James Romson walked from his home office with slumped shoulders.
“Did you get anything, Charles?”
“Not a thing. Neither Jed nor Lizzie said anything to anyone. They just got in the Bronco and disappeared.”
The three worried parents sat around the table and talked about what could be done. It appeared the police could be of no help. They couldn’t even put out a “BOLO,” or “Be on the Lookout,” for the Bronco since the truck was in Jed’s name. The parents seemed to be at an impasse. Articles in newspapers? Posters on light poles? Nothing seemed to fit what was needed.
The phone rang. Mary answered and handed the receiver to Charles. “It’s for you. I think it’s Teddy Baldwin.”
“Hi, Mr. Sitton. It’s Teddy. I don’t know if this is important or not, but I just remembered there was a car broken down on the ‘No Parking’ side of the street by the school. I saw Jed stop and talk with the guy, and then the guy got in the Bronco with them. I didn’t see who he was, but Jed seemed to know him.”
“Thanks, Teddy! That is exactly what I was talking about! Let me know if you think of anything else.”
“I think we have something!” Charles exclaimed. “Teddy saw Jed pick someone up by the school drive. Let’s run over and see if we can find out whose car it is.” The three parents jumped up from the table and started for the door. “Let’s take mine,” said Charles. “It’s in the drive.” They piled in the car, and Charles backed quickly out of the driveway. It was a tense fifteen minutes with each of the parents lost in their own thoughts. At last, the school came into sight, but when they got to the traffic light and looked left down the street, they saw no car. Their hopes were immediately dashed. Charles felt tears welling up in his eyes again at the disappointment. He had been so hopeful for an answer, but . . .
“Drive us to the police station,” James ordered. “Let me talk with the chief. We go back a long ways together. He may have some ideas.”
Charles made a U-turn when the light changed and drove back toward downtown. As they pulled up in front of the police department, Mary asked if he had any tissues; Charles pulled a small packet from the glove box and handed them to her. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose before getting out of the car. Together, they walked into the lobby and to the desk officer.
“How may I help you?” asked the officer.
“We would like to speak with Chief Washington for a moment,” said James.
“May I ask what you need? I may be able to help you.”
“Actually, we need advice concerning a situation, but, no offense, I don’t believe you can help. Chief Washington is an old friend of mine, and I trust his counsel. I know it is an imposition, but the situation needs to be addressed right away.”
“Okay, sir. May I have your name, and I’ll see if he is available. He may be in the staff meeting.”
“Tell him James Romson is here to see him. I think he will break the meeting for me, and I promise not to waste his time.”
The officer picked up the phone and dialed a number from memory. “Hello, Diane, is the boss in? I have a Mr. Romson here who needs to see him. He says it’s important.”
There was a pause before the desk officer said, “Okay, thanks. I’ll tell them.” He looked up at James. “His secretary asked you to hold for about five minutes for the boss to put an end to the meeting, and he said he will be right down. Why don’t you have a seat?”
James led Mary and Charles over to what looked like old church pews, and they sat. The chief came bustling through the door behind the desk not two minutes after they sat. The officer stood, surprised, and then looked with interest at the Romsons. He had expected the chief to have them go to his office. These must be very special people.
“James! Mary! What can I do for you today?” He walked around the counter and hugged Mary before shaking James’s hand.
“Jeff, sorry to interrupt your meeting, but we need your help.”
“Not a problem! I hate getting bogged down in them anyway, and I liked having an excuse to leave.”
“I’d like you to meet Charles Sitton, another old friend of mine, and head of maintenance for Romson Industries.”
The chief shook Charles’s hand. “Pleased to meet you, Charles, but I really don’t think this is a social call. What can I do for you?”
“Could we take it to your office or someplace else private?”
“Certainly. Come with me.”
James turned to the desk officer. “Thank you very much for your help, sir. We appreciate it.” He then turned to the chief. “My compliments on this officer. He was very courteous and helpful.”
The chief nodded at the officer and grinned. “Good. I like to hear that. Jack’s been on light duty since getting hurt in a fight with a guy he arrested. Maybe we can keep him here since he’s doing such a good job.” He laughed at the look of horror on the young officer’s face and waved for them to follow him behind the counter, through the door, and to his office. “Diane, if the mayor calls while we are busy, please tell him I will call him back. We are not to be disturbed unless the president calls.”
Diane laughed and nodded her head.
He closed the door behind them. “What’s going on?”
James said, “We need some advice, Jeff. I know there is nothing you can do officially, but Jed and Elizabeth—Charles’s daughter—didn’t get home last night from their senior trip. Charles called here last evening and was told there was nothing you could do since they are both over eighteen, and there was no sign of foul play.” The chief nodded in agreement.
“The sergeant Charles spoke with said it isn’t uncommon for kids to just take off and then show up later.”
The chief nodded again. “Um-hmm. We can file a missing person’s report after they’ve been gone twenty-four hours, but if we find them, all we can do is tell them you’re concerned and ask them to contact you. Then we can let you know we have spoken with them, and they are safe.”
James nodded. “Well, this morning we contacted all of the people on the trip to see if either Jed or Elizabeth said anything to anyone about going somewhere else, but they hadn’t. A while later, one of the young men called back and said he saw Jed stop at the end of the school drive and talk with a man with a broken-down car. He then got into the truck with them. We just went by the school, but there was no car. Would there, by any chance, be any record of a car parked on the wrong side of the street? We thought maybe we could find out who they talked with.”
The chief reached for the phone. “Diane, would you pull all incident reports for yesterday from . . . hold one.” He looked at James. “What time did they return?”
“I’m not sure. Probably about eight or eight-thirty. They were supposed to return before school started.”
The chief nodded and then spoke into the phone again. “Try from seven-thirty until noon. See if there was anything about a car parked on the wrong side of Higgins between Sixty-third and Sixty-fifth. Let me know what you find. Thanks.” He set the phone back in the cradle.
“Let’s give her a few minutes to check the incident reports. Can I offer you a cup of coffee while we wait?”
“Thanks, Jeff; coffee would be great,” said James. “We’ve been up all night.”
The chief swiveled his chair and poured four cups of coffee from the pot on his credenza. “I learned when I took this job to have my own coffee in here. Nobody around here knows how to make good coffee, it seems.”
James laughed. “Jeff doesn’t think any civilian knows how to make good coffee. If it isn’t Navy style, it isn’t any good. I can’t argue, though. I learned to like Navy coffee when I was on the boats as a Marine. Seems like a different lifetime, though.”
“You gotta put a little pinch of salt in it,” said the chief. He answered the phone before it finished its first ring. “What do you have? Um-hmm. Okay, thanks.”
As Chief Washington hung up the phone, he said, “Diane said a car was picked up by the school just before eleven yesterday morning, registered to a Pete Richardson.”
James visibly paled at the name. “Pete is our company pilot. Jed would have picked him up without question.”
“Is that a problem?”
“I hope not, but I’m not sure. Pete was in to see me yesterday, wanting to borrow quite a large chunk of money. I refused to loan the money to him. I hope he didn’t do something stupid.”
The chief nodded solemnly. “At this time, there is really nothing I can do officially, but I will pass the word to the force to keep an eye out. We can file the missing person reports later this afternoon if you don’t find them.” He took a business card from the holder on his desk and wrote a number on it. “This is my direct line. You know my home number. I want you to let me know whatever you find out just as soon as you know anything. Any time, day or night, do you hear me? I don’t care if it’s the middle of the night. You know how highly we think of Jed.”
“Got it, Jeff. Thank you so much for your time.”