Chapter 10 #2
Finally they had enough bolts removed that the hatch swung down.
Grant was able to shine a light inside. The opening wasn’t big enough for him to climb in.
“I’m Officer Grant. Can you come over to me so I can help you out?
” he asked. Mikey had been lying on the bottom of the curved tank, and he inched closer.
It was hard for him to stand up, but he got to his knees, and Grant was able to reach inside.
Finally, he was able to take the little boy’s hand, and he helped him move closer.
With his second hand, he was able to steady him until his head appeared in the opening.
The room filled with first responders. “I need a strap,” Grant called. “Now.” One of the firefighters handed him a long, woven, flat line. “Okay, Mikey. What I need you to do is take this end and wind it under your arms for me and then hand me the other end. Okay?” he asked.
“O—kay.” He sounded so small.
“You’re being really brave,” Grant reassured him as Mikey got the strap under him. Grant took the other end. “Now put your arms down at your sides and hold them there. Me and one of the firefighters are going to pull you out. Just make yourself as narrow as possible.”
“I’m ready,” Mikey said, his little voice shaking as it echoed in the tank.
“Okay. Go slow,” he told the huge firefighters who took over for him while Grant helped guide Mikey through the opening.
His head appeared, and Grant gently made sure his ears didn’t catch, then his shoulders.
It was a tight fit, but Mikey gradually inched his way through, with the firefighters lifting him slowly until his hips were free.
Then they pulled him the rest of the way, and Grant caught him in his arms. “You’re out of there and you’re okay,” he told Mikey.
“Mommy?” the boy asked in a whisper, as though it were something he didn’t hope to wish for.
“Yes, she’s on her way. I promise you that.” Grant turned to the firefighters. “Let’s get him out of here and to the ambulance so they can look him over while he waits for his parents.” Mikey clung to him, so he called Dexter, who followed him back through the school and out the front door.
“Mikey!” A cry went up and Mikey struggled. As soon as Grant set him on his feet, Mikey ran to the woman, who hugged him and cried tears of fear and relief. “I love you.”
“Mommy! Daddy!” he cried too as a man joined them and held them both. Grant stood watching the reunited family and feeling a desperate need to see Marty and Cameron.
He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text. We found him. He put the phone away as the EMTs took over, guiding the small family to the ambulance.
“We need to get the scene processed,” Atlas said from next to him.
“Yeah. Have them bag and tag everything, and be sure to get fingerprints off the cover, the bolts, and the area of the tank near the cover. Those bolts were rough, so maybe our kidnapper scraped himself on them.”
“I’m on it,” Atlas said before returning inside.
“Are you the one who found him?” Mikey’s mother asked as she walked over from the ambulance.
He patted Dexter on the head. “It was him. He found Mikey before we even realized he had.” He stroked Dexter’s head.
“I’m just happy we got to him and that he’s going to be okay.
Let them take him to the hospital so he can be fully checked out.
We don’t think he was in the school for very long.
” But he had no idea how the boy had been treated before he’d been put in the tank.
“We will. I just wanted to thank you for bringing him home to us.” She smiled and then hugged him. “You don’t know what you did for us.”
“I’m glad he’s safe and back with you and your husband,” Grant said, not quite sure how to react.
She bent over toward Dexter. “Is it okay if I thank him too?” she asked.
“Dexter would love that.” Grant told him to sit, and she gently stroked Dexter’s back.
“Thank you both.” Tears ran down her cheeks as she straightened up and returned to where Mikey was waiting for her. Grant sighed before waving to Mikey and then getting back to work.
AFTER HOURS of work, they found plenty of evidence both inside and outside the tank.
There was also the door that had been jimmied in order to gain access to the school.
They had evidence, but Grant had no idea if any of it would lead anywhere.
Mikey’s parents had given their permission to take some of his DNA for comparison and elimination purposes as well as his fingerprints, so now it was a matter of sending everything to the lab and waiting for the results.
When Grant left the hospital, Mikey was sleeping while sitting on his father’s lap.
“Thank you for everything,” both parents said.
“I’m just glad he’s back safe and sound,” Grant told them before leaving the room and heading out.
He thought of going home, but that was the last thing he wanted.
Being alone frightened him at the moment.
He didn’t want to go back down the road his thoughts and worries would take him, so he drove to Marty’s and sat out in his car.
He wasn’t sure if he should knock or text, but just sitting there in the car made him feel better.
Grant jumped at the tap on his window. “What are you doing out here?” Marty asked.
“Just thinking, I guess.” He didn’t like all the old feelings this case was dredging up, things he had thought were long dealt with.
“About what?” Marty said as Cameron came racing out of the door.
“Can Dexter come out back to play?” Cameron smiled hopefully.
Marty smiled. “Do you want to come in?”
Grant nodded and got out of the car. He opened the back and let Dexter out. After taking off his harness, he followed Cameron into the backyard.
“I take it you found Mikey and he was okay?” Marty asked.
“The bastard locked the boy in an old unused water tank and screwed him in. I’m not sure how much more air he had left, but I doubt there was enough in there to last much longer.
Once we realized where he was, thanks to Dexter and Evie, we were able to get one of the old caps off and let air inside.
” He followed Marty into the house and collapsed into one of the chairs.
“Evie and Dexter were the ones who did the finding. I nearly discounted what they were trying to tell me. I thought they had to be wrong.”
“But they weren’t,” Marty said.
“No. They were right, and we needed to pay closer attention to what they were telling us.” They were still no closer to figuring out who the hell this guy was. “But something was different this time.”
“Yes. He’s getting more desperate, and the time between taking the kids is getting shorter. I’m afraid he’s going to try to go for another kid very soon. His mania is becoming more desperate and his need is growing greater.” Marty seemed pretty sure of himself.
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s how it works on every cop show on TV,” Marty said, and then rolled his eyes and smirked.
“I’m just guessing, but think about it. He’s taken three boys that we know of, and he’s gotten rid of each one for one reason or another.
I bet Mikey tells us pretty much the same thing as the other two.
There’s also more pressure on him now, because we are acknowledging that he’s out there.
This isn’t an attention seeker or anything.
It’s someone who wants something he can’t have. ”
Grant nodded. “So what is his next move?”
Marty bit his upper lip. “I hate to even voice what I’m thinking. But if I were as messed up as this guy and things hadn’t worked out… then I would try something different. Someone who can’t fight back and would love him no matter what.”
Grant felt himself pale. “You’re thinking a baby.” God, that was very scary.
“I am. And the best place for that is a day care or the hospital. And given the fact that hospitals have security and cameras, especially in maternity, I’d say a day care.
One that isn’t too expensive and may not have all of the bells and whistles of a well-funded one.
” He lifted his gaze to Grant’s. “I’ve seen this group of little kids downtown.
They have this rope with handles, and all the kids hold onto it.
There are only a couple of people watching a dozen kids.
This guy would have a field day with them. ”
“You think he’d try to take one of those kids?” Grant asked.
“No. But that day care is the kind of place that might have babies as well, and maybe they don’t have cameras or fancy security.
Maybe they rely on people checking in and out at the desk or signing in using a book.
” The look Marty gave him was deadly serious.
“Maybe the police should visit the day care centers and let them know what’s going on.
If this is a chink in the armor for children, then it needs to be plugged now.
I’d also make sure all the schools, public and private, know what is going on.
They need to be seeing kids to the buses and making sure that none of them wander off. ”
“Yes.” Grant made notes and sent a message to the chief, who not only agreed but said that he would put officers on it to have every school and day care visited.
“The chief likes your suggestions.” He wished he had thought of it, but maybe he was too close to this particular situation. “And I do too.”
“Hey. It’s like the foster care issue. Sometimes we are so close that we don’t see past the trees.”
“Yeah, I know. But I’m supposed to be able to.”
“Maybe. But I’m not saying I’m right, just that we need to be cautious. Parents need to know what’s going on and how they can protect their children.”
“I know. I also keep wondering how we can trap this guy, but I can’t figure anything out. He picks children he is able to get alone, and once he does, he takes them and they’re gone. It’s like he only needs a few minutes.”
“But he doesn’t. He’s planning these. That’s where the note came from. This guy is scoping out his locations and watching the kids. I know it.”
“Yeah, he is. We’ve gone through the recordings at the school, and he’s appeared a few times around the periphery, but we can’t get a really good image of him.
At least we think it’s this guy. There are shrubs at the one end of the playground, and he sticks to those shadows.
But I highly doubt that he’s going to come back here, any more than he’ll show up at the other school. He knows we’ll be watching for him.”
“What about inside the school? He had to get inside to put the boy in the tank.”
“Yeah, that’s just it. We wouldn’t have known he was even there if one of the doors to the room hadn’t opened when he used the door to the mechanical room.
The change in pressure caused the door to open, and that’s what we caught on the camera.
We were really lucky to have seen that change, because we were able to get here in time. ”
“So the rest of the cameras in the school showed nothing?”
“Exactly.” Grant gasped. “I need to figure out who would know that there were no cameras in the mechanical room. I mean, there are cameras in all the halls and outside the gym. So going anywhere in the building would be on camera. So would going in and out of any other door. But not this one.” He began making notes to himself on his phone.
“Hey.” Marty said gently. “I’m going to make you something to eat, and then the three of us are going to watch a movie before I put Cameron to bed.”
“Then maybe you and I can go to bed?” Grant asked. “I know it’s been difficult for us to have some time alone. Every time we try, something interrupts us. And I have to go to the station early tomorrow, but tonight I think it’s time for a little quiet time.”
Cameron raced inside. “Come see,” he cried, and the two of them followed him out back. Cameron climbed to the top of the structure and hung upside down by his legs. He was laughing, and Marty hurried over to catch him and bring him to the ground.
“Do you want to help me make dinner?”
“Pizza?” Cameron asked.
“Sure. Go on inside and wash your hands before we start.” His voice was level, but as soon as Cameron hurried inside, Marty fell into Grant’s arms. “He scared me half to death. All I could see was him falling.”
Which made Marty a real parent, but Grant wondered how he fit into this picture.
Yes, Marty was part of his life for now, but was that because of Cameron, the case, or them?
He wished he knew whether the picture he kept seeing in his mind was real, or if it was just going to fade away, like most of his relationships.