"She might be in a closet or a locker."
"But that"s barbaric."
"The person who did this does not care about Angelica"s wellbeing. He plans to sell her and collect his money."
"So you believe Angelica"s still in the school."
"Yes. Once the police leave, her abductor will change Angelica"s appearance, put her into the trunk of his car, and go see the buyer."
h.e.l.ler shut her eyes and took a deep breath. What I had just described to her was inconceivable. Adults did not do this to little children. I had to bring her back to earth, and I loudly cleared my throat. Her eyes snapped open.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"I"m not done," I said.
"I"m sorry."
"Who knew that Angelica was coming to school today?"
"Do you think one of them is responsible?"
"Please answer the question."
"Let me think. Her new teacher knew, and Sally, my receptionist. I also spoke to the school doctor, since all new children are required to have checkups."
"So four people knew," I said.
"That"s only three," h.e.l.ler said.
"I"m including you," I said.
h.e.l.ler"s mouth dropped open, but no words came out. An uncomfortable silence filled the office. I pointed at the phone on her desk.
"Please round up the other three," I said.
h.e.l.ler called her receptionist, the school doctor, and Angelica"s new teacher, and asked them to meet us in the media room. Hanging up, she glared at me.
"Do you think that I I might be implicated in this?" she asked indignantly. might be implicated in this?" she asked indignantly.
"The four of you knew Angelica was coming to school today. That makes you all suspects until proven otherwise. It"s how missing kids investigations work."
"Guilty until proven innocent."
"That"s right."
"So I shouldn"t take this personally."
I nodded. h.e.l.ler stood up, and came around her desk. Her movements were brisk, and I could tell she was p.i.s.sed off.
"After all," she said, "I"m the one who called the police."
I followed her into the hall. She shut the door behind her, took a key from her pocket, and locked it. Watching her, I noticed something that I hadn"t seen before.
"You don"t have a sign on your door," I said.
"I moved into the office last week. The sign"s on order."
h.e.l.ler started to walk down the hall. I remained behind, and stared at her blank door. She came back to where I stood.
"Are you coming?" she asked.
My mind was working hard now, seeing what I hadn"t seen before. I tore my eyes away from the door, and looked at her. "You said that Angelica"s mother appeared in your office yesterday morning. How did she know where to find you?"
"Someone must have brought her to me."
"Any idea who?"
h.e.l.ler shook her head.
I envisioned Angelica"s mother coming to the school the day before, and getting lost. An employee had come to her aid, and escorted her to h.e.l.ler"s office. Along the way, they"d talked, and she"d talked about her daughter, while unwittingly pa.s.sing along information-perhaps a nickname, or the name of a pet-that would let a stranger gain the child"s confidence. That was why Angelica hadn"t cried or kicked up a fuss when she"d left h.e.l.ler"s office.
"Where would she have parked?" I asked.
"In the visitor"s lot in front," h.e.l.ler said.
"Is that the only place?"
"Yes."
I thought about the security guard sitting outside in the golf cart. He would have seen Angelica"s mother yesterday, and, hopefully, the employee who had befriended her.
"I"ll be back in a minute," I said.
CHAPTER FOUR.
Every public school in Florida employed a security guard. Oakwood"s guard was a guy in his twenties with a bodybuilder"s physique and a pistol strapped to his waist. His nametag said Ed Edwards.
Most security guards were guys who couldn"t pa.s.s the test to become cops. Edwards was sucking on a c.o.ke, and appeared overly caffeinated. I introduced myself, and told him I was looking for Angelica Suarez. I asked him if he minded answering a few questions.
"Not at all," he said. "Have a seat."
I slid into the empty seat of his golf cart. Buster hopped into the back, expecting a ride. It was funny, only Edwards didn"t smile. If we didn"t find Angelica Suarez, he would probably lose his job.
"Yesterday morning, Angelica Suarez"s mother came to school to register her daughter," I said. "Someone helped her find the princ.i.p.al"s office. I was wondering if you happened to see who helped her."
Edwards"s eyes glazed over as he plumbed his memory. "Come to mention it, I did. She parked over by the fence. She looked confused, and started talking to a maintenance guy cutting the gra.s.s."
"Did he take her inside?"
"I"m not sure. I got pulled inside for a minute. When I came back out, she was gone, and so was the maintenance man, only his mower was still there."
"Had he finished cutting the gra.s.s?"
"I don"t think so. There was a patch still left."
"What"s his name?"
"Ray Hicks."
"Can you describe him for me?"
"Sure. Ray"s my age, pretty tall, but out of shape. Tends to keep to himself. The first time I met him, he made my skin crawl. I called my brother who"s a cop over in Jacksonville, and he had a records check pulled on him. Hicks was clean."
"But he bothered you?"
"Yeah."
Intuition was the messenger of fear. Edwards"s intuition had told him that Ray Hicks was a bad character, even if there was no evidence to prove it. I thanked him for his help and went back inside.
The media room was directly off the main entrance, and was filled with computers, DVD players, and other electronic equipment that kids needed to learn how to use so they could teach their parents. I found h.e.l.ler and three other people, who I a.s.sumed were the teacher, the receptionist, and the school doctor, sitting at a rectangular table in the room"s center. I pulled h.e.l.ler off to the side.
"What can you tell me about a maintenance man named Ray Hicks?" I asked.
"Do you think he"s the one?" h.e.l.ler asked.
"He"s in the running."
"Ray works part-time cutting the gra.s.s and pruning. He"s never been a problem, although I"ve caught him lurking around the halls a few times. I guess you could say he"s a bit strange."
"Is there a reason you didn"t mention him before?"
"All the maintenance men are strange."
"Does he have a place where he stores his things?"
"He has a locker."
"I"d like to see it."
h.e.l.ler took me to the maintenance men"s locker room, which was adjacent to the school cafeteria. Each locker had a piece of masking tape with its occupant"s name printed on it. Hicks"s locker was at the end of the row, and was padlocked.
"Is this locker school property?" I asked.
"Everything on the grounds is school property," she replied.
"We need to cut away this padlock. Where can I find some clippers?"
h.e.l.ler led me to the tool room. Sixty seconds later, I cut away the padlock on Hicks"s locker with a pair of steel clippers, and had a look inside. The locker contained a pair of work shoes, a change of clothes, and a can of Old Spice aftershave. Tucked in the back was a three-ring binder. I flipped through its pages, and found myself reading a series of e-mails between Hicks and someone who called himself Teen Angel. The e-mails discussed how to abduct a child from a public place, and included tips on how to gain the child"s trust, and deal with things like temper tantrums and crying fits. I found myself shaking my head. Teen Angel had tutored Hicks over the Internet.
I came to the last e-mail in the binder. It was dated only a few short days ago. Teen Angel had wished Hicks good luck, and given him some parting advice. It read, Remember, TWO HOURS MAX! Remember, TWO HOURS MAX!
I knew what that meant. Two hours was the maximum amount of time that most abductors wanted to keep a child before turning them over to a buyer.
"How long has Angelica been gone?" I asked.
h.e.l.ler looked at her watch. "One hour and fifty minutes."
We were running out of time. I tried to put myself in Hicks"s shoes. This was the first time he"d done this. My guess was, he"d taken Angelica to a place where he felt safe.
"Where do the maintenance men hang out?" I asked.
"They have a shed behind the gymnasium," h.e.l.ler said.
"Show me."
h.e.l.ler led me outside behind the school, and pointed at a prefabricated shed nestled behind the gymnasium.
"For what it"s worth, the police searched the shed earlier," she said.
Not very well, I nearly said.
"Call the police and tell them to get over here," I said.
With Buster by my side, I ran to the shed. The dog had tuned into my apprehension, and his hackles stood straight up. The shed had a single window, and I cleaned the gla.s.s with my fingers, and peered inside.
A lanky guy wearing a green uniform covered in gra.s.s stains stood inside the shed. He had a pair of scissors in his hand, and he was giving a radiant, dark-skinned little girl sitting in a chair a haircut. The girl held a box of Milk Duds, and was squirming uncomfortably. I had found Ray Hicks and Angelica Suarez.
"Sit still," Hicks said in broken Spanish.
"I don"t want my hair cut," Angelica replied in Spanish.
"Eat some more candy, and shut up," he said.
"I don"t want candy," she said.
Angelica threw down the box of candy, and started to cry. Hicks looked nervously around the shed, then violently clamped his hand over her mouth.
"Shut up!" he said.
Drawing my gun, I found the door to the shed, and kicked it three inches above the k.n.o.b. It came down, and I rushed inside. Buster flew past me, and went straight for Hicks"s legs.