J.M.J.
A/N: Thank you so much for continuing to read this story, and particularly for following and/or favoriting it! Thank you especially to AllTrekkedUp and Julie for your reviews on chapter 6!
Chapter VII
Police Reports
"Hi, Roy. Where's Johnny?" Dixie McCall greeted Roy.
It was mid-morning by now, and Roy and the paramedic filling in for Johnny, Art Wicket, had just brought a patient into Rampart. The young woman had gotten into a minor fender bender and had a few cuts and bruises but was otherwise all right. Dixie's question brought back to the forefront one of the major problems that were on Roy's mind that day – Johnny's inexplicable absence.
"I don't know," Roy said. "He didn't show up for work today. Cap tried to call him, but he didn't answer."
"That's funny," Dixie replied, thinking back to last night. "You know, I was here last night. Jennifer Caley, one of the new nurses, told me that she had a date with Johnny, but he never showed up."
"That doesn't sound like him," Roy commented, frowning. He had already had a feeling that John's failure to come to work indicated that something was wrong. Dixie's news only reinforced that.
"There was a police officer, Jim Reed, here last night," Dixie continued. "He was off-duty, but he overheard what Jennifer said. He was pretty interested in what she had to say. He said something about Johnny being a witness to an accident."
"Right." Roy nodded. "Reed was one of the officers at the accident yesterday. It was hit-and-run, and Johnny had convinced himself that it was intentional."
Later, back at the station, Roy couldn't help but worry that something had happened to Johnny. He'd now missed a work shift and a date – neither of which were normal for him – and no one seemed to know where he had been since giving the presentation at the school the day before.
As if he had read Roy's mind, Captain Stanley came and leaned on the table where Roy was sitting. The engine had been out on a run since earlier that morning, and this was the first time Cap had had a chance to talk to Roy since roll call. "Have you heard from John at all today?"
"No, and I was talking to Dixie at the hospital," Roy said and explained what Dixie had told him.
Cap knit his brows in concern. He didn't like this at all. "Do you know any of John's friends or neighbors who might know where he is?"
Roy shook his head slowly. "No, apart from the other guys in the fire department and a few of the people in the hospital. One of them might know something."
"Do you think we ought to go to the police?" Cap asked bluntly. "It might be jumping to conclusions, but from what Dixie told you, it sounds like they might already have some interest in what's going on."
"I'm starting to think we should," Roy said. Of course, doing that would make it seem more definite that something had happened to Johnny, but Roy also needed to do something about it besides just wonder and worry. He stood up. "I'll try calling him one more time, just to make sure he hasn't gone home."
Roy dialed the number and waited for an answer, but none came. He glanced at Cap, about to report this, but the alarm went off before he could say a word.
"Squad 51, unknown injury, sixteen-sixteen North Leon Street, time out eleven-oh-three," the dispatcher's voice blared over the speaker.
"I'll call the police and tell you what they say when you get back," Cap told Roy before acknowledging the call.
Roy nodded as he dashed to the squad, climbing into the passenger seat. Art could drive. At least that would be one less thing on Roy's mind.
/
"The vehicle has been parked here since yesterday afternoon, at least," Dave Serrent was explaining to Pete Malloy and his temporary partner, Officer Harold Jackson. "I don't know exactly when whoever left here did so, but if you could move it, I'd really appreciate it."
The three men were standing in the parking lot of the elementary school where Serrent was principal. He had called the police about an abandoned vehicle in the school parking lot, and Pete and Jackson had been the ones to respond.
"I'm afraid we can't do that," Pete explained to Serrent. "There are no signs posted in this parking lot designating this as a tow-away zone. All we can do is tag it as an abandoned vehicle and wait twenty-four hours to see if it's moved. If not, then we can tow it, but we can't do anything before that."
The answer clearly didn't satisfy Serrent, who grumbled something unhappily, but there wasn't much else Pete or Jackson could do. Jackson filled out the information for the tag while Pete radioed the dispatcher to request the DMV information on the Rover in question. He frowned as the information came back – the Rover was registered to John Gage and the address matched the one Pete had gone to the night before looking for Gage.
"Something wrong, Pete?" Jackson asked as he walked back to the police car, filling in the last lines of report that went along with the tag.
"Maybe." Pete glanced at his watch. "It's just about time for seven. Let's get back to the station." He turned to the principal again. "If the vehicle isn't moved in twenty-four hours, Mr. Serrent, we'll send a tow truck out to remove it."
"Well, I guess if that's all the more you can do," Serrent grumbled.
The two officers climbed back into the patrol car and pulled out of the parking lot. Jackson reached for the radio mic to clear them, but he paused before he spoke into it.
"You sure you want to go to the station for seven?" he asked. "I can think of a dozen places off the top of my head that are better than the canned soup you get out of that vending machine."
"I need to talk to Mac about something," Pete insisted. "You can eat at one of those dozen better places tomorrow."
"You're all heart," Jackson replied, but he picked up the mic and requested seven at the station.
Fortunately, the dispatcher okayed the request immediately, and they arrived back at the station shortly. While Jackson headed for the break room to get a can of soup from the vending machine he had complained about, Pete headed straight for Sergeant MacDonald's office.
"You got a minute, Mac?" Pete asked, opening the glass door into the sergeant's office.
"I never really do," Mac replied, "but what's on your mind, Pete?"
"This is going to sound kind of strange," Pete admitted, "but I think it's something we should look into." He then went on to explain who John Gage was, Gage's theory about the hit-and-run a couple days earlier, the fact that Gage seemed to be missing, and the strange circumstance of Gage's Rover apparently being abandoned in the school parking lot.
Mac listened with interest to the account. "I think Sergeant Lennox is working on that hit-and-run. I'll give him a call and see if he thinks this is worth looking into. In fact, I'll do it right now if you want to hear what he says, Pete."
He picked up the phone and dialed the number of the detective sergeant while Pete waited. The conversation only lasted a few minutes, but it was very informative for each of the officers.
When Mac hung up, he took a moment or two to think about what he had just learned. "Lennox wants to talk to you, Pete, and Reed, too. It sounds like there might be something to Reed's theory that Gage has met with trouble."
"Why do you say that?" Pete asked.
"A Captain Stanley from the fire department just called missing persons a few minutes ago to report that one of his paramedics didn't show up for work this morning and can't be reached an nobody seems to know where he is," Mac explained.
"Gage?" Pete guessed.
"Right," Mac confirmed. "The twenty-four hours for a missing persons case isn't quite up yet, but Lennox wants to get on this right away. If that hit-and-run was homicide and now one of the key witnesses is missing –"
"Yeah," Pete interrupted. "I'll get right down to talk to Lennox."
/
Johnny was finally starting to make some progress on untying the ropes binding his wrists. His kidnapper had left him alone hours ago, and Johnny had had all that time to try to get loose. He hadn't been able to reach anything that could help him cut through the ropes, so all he could do was strain at them and hope that the knots would loosen. His arms were sore and aching, but he thought the ropes weren't as tight as they had been.
He took a minute or two to rest, but then got back to work. No doubt that maniac would be back sooner or later, and whenever that happened, Johnny wanted to be sure he was gone from here. Gritting his teeth against the pain as the ropes chafed against his already raw wrists, he strained once again against the bonds. To his relief, his hand came nearly halfway through the ropes. He didn't want to waste this bit of encouragement, and he pulled his arm even harder. The ropes slipped off.
Johnny allowed himself a few seconds' exultation at his newfound freedom. Then his thoughts came back to reality right away. He was up in the hills with no transportation since the kidnapper had driven away and no way to call for help, as Johnny hadn't seen a telephone anywhere in the shack. It would be a long walk back to the main highway, and if he walked along the road, the kidnapper might spot him. On the other hand, if he didn't walk along the road, he wouldn't know which way to go. This was going to take some thought.
The first step, obviously, was to untie his ankles. While he was doing so, he noticed that his efforts to free himself had rubbed his wrists so raw that they were bleeding, so the next thing he did was look around for any kind of a first aid kit. The shack seemed to have nothing but the bare necessities, but Johnny did find a kit with some gauze bandages, which he wrapped around his wrists.
While he worked at this, he kept his ears open for the sound of the kidnapper's car returning as well as continuing to think about what he needed to do next. Clearly, he needed to get out of the shack. After that, he thought the best thing to do would be to find a place outside to hide. It was risky, of course – the kidnapper would start looking for him as soon as he realized his prisoner was gone. On the other hand, stealing the kidnapper's car would be his best bet.
He was just finishing bandaging his wrists when he heard a car drive up. Johnny froze for a fraction of a second, and then made a dash for the back door, trying to be as quiet as he could. He couldn't let himself be captured a second time.