Girl Jacked (11 page)

That jackass started to run a site inspection, screwed it up, and didn’t run it again.

“Did he go through the car?” Jack tried to mask his frustration.

“He gave it a once over. We picked up some pieces of it off the road, and I brought it all back here. It sure is banged up, but she started. It was just some kids, right? They okay?” Jack could see the older man was concerned. It wasn’t his fault that Murphy was lazy.

“Is it all right if I go take a look?”

Replacement jumped out of her chair and moved to the door.

“Sure, Jackie.”

 
Sully went first and shooed the dogs away as the three of them walked back to the car.

Kids? This didn’t make sense
. Jack was fuming and couldn’t wait for Murphy to try to explain it.

He took a deep breath and decided to start on the inside of the car. Besides little piles of broken glass, the car was clean. The keys were still in the ignition. He opened the glove compartment.

Owner’s manual, a pair of sunglasses, and some tissues.

It was worthless to dust the car for prints. It had lightly snowed off and on for the last couple of weeks and the car would have gotten soaked, erasing any fingerprints. Jack walked around to the trunk and stopped.

He closed his eyes and inhaled. He could only smell the faint odor of gasoline. He looked over at Replacement and she was still peering into the inside of the car.

His hand trembled.

Please God, don’t let her be in here.

Jack opened the trunk.

It was empty.

He exhaled.

Jack pulled the trunk closed. “Were you there with Murphy when he first saw the car?”

“No. I arrived a little after he got there. It wasn’t real stuck. I turned her over, and she started right up. Ben Nichols!” He jumped as he shouted the name. “I couldn’t recall who called. It was Ben. He was bow hunting.”

“Where can I find him?” Jack reached for his notebook that was normally in his uniform pocket out of habit and frowned when he realized it was in his car.

“He lives over on Juniper, big white house. You’ll go past Weston on the way back to downtown. Turn right on Weston, go half a mile, and take a left onto Juniper. He’s on the right. Got a couple of canoes off to the side, you can’t miss it.”

“Thanks, Sully.” Jack offered his hand. “Listen, can you do me one favor?”

“Sure Jackie.” He shook it.

“Call Murphy and tell him the car’s still here. Tell him to check that it’s in the database. Just… don’t say I was here.”

Sully gave him a questioning look.

“I don’t want to embarrass him since he must have forgotten.”

I don’t want to embarrass him, I want to kill him but this way Collins still won’t know I’m looking into this.

Sully turned to Replacement. “Sorry about the dogs…”

“Thank you for the soda, sir.” Replacement’s eyes stayed on the car for a moment. Her shoulders slumped, and then she turned and headed towards the Impala.

“Where is Reservoir Road?” Replacement asked as she shivered in the passenger seat.

Jack took a hard right. Replacement looked at him. “The hunter’s place is on the way. We need to interview him and see what he knows first and then we’ll check out where they found the car.”

Jack lifted a knee against the steering wheel, and he breathed into his hands to try to warm them a bit.

He blew past a stop sign and Replacement gave him a surprised look. He ignored it. They were running out of daylight.

The hunter said he saw kids that ran off but why would they have Michelle’s car? Did they steal it? Were they driving it or found it like that?

His knuckles on the steering wheel turned white, as they sped on.

He slowed down when he saw the canoes. He pulled into Ben Nichols’ drive way. “Stay here.” He left no room for argument as he got out of the car. He left it running to keep her warm, but something bothered him about leaving Replacement in his car with the keys in it.

She scooted over to the driver’s seat before he shut his door.

“You’re not coming with me. It will look weird,” Jack tried to explain.

“You should say that again!” she answered. “You look like a Chippendale’s dancer!”

Jack looked down at his jacket and shirt and they were both torn open. He frowned.

Great, I look like an idiot.

Jack’s hands went up but he was too embarrassed to thank her. He popped the trunk. After a couple of minutes of going through gym bags, he pulled off his jacket and shirt and put on a police sweater. It was so cold he had to force himself to breathe. He grabbed his notebook and pen.

It was starting to get dark.

He shot Replacement a do-not-move look as she sat smiling in the front seat. Shivering, he jogged up to the house.

The door opened as he approached. A short, bald man with thick glasses stood in the doorway. The man had a blank stare on his face, and his eyes looked odd.

“Can I help you?” the man asked.

Jack froze. He forgot he was a good ways out of town, and a different type of people lived out here. Ben Nichols’ left hand was visible, but his right wasn’t. Jack noticed that the muscles on the right side of his neck stood out.

A little guy meeting me at the door with that face and the way he is standing? He’s a hunter. Odds are there is a shotgun in his other hand.

Jack angled his body so Ben could see the words POLICE printed across his sweater. “Mr. Nichols.” Jack forced himself not to move his hands. “I’m Officer Jack Stratton. Sully over at the auto yard said you called in the abandoned car report on Reservoir Road. I came out here to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Ben’s chest puffed up. “I’m just doing my duty, Officer.”

Jack was surprised he didn’t salute.

“I just left Sully’s and I did have a couple of questions.” Jack kept smiling but resisted any impulse to move.

“Yes sir. Won’t you come in?” Ben opened the door wide, and Jack’s eyes went to the double barrel shotgun in his right hand. Ben shrugged then grinned. “You can’t be too careful.”

“Certainly. Thank you.” Jack followed the man inside.

It was a pleasant home but he had a ton of lights on. Ben Nichols walked through a door to the left and into a large room with bookcases and a hefty, warm wood stove. Straightaway, Jack moved next to it. He rubbed his hands as Ben settled onto a tan couch.

“Are you making an official report?” Ben asked, thrilled about the attention.

Jack coughed. “Yes, can you please explain in your own words the events starting just before you found the car, Mr. Nichols?” Jack took out his notebook. People loved it when you wrote down what they said and writing things down let Jack pay attention to the person. He could pore over the details later.

“I was out hunting near the Onopiquite Reservoir.” Ben’s voice dropped a couple of octaves, and he now sounded like he was giving a televised report from some war zone. “I had been out for a few hours when I first heard the kids. It was around 3:00 pm. There were five teens who were around a blue Honda Civic.”

“Do you remember where on Reservoir Road this was?”

“No… not exactly. They were due west of the reservoir.”

Jack continued to write.

“From a distance I could see the teens were trying to start the car. I naturally assumed that they had just broken down, but as I approached to help, I could see the damage to the car. When they saw me, the perps fled the scene.

People love to try to use police jargon and Jack tried to let it go, but the word slipped out. “Perps?”

“Perpetrators,” Ben answered but continued with his narrative. “I realized afterwards that the car must not have been theirs seeing how they ran.”

“Can you tell me anything about the teens?”

“There were five of them. They were on snowmobiles. Two rode double. Ah … One had a red coat and another guy had a Roman thing on his head!”

“A Roman thing?” Jack stopped writing.

“Like a Mohawk? A gold one on his helmet.” Ben’s hands were moving over his head. “Like a Roman soldier would wear.”

“On his helmet? Like a centurion?” Jack scribbled a quick picture of a Roman Soldiers helmet and turned the notebook around.

“That’s it!” Ben nodded.

“What about the one in the red coat? What else can you tell me about him?”

“It was a big red parka. The kid was very chunky. I think that is why he rode alone. He was stocky. Fat.”

“Anything else about them? Jackets, hats…”

“Not really. They took off when I called out to them.”

“Have you ever seen any of them before?” Jack continued.

“I’ve seen kids snowmobiling out there a lot. I think I’ve seen the Roman kid too.”

“You ever see the car before?”

“No.”

“Was there snow on the car when you first saw it?” Jack stopped writing.

Ben thought for a minute. “Yeah, the windshield was covered. It was light. A dusting. There was even snow in the car! I remember because I looked in the back and…”

“Did you touch the car?”

“No sir! That could contaminate the crime scene.” Ben’s head bobbed up and down.

“Did you notice anything else?”

Ben shook his head.

“Well, thank you, Mr. Nichols.” He closed his notebook.

“If you need anything, I’m always ready to do my part Officer Stratton.” Ben stood at attention as he held open the door.

Jack paused. “Thank you, sir. If more citizens like you took the time to help us, it would make our jobs a lot easier.” Jack was glad Ben couldn’t see the smirk on his face as he walked away. What he said was the truth, but when he said it out loud it sounded a little silly.

Replacement was looking out the window, waiting for him to get back. “What did you find?” The image that he had gotten a new puppy was now complete. She was sitting on her haunches and looking up at him with her big emerald eyes.

“Move in!” he said, trying to sound annoyed. Inwardly though, he smiled.
I like my new puppy.

“What did he say?” Jack watched as she scooted across the seat without straightening her legs in a little reverse hop.

“When he got to the car there were five kids who were snowmobiling around it. One had a weird helmet with a gold Mohawk on it. It should be easy enough to find out who that is.”

“You don’t think they’re involved do you?”

“No. He said there was already snow on the windshield and in the car, so I think the car had been there for a while.”

He threw the car in reverse and then sped out to the reservoir.

The Onopiquite Reservoir was the size of a large lake. No boating, swimming or fishing was allowed. Nevertheless, everyone overlooked the fishing ban because the fishing was so good. The reservoir sat at the bottom of a large, natural basin, shaped like a long serving dish. Reservoir Road circled the lake on the lower side of the basin, closest to the water, and Pine Ridge ran along the eastern ridge on the ‘lip’ of the bowl. During foliage season, Pine Ridge saw a lot of traffic because the view of the lake down below and the reflection of the trees in its water was breathtaking. However, Reservoir Road saw very little traffic and almost none during the winter.

Jack slowed as they drove down Reservoir Road. It was now dark and the lack of streetlights made it impossible to see anything beyond the headlights.

“Where did they find the car?”

“I don’t know. Ben Nichols just had a general description.”

As they drove up and down the road, nothing stood out. Jack shook his head.

“It's too dark. I will call Sully and try and get a better description of the site the car was towed from.”

“Do you think we could just go and start searching the woods on foot?” Replacement’s kept her eyes closed.

“Kid…” Jack kept driving.
What am I going to say? It’s been two weeks. It’s freezing and you’re hoping she’s just out there waiting for us?
“We’ll come back tomorrow. I promise.”

Damn!

He tried never to promise anything.

I don’t know anything. I don’t know what the hell happened to Michelle. I don’t know jack so how could I promise anything to anyone?

He gripped the steering wheel tighter, and they sped back towards the highway. He shook his head. He didn’t need this.

Replacement didn’t seem happy when he pulled onto the highway and went past his exit.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m bringing you home.”

“Why? I thought…?”

“You’re not staying at my place. I don’t know what you told Mrs. Stevens but she won’t stay happy for long so let’s leave her that way… happy.”

“She won’t care.”

“I do. It’s my place. You’re not far.”

“Far enough that you never came over.” She intended to hurt him, and that did.

“I’m not doing this now.” His voice was so crisp the words seemed to snap. It was true. Aunt Haddie lived an hour away, and he hadn’t seen her or Michelle since he came back. “I’m…”

I’m what? I’m a coward? Do I tell her that I can’t face it? What the hell was I supposed to say to them? Apologize? Say I’m sorry he died? I’m sorry it was my fault…

Jack glared at Replacement and was glad she was looking out the window. “Not now,” was the last thing he said for the next hour.

He pulled up in front of her apartment building and she got out and walked away without looking back. Jack didn’t wait for her to go in. He pulled away, tires screeching. He drove half a block before he pulled back over.

Damn!

He shut off the engine, his fist pounded the steering wheel.

What does she want from me?
He was fuming.
She’s not my sister. I’m watching out for her because of Chandler.

While he debated with himself about what he was going to do, he grabbed the rear view mirror to stare himself down, but as he moved it he saw Replacement. She walked back down the steps of her complex and began heading down the street away from him.

He turned and watched her go, and so did his anger. She looked small and vulnerable. His police training kicked in.

Where is she going?

Jack grabbed the keys and followed her. He tried to stay far back, there were few people on the street. He hugged the side of the building and walked at a steady pace, keeping his head down, and hunching his shoulders. Replacement never looked back.

She went a couple of blocks before she turned to the left. It was a business district but everything appeared closed. This part of the town had seen better days but it wasn’t dangerous.

Not dangerous? Anyplace can be dangerous. A girl alone at night, that was dangerous.

He saw her turn into a doorway and he silently rushed forward. He stopped and leaned against the building.

She cursed as she fumbled with the lock of the door. With a bit of anger, she threw it open and marched through.

Jack hesitated and then moved. He sprang forward and grabbed the door just before it locked. Holding it open an inch, he waited.

What was she doing?

After a minute, he opened the door and slipped inside the entranceway. The odor of mothballs and stale air greeted him. A hallway ran toward the back of the building, and an old worn staircase went up.

Three floors?

He tried to remember how tall the building was. He listened, and he heard a door open and then close on the floor above. On the wall leading upstairs was an old sign: STORAGE RULES followed by a bulleted list of regulations.

A storage place? What is she getting here this late at night?

This was an old office building that someone had renovated into a storage facility. They were about as secure as locking something in your car. He shook his head.