Case File #11

(3rd Crime) 

"Can you please tell me every detail you can remember from that day?" Sharna asked

"It begad just as any of our usual days, I woke Ben up, we got dressed, breakfast then I drove him to school and left"

"So he does not take the bus, you always drive him?"

"Yes usually" the woman said "but sometimes his dad drives him instead. We're divorced and Ben lives with me, but hia dad visits twice a week"

"I'll need both yours and Ben's dad addresses"

"Sure" she said then she grabbed a notebook out of her bag and started writing then handed it to Sharna "here you go, The upper one is mine and the other one is Rodger's. I'm Alice by the way"

"Okay thank you, please go on with your story" Sharna said drinking more of the coffee she made trying to get rid of her hangover.

"When I came back to pick him up, he was not there. I went in to ask his teachers, they knew nothing about him after his last period which he attended but they were dismissed earlier than usual so they told me to go check out the playground, but he wasn't there either"

"Did you ask his friends?"

"He didn't have many friends, but I asked everyone who was in the playground, they said they didn't him except this one girl, Chelsea, who was sure she saw him walking away with what seemed a woman and she thought it was me"

"It's been almost a month, if he was kidnapped for a monetary reason, you would have received a note by now, have you?"

"No, and that's the weird thing"

Sharna was starting to write down some points then she was interrupted by Alice "What are you writing?"

"Points to help me out"

"I really, really hope you can do it, because I'm not sure I'll be able to live without Ben any longer and I promise I'll help at any cost"

"Just be honest with me and whenever you know anything new, just contact me" she patted her shoulder

"I will, but there's something you need to know," she said "after the police was not able to do anything about this, I also hired another detective, Tom Arnold, do you mind working with him?"

"Tom Arnold! The one who solved the Nancy Stewart case!"

"Yes, have you met him before?"

"No, of course not, but I'd love to work with him, from what I heard, he's a genius and we'll get you back your son!" Sharna assured her, she had one last question for Alice "Do you trust your ex husband? Did it ever occur to you that he might have been the one who took him away?"

"Of course I thought about this, but when I saw him and talked to him about it, I knew he was not lying. We had an amicable split, he's a trust worth person and a responsible father, we just had out differences, but I'm sure he wouldn't have done this" she was silent for a moment "Plus, he's been helping me out searching for Ben"

"Okay, but I'll still have to talk to him"

"I understand" she nodded

After Alice left, Sharna went to change then drank another cup of coffee "guess I won't get any sleep today" she thought.

She then went out to Detective Tom Arnold's office, she went upstair and knocked the door.

"Come in, it's open" he shouted

Sharna walked in and she was shocked when she saw the place, it was messy and dirty, nothing seemed in its place and there were various random expensive decorations everywhere around.

She walked in looking around searching for the source of that sound "I'm in here" a voice came from one of the rooms inside, so she walked over there.

A tall man, in his 40s, wearing an apron covered in colors was painting on an easel, across from him was a woman sitting on an arm chair in her undies.

"Wow" Sharna thought "I guess I'm in the wrong place"

"Detective Tom Arnold, part time artist, full time busy who are you? And what are you doing here?" he said in a fast pace.

"Detective Sharna Davis, and I'm here for Ben's case, his mother said we'll be working together on the case"

"Never heard of you and I work solo"

"I work solo too, but Alice is desperate, her son has been missing for almost a month, there ain't enough time for arguing about this, so please we need to just sit and talk about it"

"Okay" he said and Sharna was was surprised by how fast he was convinced "Come here," he said then he showed her the painting "What do you think?"

Sharna was speechless, the painting was just a basic flower with pink and blue petals.

"Wonderful" she lied

"I'm glad you like it, not many people understand my concept, I like to paint beautiful women as flowers" he said all serious then pointing to the woman to leave, she grabbed the rest of her clothes and left the room.

"look at those curves in the petals," he continued explaining to Sharna "the shades of blue like Anita's eyes and pink like her under garments. Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yes, totally. Are you gonna draw me then?" she joked

"I told you I only paint BEAUTIFUL women"

"Oh" Sharna was really angry with his rudeness, he was nothing like she thought, but she decided to just focus on the case.

She started telling him about the things she knew about the case and he w
as silently nodding through it all.

"Do you have any connections at the police?" he finally asked anything

"Yes, I actually used to work there for two years"

"Good, then go there now and get as much info as you can about this case" he said taking off the apron.

"Why shouldn't you come with?" Sharna asked

"Well, I have colors everywhere, I need to shower, then have breakfast"

Sharna left and was really angry with him, she felt he was really careless about the case and she didn't want to be bossed around, plus she was still offended by what he said about not painting her "It's his loss" she said to herself "I'd look really good as a flower"

She grabbed a cab and went to the police station. She walked in and then heard someone calling her name, she turned around and it was Officer Caleb. "Hey there Detective" he said

"Good morning" she said smiling "How are you doing?"

"Fine, you?"

"Good, I might need your help again" she said "Would you mind?" she gave him her best puppy eyes.

"Sure, I'd love to help you" he led her to his office

"Do you remember the day I quit, a woman called saying her son was kidnapped"

"Yes, I remember" he said "We actually worked a lot on that case, but we found nothing and she said she'll contact other detective, it was a huge argument!"

"Well, she came to visit me this morning, and I wanted to know if you have any useful info I can use"

"We didn't have much concerning this case, I remember that kid Chelsea who said the boy left with a woman, but everyone around him said that things seemed very normal even the day of the accident"

"Do you think he might not still be alive?" Sharna said sympathetically

"Of course it's a possibility." he said "We actually found a dead body with similar features almost 2 weeks ago, but it was not in town"

"Did you tell Alice?"

"Of course we did, but she was sure it was not him, she said her son had this huge birthmark on his forehead that the other boy did not have and the police there actually caught the murderer a couple of days ago, his step dad killed him!"

"People are just awful" Sharna was disappointed, she thought she would have found out some useful information about the case, but she didn't.ll

"I really hope I could have been able to help" he gave her a slight smile

"Well, you helped enough last time and I'm so thankful for that"

"Well, whenever you need me I'll be here, in my office where I'm always at 24/7" he joked

As they were chatting, they heard a knock on the door and then Detective Howard came in.

"How often do you come here?" he said to Sharna

"Nice to see you too" she joked

"Why are you here Sharna?" he walked and sat on the chair in front of her

"I'm currently working on Ben's case, his mum came to me this morning asking for my help"

"I know, I told her about you, but why are you here now?"

"You told her about me?" she felt really emotional

"Yes, we couldn't find anything useful and I knew you wouldn't mind a new case"

"Just admit it, you think I'm good"

"I think this case is bigger than it seems, so it's good having different opinions, I heard Tom Arnold is on it too"

"I need to get some papers from the copy center" Caleb left the room

"Do you know anything that might be of a my good use for the case?"

"Well, I don't think Ben was the first victim." he said "His mother said that she didn't receive any note, so he wasn't kidnapped for money, the other options are: his father, revenge or something bigger. I go for the 3rd one" he said confidently

"I haven't met the father, but Alice doesn't think it could be him, but why not revenge?" she questioned

"I thought you double majored with Psychology" he said quoting her from the day she quit "Do they seem like the kind of people who would have enemies who would want revenge against them?"

"You're right" she said

The room was silent for a moment then Detective Young said "Congratulations on your last case, you're doing better than I expected"

"Thank you!" she couldn't believe it "I need to apologize too, for what I said that day"

"You were right though," he said standing up "I didn't trust you because you're a woman"

"Hopefully this will change" she said cheerfully

Sharna went outside and was on her way home when she decided instead to go meet Emily.

"Hey" she called her "I know you have work, but I'm right downstairs, can I steal you out for lunch?"

"Sure, I'll be down in 5"

Sharna stood there waiting, thinking of the case and how will she be able to handle working with Tom, but, more importantly, she was thinking of Detective Howard's words to her, she still hated his opinions about women being weaker, but this time it felt different, he was starting to actually appreciate her, sort of.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Emily approached then she hugged her.

"I missed You, Sharna" she said hugging her "I got used to having you around"

"I missed you too and we have a lot of catching up!"

They walked to the nearest restaurant for lunch and Sharna told her about her last case, Johnny, James and her new case. "I've been talking for way too much." Sharna said "What have you been up to?"

"New project at work that would, hopefully, get me a promotion and Tyler's mum think I'm fat"

"What" Sharna shouted "If you're fat then what am I"

Sharna has always seen Emily as the most beautiful woman she knew, she was tall, she had beautiful long dark brown hair, tanned skin and green eyes that contrasted beautifully with her skin.

"It's not a big deal" Emily said

"It is and if you believe her then you're crazy! I mean seriously what does Tyler think of this?"

"He says I shouldn't bother and his mum will always find a new way to be mean"

"Exactly! You're not gonna eat that salad" she pushed the plate from in front of her "I'm ordering fries and double chocolate milkshake"

Emily laughed "You're right, I'm marrying Tyler not his mum. 2 and a half days of diet are enough"

The waiter came back with their order and as they sat eating together and chatting, Sharna's phone rang.

"Hello" she said

"Detective, it's me Detective Tom Arnold, part time artist, full time busy. Remember me?"

"Of course I do, we were together just a few hours ago!"

"Yes or no answers only, no time for long one"

"Well that was long"

"Shh" he said "Come back here, urgently!" he hung up the phone

Sharna held her phone staring at it "I really can't believe I'll have to work with this!"

"Good luck sweetie"

Sharna grabbed a cab to his office again and went in "Why do you leave your door open like that, you know it's not safe"

"I'm too busy to answer the door." he said "Come in here now"

She walked into that room again and he was staring at one of his painting, as she got closer, she realized it was the one form earlier.

"Important question Sharna, oh and please no more formalities, but you still call me Detective,"

"Sure, Detective" she said and sat down next to him.

"I added this other shade of blue, what do you think of it?"

"Yeah I can see it, it's so much better that it was this morning" she said trying to seem friendly as possible.

"It's a totally different painting, you have zero observational skill, how come are you a detective even?"

"Did you call me to come all the way here just to ask me about this silly painting?" she was furious

"It's not silly,"

"It is, compared to a child being kidnapped or compared to anything really"

"Apologize now or I leave the case" he looked dead serious

"REALLY?!"

"Of course not, that was just a joke, I don't care about your opinion, I know my paintings are brilliant" he said proudly

"Then why did you call me?"

"Did you go to the police?" Sharna told him what they said and that she wasn't able to retrieve much info.

"Let's go to that school, it's still school hours, the principle will probably be there" he said standing up and walking out the room then he turned to her "Oh and by the way, I called Rodger and we'll be meeting with him tonight"

Sharna was impressed "Maybe he's not as awful as she thought at first" she said to herself then walked behind him.

They went downstairs and got into the garage where Tom's car was parked then they drove to school.

The secretary led them to the principal, Mr Barker's office and they sat waiting for him.

"Good afternoon Detectives, would you like something to drink?" Mr Barker said as he entered the room.

"2 fresh strawberry juices please" said Tom

"I don't even like strawberry" Sharna whispered to him

"Oh then I'll take the other one"

Mr Barker sat on his desk then asked them for the reason they're here.

"We wanted to talk about Ben" Sharna said

"Every single person from the staff who knew him already told the police everything"

"We know, but as you can see the police were not able to find out anything, so here we are" Said Tom

"Of course, I would love to help, Ben was a lovely boy and he didn't deserve this"

"A girl called Chelsea said to Ben's mother and to the police that she saw him leave that day with a woman" Sharna saidp

"If you want I can call her in, but be nice she's just a kid and she can't be interrogated without an adult"

"It's not an interrogation, we're not police and I'm sure she'll find me lovely" Tom said arrogantly

In a few minutes, Chelsea came into the office, she looked worried "I didn't do anything wrong Mrs Harris was rude to me first" she said

"I don't know what you're talking about and I'll try to ignore it" the principal said "These are Tom and Sharna and they would like to talk to you"

"Nice shirt" Sharna told her

"Thanks my mum got it for me" chelsea replied shyly

"We wanted to talk to you about your friend Ben" added Tom

"We were not friends, we were more like acquaintances" she said

"You said you saw him leaving with a woman, did she seem familiar to you?" Mr Barker asked her nicely

"I'm not sure my glasses were broken then, but he seemed to like her that's why I thought she was his mum"

"Did you ever notice him talking to a woman outside class that wasn't his mum or his teacher"

"He wasn't much of a talker" she said

Soon Chelsea left and she wasn't of much help either, but they now knew that Ben knew that woman who kidnapped him.

"Can we please get a copy of all the staff members that have been working here from the beginning of this school year" Tom asked the principal and he nodded and asked his secretary to prepare the papers for them.

"One final question" Sharna said "have there been any other kidnapping trial?"she remembered Detective Howard's words that this case might be bigger than they all thought, she thought that maybe there have been other kidnaps.

"I talked before to an old police detective about that." he said and Sharna realised he meant Howard "It happened a year and a half ago, a girl called Candice, she was a few years older than Ben then and one day, she didn't come to school, we thought she was sick and called her house, but her mum said she left earlier to school and she has not been found yet."

"That's awful" Sharna said

"She's probably dead by now, it's too late, but hopefully we'll get to find Ben before it's too late for him too" Tom added

"I wish you the best" said Mr Barker "and of course if you ever need anything, call me"

Sharna and Tom took the papers from the secretary who Tom tried to convince to paint her, but she turned him down.

As they walked through the halls Sharna started saying "I can't believe you find that secretary more beautiful than me"

"She'd look really good as a flower, her eyes are exactly that shade of yellowish green that I've been searching for" he said

"I got pretty eyes too" Sharma tried to brag

"Anyways" Tom said "what do you think?"

"I think Detective Young was right, it's definitely bigger than just Ben being kidnapped"

"Me too, I suggest going to the police station and finding all child kidnapping cases in town starting from Candice till Ben"

"Sure that sounds right, then we'll go meet Rodger"

"Exactly"

They went to the station to get the files then got back into Tom's car to go to their next destination. "Having a car is the only good thing about working with you" she wanted to say it out loud, but she didn't.

"Do you think we should split the files and each one of us would focus on their cases or should we review them together?" Sharna asked

"Is that your way of starting a small talk?" He joked "we'll review them together, it's better I think"

She didn't want to spend more time with him, but she agreed.

"Anyways, if we're gonna want helpful information from Rodger you better not start conversations that way" he said and started lecturing her on how to make good small talk.

"I don't need your help, thanks" she said

"From what I've seen, you do and if we're gonna work together you need to be less serious. Seriousness disturbs me, I need fun to think better" he kept going until he was interrupted by her "turn right" she said.

"The GPS says to keep on the road" Tom argued

"This car has been following us for quite sometime now" she said and he turned right.

They kept turning to different directions and the car followed them. They saw a young man driving it and he didn't seem armed, so they trapped him in a dead end road.

Tom gave Sharna a gun that he keeps in his car drawer and told her to go get him out of the car while he was ready to drive just in case.

"I left the back doors unlocked in case anything goes wrong get in fast and I'll drive" he said

Sharna grabbed the gun and walked over to the car the man seemed scared "Get out of the car" Sharna said strictly "and show me both your hands up" he got out and did as she asked.

Hey guys! Thanks for everyone who's been reading voting and commenting, my story just reached 400 reads and it really mean a lot. Hope u enjoyed this chapter and the beginning of this new crime which will be a little longer than the previous ones. Anyways let me know what u thought and have a good day :) Thanks!