CALL MAMA (4 page)

The travellers set off again, crossing state after state, covering more ground by night to ensure Lucy slept naturally without sedation. In daytime hours she watched movies, dozed, ate, played some board games with her captors and, weather permitting, took gentle strolls in places well away from public view. Mile after mile, the scenery changed, becoming dreary at times, spectacular at others and always subject to the weather.

Lucy's minders remained calm, reassuring and helping her to be less stressed now that the decision had been made to stop sedation. A calmness and peace descended the little home and had it not been for the situation all three found themselves in and the atrocious weather, it could have been a haven of tranquillity. In a strange way, Lucy felt safe with them, safe, but bewildered.

Lucy's attempt to communicate with her captors proved difficult; her companions were pleasant, looked after her as well as they could, but spoke in a language unknown to her. The only word she could make out was, “Zelda”, the name she presumed was of her female traveller.. Feeling brave, the girl called out,

“Zelda, please Call Mama!

Hearing the girl use her name, Zelda looked stunned, glowered at her partner for letting her name slip and launched in to a tirade of abuse aimed at the unfortunate man. She soon calmed down and attempted to reassure the frightened girl that all would be well and soon they would reach their destination where everything would be made clear to her.

“Soon, child, soon!”

***

As the investigation continued, media appeals had some success.

A sharp-eyed shopper remembered seeing a man resembling the guy driving the green car in her local grocery store.

“I noticed him because of his dishevelled appearance and his foul odour. I presumed he lived rough.”

The store owner also recalled the man and later told officers, “He became a bit of a regular customer. He only ever bought beer and from the look of him I don't think he ever ate anything. He was no problem, sir, always polite and well spoken.”

Officers searched the area around the grocery store and in a nearby wooded area well away from passing traffic located a small tent. Unaware of his impending arrest, a man slept soundly.

Dale Greer was taken to the local police precinct and interviewed for some time before coming clean about his involvement in the Lucy Mears mystery. Like Clara Blake, he too was the victim of loan sharks. He was unable to repay his loan and was “invited” to follow specific instructions: to collect a girl from an associate, drive her to a nominated bus depot and travel with her to transfer her to an address that would be given to him when he picked up the girl. He was to administer a sedative in a drink before boarding the bus. Released pending further investigations, he was asked to stick around.

“I hated having to do that, sir,” he sobbed as he told officers. He stood up to leave the precinct. “I have kids of my own and would be out of my mind with worry if one of them went missing. My family were in danger and I had to agree to take that kid to New York.”

Carr questioned her boss's decision to release the man from custody.

“Tony, sir, we can't release him, he is essential to this enquiry. He could go off radar.”

“Trust me on this. I want him followed. I think he might lead us to young Lucy, and at the end of the day that's our main concern.”

Dale Greer returned to his makeshift home, unaware that officers observed him from a distance and that his every move was being monitored.

Detective Harvey reviewed case notes to date and pondered over them before calling another brainstorming session.

“Is there a report on the attempted break-in at Brenda Mears' home?”

“Yes,” replied a young officer. “I filed the report myself; there was not much in it. No entry was made to the house and the owner was happy with our quick response and let it rest there.”

“Pull the file… now!”

Harvey could be brusque.

The officer set off and returned with a flimsy, short report, which he proffered to Detective Harvey to read and pass to Carr.

“Not much there to go on. An opportunist perhaps?”

On the evening of the attempted break-in, George North was alone in the house working on his computer.

Molly and Nora were having an overnight stay with a friend after a visit to the theatre. Lucy was at Abigail's home engrossed in a school project and Brenda was at her office, not expected home until late in the evening. George, busy with his programming, was alerted to sounds outside on the gravel path. He turned to the security camera to see two figures snaking towards the house. He turned off the security camera, darted downstairs, opened the door to the duo and stepped outside to receive an envelope.

The men departed into the night, leaving no trace of their presence. George called Brenda Mears to report that intruders had been caught on camera but scampered when the lights came on.

“No need for alarm,” he assured his employer.

Brenda was already preparing to leave the office and asked George to call the police to check out the area as a precaution. Reassured that no attempt had been made to gain entry to the house, the police left after a cursory glance at the security camera.

“Seems like you disturbed them, sir. I don't think they will be back, opportunists for sure.”

“Was the security camera ever checked out?” asked Carr. “There's no mention here about it having been examined.”

“Check it out as soon as,” hollered Harvey to the flummoxed young officer. “Get that tape from the house now!”

Harvey and Carr, bringing with them every minute piece of evidence, every thought, idea and suggestion accrued during their investigation, summoned all officers involved in the search for Lucy.

A lengthy resume took place with each person presenting his or her findings. They offered explanations in more detail when anything was unclear to any of the squad. Detective Carr charted each item of information on a large flow chart.

“This is no normal kidnapping: no ransom has been demanded, no threatening calls. What are we missing?” Harvey continued to muse over the chart. “We must dig deeper. George North is involved in some way. We have to find this guy, and soon.” He thumped his desk in frustration. “Re-interview everyone! Get to it!”

“If we can eliminate some of these names and narrow it down, we can get at the others in more depth,” concluded Carr.

Extra officers had been drafted in to speed up the ever increasingly frustrating enquiry. The squad worked long hours, determined to bring an end to the issue. Cases involving children touched the hearts of many police officers. Those with children of their own were determined to bring Lucy's abduction to a swift conclusion and the perpetrators to justice.

Detective Carr couldn't remember when she last had a full night's sleep. At home, she hugged her two kids as if scared to let them out of her sight.

“I love you guys!”

Harvey turned his attention to the Mears' house. Brenda agreed to her house being searched. She was at her wits' end, desperate for news of her only child.

“Why, oh why has there been no ransom demand?” she sobbed. “I have money enough to pay. Should I offer a reward, Detective?”

At times Brenda thought progress was too slow. She liked to be in control of events and the lengthy enquiry frustrated her as it did Harvey's squad.

Harvey thought that offering a reward would only bring time-wasters, cranks, people who would swear to have seen Lucy go off in a spacecraft and such like.

“Best leave that for the moment, until we investigate further. I have to ask, how was your relationship with your daughter? Were there any issues we need to look at?”

Brenda took a deep breath before answering.

“We had the usual mother/daughter spats at times, nothing serious, you understand. Lucy is at that age of wanting to exercise her own independence, make her own decisions, I suppose like any girl of her age. We did have some words recently about her future career, but nothing that would be problematic, Detective.”

“Could you expand on that?”

“There's not much to say really. Lucy wanted to study music as a career. I approve of her music as a hobby, something to pass the time, but as a career? No! I expect her to follow the family tradition.”

Deep in thought, Brenda was silent for a moment before continuing.

“My father and grandfather, and indeed my great-grandfather, built the business from nothing to what it is now, a highly respected, profitable concern. Lucy is young, she will see that tradition has to be maintained. It's not a major issue.” Brenda dabbed her eyes. “I planned to discuss it with her, get her to put things into perspective and come around to my reasonable way of thinking.”

“Could she have seen it differently? Enough maybe to make her run off? I'm clutching at straws here, Brenda. We have to explore every possibility, however painful.”

“Lucy would never do that. Where would she go?”

“Perhaps with help from someone… a friend maybe? Could Abigail have colluded in this… is that possible?”

“I don't know what to think now. My mind is in turmoil.”

Detective Carr, who had been silent during the conversation, suggested, “What about George North, Brenda? Would Lucy have gone with him? Was she close to him? You know what teenage girls are like, they can be infatuated by older men, especially as Lucy doesn't have a male parent. Could she see George as a substitute role model?”

Brenda was horrified at this suggestion. “How dare you say such things! Sure, George and Lucy are close, as are all my staff; they are comfortable with each other. Lucy would never go off with him; the very idea makes me sick.”

Detective Harvey, attempting to defuse the situation, said, “Neither of us wants to upset you, but, as I said, we have to look at every possible scenario here, no stone left unturned, so to speak. The priority is to find your daughter and return her home to you. However distressing it may appear to you, we are only doing our job.”

Silently, he thought the answer lay with Brenda Mears herself. He wondered if she could have, for whatever reason, arranged the abduction of her child. The very idea made him shudder. Detective Carr noticed how ill and gaunt Brenda had become.

“We'll return later with some officers to have a look around the premises here, just routine, but it has to be done.”

Driving back to headquarters the two debated the latest thinking.

“Let's check out Abigail again… perhaps the kid is hiding something. Kids of her age have strange ideas and often confide in their best buddies.”

Harvey laughed. “You talking from experience, then, of your own wild days?”

“I admit, I was a bit of a rebel. I did the opposite of what my parents wanted. Mind you, if Lucy is as talented a musician as we are led to believe, it seems criminal to force her to give it all up to join the family business, however successful it is.”

“But is it enough to make her run off? Could George North have aided her and where on earth are they? You touched a nerve when you mentioned that to Brenda. Hell, is it possible that she and North have gone off together? That hadn't entered my mind. I've been thinking more along the lines of him having abducted her.”

Later that day, both detectives talked to young Abigail, with her mother present.

“Abigail, we want to find Lucy soon to keep her from danger. Do you know anything about her disappearance at all? Please level with us here, this is getting serious.”

Abigail was taken aback at the line of questioning and looked to her mother for reassurance.

“Sweetie, just tell the detectives anything you know. Sometimes even the smallest remark can mean something.”

“Mom,” sobbed Abigail. “I miss Lucy, I want her found too, but I know nothing, absolutely nothing!”

Detective Carr probed gently. “What about boyfriends, Abigail? Was there anyone special in Lucy's life, did she have a steady boyfriend?”

“Certainly not! Lucy was too focused on schoolwork, especially her music. Sure, she had friends among the boys, we both did, but that's what they were, just buddies. I think the guys in her music group were a bit in awe of her.”

“So, she had no special guy then, no one she dated?”

Abigail laughed at the mere suggestion of her friend dating anyone.

“Not Lucy. We would chat about boys, about who we liked and disliked… all the kids did, but, no, Lucy had no time for anything other than music.”

“Did she ever talk about how she got on with her mom?”

“Yeah, she would offload. It was no secret that her mother was strict. Lucy only really chilled out when she came here. Her mom wanted her to go to business school and follow her into the family firm, but Lucy was adamant she wouldn't go down that road… yeah, it caused tension.”

“Enough, do you think, for her to run away?”

“You don't mean that! Lucy would never run off. She would have confided in me if such an idea crossed her mind… which it didn't. That's a crazy thing to say.”

“Thanks, Abigail, for your input… just one more thing, do you think she could have gone off with George North, or could he have helped her run off?”

“George? Nora's guy? No way would she be with him! It was great fun to be around him and Nora, they were an item, very much so. Lucy and me, we thought he was really old, at least thirty-five.”

They both smothered a laugh at that.

A team arrived to search Brenda's house. Attention focused firstly on Lucy's suite of rooms. Her bedroom to a certain extent was typical of most teenagers. Posters of celebrities adorned the walls, in between an array of pictures of composers and musicians. Similarities with most other kids' rooms ended there. Next to her bedroom was a dressing room filled with designer clothes, shoes, bags. No expense had been spared in the rearing of Lucy Mears. Her computer was taken for checking; it showed mostly schoolwork, assignments, musical scores and information connected with her performing arts studies.

The music room where she had her cello lessons with Ken Farmer would make any music student green with envy. A small stage was set at the far end, with a few comfortable armchairs arranged as if a performance were a regular event. An empty cello stand was a poignant reminder of the ongoing saga of the missing child. A beautiful baby grand took pride of place in the room.

Staff quarters were examined and revealed nothing sinister. Detective Carr was impressed by the standard of accommodation afforded to Brenda Mears' employees.

Molly had her own comfortable apartment that she had shared with Nora until her daughter moved into a similar, but smaller apartment with George North, an arrangement that Molly frowned on for some time, until she accepted how happy and contented her daughter had become. She was fond of George and looked forward to having him as a son-in-law.

Molly told them how she herself had been in a happy marriage with Charlie Kelly, a farmer well known in his community as a decent, hard-working guy. They were enthralled with their baby daughter, Nora.

“I wanted my daughter to have a secure, happy life with George, like I had, until…”

Molly hesitated as if recalling memories that pained her.

“Life was good,” she continued, “but tragically when Nora was only three years of age, her father was killed in a horrendous farm accident. Too gruesome to go into, Detective. We had to leave there as the rented farmhouse belonged to the farm owner who needed it for his next work tenant. Callous though it seems, that was the way of things. It was for the best as I couldn't have faced looking out towards that field where…”

Molly was fortunate to obtain a position of live-in housekeeper, being recommended by her friend Sally who had been cook to Simon Mears for as long as she could remember. Sally wanted to retire to live with her niece in Florida. Molly had never expected it would be easy to find live-in accommodation with a young child in tow and was overjoyed to be employed by Simon Mears.

He explained that he required a full-time helper for his baby daughter and was grateful to have Molly take over the rearing of his child to allow him to concentrate on his business ventures.

Molly bonded with baby Brenda and raised her with her own daughter, conscious always that the child belonged to her employer. Molly's daughter, Nora, was a constant playmate for the young Brenda. They became loyal friends, shared everything and thrived on Molly's love.

The girls took different paths after finishing high school. Nora took up a college place, studying hotel and catering management.

Molly continued. “Nora had a dream of owning and running her own small hotel. We were grateful that she was in employment alongside me.”

Brenda, on the other hand, attended university and obtained degrees in psychology and business management. She took up a position within her father's firm and soon became an equal partner. Brenda enjoyed life to the full, working and playing hard. She dated several men and fell hopelessly in love with an aspiring politician.

“He swept her off her feet,” continued Molly. “She wouldn't listen to me when I said I had bad vibes about the guy. Call it the Irish in me if you like, but I usually read people well. I did not warm to the guy.” Molly took a deep breath before continuing. “Her future seemed secure, until she became pregnant. The furious politician told her marriage and children were not part of his immediate plans. He cruelly abandoned her. She sat here at the kitchen table with her father, Nora and me. We were all three concerned and distressed at her plight. She swore us to secrecy about the name of the baby's father. Brenda was adamant. She told us, ‘No one must ever know who he is. I will tell my child when I think the time is right, but now, I do not want to hear his name mentioned ever again.'”

A few months later, young Lucy Mears was born and entered the lives of Molly and Nora.

Nora answered Detective Carr's questions honestly and openly. She was still in shock at discovering her George was not the man she thought he was.

“I feel I don't know him at all,” she moped. “We fell in love shortly after he came to work for Brenda. I was attracted to his quick wit, his hard work ethic and ambition. He was a joy to be around.”

“Was he resentful of Brenda Mears' wealth?”

“Not so much that as envious. He was determined to branch out in his own business when he had enough to set himself up in the computer world. He supported my dream of someday owning a hotel. I had no idea where he went on his conferences and I.T. courses. I never asked. I trusted him. I took his word for it that he was at a computer course. Where is he, Detective? He is innocent of these whispered accusations. He and Lucy could be injured somewhere, lying in a ditch or something. He loved her like the rest of us and she trusted him implicitly; he could never harm her.”

“Was there any change in his behaviour recently, can you recall?”

“Come to think of it, yes! Some months ago he came back from one of his conferences, bright-eyed and happier than I'd seen him in a while.” Nora smiled as she recalled happier times. “He had purchased a new, state-of-the-art Mac and was ecstatic when it was delivered. Over the next few months, he lavished gifts on me, jewellery, flowers, and meals. ‘You sure we can afford this George?' I asked. ‘Honey, don't you worry your pretty head about this, everything's under control, babe,' he said to me. I'd never seen him so happy.”

Detective Carr asked as gently as she could, “Nora, I have to ask you a sensitive question, please don't be upset, but we have to probe every minute piece of information and ideas in order to bring Lucy home. Is it possible that George and Lucy have run off?”

“WHAT!” screamed Nora. “No, not my George. How could anyone think such foul thoughts about my George? We all adored Lucy, but as for anything else, you are way too wrong!”

“Nora, sometimes in my job, I have to ask very disturbing questions. It's best to have things out in the open.”

Nora sobbed uncontrollably. Detective Carr left her in the care of her equally distressed mother. Both women were still traumatized at the turn of events in what had been a previously peaceful existence.

“Detective,” said Molly as she led them off the premises. “Will we ever see Lucy again?”

Carr patted her on the back and whispered, “I hope so. I really hope so!”