Hybrid (8 page)

Both men clasped hands, and then Erik headed back home. He needed to pick up the clutter in his office and make it look as presentable as possible.

* * * *

Steve arrived at Erik's now pristine office and seated himself on the couch against the far wall. Erik had ordered a pot of coffee for the two men as they prepared to discuss the items Erik found earlier.

“Okay, Erik, what have you got?” Steve asked.

Erik walked over to his desk and took the sealed plastic bag from its resting place and tossed it to his police counterpart. Steve caught the bag and carefully studied the objects sealed within the plastic. Erik could see Steve scrutinizing the evidence, examining each button and fiber.

After five silent minutes, he looked up. “They could be buttons from a child's shirt, or it could be anything. What makes you so sure that they're from the Reynolds girl?”

“Call it a hunch, my friend. I have it on good authority that they are.” “That's not much of an answer, Erik,” Steve chided his friend.

“I know, but right now it's all I have.” Erik then remembered something: “Oh, by the way, the Reynolds’ have hired Halls Investigation Agency from New York yesterday. Some of their investigators will be joining the couple this morning. Before you bite my head off, I didn't find out ‘til just yesterday, so save the speech. I just figured that you guys should know that it's no longer just an investigation within our own community. The Reynolds’ have brought in the big guns now.”

“Oh, bloody marvelous.” Steve sighed heavily. “You realize what's going to happen next, don't you?”

“Yeah,” Erik answered. “Publicity and exposure, just what this investigation doesn't need.”

Steve hesitated momentarily, weighing something in his mind. “Erik, I'm breaking procedure by saying this, but I know you'll probably find out eventually. I took a missing persons report last night; this will be the second one in a week. A woman in her thirties never came home from her afternoon jog.”

Erik's extra senses suddenly triggered. Intuitively he knew. “Let me guess.” He took the bag of evidence from Steve. “She was jogging in the town forest.”

Dumbfounded, Steve stared at his friend. “Yes, that's what her boyfriend claimed when he and her parents filed the report. How the hell did you know that, Erik?”

Erik looked at him, his eyes alight with fire. “I found these buttons and fabric outside the gateway into the town forest,” he answered in a low and deadly tone. “Steve, I think we may have a problem, and I have a feeling that it's just beginning.”

“Now, hold on; let's not jump to conclusions just yet. Let's investigate all avenues before we cry wolf,” Steve countered.

“That's why you're here, Steve. That's why you're here.”

Erik's heightened senses were buzzing in his head like an angry wasp. It told him that there was a connection, as remote and unlikely, the two events were connected. Unfortunately, he was off this case, unemployed.

* * * *

Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds arrived promptly at noon, escorted by three men dressed in business suits and tan overcoats. Two of the three men were in their early fifties, the other in his mid-twenties, Erik guessed. All three had short-cut hair and wore identical sunglasses. He could tell by the barely noticeable bulges on the sides of their overcoats that each man was armed. There was another man with them; he wore a blue suit that didn't fit him well.

Alissa escorted the party into Erik's back office. She stared at him with something akin to awe as he introduced them to Steve. Alissa continued to stare as everyone seated themselves around his overcrowded office. Erik walked over to Alissa and gestured for her to follow him out to the hall.

“Quite a crowd,” he began.

“Really!” the young girl agreed, nodding her head and looking up at him.

“Can you take an order for me?” he asked.

Alissa nodded and smiled. Erik ordered three pots of coffee, an assorted cold-cut platter, some sliced pickles, and an assortment of dessert pastries. He gave the young girl a hundred-dollar bill and told her to keep the change. Her big smile was appreciated, as was all of her service when Erik had guests.

When Erik returned to his office, he noticed that there was a flurry of activity. The three detectives were busily talking with Steve, while the Reynolds talked to their attorney, the man in the poorly fitted suit. He walked back over to his seat and everyone ceased their activity.

“Thanks for coming, everyone,” Erik began. “I spent several hours combing the park area, but like my colleagues in the police force, was unable to uncover anything. So, I played a hunch, if you will, and I found these.” Erik produced his findings and slid them on the table toward the Reynolds. “Do you recognize the contents of this bag, Mrs. Reynolds?”

Both Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds stared at the buttons and tattered cloth. The woman intently focused on the objects and then began to weep.

Mr. Reynolds held his wife, whispering small words of comfort. He looked over at the other men. “Those buttons came from my daughter's shirt,” he answered, barely suppressing his sob.

“Are you sure?” Erik gently pushed.

“Yes. I bought her that shirt only a week ago. She loved the shiny silver buttons because of the red hearts embedded in each one. Where did you find them?”

“I found them outside the town forest,” Erik answered as he took the bag from Mr. Reynolds and handed it over to the detectives to examine. Each investigator examined the evidence, and then the last of them handed it over to Steve.

“Officer Forrest will catalogue this evidence and submit it for analysis,” Erik muttered as he tried to filter out the poor woman's cries of despair.

“We'd like to get a copy of the report as soon as possible,” one of the investigators said.

“And a copy of any other documentation pertaining to this case,” another added.

“We'll provide you with all the information that we have up to this point. May I remind you, any other physical evidence or leads must, by law, be channeled through Hopedale's department,” Steve replied firmly as he pocketed the evidence.

“I assure you, officer,” the third investigator spoke, “that we'll abide by the law; just make sure your people don't interfere with our work, and we'll wrap this up for you in a couple of days,” he responded, prompting laughter from the other two.

Steve was about to respond, when there was a light tapping on the door. Erik stood up and opened the door. Alissa walked in carrying a large platter with cold cuts, pastries and coffee. Erik cleared a space on the table for the young girl to set the tray down. The detectives dug into the food hungrily while Alissa poured coffee for everyone.

“Will there be anything else, Mr. Knight?” she whispered shyly.

Erik stood and placed an arm on her shoulder. “This is my receptionist, Alissa,” he introduced the young girl to the others. “If it wasn't for her, I'd probably die from starvation. She's probably the best receptionist anybody could ask for.".

Alissa smiled at his guests and gave Erik a smile of appreciation and quickly left the office.

Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds were quiet for the rest of the meeting. Erik spent another twenty minutes over lunch discussing possible leads and theories with the investigators, and the possible tie-in to the latest missing person. He was surprised at how easy it was to discuss theory and analysis with these men. Erik was secretly proud of himself to be able to hold his own with men of such high caliber.

“Of course, we're going to have to conduct a complete search of the parklands, possibly the entire forest,” one of the investigators commented as he studied the map of Hopedale Park and the town forest that Erik had provided.

“That's a lot of ground to cover, dozens and dozens of square miles, and a good deal of it has no trails or markers. You're talking about thousands of acres of virgin woodlands. It would be very easy to get lost in there,” Steve commented. “You city slickers don't seem the type best suited to a rustic environment. You may wrinkle those expensive clothes,” he added, returning the slight that he took earlier.

“We'll do just fine, officer. Just go back to your doughnuts, coffee, and traffic tickets, and leave the real work to the professionals,” the youngest of the investigators countered.

Steve was about to retaliate, but Erik cut him off. “Gentlemen, let's leave our personal prejudices about our trades aside. We all serve justice, only in a different way. Steve is a uniformed professional. You three are expert corporate investigators; as for me.... “He paused and laughed. “I'm just trying to pay the rent.” All four men laughed at his self-depreciating remark and the tension seemed to evaporate slightly.

“Mr. Knight makes a valid point; however, I think he underplays his own capabilities,” one of the investigators commented. “I suggest we use Mr. Knight as our mediator between authorities. Mr. Knight, I want you on our payroll for this—working for us, of course. Do you have knowledge of the area in question?”

“Yes,” Erik replied, struggling to keep down the excitement in his voice. “I know the area very well.”

“That's an understatement,” Steve replied. “Nobody around here knows those woods, or more about the woods, than Mr. Knight.”

“Excellent, we'll let you scout the deeper, unmarked woodlands. We'll start off where you found the buttons and cloth and stick to the trails and water area here.” He pointed to a particular section of land on the map. “Your friend is right about one thing. We're not familiar with deep wooded environments, but you are. We'll let you handle the rougher terrain. We'll start bright and early, say 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. That gives us time to appropriate the proper woodland attire and set up our mobile units. We'll meet at the point where the evidence was found and proceed to explore each path in sequence. We can't cover all this terrain in one day, but we'll do as much as we can. The longer we wait, the less likely it is we'll find anything, and the trail is far from being hot. We can only hope that one of us gets lucky.” The detective stared at the Hopedale cop. “Can we get any additional support from your people?”

“I'll see what I can do,” Steve answered coolly.

“Fair enough,” the detective replied. “Let's get things moving then.”

The other two investigators nodded, and then stood, signaling the conclusion of the meeting. Two of the investigators led the Reynolds out to their car, while the third, which had done the majority of the speaking, stayed behind.

“Mr. Knight,” he began.

“Mr. Nelson,” Erik answered.

“I have an envelope for you from the Reynolds covering your services rendered up to this point in time. I'm sure the thousand dollars in here should more-than-cover your time spent. Your rate of compensation working for our organization will be three hundred dollars per day, as long as we require you,” Nelson stated bluntly.

“Fair enough,” Erik answered.

Nelson extended his hand with the envelope, and Erik took it. Without saying another word, Nelson headed for the doorway. As he approached the narrow hallway, he suddenly turned. “Oh, Mr. Knight, welcome aboard,” he remarked then quickly vanished down the hall.

Erik stared at the envelope in his hand, still trying to recover from the sudden twist of good fortune that fell upon him.

“Well, my friend, you certainly came out of that encounter under par,” Steve commented from the couch where he was still sitting.

“So it would seem,” Erik answered. “Thanks for the support.”

“Don't mention it, but I wasn't bullshitting. Nobody spends more time up in those woods than you, or knows more about the wilderness in general. That's an asset we need to exploit right now,” Steve replied as Erik wrinkled his brow. “Something's bothering you.”

“Yeah, that missing person report you spoke of earlier. It's no coincidence that they're both around that particular area. This could be the beginning of a pattern.”

“Erik, for Christ's sake, you're worse than an old lady. Worry about one case at a time. I'll review the statements tomorrow on my break and let you know if there's anything unusual. Take my advice and relax for the rest of the day. You're going to be an indentured servant to these people for the next week or two, so take the time to enjoy your last breaths of freedom,” Steve said as he headed out of the office.

He stopped at the door. “One more thing, be careful. The woodlands higher up can be very dangerous and inhospitable; so watch yourself and keep me informed, please. I don't have much faith in those corporate suits. They'll probably all get a nasty case of poison ivy out there.”

“Always. Now who's being the old lady?” Erik retorted.

Erik waited until he was by himself before he opened the envelope from the Reynolds. He looked at the check for one thousand dollars and started to feel some guilt. He knew he needed money—everybody did—but taking money from a grieving family somehow didn't seem right. Erik struggled with his conscience for a few minutes and decided that he did work for them and he did find a lead. He placed the check in his wallet and headed out the door.

“How did it go?” Alissa asked as he entered the main area of the restaurant.

“It went very well. Better than I'd hoped, actually. Everyone enjoyed the food. Thank you very much,” he answered, causing Alissa to smile again.

“If the door is unlocked, I'll get the dishes,” she offered.

Erik considered her offer. It was obvious that she was trying to establish a friendship and that she had chosen him. She usually was amazingly shy and kept to herself. Erik wondered how long she had been trying to get his attention.

“That would be a big help. Jeff has a spare key; tell him I said it's okay for you to go in there and get the stuff.”

Alissa smiled again and turned away quickly.

* * * *

Erik deposited the check and took two hundred in cash. Shanda had showed him a good time last night and he felt like returning the favor. He stopped at a florist and picked out a dozen long stem roses and headed toward her store.

As he walked in, he drew the gaze of many customers. He spotted Shanda at the cashier counter, heatedly discussing something with two large men. Erik could tell from Shanda's body language that she was angry. Erik was stunned when one of the men reached across the counter and grabbed her forcefully by the collar of her shirt. He dropped his flowers and quickly made his way to her.