Trouble at the Park, Part 2

[If you missed part 1 last week, you should probably go back and read it first.]

The police promised Jack they’d be right over.  He thanked them and hung up the phone at the nearby convenience store.  Then, he waited for the walk sign, crossed the road, and headed back to the park.

“I called the police,” he told Robbie and Kurt.  “They’re on their way.”

“Great!” said Kurt.  “Now, what exactly happened again?”

“I’m not sure,” said Jack.  “This girl was looking for her mother.  We looked all over the park and didn’t find her.  She left her purse, too, so I’ll bet something happened to her.”  [He whispered the last part, not wanting to annoy the girl anymore.]

“Speaking of which, what’s your name?” Jack asked the girl, who was staring at him and Kurt curiously.

“Ruby,” said the girl.

“Ruby what?”

“Ruby MacIsaac.”

“And what’s your mother’s name?”

“Laura.  Laura MacIsaac.”

“I see,” said Jack.  He turned to Kurt.  “While we’re waiting for the you-know-who to get here, why don’t we find out if they saw anything?”  He gestured towards the other three moms that were at the playground.

Kurt agreed.  Jack went to ask a couple of the moms who were engrossed in some deep conversation, and Robbie went to ask the other mother.  They were not, however, much help.  None of them had been paying attention to Ruby’s mother, and they only vaguely remembered she had been there.

“Do you mind if we ask your kids if they saw anything?” Jack asked after explaining the situation.  The mothers looked at each other, then consented.

Jack turned to face the playground.  He tried to count how many kids were on it.  There looked to be about eight—er, possibly nine.  It was difficult to tell with the tunnel slide.

“Um, excuse me!” called Jack.  “Excuse me!”

No one paid him any attention.  Jack didn’t have that outstanding of a voice.

Suddenly, a loud whistle filled the air!  Instantly, everyone on the playground stopped and stared and Jack.  Jack glanced over to Kurt, the whistler, who nodded.

Looking back at the playground, Jack spoke.  “Ruby here can’t find her mother.  She was sitting on that bench over there, and she seems to have disappeared.  Do any of you know what happened?”

Two of the kids shook their heads and went right back to playing.  Most of the others just looked back with blank stares.  However, two (a boy and a girl) nodded and clambered off the playground to tell Jack what they knew.  The girl told her story first.

“I saw that lady sitting over there,” said the girl.  “While she was there, this man came up and started talking to her.  I don’t remember seeing her after that.”

“A man?” asked Jack.  “Do you remember what he looked like?”

The girl shook her head.

“He was kind of short, with a bent nose, and he didn’t have that much hair,” spoke up the boy.

“So you saw him too?” asked Jack.

“Yes.  They looked like they were having an argument.  Then, the man grabbed her, they both got up, and they left.”

“They left? Do you know where they went?”

“Sure.  They got into a car at the side of the road and drove off.”

“What kind of car?”

The boy shrugged.

“Just a regular-looking car.  It was gray.  They went that way,” he said, pointing north.

“Ruby, was your dad supposed to come by here today?”

“No,” sniffed Ruby.  “He’s at work.”

“Then that sounds like…” Jack stopped himself from saying foul play.  At that moment, a police car pulled up about the same place the gray car had been parked.

Two officers got out.  Jack went and told him what he knew.  He had Ruby tell her story, and he had Zachary (that was the boy’s name) tell his.  Zachary ended with the part about the car, but the officer looked unimpressed.

“A gray regular-looking car?” he asked.  “There must be thousands of those in Tacoma.  We can’t track it down unless we have more to go on.”

The other officer nodded.  They began questioning everyone all over again, but Jack knew it would be futile.  He, Kurt, and Robbie discussed the case.

“It felt like we were getting so close!” said Jack.  “If we could only identify the car, we’d probably have this thing solved!”

“The problem is,” said Robbie, “the street’s too far away from the playground for anyone to have gotten a good look at it.  If only someone had been closer to the road.”

Kurt snapped his fingers.  “Hey, who’s to say there wasn’t?  No one at the park got a great look, but there might have been someone in a business along that street that saw the car pass.  It’s worth a try.”

Jack saw what he meant.  “You’re right!” he said.  “I should probably stay here in case the police need me again, but you and Robbie go see what you can find out.”

“Will do!” said Kurt.  “Come on!”  He and Robbie darted off towards the street to see who might have spotted something.

When they came to the road, they looked up and down the sidewalk.  No one was on it.  However, up the road on the same side as them, there was a small strip mall.

“Let’s go ask in there!” said Kurt.  They ran down the sidewalk to the strip mall and looked at it.  Four stores faced them.  From right to left, they were:

A Thai restaurant

A nail-styling place

[Vacant]

Check into Cash

7-Eleven

“A nail-styling place?” groaned Kurt.  “Do we really have to ask in the nail-styling place?”

Robbie looked just as excited as Kurt at this development.  “Let’s check the other stores first.  If someone in them spotted the car, we won’t have to check—”

“Good idea!” said Kurt.  “Let’s pray that someone did!”

They barged into the Thai restaurant.  “Good afternoon!” called a waitress of Thai descent.  “Two of you?”

“I’m sorry,” said Kurt.  “but we’re not here to eat.  We were wondering if you saw a gray car go by about twenty minutes ago?”

“I’m sorry?”

“A gray car!” said Kurt.  “Did you see a gray car?”

“Let me check the menu,” said the waitress, in poor English.

“Never mind,” said Kurt.  “Thank you anyway.”

He and Robbie stepped out, gave the nails place a wide berth, and wandered into Check into Cash.  The man at the counter eyed them suspiciously as they went in.

“Hi!” said Kurt.  “We were wondering if you saw a gray car pass by about twenty minutes ago.”

The man glared at them.  “I probably did,” he said.  “Do you have any checks to cash?”

“No, we were just wondering about the gray car,” said Kurt.  “Someone in it may have been kidnapped.”

“Is this a crazy joke?” asked the man.  “Get out!” he ordered, without waiting for an answer.

When they left the storefront, Robbie whispered, “Do you think he might be in on the kidnapping?”

“I doubt it,” said Kurt.  “He’s probably just unfriendly.  He didn’t fit Zachary’s description.”  He looked at the 7-Eleven.  “I hope this turns up something.”

But when he and Robbie walked in, they decided not to even bother asking.  The counter was at the front of the store, but it faced away from the road.  The windows behind it were mostly blocked by shelves.  It was highly unlikely that anyone who worked there had seen the car, much less gotten a good description of it.

The boys turned around to leave.  As they did, Kurt looked up at the door.  There was a TV over it, showing the view from a security camera.  Kurt saw himself on the TV, and he made a funny face at it like he always did.

Robbie laughed.  “Imagine if someone tried shoplifting,” he remarked, “and they go back and watch the footage later, and they—oh my goodness!” he exclaimed.

“What?”  Kurt gave Robbie a funny look.

Robbie pointed at the road.  “That’s a busy street, isn’t it?”

“Yes, why?” asked Kurt.

“Come on!” said Robbie, sprinting back towards the park.  “I’ll explain later!”

Kurt followed, but he still wasn’t sure what was up when they got back.  The police were still there, as was Jack, who asked, “Any luck?”

“Plenty!” said Robbie.

“I still don’t have any idea what he’s talking about,” said Kurt.

“Excuse me, officer?”  Robbie pulled one of the officers aside.  “See that road right there?”

“See it?” asked the officer.  “My car’s parked on it.”

“Is there a traffic camera that monitors the road?”

The officer looked at the road.  “Yes, there is.  Why?”

“Why don’t you look at the footage from it and see if you can get the license plate of the car you’re looking for?”

The officer’s jaw dropped.  “Of course!” he said.  “Why didn’t I think of that before?  Walsh!” he called to his fellow officer.  “Hold this situation down for a minute.  I’ve got to radio headquarters.”

Headquarters confirmed that there was a traffic camera just north of the park.  The police, through their questions, had pinpointed the general time of the disappearance.  Even so, they still came up with three possibilities.  However, they checked all of them out, and within two hours, Mrs. MacIsaac and her daughter were reunited!  She’d been kidnapped because—well, that’s a long story, and this is supposed to be a short story.  Skip it.  The important thing was at the end of the day, everybody was alright, and the mystery had been solved.  Case closed.