AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Could you start again?”
I keep my feet planted, not sure I could move them to save my life at this point, and cut my gaze to the man. I see his profile—his short cropped brown hair and clean-shaven jaw. Normal. Average. Nothing about him screams “I need attention.”
“Right.” Mr. Dune shifts uncomfortably and clears his throat. “I, um, well, like I said, the year the Mathers girl disappeared, I was about eight or nine. About third grade at the elementary. My ma worked two jobs, morning to night for twelve plus hours a day. I was an only child and took care of myself, ya know? Made my breakfast, got dressed, and got on the bus to school every morning.”
He stops, unscrews the cap on the bottle of water with only his left hand, and takes a long drink. “But that morning...” He goes on. “I don’t know what happened that morning. I was sick, and my ma had to take the morning off work to bring me in. It upset her a lot. Of course, I understand now, but I didn’t get it at the time. Anyway.” He stops to take another drink of water, and I cut my glance to Tavers. My eyes burn with the desperation I reveal. The need to tell him to cut to the fucking chase.
Tavers looks back at Mr. Dune. “Then what happened?”
“Sorry, I went off there. So she had to take me in, which is why I wasn’t in school that morning. And… dammit if I had only realized back then what I was seeing.” His jaw solidifies, and he looks out the window behind the desk. “I watched that little girl get kidnapped. Happened before my eyes and I didn’t say a goddamned thing to nobody.”
“What did you see exactly?” I growl low in my throat, unable to hold back much longer. My fingers curl into fists, and I fight the urge to throw them into something solid. Something I can hit over and over again without the fear of reducing it to dust.
Another throat clear. Another shift. “I saw everything. A white Honda Civic parked on the side of highway 45. It was a man. Not too old, maybe late twenties to early thirties. Medium build and slightly out of shape. He had a bit of a gut going on, though he wasn’t fat. Blond hair and rounded square frames. He had on a simple pair of jeans and a black tee shirt. And as we drove past, he lifted a small brunette girl and put her in his trunk. Didn’t look like she had a whole lot of fight in her.”
My stomach revolts, and I hide the retching sound with a fake cough.
“Did your mother see? Anyone else around you noticed?”
Mr. Dune’s expression is hard to read as I can only see his profile, though I don’t miss him scrubbing a hand over his brow. He shakes his head. “No. My ma never said a word, and I never asked. By the time I twisted in my seat to watch behind me, the man was in the driver’s seat. Whipped a U-turn and disappeared over the hill. It was that fast.”
It was that fast. Fuck. The kidnapping was fast, but the next fifteen years? Sounds like it was a long-drawn-out hell for her. I clench my back molars and shift my weight onto my heels. Tavers writes down a few notes on the paper in front of him before directing his attention back at Mr. Dune. The sound of his pen hitting the table rings with finality in my mind.
“We appreciate you coming in. If you remember anything else—”
“I won’t. Sorry to say it, Detectives, but I’ve held this memory for a long time, and that’s all the details I’ve got.”
“Well, thanks for coming in. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.” Tavers and Mr. Dune stand, exchanging a quick handshake. Mr. Dune turns to me next and holds out his hand. I grasp it firmly but briefly before letting him go. It takes a massive amount of restraint to keep from throwing his hand away from me.
“Yeah, thanks,” I offer. I’m not trying to be a dick, but this hits too close to home for me. So many years wasted when all he had to do was come forward with the information.
Tavers walks him out while I wait, pacing the small office space. I look at the yellowed walls, blank except for one photograph of a mountain in Alaska. A moose stands tall in a field with the bluish gray mountain backdrop behind it. I have never asked him the full story on the image, but I believe it reminds him of a trip he took with his dad when he was younger. His father passed away the same year he landed detective. That was bittersweet.
I lean against his old wooden desk, the palms of my hands supporting me on the edge, and I let my head drop forward. I’m so angry. And tired. And tired of being fucking angry. I grip the wood tighter just as the door swings open.
“I’ll get on the phone and makes some calls,” Tavers announces. “Going to start running DMV records for the entire state of Ohio and the western side of Pennsylvania. Brace yourself. This is going to take us a while.”
“Yeah,” I mutter.
Tavers stalls in reaching for the phone. “What can I do for you?”
I push away from the desk and shake my head. “Not one goddamned thing.” I start for the door.
“Where’re you going?”
“I’m going home. Take a few to clear my head. Then I’m going to search medical records.”
“Medical records for what?”
“For Doe... I mean, the girl at the hospital. She might have had some injuries in the past that required medical care.”
“Nice work,” he says then picks up the phone. “Take all the time you need at home. I’ll get started here.”
I nod once. “Yeah. Thanks.”
Tavers holds the phone to his ear when he calls out to me. “We’re going to get him, Niko. We’re going to nail this fucking bastard.”
God, I hope so. I don’t know how I’ll move on if we don’t. There’s going to come a time, a time I’m feeling will be sooner than later, that I’m going to have to accept this and move on. The case is going to be ice cold and buried in a pile of unsolved mysteries. Her face forever memorialized on an old, yellowing flier. It’s going to be something I have to accept. Something I’m not ready to accept, but it’s coming. I can feel it in my bones.
