John looked at Roz thoughtfully. "You know," he said, "I'm going to call Ralph, as soon as we finish here and tell him about what happened. I don't know if he will be in charge of this case, but I'm sure he'll be interested. He'd better be, because I'm interested in this case. I want to know what happened there. I'm convinced it was not an accident. I wonder how old that boy is? Do you have any idea, Roz?"
"He looked to be about ten years old", Roz says,. "And the thing that's running through my mind is, where are his parents? Or anyone who should be responsible for him? Nobody on the beach seemed to looking for a young boy, or looking for anyone, for that matter. I'm sure the police will put out a missing report on him. I'd hate to think no one will claim him."
"Oh, I'm sure someone will come forward to claim the body. What I'm wondering is.....why would anyone want to murder him? He was just a child! " John shook his head in disbelief. They finished their meal in silence, each thinking about the body. John looked at Roz and asked, "Are you ready to leave? I want to call my brother now and find out what's going on."
Roz nodded and as they walked to his car, he asked her if she'd mind coming to his place while he made the phone call. "Of course not!" she declared. "I wanted to come, remember?" He smiled nodding as if to say he did remember.
They arrived at his place and he called his brother. He was in
luck. Ralph was at his desk and took the call. "Ralph," John said into the phone. "This is John. I was wondering if you heard about the young boy's body on the beach."
"Hello John." Ralph answered. "Yes, I read the report and noticed your name on it, as well as a females' name. Seeing someone?"
John smiled. He could just picture Ralph with a big grin on his face. "We'll talk about that later. Are you going to be in charge of the case?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. You interested?" asked Ralph.
"Yes, I am." John replied. "I don't think it was an accident, and I wanted to talk to you about that." John could feel that Ralph's mood changed.
"Why do you think that?" asked Ralph, tersely.
"Because of the look on the boys' face. That look of fear as though he knew something bad was going to happen to him. Besides, there was no one on the beach that seemed to be looking for him. I don't think a parent, or anyone, would let a little boy alone on the beach. To many things could happen to him."
"Well, you may be right about that. Actually, I was kind of thinking the same thing. Look, why don't we get together and discuss this?" asked Ralph.
"Great! I was hoping you'd say that. When?" asked John. "Oh, do you mind if I bring someone with me? She's the one who was with me when I saw the body."
"Not at all. I'd like to meet her and ask her a few questions. Don't worry, I won't ask any personal ones." Ralph said, laughing.
"You'd better not! We'll see you in about an hour, okay?" John asked smiling. Ralph agreed and they both hung up the phone. John turned to Roz and told her they were going over to the police station if that was okay with her. She nodded vehemently in agreement.
The trip to the police station was long enough for Roz to give some thoughts to the many recent events that had happened in her life, all in such a short time. So many, she marvelled to herself that her head was not spinning. As usual she had taken them all in and filed them in her mind, as a very happy smile crept accross her face. "Yes, life is wonderful" she thought.
As they approached the front desk at the Police Station, John noticed Ralph was talking to the desk Sargeant. "There you are", John said as they walked over to the desk. "Hi!" Ralph returned, as he extended his hand to welcome him. Ralph's eyes were not on John but rather engulfed the vision of Roz, all radiant and looking 10 years younger than a normal grandmother appears to many people.
"Over here Ralph, Iam over here", John says to Ralph, who's vision finally includes John. "Oh! yes, you too John". Welcome smiles abound from the trio, enjoying the fun as if all three where old friends. Ralph leads them back to his desk in the middle of a crowded open office.
Taking a chair from the next desk over, Ralph offerered it to Roz who acknowledged the gesture and sat down. Totally ignoring John, Ralph walked around the desk, sat down, and began the conversation with her. "So, you are the celebrity in this morning's newspaper, glad to meet you Roz". "My pleasure," Roz assured him.
"Hey guys, you forgot about me." Jhn butted in, as he leaned in between them. "Oh! yes,"Ralph added "you again? Well, let's get to this story about the boy, what happened?"
Roz and John retold their story as they remembered the facts, and Ralph made notes. After they finished Ralph told them, "We were lucky about one thing. The boy was listed as a child whose parents took him to a local grocery store where we have a program for gathering finger prints of children for future reference files. You know, to help locate lost children."
"So you do have a name and know where he lived?" asked Roz.
"Yes, we do, but nobody is answering the phone there, I was heading out to check on them when John called", added Ralph. "Listen, you know, John I can't have you here, I mean as a civilian, with me sharing information on an open case".
"I know but Iam sure I can be of service to you, I mean being retired gives me alot of time on my hands and I have worked with you on other cases".
"Yes, but, well, let's take it outside, meet me tomorrow at Luigi's for lunch. I will have more info then and we three can go over it, OK?".
"Well alright, for now. I don't want to get you into trouble at your job." John said, nodding in agreement. "Till tomorrow then."
John stood and held the chair for Roz as she stood up, the two of them shook hands with Ralph and walked out of the station. Roz stopped on the sidewalk by John's car, reached into her purse for a piece of paper and a pencil. She wrote something on the paper. John, curious, leaned over, saw a name and address and grinned. "Why you little stinker", John said as the two of them smile at each other. "You were certainly busy while Ralph
and I were talking."
Roz laughed. "It was easy to read the boys' address from where I was sitting."
"Good for you! I think we'll make a great team. Now we have to decide what to do with this information." He said, smiling at her in appreciation. They got in the car. This time Roz invited him into her apartment so that they could discuss the situation.
While they were in the kitchen, making coffee, John said thoughtfully, "I don't think it's a good idea to call their house or even go there. I'm sure Ralph will keep doing that til he gets an answer. He did say he would go to their house if he
doesn't get an answer. Also, knowing Ralph, he will probably have the house staked out until they return. I guess, the only thing we could do now is wait. We'll meet him for lunch tomorrow and see what he comes up with, what do you think?"
"Well, of course we really can't interfere with the law." Roz replied. "I'm sure Ralph will contact them before tomorrow. I just can't understand why the boy's parents haven't called the police. "Wait!" she cried suddenly, an idea popping into her head. "Maybe they're dead too! Or maybe they're being held hostage somewhere! My God! We never thought of that, did we?"
"No, we never did." John said, feeling stupid. He shook his head. "I wonder why Ralph didn't think of that. Of course, maybe he did. He's probably thinking of every possibility. He just didn't want to say anything yet, til he was sure. He's taking this one step at a time. But, you and I can talk about this. Let's figure out all the possibilities so that we can
present them to Ralph tomorrow. What do you say?"
"Fine with me." Roz nodded. "Let's say the three of them were kidnapped, or taken hostage on their boat, but the boy jumped ship and couldn't make it to shore because it was too far away. We'd have to find out what boats went out yesterday, and which one didn't return."
"That's very clever of you, Roz", John said admiringly. "Actually, I don't think we should wait until lunch tomorrow to talk to Ralph. I think we should call him now and get together to talk about this. If what you say is true, then time is of the essence. Do you have any more theories?"
"Not really, but that could be what happened. That address is in the upper class section of Boston, no doubt they are people with money, maybe a ransom type of event,"added Roz.
"That is a strong possibility, lets' call Ralph", John offered.
"Maybe we had better wait, like Ralph said, see what he comes up with," Roz said as she headed for the table with coffee cups, saucers, spoons in hand, John followed, they sat down. Glancing at the grand father clock that has stood guard over the dinning area for several years Roz noticed the time of 4:17, the whole day had gone by so fast with so much happening she was surprised at the time. "Besides", she added, "things should be closing up
there, Iam sure Ralph has a family and a life after hours."
"Well you are right about that, Ralph's wife still is concered about him on the job and he does check in with her very often. Okay,, we'll wait until morning to call, maybe before we meet him at Luigi's." John replied. They sat quietly, thinking to themselves, each forgetting about the presence of the other. Fifteen minutes went by when Roz finally realized they had both
finished their coffee. She saw John was still deep in thought. She gently touched his arm. He looked at her, startled; pulled back, but quickly realizing the negative idea, he replaced his hand on her's. They looked at each other, transfixed eyes hold questions yet unanswered.
Roz pulled back slowly while saying, "Look at the time! Help me put these things into the kitchen sink and lets' catch the evening news, see if anything about the boy is on." John nodded and helped her clear the table.
The two of them sat on the sofa, and Roz turned on the TV. "And the stock market continues to remain solvent.",reads the commentator. "The body of a young boy has been found on the beach today. The main investigator on the case for the police is offering very few bits of information to the general public, allowing, he says, "more to develop". "On the world news......." Roz reached over and turned off the TV.
"Ralph is going to play this one close to the chest."said John. Roz agreed with him. "No doubt he has to, just not much is known at this moment about it all.."
John stood up, turned towards Roz while saying, "Listen, the coffee was great, hit that empty spot just right. However, there is a lot of room in there for a steak or something. Let me take you out for supper. Any special place you like?"
"So you don't have a pineapple to offer?" Roz asked, with an inner smile.
"Pineapple? questioned John.
"Oh! just a private joke", Roz said, with a slight giggle, "Fantastic idea. Yes, I know a great steak house, if that is what is really on your diet. First let me freshen up".
"Well look, I don't really live that far away, I'll run back home, freshen up also and scoot back here,. So around seven?" John offered. "Great, seven it is."Roz replied happily.
John reached down, both hands placed on Roz's shoulders, and slowly lowered his head. "Oh! my God!" Roz thought, "he is going to kiss me". John placed his tongue a bit on his lips, just to moisten them, gently placed his lips on her forehead, "On my forehead??? he kissed me on my forehead??". Roz is trully amazed, "What!, my lips aren't good enough for this guy??". She continued to think to herself. John slowly turned away, walking toward the door, "Then, see you at seven?" he asked, opening the door, halfway out. Roz was still bewildered. She stammered "Oh, ahh, yeah, seven will be fine". John closed the door.
Roz sat there for awhile thinking about what just happened. She finally came to the conclusion that his mind was on this case and he kissed her absent-mindedly. She shrugged and went into the kitchen to finish the dishes. Then she went to get ready for dinner.
John was very prompt. He picked her up at seven on the dot and they went to the restaurant that she suggested. Over an excellent dinner they discussed the case again. It seemed that John couldn't get it out of his mind. "You know," he said, "I was thinking over what you said about the boy's parents either being held hostage or dead. Lets say they are being held ostage.
Why haven't the abductors notified the police, or anyone, with their demands?"
"Well," Roz replied, "Maybe they don't want anything but the boat. Maybe they just want to get out of the country, or out of the state. They could have his parents tied up til they get to where they want to go. If this is true, those poor people must be in hell thinking about their son and wondering if he made it home. Given that's what really happened." John looked at her with admiration. She was a smart lady and he felt very lucky
that he met her.
"Of course," he said, "this is all guesswork. Hopefully Ralph has already found the boy's parents, safe and sound, and there could be many other reasons why he's dead. Meanwhile......." he said, smiling, "You are a very smart and attractive lady. I hope we get to see each other a lot."
Roz smiled demurely. "I'd like that." she said. They both smiled at each other and talked about other things til dinner was over.
John took her home and told her he would pick her up the next day at ll:30. That should give them plenty of time to meet Ralph. She nodded in agreement and said goodnight to him. When John reached home, he noticed he had a message on his answering machine. It was from Ralph, asking if he could come over and talk to him. John called him back and Ralph said he would be
right over. When Ralph walked in the door he looked troubled.
"What's up, Ralph?" asked John, after he and Ralph sat down in the living room. It's about this case." said Ralph. "We can't seem to get in touch with the parents. They haven't come home yet and I have a feeling they're in trouble." John nodded and told him about Roz's theory.
"Smart lady." said Ralph. "I agree with her. I think something happened to them. I checked out their background, and asked questions around the neighborhood. It seems he does have a boat. A large 40 footer. Quite a yacht. I was able to get info about the boat. It's named Danny Boy. Their son's name is Daniel. I've notified the coast guard to look for it. Of course, they don't know where to start, so it may take a while. Now all we
can do is wait. I have a cop at the house in case they show up. I don't think they will, though. Anyway, I just want to kick around some ideas with you. Okay?" John nodded. Of course it was okay.
"Why was that boy in the water? Do you think the abductors threw him in? Or maybe the kid did it on his own. He may have been scared when they came aboard and thought he could help by swimming ashore. He doesn't have any marks on him so I don't think he was beaten. I guess we'll never know til we find his parents, alive, I hope."
The phone rang, John picked up the receiver, "Hello", sure just a moment", handing it to Ralph, "it's for you". "I told the office I would be here", Ralph says, into the phone, "Yes, Ralph here, yes, ok, right, it'l take me 20 minuets to get there". Ralph hangs up the phone, "Gotta go, the parents just got home, Iam heading out there". "Let me go with you", asks John. "No way, the captain is going to be there, and some of the suits, just wait until tomorrow, we are still on for Luigi's, right? "Ok, you know best, Iam meeting Roz at 11:30, we will meet you
there., "Good, will clue you two in on what I find out tonight, till tomorrow", Ralph says, heading out the door.
John quickly picks up the phone to call Roz. Still awake, drinking an unusal night cap of coffe, Roz is startled by the phone ring, "Hello! Roz almost shouts into the phone, "Easy Roz, easy now" comforts John. "Sorry, spilled my coffee at the
sound of the phone, what's up?". John tells her about the talk with Ralph, the two agree again about the 11:30 meeting and say goodnight.
The following morning John did not even have to leave his car, Roz was curbside, opening the door prior to his complete stop. "Kind of in a hurry?? noticing the humor in his question Roz laughs slightly saying, "You noticed? On the way over to Luigi's
they chatted about the events up till last night, both admitting that not much sleep was had by either of them.
Ralph was already at the table when they arrived. No humor was in the lines of his face as he began to update them on last nights discussion with the parents. "It seems that they were out of town for a couple of days, leaving Daniel at the ship in care of their housekeeper, the housekeeper's husband who works as the maintenance guy and driver, plus Daniel's nanny. Her name is Sara, she lives in. When they were met at the door by an on duty police, the wife, Mrs. Williams fainted into her husband's arms, he picked her up and carried her inside, placing her on the sofa. The police followed them inside. The captain had arrived by then and told them about finding Daniel."
He paused for a minute, then continued. "Mr. Williams noticed the message light flashing on the phone, picked the receiver up to check incoming calls, that's when they got the first ransom message. The kidnappers had grabbed Daniel at the school parking lot as he was waiting for his nanny, Sara. It all happened so fast that no one noticed the kid was gone." "Our 911 operator did get a call about that time from one of the students, who saw it happen, but was so confused that the opereater did not
know it was a kidnap, so it was placed as a non rush situation".
"So? what was the ransom situation?, asked Roz.
"Oh! yeah, that, well a second message told Mr. Williams to drop off five hundred thousand dollars in unmarked bills at a certain location in Columbus Park". replied Ralph.
"That's Old Colony District, right on the coast of Old Boston Harbor, I know that area well", added John, "So their ship Danny Boy was used."
"Probably to keep Daniel on it, off land, not someplace everyone would look for", offered Roz.
"God, you two work like matching gears, always pushing each other's buttons, sounds great." laughed Ralph.
After Ralph stopped laughing, John said, "Okay, where are the couple and the nanny now?"
"Well, Sara had a car accident before getting to the school and is in a coma, " replied Ralph, "the couple must be on the boat with the kidnappers. I hope everything is okay with them. The kidnappers didn't even mention them. That could be bad news."
The sound of Ralph's beeper broke in, looking at it he saw the station phone number, "Be right back," he said as he headed for a phone. Roz and John sat looking at each other, retracing everything that was told to them. Not speaking, yet conveying each other's thoughts with their eyes. Yes, they have become
quite a couple.
Ralph's words broke into their thoughts, bringing them back to now. "Well that's that." he said, still standing. He sat down and said, "It's over, the Harbor team caught up to them at Old Boston Harbor, right where the drop was to be made, they didn't even put up much of a fight."
"Over?" the words leapt out of both mouths of Roz and John at the same time. A tired feeling of exhaustion crept over their bodies, as if they had swam the English Channel. "Just like that, over," Roz said. "Yea, just like that?" echoed John.
"So many times, guys who think they are so smart make dumb mistakes", Ralph commented "These two guys, one who use to work for Mr. Williams and got fired by him, first takes a kid that does not know how to swim, steals a boat they do not know how to drive, tells us where to locate them, and then wonders where it all fell apart."
"How did Daniel end up dead?" asked Roz.
"Another of their stupid mistakes", replied Ralph. "They had him naked, since one of the perps was a child molester, Daniel broke away and dove into the water, anything to get away, and drowned. He was washed ashore by the incoming tide. Oh, by the way, the housekeeper and her husband are fine. They found them in the cabin, tied up, but okay."
The trio sat there, each mentally into their own world of ideas. Ralph slowly rose, and pushed his chair against the table, "Well, you two take care, keep in touch, and you John, hang onto this one, she's a keeper", a slight hand wave, he turned and headed for the door.
Roz and John reach out one hand each, grasp each other, slowly let the hands rest on the table top. "O K! folks, what will it be? asked the waiter..............................
