Tell My Dad (7 page)

Q
uiet hallways
suddenly turned into uproarious playgrounds when the bell rang in Belmont Hills Middle School. Teresa Goldberg grabbed her backpack and wrapped it around her right shoulder. Someone touched her shoulder from behind as she pulled the books from under the desk.

“Ready to go? Come on!” Nadia grinned.

Teresa smiled and shook her head. “I have choir practice until six. We’re going to sing in Notre Dame Church on Sunday.”

Nadia looked a little disappointed. “Okay then. I need to run to catch the bus.” She waved and rushed out.

Teresa neatly arranged the books and walked toward the locker located adjacent to the gym.

After shoving the backpack and books inside the locker, she quickly ran to the restroom to splash cold water on her face and gently pressed a wet paper towel on her throat for a minute.
No more squeaky voice.

She crossed the hall, went downstairs, and turned right to enter the choir room. Ms. Hutchison stood at the entrance of the room and smiled at her. “Hey…you look so bright today, even after one full crazy day!”

She blushed. “Thank you, Ms. Hutchison.”

“Ready for some fun? Let’s rock!” She watched Ms. Hutchison’s slim body shaking like Lady Gaga’s. Poor Ms. Hutchison was no match for Lady Gaga, especially in the weight department. She had lost most of her excess weight since she was forced to eat gluten-free, lactose-free food.

She noticed more people than usual in the room. “Okay. Let’s start with ‘Follow
Peace’!” Ms. Hutchison said as she walked toward the center of the room. Then, she ordered everyone to stand in their designated places and started conducting.

It was ten minutes past six in the evening when the choir practice was over. Teresa felt hungry. But she didn’t want to miss the bus. Otherwise, she would have to wait for another hour to catch the next one. She ran upstairs to the locker room, grabbed the backpack, and quickly walked to the bus stop.

The bus, displaying “260 San Carlos Caltrain” in big, bold digital letters, came right on time.
My lucky day.

She climbed up, waved her student pass, and looked around. An elderly woman was sitting just behind the driver. No one else was in the bus. She took the first seat on the left and grabbed her phone from the backpack’s front pouch. Her school had the strict policy of keeping mobile phones switched off while on campus. She switched on the phone and fired away a text message: “Mom, I’m on 260. Will be there in 20.”

The bus made five stops and stopped at the corner of Carlmont Drive and Lyall Avenue, a few feet away from the entrance of the water dog lake park. The park was popular among area residents who loved the park dedicated to dogs. Occasionally, mountain lions also visited the trail. Belmont City put up a big sign to warn the residents about mountain lions and inform them of what to do if they happened to encounter one face-to-face.

Teresa waved to the driver and jumped off the bus. She turned to her right and started walking uphill. The street was almost dark except for a light at the corner of the street. A cool breeze blew through the
Juniperus
californica
trees lined up on the left side and gently touched her face. Her family lived in an apartment one block away from the bus stop, right next to the corner of Lyall and Continental. She looked around to see if anyone was around. No one. Cars were lined up on her right.

She slowly walked on the pedestrian path, between
Juniperus
trees and the long line of cars, and narrowly avoided the dog poop on the pathway. She looked down, walked slowly, and carefully avoided a few more dog poop piles.

Her phone beeped. She stopped walking and looked at the message. Nadia had sent a text. “Do you want to go to the mall tomorrow?”
Teresa smiled and shook her head. Nadia loved to roam around the mall every weekend. As Teresa resumed walking and started typing the reply, she heard a rustling sound coming from behind the trees on her left. She stopped.

No more rustling.

She continued her typing. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Lots of homework!” She hit the send button, avoided one more dog poop pile, and looked up a little.

Just then, a man quickly came from behind the bulky tree on the left. He was a tall, ugly old man with a disgusting grin.

A chill went down her spine. She moved to her right to avoid the man but lost her balance, placed her right shoe on the edge of the pedestrian walk, and fell on the road on her right, between two cars.

“Oh my! Sorry, I scared you. Let me help you.” The man extended his left arm, which was brown, wrinkled, and hairy. She sat on the road, looked up, and shook her head in panic.

“Don’t worry. I like helping good girls!” He shoved his right hand inside his jacket and took a white towel out. “This will help you to forget the pain.”

As Teresa tried to get up, the man quickly put his left arm around her head, placed the white towel over her face, and pressed it against her nose. In a second, her nostrils tickled cold and her head hurt. The man smiled like Count Olaf.

* * *

T
he man looked around
. No one was in the vicinity. He lifted Teresa, who was unconscious and leaned on his shoulder; walked backward, and chirped his remote to open the Cadillac Escalade parked conveniently close to where she fell. He kicked his foot under the bumper to open the power-lift gate to open the trunk door. He gently laid her inside and quickly closed the door. He scanned the street one more time and then jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. He drove down Lyall Avenue for a few seconds, took a quick U-turn to climb back up the same street, and stopped at the stop sign at the corner of Lyall and Continental. As he watched for oncoming traffic from the left, he noticed a Hispanic woman walking down the footpath on Lyall. He rapidly turned right onto Continental. The Escalade’s tires squealed loudly.

The woman was rattled by the squealing and turned to her left to see the speeding vehicle. She pinched her nose to avoid smelling the vehicle’s exhaust as she continued to walk down Lyall. Her eyes scanned for Teresa.

* * *

B
ob McFarlane played
drum on the steering wheel as he waited for the traffic signal on Ralston Avenue. It felt good to grab the girl. He wondered how Thomas would react when he got to see her.

After driving on Ralston Avenue for seven minutes, he took the Route 280 South exit toward Half Moon Bay. He opened the window and enjoyed the refreshing wind flowing from Crystal Springs. He desperately wanted to floor the pedal to reach his destination quickly. But he controlled his enthusiasm. The last thing he needed now was to get stopped by a cop for speeding.

He drove steadily at sixty miles an hour and then took the exit leading to Route 84. Then, he drove for another twenty minutes and took the Alpine Road exit. Here, he took a sharp right and drove on rough road for seven minutes. He passed a cattle farm on the right and stopped in front of a large house. He got out of the Escalade, stretched his arms, and then whistled. Two pit bulls stormed out of the house and surrounded Bob. He sat on his knees and hugged both dogs.

“Hello, boys! Ready for a treat?”

The dogs howled with excitement.

He scanned the surroundings before lifting the trunk door. The girl was still unconscious.
Barbie Doll
. He lifted her, placed her head on his left shoulder, and carried her inside the house. The pit bulls followed him.

* * *

B
elmont Police Detective King
consoled Gabriella Goldberg. “Please calm down. We’re here to help you. Can you please describe what happened?”

Gabriella wiped her tears. “Teresa sent me a message at six twenty. She was on the bus. She normally walks on her own. Today, I went to the bus stop to pick her up because it was dark already. I was just a minute late,” she bawled.

The detective gently touched her shoulder. “Ma’am, then what happened?”

“I couldn’t find Teresa. But…” She pointed at the violet-colored backpack lying on the floor and cried. “Her school bag was lying on the pedestrian walk. I called her.” She took a deep breath before she continued, “I heard her ringtone. Her phone was abandoned on the road!” she cried from her stomach.

“Did the bus come on time? Did anyone see her getting off of the bus?” the detective questioned.

“I don’t know,” she sobbed. “Why are you asking me these questions? How come her school bag was lying on the road? Don’t you understand?”

“Sorry, Ms. Goldberg. I do understand. I want to make sure.”

The detective grabbed the gloves from his coat pocket and pulled them on before inspecting the backpack.

Schoolbooks, notebooks, a pink-colored pencil pouch with Taylor Swift’s picture on the top, a calculator, chapstick. Nothing more.

He looked up and asked, “Do you have pictures of your daughter?”

Gabriella nodded. “I will go and get the pictures.” She walked toward the room on the left.

The detective turned to the officer on his right and gave series of instructions. “Call SamTrans and get the bus driver on the phone quickly. The driver will have a fresh memory now. The sooner we talk to the driver, the better…” He paused before adding, “Call the chief and let him issue an Amber Alert now. I’ll send the pictures to his phone.”

* * *

T
eresa woke
up to the barking sound of pit bulls.
The apartment has a no-dogs policy, right, Mom?
Panic surrounded her when she realized that she was not at home.
What is happening? Am I dead?
After three seconds, she remembered the face of the tall, ugly old man and recalled what had happened.

She looked around and could see only pitch-black, except the flickering lights outside the window. Her hands were tied to the chair’s armrests, and her legs were tied together with a nylon rope. The rope ended with a knot on one of the legs of the gray couch, which looked very old, on her left. She pushed her legs under the chair in an effort to see if she could break free from the rope but stopped when her heels hurt.