Frank Zafiro: Heroes Often Fail

Jill stood in the doorway and opened the screen door for him to enter. “Was that Officer Will?”

Gio shook his head. “Nah. That was Jack Stone. He’s about as far from Officer Will as you can get.”

Jill nodded that she understood. “So now what?”

“I need to finish my interview with Kendra. Then I go over to the Dugger’s house.”

“More coffee?”

“No, thanks,” Gio said with a grin. “I’m already buzzing. That stuff was strong.”

Jill shrugged. “I figure, why make coffee if it isn’t strong?”

“Good point.”

Jill asked, “Do you think I should go over to see Kathy once she’s home? Would that help you guys any?”

Gio hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t want to get in the way,” Jill said.

“It’s not that,” Gio told her. “It’s just that I don’t know how she’ll react. You never know. She’ll be upset and she might direct some of that at you, since Kendra was with Amy.”

“Why would she do that? It’s not Kendra’s fault.”

“No, it’s not. But people under stress do strange things.”

Jill considered that. “Well,” she said, “I’ll be in the living room if you need me.”

Gio walked back to Kendra’s bedroom. The little girl sat on the edge of the bed holding a tattered stuffed tan dog with one floppy ear.

“What his name?” he asked her softly.

Kendra looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. “Major,” she answered in a dull tone.

“Looks like he’s been around for a while.”

She nodded. “My daddy got him for me when I was still a baby.”

“What happened to his ear?”

“My brother tore it off. My mom couldn’t sew it back on because he lost it somewhere.” She told him this matter-of-factly with no trace of emotion.

Gio lowered himself onto his haunches. “Kendra, you know that this is not your fault, right?”

She didn’t respond, but tears welled up in her eyes again.

“You didn’t cause this, and there’s nothing you could have done to stop it.”

The tears fell from her eyes and streamed down her face.

“But there’s something you can do now,” Gio said. “You can help me to find Amy.”

Kendra’s gaze snapped to his. “How?”

“By telling me everything you remember.”

Kendra swallowed. “But I don’t want Amy or me to get in trouble.”

“Why would she get in trouble?”

The little girl shook her head.

“Kendra, Amy didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t her fault, either.” Gio reached out and touched her foot lightly. “Amy’s not going to get into any trouble.”

Kendra looked away, still crying.

Gio waited a moment, then pressed onward. “I know this is upsetting, but I really need your help. Will you help me, Kendra?”

She gave him a hesitant nod.

“Good,” Gio said. “That’s good. Let’s start with where you were when this happened.”

0949 hours

Irina Prusakova picked up the telephone in the Police Dispatch Center. “Dispatch,” she said with the barest trace of an accent. “Irina.”

“Irina, it’s Gio. How’s it going?”

“Fine,” she said curtly. She wasn’t falling for his charm again. Getting used by him and treated like some kind of bludnica the first time was enough for her. She hated talking with Giovanni now.

“Listen, I wanted to give you the description that my witness gave me on this call. It’s probably a kidnapping, but Hart is dragging his feet on it.”

Irina called up Adam-257’s call history and prepared to type. “Go ahead.”

“Okay,” Gio said, oblivious to her hostility. “The suspect vehicle is a full-size van, box-style. Not a mini-van. Color is either dark blue or brown. Driver was a black male, age unknown. Probably fairly tall and big, since she said he took up most of the seat.”

“Got it,” Irina said, typing.

“The main suspect, the guy that grabbed the little girl, is a shorter male. He was wearing jeans and a wife-beater T-shirt. He also-“

“Wait a sec,” Irina interrupted. “What’s a wife-beater T-shirt?”

“You’ve never heard that one?”

“No. That’s why I’m asking.”

“A wife-beater T-shirt is a white undershirt cut like a tank top. I guess it got it’s name-”

“I can figure the rest out,” Irina interrupted. “Go ahead with the rest of the description.”

“Okay,” Gio said, easily. “The suspect in the wife-beater also had a black ski mask pulled over his head. Still, the little girl got a look at his arms and said they were brown, so he’s probably Mexican.”

“You mean Hispanic,” Irina corrected.

There was a pause. “Well, I suppose so.”

Typical, she thought, and typed ‘Hispanic Male’ into the computer. “Tattoos?” she asked.

“Yeah, one,” Gio answered. “He had a giant spider on the inside of his left elbow. A black widow or a tarantula. Something like that.”

Irina typed and said nothing.

“This happened about half a block from Benson Elementary, just south on Arlene Street. The victim lives on that street. The witness lives one block west on Waterbury.”

“Anything else?”

“You’ve got the time the call came in?”

She scrolled up in the text of the call. “Complainant called in at oh-nine-thirty-one.”

“Okay. From what I can tell, this happened at about eight-thirty.”

Irina entered the information. “You have something more?”

“I think that’s all. I’m going to try to locate the mother of this kid and make sure she’s missing. Once I do, can you broadcast this information city-wide, please?”

Irina knew that if Lieutenant Hart was dragging his feet, it was because he didn’t believe this to be a kidnapping. She didn’t know why that was, because it sounded like one to her. Either way, if she made the broadcast and he heard it, he’d be upset with Gio.

She smiled. That was Gio’s problem, not hers.

“I will do that,” she said.

“Thanks, Ir-“

She hung up.

0951 hours

Gio heard the click in his ear and stopped talking.

What was her problem?

He hung up Jill Ferguson’s phone and went to find her in the living room. She sat in an overstuffed chair, reading a book.

“I’m heading over to the Dugger’s house.”

She stood and walked him to the door. “Is there anything else I can do?”

Gio thought for a moment. “Yeah, maybe. Can you check your house for Amy or any sign of her? Maybe she’s hiding and we just don’t know it.”

He saw a flicker in her eyes at the prospect that her daughter might be lying, but she nodded her head. “Sure. I’ll do it right now.”

“Thanks. You’ve been really helpful, Mrs. Ferguson.”

She shrugged. “It’s the least I could do.”

“Take care of that little girl,” Gio told her. “She’s been through a lot today.”

“I know. I will.”

Gio paused, then tipped his fingers to his temple in a small salute. “I’ll see you,” he said casually and turned to walk away.

0957 hours

Gio found Kathy Dugger unloading groceries from her Jeep in front of her house. She glanced up at him with little interest until she recognized that he was walking toward her. Her brow creased with concern.

“Is everything all right, officer?”

Gio reached out for one of the bags of groceries she held in her arms. She made no move to hand them over. Gio cleared his throat and asked, “You’re Kathy Dugger?”

She nodded.

“Do you know where you daughter is, Mrs. Dugger?”

“Of course. She’s playing with Kendra Ferguson.”

Gio clenched his jaw. A blast of adrenaline surged through his chest.