Stolen Lives: A Detective Mystery Series SuperBoxset (20 page)

Keely turned down a couple of back roads and alleyways, driving through the shadier parts of town—their go-to spots following any APB. There were questionable types of all sizes, men mostly, who squatted under building canopies or loitering behind store dumpsters, not showing the slightest interest as the cruiser passed them.

Miriam told Keely to slow down when they entered one particularly crowded alleyway. Most of the men dispersed, but a few remained behind. Miriam swung her door open and stepped out, just as Keely parked. She approached two Hispanic men who leaned against the wall with blank, indifferent expressions on their face.

“
Habla usted Inglés
?” she asked.

“Si,” the man on the right said. He was short, with a black goatee, dark eyes, and a scar across one cheek. He wore a beige ball cap and baggy, mismatched clothes. His counterpart, a taller, heavier-set man, had run off the minute Miriam mentioned a blue van.

The other man shrugged in response, not implying whether he had seen the van or not. She pulled a twenty from her wallet. His eyes widened as though he was staring at the Lady Madonna. “Listen, Pedro,” she said in a serious tone. “I don’t hand out money for cheap talk. We have a little girl missing. Eleven years old. Now, have you seen a blue van around here or not?”

“No, but I know who may have,” he said with a Spanish accent—Mexican, Miriam believed.

“Good,” she said, taking him by the arm. Miriam had little patience for stalling—as everyone she had encountered her so far that day had found out. She opened the back passenger door and beckoned the man to get in. As he hesitated, she slapped the cash into his hand, pushed him inside the car, and closed the door. Once she sat down in her seat, she noticed Keely staring at her.

“What?” she asked.

Keely looked into the back seat then at her. “Right now, I don’t even want to know. Let’s go to the station.”

Miriam nodded in agreement as he gunned the car forward, leaving a trail of exhaust in their wake.

The Informant

They arrived at the station with their passenger in the back seat humming to himself. Though Miriam had called him Pedro, his name was actually Guillermo—a drifter and who had been living on the streets for some time. He claimed to be a man who knew and saw things—the kind of man who had info for a price. But he was also a careful and cautious man who insisted on sitting low in the car, out of sight.

“It’s best that I keep our time together to a minimum,” he said as they parked. “I hope you understand.”

“You give us what we need and you can leave at any time,” Miriam said, making her intentions clear.

Detective Keely shut off the ignition and turned, placing his arm over his seat. “You know, if you want, we can put you in handcuffs and make this thing look authentic.”

Guillermo looked around confused. “What’s he talking about?” he asked Miriam.

She told him that the Keely was just joking… sort of.

“Ah,” Guillermo said. “Very funny.”

Miriam leaned against the passenger window and studied their reluctant guest. She was out of patience and wanted to learn something of substance—every minute counted while Sarah Bynes was still out there. “What exactly do you know, Guillermo?” she asked.

He smiled, exposing a chipped front tooth. “Call me G.”

“G…” she said, slowly. “What can you tell us?”

He scratched his chin, seeming amused with all the attention. It was best to get something out of him ahead of time, before parading him into the lieutenant’s office, and risking the chance he would bottle up and play around with them.

“You looking for a blue van,
si
?”

“
Si
,” Miriam said.

G thought to himself again. “Let me see who I know who has a blue van.” He looked to Miriam as though he’d just remembered but then shook his head. “Not personally. I know I seen one though.”

Miriam continued to probe him, feeling as though they were slowly getting somewhere. “Can you think of a face? A name? Anything?”

G nodded. “He’s a big man.
Grande hombre
. Bald.”

Miriam stopped. “Bald?”

“
Si
. I remember. He come down the street. Ask about action.”

“Action?”

“Yeah. Real
pervertido
. Wanted young
niña
. He don’t talk to me. I just hear him talk to Ricky.”

Miriam pulled a pen and pocket-notebook out, flipping it open. “Who’s Ricky?”

G’s eyes lowered as he tensed up. “Nobody. He has nothing to do with this.”

She didn’t press him further. His story sounded convincing—at least most of it. If they could get him inside to do an artist’s sketch, that would be a great first step.

Miriam and Keely both stepped out of the car and shut their doors. She then opened G’s door and guided him out by the arm. He looked at the station, marveling at the building as though he couldn’t believe what he had gotten himself into. Miriam and Keely proceeded down the walkway with G between them toward the Maricopa County Crime Investigative Division. Once inside, Miriam wanted to go straight to the sketch artist, but Keely reminded her of their current priorities.

“Best to see the lieutenant and get that out of the way before he harasses us.”

“Very well,” she conceded. “But he better make it quick,” she said, but her feelings didn’t match the confidence in her words. They received glances from police officers passing by. Apparently G had a reputation around the department—to them, it was amazing that he wasn’t in cuffs this time. Miriam turned and spoke softly.

“Stay close. We’ll make this worth your while in the end.”

“You mean like a bottle of tequila?” he said, laughing.

Miriam winced. “Sure thing.”

They continued walking down the long hall. All seemed quiet. Maybe too quiet. If Miriam’s gut told her anything, there was trouble in the air. She wondered why child abductions seemed to follow her. Was it her fate? Or was there something more sinister at hand?

They approached Lieutenant Vargas’s office, where they could see two other detectives sitting, Detectives Summerson and Wright. Summerson, a black female, was new to the force and a few years younger than Miriam. What she lacked in experience she made up for in eager tenacity. She hated unsolved cases, and Miriam could relate, remembering far too well how that felt when she first joined the Palm Dale PD as a patrol officer.

Detective Wright, an astute Asian man, had been the force for years. He had a calm, comforting aura about him which always made Miriam feel a little better. He and Summerson sat across from the lieutenant as he talked on the phone. Miriam poked her head in and knocked on the door. Summerson and Wright turned around and nodded.

Lieutenant Vargas—a large Hispanic man with a booming voice and dark, slicked-back hair—talked rapidly into his phone as they waited.

“Yes, it’s a real alert. The girl is missing. Last seen getting into a blue GMC van.” He paused as his anger rose. “Well, if you already know this, why the hell are you asking me?” He paused and calmed himself, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “Look… Sergeant. I want all hands on deck. This girl. Let’s just say that her parents have influence.” He nodded and told the sergeant on the phone to get to work. “Get ‘em out there and find this girl before it’s too late.”

He hung up the phone and looked up as Miriam and Keely entered the office and stood near the seated detectives. They had left Guillermo in the interview room with a soda and bag of chips, hoping that would suffice. Miriam wasn’t sure if G could really help them, or if he was just taking them for a ride, and she wasn’t going to spend all day trying to find out.

“Sir, we have someone. A man who claims to know something,” she said.

Vargas looked up, intrigued. “Who is he?”

“Guillermo Gomez,” Keely answered. “Slick character. We don’t know his angle, or if he has one.”

“Gomez?” Vargas leaned back in his creaking leather swivel chair. “Sounds familiar. Homeless guy?”

“We believe so,” Miriam said. “Certainly not a millionaire.”

Vargas looked less than convinced. “You guys should know by now that most of these vagrants are just looking for a handout. They’ll say anything to string you along.”

“They’re also the ones who see what goes on in this city,” Miriam said.

Vargas sighed, as though he had been through a similar song and dance with Miriam before. “You wanna put him on payroll?”

Summerson and Wright looked at each other and laughed quietly.

Miriam was unamused. “Someone tells me the color of a van before I do, I tend to think he may know something.”

Vargas leaned forward and his blue tie swung forward with him, coming to rest on the round of his gut. “Could have been a lucky guess.” He put both his hands up as Miriam opened her mouth to respond. “Enough. Just listen. This is big, people. I want all ears.” He stopped and pointed to the door behind Miriam. “Could you close that, please?”

She did as asked, eager as everyone to hear what the lieutenant had to say. His eyes were on the window of his office, where staff could be seen through the partially closed blinds. He then spoke in a hushed tone. “I asked you all to meet with me because I need your full attention on this case. This girl, Sarah Bynes, her father is a congressman.”

Intrigued, Summerson leaned forward with a question that was clearly on everyone’s mind. “Cartel kidnapping?”

“We don’t know,” Vargas replied. “It’s been two hours since her disappearance, and no ransom has been demanded or phone call made to the family.” He glanced at each detective. “We certainly can’t rule it out.”

Wright cut in. “If it was, things are going to start getting really heated up around here.”

“You can count on that,” Keely added.

“This is a sensitive case,” Vargas said. “I haven’t talked to Congressman Bynes yet, but he
has
contacted the sheriff’s department. We need all resources out on the street right now to try to find this van.”

Miriam stepped forward, slightly perturbed. “I have to say, sir, this conference seems a little counterproductive.” Keely suddenly shot a look at her, telling her to drop it. Vargas, however, seemed interested. He clasped his hands together and nodded.

“What do you mean?”

“
Detective Keely
and I were on the road, actively pursuing the suspect, chasing whatever leads we could muster and were called back here just to be told that we need to get on the road.”

“As I said before, this is a sensitive case,” Vargas repeated, not missing a beat.

“I asked for aerial support and was denied,” Miriam said as her tone grew angrier.

“Who do you think we are, the Air Force?” he asked, causing Wright and Summerson to smile.

“Are you telling me we can’t get a single helicopter out there to search for a van?” Miriam said, her arms stretched out in protest. “News stations have them up there all the time for traffic reports, but we can’t ask them to help us search for a missing girl?”

Vargas maintained his quiet tone. “Calm down, Detective. A pilot arrived not too long ago.” He held up his index finger, pointing it toward her. “We currently have one helicopter and one pilot. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to pick up the slack on our end. The police chief issued an ‘all hands on deck’ for his department, and I’m tasked with issuing the same with mine.”

Wright gave Vargas an inquisitive look followed by his normally calm tone. “What do we know so far? Where was she abducted? Where are our witnesses?”

Summerson nodded in support of Wright’s questions. “Some answers would definitely be a good start.”

“Fair enough,” Vargas said, leaning back again. Miriam eyed the mahogany bookcase behind him. One shelf was loaded with books and another dedicated to framed pictures and memorabilia. He had a big family, as evident from the many pictures of children and an attractive wife, whom he looked happy with.

Vargas cleared his throat and continued. “Sarah Bynes was waiting for her mother to pick her up outside the pick-up loop at her private school.”

Miriam tensed up. The back of her neck tingled. The circumstances were oddly similar to those of a case she would never forget, or the name of the girl: Jenny Dawson.

Vargas paused, seeming to search for the right words. “Girl feels ill and wants to go home. School calls mother. Mother comes to pick her up. Girl vanishes.” Vargas paused. “Now this is where it gets a little hazy. Sarah was supposed to wait for her mother in the front office. However, her mother was running late. Front desk recalls seeing Sarah looking frustrated and pacing around. School security footage shows her standing outside as a blue van pulls up. She enters the van on her own. Strange thing is, there’s no license plate on the van.”

An image of Phillip Anderson’s escape truck entered Miriam’s mind. Her gut told her that he was somehow involved, even though it seemed an impossibility. He was presumed dead, for starters, and the idea of his traveling all the way to Arizona to start kidnapping children seemed about as plausible as Miriam running for president.

“Perhaps the abductor removed his plates prior to entering the school grounds,” Summerson said.

“Good point,” Wright added.

“It’s absurd to think he drove around for very long without plates,” Vargas said.

Keely stepped forward, lost in his own thoughts. “Given that, it looks like the driver knew exactly what they were doing.”

The room went quiet as everyone considered the possibilities. Feeling as though she’d been down this road before, Miriam spoke up first. “He was either staking out the school and convinced the girl to get in his van, or we’re dealing with someone who knew her.”

“
He
?” Vargas said.

“That’s right. Our kidnapper is a man, thirty to fifty years old.”

Detective Wright turned around and looked up at Miriam, snapping his fingers. “You dealt with a similar case like this. I remember reading about it. The Snatcher case. Boat explosion, wasn’t it?”

She didn’t even know where to start. “Yes. He was killed… evading the authorities.”