Richard Hale - Frozen Past

“So, the body was moved?”

“That’s what it’s looking like. He died somewhere else and was put in the pool. Now, as far as notifying the family, they haven’t been able to positively identify the body. We’ve run fingerprints and come up with a big goose egg.”

“What about the FBI fingerprint database, IAFIS?”

“We haven’t hit it yet. That’s next.”

“Dental records?”

“Yes, but nothing has popped up yet. And no one has reported a missing child. At least not within the local and surrounding states.”

“So he’s still a John Doe?”

“Yes.”

“We need to widen the search. If he was killed elsewhere and dropped in the pool, he could have come from anywhere. Let’s start working national databases and see if we get any hits.”

“Already started it boss. I submitted the query in the computer system before I came over.” She smiled, took another drink, and waited as silence took over the conversation. “You know, it was an honest mistake.”

He shrugged.

“How else were we going to find someone to positively I.D. the body?” she asked. “It’s normal procedure. Do your best to I.D. the body on your own, contact the family and have them do the positive I.D. You know it’s the fastest way.”

He popped another beer and took a long pull on it as she sat and waited. “But I went about it all wrong,” he finally said. “I could see it in your face, as soon as I made the abrupt announcement their son was dead.”

“It’s your way. Not my place to question.”

He gave her an exasperated look and she turned away. When she turned back her expression was one of patience, as if with a small child who needed a lesson. “Look, I wouldn’t have done it that way, no, but that’s me.”

“You should have stopped me.”

“What? How was I supposed to do that?”

“You should have been the one doing the talking.”

“You’re the lead. You lead. I follow. If you wanted me to do the talking, you should have told me. Now you’re trying to blame me?”

“No-you’re not understanding. I’m saying I agree with you. I should have let you do the talking. I’m not blaming you for something you didn’t do. Am I that much of an asshole?”

She smiled at him. “No, boss. You’re just a little rough around the edges.” She took a long drink of her beer and looked around the room as if for the first time. “Nice place. Where’s Reverb?”

“Probably hiding from you. He’s not very social.”

“Great watchdog.”

He shrugged. “I trained him well.”

She stood, walked over to the bookshelf and looked at the pictures. She grabbed the one of his dead son, looked it over and then set it down again in its spot. She knew about Michael, but thankfully never brought it up with him. Everyone knew about Michael.

She wandered around the rest of the room, glancing at his limited knick-knacks and furniture and he watched her in a way he had never seen before. She had great legs and the skirt she was wearing showed them off. He figured the alcohol was contributing to this new perspective, but he didn’t care. She turned and noticed him noticing her. A tiny, little smile formed on her lips, but she said nothing. He quickly looked away.

“What about the footprints in the snow? Anything on that?” he asked.

She nodded. “All consistent with children or teenagers, unless the perp is a very small man or woman, which can’t be ruled out, of course. No other footprints were in the vicinity except for the rescue crew and ours.”

“What’s your gut feeling?”

“I think some kids were there. I don’t know what they were doing, but I bet they know something. If we can find out who, we can probably learn something about what actually happened.”

“What about the accidental death scenario?”

“Explain,” she said.

“A group of kids kill their buddy by mistake, panic, and try to ditch the body. I’ve heard about it happening before.”

“The only thing about that scenario that doesn’t make sense is the lack of a reported missing person. If the kid is local and had some horrible accident that’s being covered up, why hasn’t some distraught mother called us looking for her baby?”

He saluted her with his beer. “Good point. Unless it’s some parent that doesn’t care or isn’t expecting their kid to be home. Maybe he was away at a sleepover or party and he wasn’t due back home until today. Could be overlooked for a day or two.”

“Yeah. I guess we’ll see in the next twenty four hours. Should we check out the neighborhood kids tomorrow?”

“That’s my plan.”

“What about the Harrison kid? Think he knows anything?”

He paused. “My gut feeling is yes, but I’m going to leave that can of worms alone for a while, don’t you think?”

She nodded, drained her beer, crushed it and then added it to the pile of destroyed empties he had already accumulated.

He laughed. “Have another,” he said, holding up the beer to her. She grinned and took it from him.

School on Monday was abuzz with the story of the boy pulled from the pool. It hadn’t made the news, not even a blurb in the paper, but that didn’t keep it from spreading like wildfire around the campus as the day went on. Luke kept out of the conversations, but kept his ears open hoping to catch some clue about who the kid was. By the end of the day, the rumors flying around about his identity amounted to nothing more than gossip and couldn’t be judged reliable. Could anything a teenager said be held truthful, Luke thought to himself? He wasn’t above criticizing his generation, who he knew to be fickle and irresponsible, himself included.

At lunch he sat with Ellie, joked with her about everyday nothingness and held her hand as the rest of the kids noticed the new closeness between them. He spotted, more than once, whispers and giggles among their friends and even a few evil looks from some of the other girls, but for the most part, his eyes were only on her. She had slept a little better on Sunday night and so had he. She looked beautiful with her short hair pulled back in a red band and her blue eyes clear and bright. He whispered to her that he really wanted to kiss her here in front of everyone and she smiled and turned red.

“Well, why don’t you, Mr. Harrison?”

“I think I will, Miss Pemberton,” and he plopped one on her right there in the cafeteria. It was cool.

Luke, Jimmy, and John walked her home from the bus stop, keeping to the plan of sticking together. Patrick, who still looked pissed asked, “What the hell are you guys doing with my sister?”

“I’m walking her home,” Luke said, “and they’re with me.”

“What are you guys? Stupid or something?”

“Shut up, Patrick,” Ellie said.

He laughed at them but didn’t push it.

They dropped Ellie off, and as they turned into their court, they saw the cop, Jaxon, and the woman, talking to Ralph and his sister. They were showing him a picture. They looked up at Luke and seemed to dismiss Ralph while they turned and walked to their car. They got in and drove off without a second glance.

“Hey Ralph!” Luke yelled. “Wait up!”

Luke, John, and Jimmy jogged up to Ralph and his sister and Luke asked, “What were they doing?”

“Asking us a bunch of questions,” Ralph said.

“Like what?” John asked.

“Did we notice anything weird or any weird people around lately, and did we see anything at the pool that was strange or suspicious?”

“What else?”

“They showed us a picture of a boy and asked if we knew him or recognized him, but we didn’t.”

“Did they ask anything about us?” Luke asked.