"I am Lieutenant Mike Stone, this is my partner, Inspector Steve Keller."
Pulling the badge out of his rear pant pocket like he'd done a hundred times before, Steve briefly flashed his credentials along with a faint smile, as the hot dog stand owner eyed the pair suspiciously.
"I have all my certifications, if this is what you guys are after…", the middle aged half-bald man said nervously, and rubbed his grease-covered hands on the red and white checkered apron.
"Wrong department…", Mike muttered facetiously and put his badge back into his coat pocket, before surfacing the sketch of their suspect, as well as a picture of their victim number two, "About four and a half weeks ago, a man who went jogging in this park was kidnapped. This happened around three in the afternoon. His wife says he used to jog here regularly, so I am sure you've seen him before. What we want to know is if you have seen this other guy around here since…"
Handing the paperwork over to the tall and lanky man, Mike let his eyes drift over the small hot dog grill and the decidedly delicious aroma coming from it.
"That young guy in the picture…yeah, that's Ross. I wondered what happened to him. Nice guy. Used to jog the whole park and then on Sundays, he'd grab some hotdogs to take home to the wife and kids. You mean to tell me somebody is keeping him hostage someplace?"
"It's worse than that unfortunately.", Steve interjected and rubbed his hands together against the bone chilling cold "His body was found a few days after he was kidnapped. We have reason to believe that this is not an isolated incident…and that the man in this sketch drawing might have something to do with his disappearance and that of several other men from the area."
Studying their sketch drawing intently, the man paused for a minute, before frowning.
"Now that you mention it…I think he did buy a couple hot dogs from me once. I remember because he was digging for change in all of his pockets. And he smelled pretty bad…of body odor and such. I thought he was maybe a homeless guy."
"Did he say anything, mention a home address or his name?", Mike asked intrigued and took the drawing and picture back.
"No. As a matter of fact, he was very quiet, kind of awkward, if you want to call it that. Like he'd never bought hot dogs from a stand before. Wouldn't make eye contact either."
"What was he dressed like?"
Steve felt his voice beginning to tremble against the freezing wind that was blowing his hair all over the place.
"Dark red jacket, pretty worn out. Blue jeans with holes in it. Like I said, I thought he was maybe a homeless guy, or drug addict."
Meeting his partner's curious blue eyes for a fleeting moment, Steve cleared his throat before pointing his chin against the vast green lawns of Duboce Park.
"I know it's a long shot but did you see where he came from perhaps? Did he come off Pierce Street or maybe from down south near Sanchez?"
The man shrugged and took a moment to turn the hot dogs on his grill to keep them from burning.
"I can't help you there unfortunately, Inspector. However, I have seen that guy a couple of times since Ross disappeared. He's here maybe once a week. Always around three."