by Aman Gupta
“We think either she got there by herself on a bike or someone took her there,” said Kate.
“But she didn’t have any bike,” said Vincent.
“What about her friends?” asked Kate.
“I don’t know. I don’t know many of her friend’s name. I know one or two. One is Dizzy, the other one is Pom or Pam, I don’t know,” said Vincent.
“Oh, Ally. She used to look after Dizzy so much. Poor girl has a limp, in her left leg ever since she was born, so Ally used to help carry her stuff,” said a sobbing Maria.
“Could you tell us where they live? Maybe they could tell us more,” said Joey.
“Yeah, Dizzy lives just down the street. A small house with a blue gate,” said Maria.
“Okay, we’ll start there, and let you know if we make any progress,” said Kate.
“Please, find my granddaughter,” said Maria.
“We will,” said Kate.
Kate and Joey went down the street to Dizzy’s house mentioned by the Drews.
“That’s a small house?” remarked Joey, “It’s almost as big as our precinct.”
Kate smiled.
Joey knocked on the door but no one answered. Joey and Kate went around the house hoping for a window to see if anyone was home. They were interrupted by a man with a rifle pointed at them. Joey took out his handgun, as did Kate.
“Sir, I need to lower your weapon,” said Joey.
“Leave my property or I’ll shoot both of you,” said the man.
“Sir, we won’t ask again,” said Kate.
“Neither will I,” said the man.
Joey and Kate lowered their weapons, aiming to diffuse the tension and hoping for a similar action by the man.
“Leave now,” he said.
“We just want to talk to your daughter about Ally. We are from Morrow PD. The girl who’s missing. She lives right down the street,” said Joey.
“You aren’t going anyway near my daughter,” said the man.
“Sir, we don’t mean any harm to you or your family. We just need to talk,” said Kate, as she put her weapon on the ground and raised her hands. Joey did the same, reluctantly.
“You have any questions, you ask me,” said the man.
“Fine,” said Joey.
The man lowered his rifle and pointed them to go back towards the front gate. They turned around and went to the front door, where the man opened it from inside. They sat on the couch.
“What do you want to know?” asked the man.
“We’re investigating the disappearance of Ally Drew, and hoping to establish a timeline,” said Kate.
“Go ahead,” said the man.
“Was your daughter with Ally the day she disappeared?” asked Kate.
“What if she was?” asked the man, as he reached for his gun.
“We just want to know if she saw someone pick up Ally or talk to her?” said Joey.
“They asked her. She said no,” said the man.
“Okay. With your permission, could we ask her?” asked Kate.
“I already told you. No one is going to talk to my daughter,” said the man.
“Okay. How about a bike? Does she have one?” asked Joey.
“What kid doesn’t have a bike? I don’t like my daughter to borrow stuff. I’m not cheap unlike others,” said the man.
“Can we see the bike?” asked Kate.
“No!” said the man.
“Okay,” said Joey, as he and Kate got up.
“Sir, I hope it never happens to you, Mr. Marrow. Have your daughter taken away from you. However if it does happen to you, I hope your daughter’s friends’ parents offer a bit more assistance,” retaliated Kate.
The man picked up his gun and pointed it at Kate.
“Get out!” he yelled.
Joey took out his gun and pointed it at the man, “Next time you point a gun at her, I’ll put a bullet between your eyes.”
Suddenly, a little girl came running down the stairs in the room.
“Dizzy, go upstairs,” said the man.
“What happened, daddy?” said Dizzy.
“Nothing. Go to your room now,” said the man.
“Who are they?” asked Dizzy.
“No one,” said the man.
“We are looking for Ally. Do you know where she is?” asked Kate.
“No, I haven’t seen her in a while,” said Dizzy.
Dizzy turned around and ran back upstairs.
“There! You wanted to talk to her, now you did. Now, don’t make me pull this trigger,” said the man.
Kate lowered Joey’s gun with her left hand and they left.
“I hate this town,” said Joey, outside the house.
“Did you notice something?” asked Kate.
“Relax, I just did it to protect a fellow colleague. Don’t overthink it,” said Joey.
“No, I didn’t mean that. But thank you for what you did,” said Kate as they walked together.
“What then?” asked Joey. “Strange family!”
“Dizzy,” said Kate.
“What about her?” asked Joey.
“She wasn’t limping. In fact, she was running,” said Kate.
“Yeah, so?” asked Joey.
“Maria said Dizzy had a limp,” said Kate.
“So that girl we saw isn’t Dizzy?” asked Joey.
“I don’t know. But then why would her father call her Dizzy?” said Kate.
“Maybe the guy’s nuts,” said Joey, “What should we do now?”
“Let’s go to Ally’s school. Let’s see if we can find more of her friends there!” said Kate.
“Okay,” said Joey.
◆◆◆
Eric walked down the entire stretch from fuel station towards the town, while Emma went the opposite way from the fuel station. They were looking for tire marks on the side of the road in case the vehicle went off-road. They were more interested in bike tire marks, and tried locating them out of so many marks they found, courtesy the movement of cars brought by outside overly anxious private investigators. All the marks that went off-road went back towards it, after a few yards. They couldn’t find the one that didn’t.
After doing a few miles down the road, Emma walked back towards the fuel station and saw a pink neon shoe in the bushes just a few yards away from the road. The shoe size indicated that it belonged to a young kid, perhaps around 9-10 years of age. She walked into the forest for more clues and a trail. She noticed its pair another twenty yards into the forest. She called Eric on his phone to notify him of the developments. Only to know that he had found a similar trail of his own. They decided to follow their individual trails for a few hundred yards and return before it gets dark.
Emma went straight for a few hundred yards but lost the trail in the dense forest. Eric couldn’t find anything either.
They returned to the New Bay precinct where Kate and Joey had already set up their formal base. Officers Adam and Trent had been told to return to Morrow, to oversee the town.
“Did you find anything?” asked Eric.
“Yes and no, since we have been here almost a week,” said Kate.
“We talked to Ally’s parents. I mean, grandparents. They confirmed that she didn’t have a bike. So if she used one, she must’ve borrowed it from someone,” said Joey.
“The school returns from break in a couple of days, so we should be able to talk more of her friends there,” said Kate.
“What’s the bad part?” asked Eric.
“I think there’s something weird going on with another girl, named Dizzy Marrow,” said Joey.
“Apart for her name?” joked Emma.
Joey smiled. Kate and Eric didn’t.
“I mean, what weird thing?” said Emma to lose Eric’s stare.
“Ally’s grandmother, Maria, told us that Dizzy has a birth defect, a limp, in her leg. But when we saw her, we couldn’t notice anything like that,” said Kate.
“That’s strange,” said Eric. “What else?�
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“That’s it for now. What did you find?” asked Kate.
“We found two separate trails few miles apart,” said Eric.
“Think one of that could be Ally?” asked Joey.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” said Eric.
“So what, more kids are missing?” asked Joey.
“Don’t know. But then why aren’t they reported missing?” asked Eric.
“Maybe someone left a fake trail to confuse the cops,” said Emma.
“That’s a possibility too. But why go through so much trouble if you aren’t ransoming the parents?” said Eric.
“So, what’s the plan, now?” asked Joey.
“Tomorrow, Emma and I are going to investigate the first trail. You go after the second one that Emma has found. That’s the only lead we have. Let’s see where it takes us,” said Eric.
“Okay,” said Kate.
“Let’s get some rest. Long day tomorrow,” said Eric.
The next day, Eric and Emma started following Eric’s trail. Kate and Joey decided to split directions from where Emma had found the second shoe. Kate went towards north-east while Joey went towards north-west direction.
“Heard again from Vik?” asked Emma.
“Not yet. Phone’s unreachable,” said Eric.
“Think we will hear from him again?” asked Emma.
“He’s not running away,” said Eric, as he and Emma trekked down the forest’s uneven slopes and ditches.
“I never asked, how did you meet him? You know, when he was Jay?” asked Emma.
“Long story,” said Eric.
“Well, we’re in the middle of nowhere. Good as time as any,” said Emma.
“I met him at a restaurant. I had just gotten my detective badge, and was infatuated with a serial killer. The guy had murdered 7 women and another 5 were missing. So here I was, sitting in this busy restaurant with all the case files on the table. This guy showed up and asked if he could sit for a while till a table becomes available. He was waiting for someone,” said Eric.
“So which one was Jay? Serial Killer or guy?” joked Emma.
“Serial Killer,” said Eric.
Emma stopped and shouted, “What!”
Eric smiled. “Joking!”
Eric recalled the conversation.
“Sorry, you aren’t supposed to see these. I’ll just close them and leave. You can have the table,” said Eric.
“That was easy,” said Jay, “and to think the waitress wanted me to wait for another hour.” Eric smiled.
“It’s okay, I won’t look,” said Jay. “Not every day though, that you see a serial killer case file, so thanks for that.”
“How did you know it was a serial killer?” asked Eric.
“I remember their faces,” said Jay, as he looked away.
“What do you mean?” asked Eric.
“I’m the serial killer you’re looking for,” said Jay, as he stared back at Eric.
Eric’s facial expressions turned grave.
“You got some dark humor,” said Eric.
“Great, make a joke about something dark, knowing if I say anything about it for you, it can be and will be used against me in the court of law!” said Jay looking at Eric.
“Do you fear the police?” asked Eric.
“That’s the wrong question,” said Jay.
“Then what’s the right question?” asked Eric.
“Why do the police fear us?” said Jay.
“We don’t,” said Eric.
“There have been 214,000 accidental deaths reported by the news in the last 12 months. And that’s the news channel that works for the current president. So imagine the real number,” said Jay.
“We put our life on the line to protect people,” said Eric.
“No, you just like to flash a badge, hold a gun thinking that you have some power over them, makes you feel like God, perhaps even more,” said Jay.
“Not all cops are killers. There are always bad apples. You can’t look everyone with the same lens,” said Eric.
“And yet you did! Twice!” said Jay.
“When?” asked Eric.
“Just now. I joked about being a serial killer. And you saw me as an illegal immigrant that is possibly a serial killer, if not THE serial killer you’re looking for,” said Jay.
“I didn’t,” said Eric.
“Your face did. I am rather good at reading them. It’s not as cool as it sounds like, though. You see the hate on the people’s face when they are shaking your hands, misery when they are congratulating you and pain when they say everything’s fine. It’s a curse, and I’m not, by the way,” said Jay.
“Serial killer?” asked Eric.
“Illegal immigrant. Citizen of this country. Whatever’s left of it anyway,” shrugged Jay.
A waiter came over and told Jay that a table had become available. Jay got up and started to leave.
“What’s the second time?” asked Eric. “You said I made the same mistake twice.”
“I couldn’t help but notice that most of the victims were African-American, and you are only looking at white suspects in your file with you. Not all serial killers are racist. They’re always bad apples,” said Jay.
Jay picked up a folder on the far end of the table, which contained other suspects mainly African-Americans, and put it in front of Eric. “See the bigger picture and you’ll never have a blind spot.”
“Maybe that’s what we need to do. See the bigger picture,” said Eric as Emma looked.
“Did you ever catch him? The serial killer?” asked Emma.
“Yes. It was the first person in that other file. Turns out, he killed those people because he hated all black women because some rejected him,” said Eric.
“That’s how you became friends?” asked Emma.
“Yeah, something like that. He was a regular in that restaurant. After a while, I only went there to get his opinions on the cases I was working on. He could see things that weren’t there to be seen. He shrugged it off as his gut instinct but it wasn’t. That’s why they hired him at Verati, I guess,” said Eric.
“He used to work at Verati?” asked Emma.
“In the beginning, yes. Towards the end, I imagine everyone at Verati worked for him,” said Eric.
Emma looked shocked.
“There,” said Eric, as he pointed his finger towards an object.
They ran towards the pink object, which was partly covered by fallen branches and leaves. They picked up and threw away the branches and uncovered the object. It was an old bicycle.
They removed the dirt using a cloth. The bicycle was nearly broken.
“It’s been here for weeks,” said Eric.
“I’ll look around. See if I can find anything else,” said Emma.
Eric examined the pink bicycle, and its basket. There was an old cloth with a bit of a grease on it, but nothing else.
He received a call from an unknown number and answered it.
“Hey, miss me?” asked Vik over the phone.
“New number?” asked Eric.
“Yeah,” said Vik.
“Where are you?” asked Eric.
“On the way to you, soon. Stopped at Morrow first,” said Vik.
“Why?” asked Eric.
“Missed the air and the gadgets,” said Vik.
“Keeping busy, I see,” said Eric.
“Find anything useful?” asked Vik.
“Yeah. Multiple trails. Mine led to an old bike,” said Eric.
“What color?” asked Vik.
“Pink. Could be a girl’s,” said Eric.
“Yeah, most likely. Not everyone has a pink vehicle,” said Vik.
“I remember you said it was a nice color,” said Eric.
“I thought it was your wife’s,” replied Vik.
“What about this bike?” asked Eric.
“Did you check the holder under the seat?” asked Vik.
“What holder?” asked Eric.
“They ad
ded this new thing. I remember Katie bought a new bike so she could have this hidden holder too. Said wanted to keep something special in there. Massive advertising dollars targeted at young girls suggested that to her, I guess. Maybe the trend continued,” said Vik.
Eric flipped the bike and looked under the seat, as Emma arrived.
“Nothing around,” said Emma.
“Is that Emma?” asked Vik.
“Yeah,” said Eric.
“What’s with you going after girls that’re attracted to me?” joked Vik.
“She doesn’t like you,” said Eric.
“Why, because I have only 4 not 6 pack abs like you,” said Vik.
“Because you’re not real,” said Eric.
“Good one. You’re getting wiser,” said Vik.
“Relax, it’s not like I’m telling your life story,” said Eric.
“Funny. Chances are someone ditched the bike there. Go towards 3 o’clock from where you found the bike. See what you find,” said Vik.
“Okay. What am I looking for?” asked Eric.
“Big boy shoes. And water. If you find them both, stop looking,” said Vik.
“You think someone took her?” asked Eric.
“Maybe not just her,” said Vik.
“Hang on, I found something,” said Eric as he pulled out a locket from the hidden pouch.
“Looks like a locket. Has DM initials on it,” said Eric.
“Know anyone by that name?” asked Vik.
Emma looked at the locket and uttered, “Dizzy Marrow.”
“Yes,” said Eric.
“Missing?” asked Vik.
“No, we talked to her yesterday,” said Eric.
“Anything special?” asked Vik.
“Magical girl if you ask Kate. Said she’s been cured of a limp,” said Eric.
“Hmm.. Interesting,” said Vik.
“Think it’s a coincidence?” asked Eric.
“I think there’s more to the town and its people than you know. Get knocking,” said Vik.
“Will do,” said Eric, as he disconnected the phone call.
“Who was that?” asked Emma.
“Who do you think!” replied Eric.
“Going somewhere?” asked Emma.
“On the way,” replied Eric.
“What’s the strategy?” asked Emma.
“Let’s go that way,” pointed Eric to the east of where they found the bike.
After another couple of hours battling the terrain, they saw a small flow of water, which led to a small pond barely few meters deep with a dried waterfall.