- Working Alone -
"Hello …no this is Danny Taylor, can I help you? … Sorry, Martin isn't here right now. … Can I please ask who's calling? … Oh yeah I remember you. Martin is away in Corpus Christi for a couple weeks. He should be back in town next weekend. Ok thanks I'll leave a note on his desk for him to give you a call." Danny hung up the phone.
Looking at his wristwatch it was closing in on three o'clock in the afternoon. "Lucky butthead, I sure wish that I could get away for a few". To himself he muttered, "I wonder what Martin is up to now? Is he on Mustang or Padre Island enjoying the sun? Oh well. Some people just get it all."
He could still remember Martin as he stopped by the office on his way out of town to show off his new toy; a 2007 Kiwi Metallic Green four wheel drive Honda Element. He remembered him as he waved goodbye through the skylight. He promised Danny that he would give him a ride when he got back.
Smiling he returned to reading the case file before him with great interest. A young woman had not been seen for couple days and thus was reported as a possible missing person by some friends. He was getting tired because he had been reading for what seemed like hours with the constant interruption of the phone. He thought a couple of times about ripping the thing from the desk and heaving it out the window.
The packet of information had been sent overnight via Fed Ex from the Albany office. The nationwide Federal Law Enforcement Information Portal, also known as FLAP was down. This was a bad deal since it was the new means nationwide of checking all fingerprints, mug shots of known criminals and other pertinent information that was needed to assist is solving any case by law enforcement. That was solve them quickly. Due to an error by the designing/consulting firm there was no backup system in place and all former databases were currently gone. A team was working at restoring the backups of the massive databases. Danny wondered, "is way too much trusted to technology". Crimes had to be solved the old fashioned way.
The files had been sent because the woman, Kerri Rowan lived in New York. She was a transplant from a small town outside Albany New York.
The file included here class picture, her high school transcript, all the towns that she was known to have lived in, job history and a handful of other pieces of information. She had been a straight "A" student.
"Why did she come to the big city of New York?"
"What did she get mixed up with?"
It just didn't make sense.
The file contained a number for her mother in Ever Falls, New York.
Picking up the phone he dialed. It rang four times and the answering machine picked up.
After hanging up and waiting for a minute or two, he redialed the number. Again no answer.
"Road trip."
Walking for the door he was glad to get out of the office for a while. He had been asked to spend some time working at his desk since Martin was out of town.
Jack was on a vacation with his wife and kids so he left a note on Vivian's desk.
He stopped at the coffee machine for a cup of java for the road. The coffee poured with the same consistency of snot from a spittoon. It was pitch black and smelled burnt. He wondered if he needed a pair of scissors to cut the flow of sludge. It would either keep him awake from the caffeine. If not it would be from throwing up.