Chapter 5: The Most Important Clue
THE NEXT DAY
McCormick enters in her apartment and takes off her coat and shoes. Her mind had became blank ever since the captain told her and her partner that it was closed off for good.
No matter how much her and Costar pleaded, the answer was still 'no'. Things just seemed to look hopeless. She walked up to her couch and quietly sat down. Then after taking out her wallet from her pant pocket she pulled out a picture that she had kept from one of her cases. It was a picture of Simon Seville.
Her thoughts drifted back to that day when she questioned the boy's father, and meeting the brothers for the first time. Alvin's pleading words rang in her head, "These so-called kidnappers take only the smartest kids, like my brother, from schools? How are they doing this? Where are they taking them? … I WANT MY BROTHER BACK!!"
Tears swelled up in her eyes, she couldn't help to feel that she had failed. If there was one thing she never liked to do was give up on anything. McCormick was determined to solve this case, but how was she going to do this now that the case had been closed. Failure was not an option. There just had to be another way? She studied the picture in her hand and continued to think of the child's brothers and her promise to them…
"A promise is a promise!" She sighed.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
A MONTH LATER
Costar was sitting at his desk working on some paperwork as his partner came from a 'coffee run' she handed him his mocha latte and she sat down at her side of the desk and took a sip of her herbal tea. That was when she noticed an envelope on her desk with her name on it. "What's this?" She asked her partner.
Don't know…it just came in while you were out. One of the officers dropped off." Costar said. He then picked up his cup and began to savor the flavor of his coffee on his taste buds.
"Hmmm?" She pondered as she opened and read the message and then raised an eyebrow. "I'll return in a while!" McCormick said as she got up and headed back out the door taking the message in her hand with her.
"What? Where are you going?" He then looked down on her desk after she was too far out the door to even hear him. "What about your tea?"
OoOoOoOoOoOo
AN HOUR LATER IN BUILDING
OF A PAID PARKING LOT
A dark man waited secretly in a quiet parking lot. He had a worried look on his face as he stood in the shadows away from public view. Silently he prayed no one, but the person he is meeting, knows of his location. It wasn't long before McCormick's car pulls up and parks near by where he stood. She opens the car and walks two steps and stopped near the man. McCormick looks around to see where this mystery man that might have left the message might be? He watches carefully to make sure no one was near by or watching from a distance and that she was for sure, alone.
Finally the doctor steps forward. "You were not followed?"
The man's voice nearly made the female chipmunk detective jump out of her skin. "Ah, no…I made sure no one knew where I was going or whom I was meeting. What is this all about, now?"
"What I'm about to show you could cause me to loose my job or worse."
"Oh?" McCormick inquired as she raised her eyebrow. "Let me guess, what you are about to show me has to do with a Government conspiracy? Or an alien invasion?" She started to laugh.
"Actually…" He was about to answer, but then paused. "Well, I'll let you have a look for your self and you can be the judge. But please, keep this information and our meeting a secret. Who knows whom maybe lurking or even behind this case? All I know is that I was strictly ordered to keep my mouth shut based on these findings. I'm not even allowed to call the homicide team to report identity of the child to his parents, in fact the child isn't even from U.S.A., he's from the UK…I swear this is right out of the 'X-Files'!" The msn said as he started to wipe his forehead of the sweat that was becoming extremely visible.
"Who are you?" McCormick asked.
"I'm one of the Pathologists at the morgue.
"Oh," McCormick hummed as she pulled out the file. After looking at a few pages she is so overwhelmed that she nearly dropped the entire file on the floor. "The scares, it looks like he has been chewed up…even goes through the bones…these tooth marks looked like they were made by an animal!" She ponders for a moment, "So, how could that suspect whom had admitted murder to this case done all of this?"
"He...he couldn't have…these scares are not of any animal known to man kind. I should know…I did a lot of research on this case…it wasn't long ago when I got the order to cease the investigation."
"But why? It doesn't make sense!"
"Again, I don't know! But what ever is going on, and whoever is in charge just doesn't want this case solved…which makes me think that all of this is tied to the same case. And something big is going down!"
"It seems the deeper this case goes, the less it makes sense!" McCormick sighed.
"Tell me about it!" The Pathologist replies as he whips away more sweat from his forehead.
"So, why contact me with this secret information?"
"Well, I read some of your reports, and unlike any of the other detectives on this case…you and your partner seem to be the only ones determined not to leave this one alone, even if you had already received orders not to continue…you at least tried to re-open it."
"According to what my partner and I found out was that so many cases like this one, lead up to this point then just turn up as a 'dead end' and was suddenly dropped. That caused us to suspect something was not right…that and I sort of made a promise to a particular child that I would find his brother and bring him home." McCormick said with a solemn look. She looked up at the doctor, as he had a look that he might know more information then what he was giving her. "What is really going on around here?"
The Pathologist just shrugged nervously as he eyed the parking lot for any spies that could be watching them. "I don't know…look, I need to be going. Keep that information safe and do not to show it anyone, unless it's your partner, but be careful, don't trust anyone else with this." He warns.
With that he then runs into the shadows and McCormick stands dumbfounded for a brief moment before sensing that someone was coming her way. Gaining the instinct of the Pathologist she hops into her car and drives off back to the district.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Dave was sitting alone in the kitchen looking down at the paper and reading on 'how the case was solved'. All he could think about is 'how?' the case didn't even tell him the whereabouts of his son. He was going to go pick Alvin and Theodore up at school in an hour; this was something he did ever since Simon was taken. This report from the newspaper kind of disturbed him more then if they said that they had found the body of his son, or at least the identity of the child they found a few months ago.
Suddenly the phone rang and Dave answers it, hoping for good news about the case of his missing son. He had been a nervous wreck throughout this whole ordeal. Dave had been hoping for some answers or at least some positive leads to finding his son. This whole situation was too much for him, and it seemed he was waiting forever to receive an answer.
As he listened to the response from the other end by detective McCormick was not quite the information he was hoping for. She explained that the case ended up as a 'false accusation' to the case at hand. That the man that admitted to the crime was no more then a phony, she went on tell him that all hope had not been gone. Her and her partner would keep working on the case for as long as it took (even though, technically, they were told not to work on it), she then added that they would keep their promise and bring Simon back home to him, one way or the other.
"Ok, thank you detective…please keep me posted." Dave replied to his caller. He attempted to hold back as much emotion as possible. The news was both distressful and heart breaking at the same time. He manages to put the phone back on the receiver and pauses for a bit. It felt as if he couldn't move anymore, like all feeling left his limbs. 'How could this be happening?' He thought. 'What did Simon ever do to deserve this? Will he end up just like that poor child? It's hard enough that Alvin and Theodore is having a heard time with this, how will they deal with the news of the case not being fully solved and yet it has been closed?'
The more he thought about it the more he felt weak and slowly made it back to his seat at the table. Dave then placed his right hand over his eyes as tears were starting to come down. One of his greatest fears had come true. And that he could be just realizing this fact…that perhaps one day he too will receive another phone call and it will be just like the one about the child found three months ago, all shredded up and torn. He suddenly became really scared, not only for Simon and the other victim children that were kidnapped, but for his other boys, Alvin and Theodore. What if these criminals decided to take them too? What will he do then?
What scared him more was the fact there wasn't much he could do about any of it. His next concern would be how he would explain the latest update to Alvin and Theodore. Dave knew that they were already in mixed emotions with the find of the child, and apart of them actually hoped that this will lead up to them being reunited with their brother. The other part was the worry that they would be reunited, but only to his funeral, because he could be found just like the child. All Dave could do right now was to sit at the table and compose him self before he went to pick up his boys from school.