“I hear you, ma’am. But it is my job to investigate. And you’d be surprised how many parents have no idea of the trouble their kids are getting into when their backs are turned. I’m going to talk to this girl named Malaka.” He led them back to the waiting room. “Have a seat over there. I’ll keep you posted.” He turned and disappeared down the hallway.
Julio’s parents sat huddled together on one hard wooden bench. Romiette’s parents sat on another. In spite of the fact that it was two in the morning, activity swirled around them, phones rang, officers scurried back and forth, and no one paid any attention to them. It was like being in a hospital waiting room. Everyone seemed to have a job to do, everyone was occupied with meaningless activity, and no one thought to stop to speak to the families sitting on the hard wooden benches, waiting for any bits of new information about their children.
Maria Montague’s face was swollen and red from weeping. Her husband was silent, impassive, his face a mask of pain and loss. She glanced at him, then walked slowly to where Romiette’s parents were sitting.
“Mrs. Cappelle, our children are linked together in this terrible thing. Let’s you and me, the mothers of these children, link ourselves together. Do you pray?”
“Oh, my Lord, yes, Mrs. Montague. I pray. I pray with all my heart.”
“Call me Maria.”
“And call me Lady. Together we can get through this—and dream our children safely home.”
The two fathers looked past each other, never making eye contact. Neither one spoke.
47. A Lead
Captain Escaluski looked at the girl dressed in purple. Her hair was uncombed, and her purple-painted fingernails were chipped and cracked. She was trying to look hard and tough, but he could see she was scared. He started slowly, casually. “Malaka, do you know what you’re being charged with?”
She refused to look at him. “I haven’t done anything wrong!” she said to the wall. “You can’t prove nothin’! I was just ridin’. You cops is always hasslin’ us.”
“The car you were in may have been used in a crime—a kidnapping—perhaps even a murder. If that proves to be the case, you will be charged as an accessory to that murder, and you can be charged as an adult. So we’re talking—let’s see—at least fifteen, twenty years. You ready to do that kind of time?”
That got her attention. She turned and looked at him with derision. “You trippin’! They wouldn’t send a girl to jail. I’m only sixteen. I’d get probation, and they’d send me home,” she stated boldly.
“You’ve been watching too many movies. If you are convicted of a felony as an adult, you will go to jail! The older women there—they look forward to a fresh young girl like you. No one could protect you then. Are you sure that you’re ready to go that far for your friends?”
“I don’t know why you’re tryin’ to scare me. I didn’t do anything, honest. I was just ridin’ in the car with my boyfriend and some of his friends. I didn’t have control over where they went or what they did. I was in the backseat.” She flicked a speck of dirt off the table.
“In the backseat with a gun? Possession of a firearm itself is a felony, Malaka.”
“It’s not mine. Terrell gave it to me. To show me he trusted me. I was just holdin’ it for him because he said they’d arrest him, but since I was a juvenile, they couldn’t bother me.”
“Well, he was wrong there! What else did he tell you?” the captain urged.
“He told me my mama wouldn’t come if anything happened. He was right about that.”
“What did she say when you talked to her?”
“She said she was tired, and she had warned me about hanging with Terrell, and to teach me a lesson, she was gonna make me spend the night here! Me and my mama don’t get along. That’s why I been living with my dad. But he ain’t home.”
“Here’s a Kleenex. Don’t cry. Relax now. Terrell and the rest of them are in custody. The only way you’re going to get out of the mess you’re in is to help us out here. Can you do that?”
“They were gonna let me in the gang. It sounded so cool.”
“Which gang?”
“The Devildogs. They the baddest gang in the city right now,” Malaka boasted.
“Gangs are pretty new here.”
“That’s why it’s important to get in early and tight. At least that’s what Terrell told me. At school, they won’t even admit that gangs exist! It’s funny. That way, we do what we want and nobody really stops us.”
“Do you know anything about the disappearance of Romiette and Julio?”
“No.” Malaka turned away.
“Are you sure? Romiette’s mother said you talked to her and it sounded like you might know something.”
“I really don’t know anything. Really.”
“Well, you had your chance. You will be charged with possession of a firearm, and if we find them, kidnapping, assault, and who knows what else? Maybe even murder. Is your boyfriend worth all that?”
“I didn’t kill nobody!” Malaka screamed. “Can you get my father to come down here? And a lawyer? I’m getting scared.”
“I’ll call both your parents. And you have the right to a lawyer. I will inform them, or a lawyer will be provided for you. In the meantime, please, just tell us where to start looking. The DA will look kindly on any help you give. Besides, there’s a five-thouand-dollar reward out. Did you know that?”
Malaka slumped in her chair. It was the middle of the night, and she was tired. Things had not gone according to plan, and she wasn’t going to take Terrell’s rap. She sighed and said finally, “I never wanted it to go this far. I just wanted the gang boys to like me. Me and my mother don’t get along, and everybody in the gang really liked me, or they seemed to. Terrell was big and tough and so much fun to be with. He kept teasing me about what a wimp I was. I wanted to show him I was tough enough. I showed him too,” she said with pride.
“Are you tough enough to tell the truth?” the captain asked.
Malaka thought for moment. “You know the boathouse by London Woods Lake?”
“Yeah.”
“Look around there.” She rested her head on the table.
Captain Escaluski sighed as he closed the door. He called dispatch and told them to concentrate the search in and around the London Woods boathouse. He knew the parents would be relieved to get even a small lead. He also knew that the longer those kids were missing, the less chance there would be of finding them alive. That part he wasn’t ready to share with the parents. He walked into the waiting room, and they jumped up, eyes full of hope.
“Mr. and Mrs. Montague, Mr. and Mrs. Cappelle, we may have a lead. The girl Malaka told us what she knew. It seems that the original plan was just to scare them. Evidently, the gang didn’t like the idea of Romiette and Julio seeing each other. Their plan was to threaten or force the two of them to break up.”
“With guns?” Maria Montague said in disbelief.
“Evidently, yes.”
“What do they care? Why, Captain?” Romi’s mother was searching for a reason to make sense of all this.
The captain shrugged. “Who knows? They don’t need a reason. Sometimes just being different is reason enough to hate.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes, but unfortunately, all too true.” A uniformed officer whispered something in the captain’s ear. “I’ll be right back,” he said. He disappeared behind a door. The parents looked at one another in shared fear. Maria Montague and Lady Cappelle grasped each other’s hands.
The officer returned holding a sheet of paper. He cleared his throat. “My men were at the boathouse when I sent the dispatch. They searched it thoroughly. I’m sorry, but your children aren’t there.” Maria Montague inhaled sharply. “But we think that they were. On the gravel near the boathouse, we found two key chains hooked onto one ring—one that says Texas Rangers, and a gold one with the initials RRC.”
“That’s Romi’s. I gave it to her last year for her birthda
y!” her mother said with excitement. It was her first ray of hope in this dark night.
“And that’s Julio’s key chain. He collects Texas Rangers stuff.” Maria Montague smiled broadly for the first time that night. “You say the key chains were hooked together?” she asked.
“Yes, on the same key ring, the report says,” the captain read. “Folks, my officers also report that there’s a boat missing from the boathouse. We have all our force out there looking. We’ll find them, I promise, but we have another problem. That’s a pretty bad storm out there. The wind is awful—heavy rain, thunder, lightning. We may not be able to do much more searching tonight.”
“What do you mean, ‘not much more tonight’! You’ve got to get out there and find my child!” Luis Montague yelled.
“Yes, sir, Mr. Montague. We’re doing our best.”
Romi’s mother looked frantic. “Captain,” she said. “There’s something you should know.”
“Yes, Mrs. Cappelle?”
“Romiette can’t swim.”
The captain looked up in surprise and scribbled a note on his pad. He told the families, “I want you all to go home and get some sleep now. We have a long day of searching tomorrow, and I know you want to help. I want you fresh and rested.” They looked at him doubtfully. He knew they wouldn’t sleep—couldn’t sleep. “Go home and pray, then. I’ll see all of you back here first thing in the morning. And if we have any news—anything at all—I’ll call you. You have my word. Now go.”
He left the parents standing there, dazed and confused. Luis walked to the door of the police station, looked out at the storm, and returned to his place on the bench. “I can’t leave,” he said simply. “If there is any word at all, I want to be at this place to hear it.” His wife sat beside him. The Cappelles looked at each other and silently agreed as well. Romiette’s mother collapsed in tears in her husband’s arms. The visions of guns and pain and violence on her daughter’s body were too large to hold in any longer and hope was quickly evaporating. Cornell held her gently until the wave of anguish subsided. Luis and Maria watched in silent understanding.
The Cappelles and the Montagues waited for the light of morning. The night had never been darker.
48.
Ben and Destiny—Midnight
Destiny opened her front door and flopped dejectedly on the living-room couch. Ben, nervous and tense, kept biting his fingernails and running his hands through his hair. He called his mother, told her briefly only that one of his friends was missing and he was going to help find him, then continued to pace and bite his nails. Destiny’s mother had already left to see what she could do to help.
Destiny, for once, was silent. Ben glanced at her and grinned in spite of himself. Destiny was not the kind of girl he usually imagined himself with. She was loud, outspoken, and saw the world through other-colored glasses, not like the rest of them. But, then, so did he. He imagined himself sitting on the couch next to her. What a picture they would make! He, with safety pins and blue or green or orange hair, pale white skin, freckles, blue eyes. And Destiny, skin the color of dark Arabian coffee, hair done in braids and curls, brown eyes, spicy smile, soft lips … He forced himself to erase the picture. Right now, the problem was finding Romi and Julio. His foolish dreams could wait.
“What can we do, Destiny?” he asked her, mind racing at all the horrible possibilities.
“There’s only one thing we can do,” Destiny said simply. “We have to go find them.”
“You’re right. Romi and Julio are out there in this storm somewhere, maybe hurt, but needing us for sure,” Ben agreed. “Go get some rain gear and let’s get busy.”
Destiny ran upstairs, braids bouncing behind her, to find the rain boots that she once told her mother she’d never wear because they were ugly, and a raincoat. Once again, Ben found himself watching her body as she danced lightly up the stairs. He knew she thought of him as just a friend, and a strange one at that. He sighed and jumped back into his role as freaky sidekick as she came back down the steps. She carried two flashlights, an extra rain jacket for Ben, and a portable CD player.
“Might be a long night. We’ll need music.” Ben grinned in agreement. She ran into the kitchen, grabbed several apples and pears, and a bottle of water. “OK, where do we start?”
“Don’t you think the police have thought of this already, Destiny? Aren’t they searching too?”
“Yeah, but we care. I can’t just sit and wait for news. Romi is my very best friend, and I have to go and try to help her. She needs me.”
“I’m with you, Destiny. Let’s do it.” Ben didn’t want to tell Destiny that the news would probably not be good. The Devildogs could be brutal.
“Let’s see,” Destiny mused. “We were pushing the car and we could see them about a block and a half ahead of us. We’ll start there—at the spot where we saw them last.”
“Then what?” Ben wondered. “London Woods is huge.”
“My guess would be to head to the lake. That’s what my strongest psychic hunch tells me. I don’t know why.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go,” Ben said. “I trust you. And I don’t know why.”
Destiny laughed as they headed out the door into the rain. “But this time we take my car, bet?”
“Bet.” Ben grinned.
They drove through the rain in silence, the windshield wipers whispering, “Help me, help me.” Destiny thought of Romi and their friendship and refused to think what Romi might be enduring at this moment, refused to consider the possibility that she might never see her again. Ben mused how grateful he was to find such a good friend in Julio. Because of his independent attitude about most things, Ben had few close friends, and he realized now how much Julio’s honest acceptance of him meant.
They approached the place where Romi and Julio had vanished. Destiny stopped her car, and they got out. It was pouring rain, and the ground was muddy and messy.
“Look! Here’s what’s left of the tire tracks of a big car, I think,” Ben noted. “Probably Terrell’s Cadillac.”
“Hard to tell with all this rain. So you think they took them in the car?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think they took them for a scenic ride. This is kidnapping, Destiny,” Ben said solemnly as they hurried back to her car.
“I know. We’ve gotta hurry. I have a bad feeling about this. Let’s follow the road around the park, first of all. Then we’ll get out and walk where my senses tell me to.”
Even though the road was paved, it was narrow, and the rain made the shadows of the trees loom tall and menacing. They drove, not expecting to find Julio and Romi in front of them, but hoping to find something that might give them a clue. Nothing had appeared, however. Just rain and wind. “This is a big forest,” Ben noted. “Why’d they put a forest in the middle of the city anyway?”
“They didn’t,” Destiny replied with authority. “The forest was here first. This is all that’s left of the original woods that were here when people started cutting down trees to build houses and schools and fast-food restaurants.”
“You’re probably right.” Ben sighed. “What time is it?”
“After midnight, I know.” Destiny glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Oh, Ben, it’s 1:11! Make a wish!”
“What?”
“Make a wish. Don’t ask why. Just do it.”
“OK, I wish we—”
“No! You can’t tell! Wish silently. When a digital clock reads the same three numbers across, you make a wish.”
“That’s stupid, I think.”
“Just shut up and wish. Don’t question the universe!”
“OK, I wished. Who am I to question the mysteries of the great beyond?” Ben asked with cheerful exaggeration. “Did you wish?”
“Of course.”
“Do I have to clap my hands three times and hold my breath so Tinkerbell won’t die?”
“Don’t make fun of this, Ben. It works.” Destiny tried to act offended, but grinned in spite
of herself.
“OK, whatever you say,” Ben replied, but she didn’t think he was too convinced. “Destiny,” Ben said as he tried to get his bearings in the rain and darkness, “pull over right here.”
She stopped the car, and they sat silently for a moment, listening to the thunder and rain, and watching the storm as it rumbled through the woods. “Should we get out and search now?” she asked Ben.
“Yeah, but we don’t need to be walking so close to all these trees in a thunderstorm. Lightning strikes trees, you know.”
“Actually,” she teased, “lightning is drawn more to metallic objects, like earrings and safety pins!”
“Ouch!” Ben twitched and writhed as if he had been hit.
The thunder roared and exploded around them, and lightning flashed, brightening the sky just enough to show the dark, heavy clouds for a moment. The rain poured in sheets, and the windshield wipers could not keep up. The car windows began to fog up. Destiny rolled the windows down just a little to let in some air, but the rain forced itself through the tiny cracks.
“I guess we’d better wait a few minutes. We can’t do them any good if we can’t even see where we’re going. We could walk right past them and never know it,” Ben said reasonably.
“I wonder where they are, Ben,” Destiny moaned. “What if they’re out in this? What if they’re wet and scared and lost? What if they’re hurt?” Destiny started to cry.
“Tomorrow when the sun is shining, we’ll look back on all this as a great adventure, and the four of us will laugh. You’ll see, Destiny,” Ben said, trying to comfort her. He reached over and touched her hand. She didn’t pull it away until she had to find a tissue to blow her nose.
“Hey, Ben,” Destiny said slowly. “Suppose they’re … they’re … not OK.”