to how many people said they had his number. It led to some odd calls in the middle of the night. He wasn’t sure how he felt about so many people knowing his personal contact information.
“Okay. Give me your address and I’ll be right over. Can I get a general description of her and a list of her friends so I canstart the report?”
“How the fuck do I know? She’s ten, short blonde hair. She used to run around with that damn Taylor kid. The one who's gone missing. Fucking school let her run off. They should have been fucking watching her.”
“Okay, and you’re sure she didn't go somewhere after school?”
“No. She was gone the last half of the day, but the assholes never called. They said they did, but I never got no fucking calls. Fuckers. I got home from work and she wasn’t home. Called the school and they said they tried to call. Like I’m that fucking hard to get ahold of.”
“Okay, calm down. I’ll be there to get a picture and take a full report. Is there a particular place she and Bobby Taylor liked to go?”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know that? I’m her father, not her fucking keeper. She came and went as she pleased.”
Rob nodded, then realized the man couldn’t see it. That was probably a good thing, considering the disapproving scowl he knew was on his face. What kind of father just let his kid come and go? Well, it was more common in the smaller town. Even he found it easier and easier just to let Jake run off and play. The town felt safe, so why not?
He knew exactly why not. He had known it back in Chicago. Today is exactly why not. When you don’t stay up on where your kids go, making sure they keep in touch with you, things like today happen. You come home to find your only child gone. After that, what kind of world would you see?
“Okay. Give me your address and I’ll be right there.” He took the information and hung up.
He blew out a breath. There were now four missing people, and he was still only one man. If it kept going like this, the county would declare some kind of emergency, maybe even involve the state. He would lose the case to them, which would probably finish his career.
He had to admit, though, he liked the idea of the state taking over. He didn’t know if he were ready for something like this again. It was still too soon. It seemed like his world had been turned upside down not too long ago.
Could Rob really just walk away from it? There was no way he could ever live with himself if he just gave up the case. Right now, it felt like it would be easy to just walk away, but the moment he finally got enough sleep, the weight of that decision would crash down on him. Thatwasn’t the man he thought himself to be, and wasn’t the example he wanted to set for his son. They might try to take the case away from him, but there was no way he wouldn’t fight to be a part of it. He would still search, trying to find out what happened.
He wished he could just call Brad and have him patrol. It would be nice to have at least a few hours of normal sleep. Then he could wake up tomorrow and feel refreshed. Maybe he’d even be able to figure out what the four had in common.
He could believe the chief had been trying to stop something, the boy saw something he wasn’t supposed to, and they were both missing because of that. But the two new people squashed that theory, so there had to be something else connecting them.
He knew he couldn’t call Brad in. He lived an hour away, working as a night officer in Peoria. He’d already be on shift. When he helped them out, it was only the occasional weekend. There was no way Rob could bring him in on a weeknight.
It wouldn’t do any good anyway. Rob couldn’t go home and get any rest because he’d continue thinking about the case. He might as well stay on duty and work at it.
He shifted the car into gear. As he watched the falling ball of light, he knew that everything would only get worse in the night. There was something wrong, something hanging in the air and collecting among the shadows. He didn’t know how he felt it. Maybe it was because of all that happened before. Or maybe he had started to get a sixth sense about evil. It did seem like it had a way of finding him. It felt like something was growing. Something was in the darkness…and he had no idea what it was.
CHAPTER 13
When David left the search, he nearly had to be dragged away. He made it home and collapsed on the couch, drifting into a deep sleep. Those last few hours, as he walked the woods on one of the more lesser-known paths, he felt his body lose control. His shoulders slumped. His eyes were open, but he was in more of a trance than actually walking. At one point, he stopped in the middle of a thorn bush, cuts along his arms, no idea how he got there.
He had to keep going. He wasn’t going to stop until they found Bobby. He had to be somewhere. There wasn’t anywhere else in town he could be.
That wasn’t true. There were many other places Bobby could be. What if someone had taken him? He could be dead, his body hidden somewhere. Then there was the grim possibility he had been taken by one of those sick pedophiles who did nasty things to little kids, keeping them locked away in a hidden dungeon for years.
“David, you need to go home,” someone had said.
He had looked up. Somehow, he had drifted onto another path and Mr. Cranston stood there, supporting his body. He wasn’t sure when he had fallen into the man’s arms, but he could now smell his breath, David’s nose wrinkling. Why did the man’s breath always have to reek of onions?
David looked around and saw he was being led down the north side of the coal dump on the often unused direct path. He felt the warmth of the man’s arm around him, but he could also feel his sweat through his coat. He wanted to pull away. This man was disgusting. How had kids ever made it through middle school with him teaching?
David didn’t have enough strength left to pull away, so he let the man guide him. He had him in a vice grip against his chest as he took him to his car, placed him in the passenger seat, and drove him home.
Even though he had only been home a few hours, it felt like it had done him some good, but as he started to wake, he felt his nightmare lingering. He didn’t know if Mr. Cranston had been real or part of the glimmers of dark pushing into his dreams. It was all jumbled in the fog of his brain. While his body tried to pull him back to sleep, he knew he was done with it. His mind was too far gone, racing like a horse down a track, a million thoughts competing for his attention.
Shakily, he pushed himself off the couch. He briefly wondered why he wasn’t in his room, then he looked down, contemplating where his shirt had disappeared to. Finding it under couch, he pulled it on, not having the energy to run upstairs for a fresh one.
Now that he was up, he noticed the house felt unusually quiet. Where was everyone?
He had no idea if his father was at work or at the bar, but it didn’t matter. It was better when the man wasn’t around anyway. If he had been, he would have probably complained about David not coming home last night…if his dad even noticed he wasn’t there.
Yeah, that’s a great thought. Just how long could I have stayed away before my dad noticed? I’m not e
ven sure I want to know the answer.
He grabbed his cell phone from the table, happy to see he had brought it home. Nothing that morning was easy to remember, so his phone could have been anywhere. Seeing it sitting on the coffee table was a huge relief. He had a lot of missed calls and multiple voicemails, but he had slept through them all.
He saw one number that made him raise his brows. Allison had called him? Ally? Could she be back in town? Would she really have come back for Bobby?
The phone rang, her name popping up on the caller ID. He didn’t realize just how badly he wanted to see her until he felt a little flutter in his chest, a smile spreading across his face. He really shouldn’t be smiling, there wasn’t anything to smile about, but he couldn’t help it.
“Hey,” he answered, his voice quiet, throat dry.
“David?”
“Hey, Ally. How’s school?”
“I’m home.”
“Really?”
“Trying to be. Wendy said you looked for Bobby all night.”
He didn’t know when Ally started calling her mom by her first name, but he figured it was the moment she no longer lived under the same roof. That last fight she and her mom had was one that would take Ally a while to get over.
“Yeah. I’m about to go back to look some more…unless you’ve heard something. Have they found him?”
She blew out a breath. “No. I’m supposed to take that town cop, the one who works weekends, up to the coal dump. You remember him? He’s the one who busted us for curfew last year.”
“Yeah. He’s the one I helped this morning.”
“Oh?” She paused. “Did you show him Bobby’s spot?”
David had to think. He couldn’t remember a special spot Bobby had, although he wasn’t the one who always went looking for him. Ally would know more about where Bobby would go, seeing as she had to find him a few times to drag him home.
“No. I didn’t know he had a spot.”
He felt like he could feel her nod through the phone. She was always like that. The person who would talk with her hands, not realizing the other person wouldn’t be able to see it. The image brought another smile, and he felt the corner of his eyes mist.
“Okay. So, yeah, I’ll show the cop.” There was silence. He found himself looking around the living room for his car keys. He was determined to wait for her to continue. “David, can you come pick me up? I need to get out of here. She’s drunk. I can’t be here when she wakes up. We’ve been fighting since I got here.”
He grabbed his keys. “Yeah. I’ll be right over.”
“Thank you.”
* * * *
Rob stepped out of the man’s house, his jaw hurting from how much he clenched it. His knuckles were white, his nails digging into the palm of his hand. His inner rage was not so inner at the moment, and he was doing everything in his power not to turn around and beat the man. Rob wanted to let loose, but he knew if he did, he would no longer have his job or his morality. If he did, this guy would win. It didn’t matter that the man was a piece of shit.
“Yeah, you fucking son of a bitch. I know you ain’t gonnado shit!” The insult was followed by a beer can flying past Rob’s head, barely missing him, hitting the squad car. He could still feel little drips of liquid that had landed on his shoulder, smelling the acrid stench of hops.
He kept walking. If he turned back now, he didn’t know what he would do. He didn’t trust himself. The day was bad enough. There was so much frustration boiling up inside him, he felt the strong pull to let it out. The temptation was there. He sure as hell didn’t need to put up with this asshole. Rob understood the man was upset about his missing daughter, but he sensed he barely gave a shit about her. The asshole was more upset she wasn’t there to cook his damn supper. Rob also suspected he was fearful CPS might step in. The man had hinted he was afraid he might report to them as part of a scheme to take her away from him.
Like Rob really needed another nut with a conspiracy theory. The town had enough of those.
“You should fucking go back to Chicago, you damned nigga lovin’ homo!”
Rob felt his body twitch, wanting to turn around, but stopped himself and kept walking. He reached his car and got behind the wheel, making sure the door was closed and locked before he called in his report.
“County Dispatch, this is Standard Unit 1, filing missing person report at 1034 Walnut Street.”
“Roger, Unit 1. This for the missing boy?”
“Negative. Missing girl.”
“Missing girl, Unit 1? Clarify. How many people are missing there?”
“As of now, four.”
“Sounds like something is going on.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said to the concerned voice over the radio.
“How long has the girl been missing?”
“Since earlier today. She got in trouble at school and ran away. No one’s seen her since.”
“Oh.”
He heard the woman’s voice change, probably suspecting the girl was just hiding. He supposed that could be true, but his gut told him it wasn’t. It just didn’t seem probable, not unless Bobby was hiding with her. That was the most optimistic scenario, and the one he grasped onto. His gut told him that wasn’t the case, but he ignored it.
“The father is sure she should be home by now, and is growing hostile that she isn’t. I suspect child abuse.”
“Anything proven?”
“Not at this time.”
“Copy that. Okay, Deputy. Go ahead with your report and description, then we’ll get out the Amber.”
Rob gave the woman the details. It had been hard even getting that much information out of the father with all the cursing, but he had many years dealing with all kinds of witnesses. Sometimes a little bullying was needed and sometimes kindness, but it was usually a little of both. It always took that right touch to coax information out of someone.
He had barely finished with the county dispatcher when he heard the kachung against the sidewalk. The father had thrown another beer can at the car, but this one had fallen way short, the remaining beer soaking into the dirt. Rob was surprised the man would waste any amount of alcohol. He must have really pissed him off.
Rob should arrest the man, but his daughter was missing. He would be pissed if some cop came into his house and accused him of doing things to his child, too. Maybe he had gone a little too far, but Rob was tired and hadn’t handled it well. He tried to justify it, telling himself he had to gauge the man’s reaction. He was now pretty sure that, even though he was an alcoholic asshole, Rob highly doubted he was molesting the child. It still didn’t mean he didn’t beat her.
His phone rang. He looked at it, seeing another local number he didn’t recognize. Dread running through his body, he answered.
“Hello?”
“Is this Deputy Alletto?”
He could hear the woman sniffling. Just how many devastated families would he have to deal with by the end of the day?
“Yes, ma’am?”
“My baby… He’s missing.”
He knew he sat there longer than he should have, just staring silently out the windshield. This had started spiraling out of control. How could so many people just vanish? This was a small town. There wasn’t an area for all these people to be disappearing to. It just wasn’t possible.
“Are you there, Deputy?”
“Yes, ma’am. Was your baby taken out of his crib? Did someone break into your home?”
“No... No. My boy, he’s ten, but he’s my baby. He’s my only one, and I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
“Okay...” When his phone beeped, he looked at it. Another local number.
Then he heard ringing on the other end of the phone. He listened as the woman answered another phone. Probably her landline.
“Hello?” he heard her say. “No, Danny’s not here, Denise. Joel’s missing. He isn’t at any of his friends’ houses, and Roger said he isn’t over at your place, either… He w
as supposed to be home an hour ago. I told him I didn’t want him going out tonight. He should be here. He was supposed to be here when I got home.”
She cried as she spoke, the words coming out in a barely understandable rush. He felt like an intruder as he listened to the woman’s unimaginable pain.
The voice grew louder. “Deputy?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“It’s not just Joel.”
“I heard. What’s your address? I’ll be right there. Have the woman you were just talking to meet us. We’ll try to find out what’s going on. More than likely, they all ran off and are playing somewhere.”
“Not Joel. I told him to be home. Something’s happened to him.” Her voice rose in volume with every word. He had to pull the phone away from his ear as she spoke.
“Okay, okay. Just hold tight. I’m on my wa-”
His phone beeped, interrupting. He looked at the display and saw Robyn’s number. He hated doing it to her, but he tapped the icon to send it to voicemail.
“I’m on my way, ma’am.” He quickly wrote down the address and got off the phone. It immediately rang again. Robyn.
What was so important that she needed to call him? She knew he was busy. He was about to send her to voicemail again, but answered instead, wanting to hurry up and get her off the phone.
“Hey, hun. I can’t really talk right now. Ther-”
“Rob, Jake’s missing!” she screamed.
CHAPTER 14
After putting down the phone, Samantha…never Sam, even to her closest friends…fidgeted. She couldn’t help herself. Every part of her wanted to move, to tap her feet and run at the same time. If she could run in a thousand different directions, she would.
Her baby boy was missing.
Why had Roger let Joel go out? He knew better. Samantha never let him go out on a school night unless she knew where he was, but Roger had just let him go. Men never asked details. If they truly ruled the world, no one would ever know anything.
Her mother used to say, “Now, when two women talk, both know everything going on and all the details before the conversation is over. When two men talk, as long as there is no blood and no jail time, the story lasts two minutes. They just don’t ask details.”