Criminal Continuum: Teen Criminal Investigation Unit - Ch 4

Paper or Plastic?

  

“Hurry, Robert,” said Rebecca as they gathered their things from their lockers after school. “Aunt Sara may be waiting for us.”

“I’m on my way, sis.”

Aunt Sara was out waiting in the parking lot by the flagpole with the twins’ sister to drive them to the shopping center and help them shop for some new clothes and things.

“There they are,” said Kelly to her aunt. “Now we can all go shopping!”

The twins entered the backseat of the car and put their backpacks in the middle. Kelly had already claimed the front seat. As they drove toward Albany, they enjoyed looking at the picturesque homes and landscapes along the way. They drove down Gilman Street past Saint Ambrose Catholic Church, turned right on San Pablo Avenue and passed by the University Village area.

When passing the police station Aunt Sara pointed, commenting, “To your right, over there, was a place called ‘Dad’s Bicycle Shop’ in the 1960s. Your grandfather used to buy his bikes there.”

“That was a long time ago,” remarked Kelly.

“To some of us it seems like it was only yesterday,” responded their aunt.

While waiting at the Solano Avenue traffic light, Aunt Sara mentioned, “And that store, ‘Mary & Joe’s,’ belonged to a former Mayor of Albany named Joe and his wife Mary. We lived in a house near where they used to live on Madison Avenue.”

As they passed Clay Street and the Albany Bowling Alley, Kelly said, “I want to come and visit you soon, Aunt Sara. We like to hike around on Albany Hill.”

“Maybe this weekend,” she replied. “I can check with your mom and dad and see if it’s OK.”

Just past the carwash on the left, they turned right in to the El Cerrito Plaza.

“And that carwash back there has been there for over 40 years,” commented their aunt. I think it was there even before they built the Orientation Center for the Blind behind it on Adams Street.”

“Didn’t there used to be a police firing range on the other side of Albany Hill where those apartments are now,” asked Rebecca.

“Yes,” answered Sara. “Your grandfather has mentioned that he and his friends used to find bullet fragments there when he was a kid.”

“Grandpa went to Albany High when it was still a five year high school, right Aunt Sara?” questioned Kelly.

“That’s right, it was sort of intimidating for an eighth grader to be in the same school with twelfth graders, but he managed.”

“I can hardly wait to be in high school!” exclaimed Kelly.

“Then, once you have graduated, you will wish you could go back in time and just stay there forever,” reminisced their aunt.

Robert interjected, “Believe me, Kell, High School will come soon enough and then you will have plenty of homework to do.”

“I love homework,” Kelly stated. “There are so many exciting things to study.”

“There sure is,” agreed Rebecca. 

“We’re here,” said Sara, parking the car. “Everybody out.”

While the group walked toward the shopping center’s store area from the parking lot, they discussed which store they should go to first. They decided to find all of the shoes and clothes they need and once that was finished, if they had time, they would visit the candy store, or the donut shop.

“Aunt Sara,” Kelly addressed her aunt in a voice that sounded like a question.

“Yes, Kell.”

“Wasn’t today the day when the Farmer’s Market is here? It is on Tuesdays and Saturdays, I believe.”

“Yes, dear, it was today. It gets really crowded on Saturdays and a lot of people prefer to come on Tuesdays.”

“We haven’t been to it for such a long time,” said Kelly. “I hope we can come one of these weekends soon.”

“I’m sure you will get a chance to. Just ask your mom and dad to take you. Maybe we can all meet here and do some shopping and afterward go to my house for dinner.”

“That’s sounds great,” said Kelly.

Once the troop had finished buying some new shoes, they stopped in at one of the clothing stores to look for some boy’s pants and a dress or two for the girls. While they browsed through the shelves and racks, they noticed a woman who seemed to be frantically looking through the area for something or somebody.

“Hi,” said Kelly, “Are you looking for anything in particular?”

The woman responded nervously, “Yes, have you seen a little girl about five years old anywhere around? I think my daughter may have wandered off somewhere.”

“No,” answered Kelly. “I haven’t.”

While the woman and Kelly were talking, the rest of the family approached.

“This lady is missing her daughter. She is five years old,” Kelly informed everyone.

“We can help you look for her,” asserted Aunt Sara.

“I don’t know where to begin,” the woman replied.

“Well, did you visit any other stores before this one?” questioned Kelly, “Maybe ones that have toys, candy, pretty dresses, or anything that she may have wanted to go back and see again?”

“We only went to the bookstore to pick up a book I ordered, and then we came here,” replied the woman.

“OK,” said Robert, “We should split up into teams. Three of us can look in this store and check the bathrooms, dressing rooms and through all of the clothes racks while the other team goes to the bookstore, if that sounds good to everyone.”

“Oh, yes,” said the woman, “I really appreciate this. Her name is Alice Cunningham. My name is Mary.”

“And I’ll contact security and get them to start looking too,” added Rebecca.

“You are all so helpful,” commented the woman.

They decided between themselves to have Robert and Kelly check the bookstore. The rest of them remained in the clothing store to search. Rebecca went to find the manager of the store to have them contact mall security.

“We will meet back here in twenty minutes,” said Sara, “Good luck.”

Robert and Kelly exited the clothing store swiftly.

“Rob,” said Kelly.

“Yes.”

“I sure hope we can find the little girl soon.”

“Me too!”

On the way toward the bookstore, they looked into the windows of the stores they were passing. The girl was not in the donut shop, the candy store, the game store, or the pet store. They arrived at the bookstore and after checking the restrooms, they started systematically going through all of the areas of the store beginning with the children’s section.

“Has anybody seen a little five year old girl in here?” they asked as they make their way around the store.

“Alice!” they called out at each new book section.

“Hello,” said a familiar voice to Robert, “Remember me?”

Robert turned his head to see the face he was hoping to see again one day.

“Yes,” Robert said, “Jim Connors, the police cadet.”

“Are you missing someone?” Jim asked.

“Yes,” Robert replied, “A five year old girl named Alice came up missing while shopping with her mom at one of the clothing stores. The mother said they came here first, so we divided into teams to search different locations. My other sister, Rebecca, also went to contact Mall security.”

“A good plan,” remarked Jim, “I’ll help you guys look.”

After what seemed like an agonizing hour or two, but was really only a few minutes, they heard a response when Robert called out the little girl’s name again.

“I’m Alice,” the little voice said, “I’m reading a book over here.”

Rounding the book display shelves, they found the girl sitting on the floor looking through a book about horses.

“It appears that she didn’t find what she wanted in the children’s section,” remarked Kelly.

“Sort of like us, huh, sis?” responded Robert.

“I am glad this case has a happy ending,” said Jim.

Making their way to the front of the bookstore, they noticed some security officers were outside. Robert went out quickly to inform them that they had found the little girl.

“Time to get you back to your mother,” said one of the security officers to Alice, “she is quite worried, you know.”

“Thank you,” she said, “I was wondering if I could find her. I remembered how to get to the bookstore and went back there after my mom started shopping for clothes in that other store, but I don’t remember the clothing store’s name.”

At the clothing store the security staff quickly located Alice’s mother. Everyone felt the kind of happiness that only someone who has found a lost child and reunited them with a parent can feel.

“Thank you so much,” said Mary, “How can I ever repay you?”

“Oh, don’t be silly,” said Sara, “we were all glad to help.”

“Your daughter likes to read horse books,” Kelly interjected, “You could get her the book she was reading when we found her in the bookstore, maybe?”

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” replied Mary.

“Aunt Sara,” Robert questioned, “Do you remember cadet, Jim Connors, who Rebecca and I met at school and Kelly met at ballet class? He was helping with the investigation involving some computers stolen from our school.”

“Yes,” replied Aunt Sara, “How are you, Mr. Connors?”

“Fine, ma’am,” he replied.

“You are so polite,” returned Sara.

“It becomes a habit in the police business,” he remarked.

“Are there any developments you are free to fill us in on regarding the stolen computers?” questioned Sara.

“Yes, there is,” he exclaimed.

“That’s great,” Rebecca jumped in, “I sure hope we can get the computers back soon.”

“Tomorrow,” replied Jim, “your school will have them tomorrow.”

“You made an arrest already?” asked Sara.

“We have,” he affirmed, “and we have a confession, so we worked a deal so we won’t need the computers as evidence. We took some photos of them and found quite a few fingerprints of the perp on them.”

“How did you catch the person so soon?” inquired Rebecca.

“With the help of you and your friends.”

“Us?” pondered Rebecca.

“That’s correct,” Jim replied, “The tip about the freshly mowed grass paid off.”

“So, it was the groundskeeper who took them?” a doubtful Kelly asked.

“No, no, but, the groundskeeper happened to arrive very early Saturday morning to mow the lawns around the school. He usually would mow the lawns later in the day, but on this occasion he had to come early so he could drop off the mowing machine for servicing in the early afternoon. That was why he came extra early that morning.”

Impatiently, Rebecca said, “And?”

“And,” Jim replied, “the groundskeeper remembered seeing the cleaning company’s van driving out of the parking lot as he arrived. He said it seemed a bit strange, since they usually cleaned everything on Friday evenings. However, he assumed that they had possibly forgotten something, or were just checking on something. He actually called the office yesterday evening after he saw the news coverage of the theft on TV.”

“Wow!” said Robert, “We actually helped solve a crime.”

“Also,” added Jim, “we did find a fingerprint on one of the electric plug socket covers that led us to the individual who took the computers. It appears in his haste that he forgot to wipe off that cover. He seems to have wiped all the other areas in the room off with a cloth. He told us he had also placed an ad in a local newspaper to try to sell the computers, but we were able to cancel the ad before it published. He even used his own phone number in the advertisement.”

“I can’t believe someone would steal something and then use their own phone number to sell the stolen things,” commented Sara.

“Stuff like this happens more often than you would think it would,” Jim replied.

“Who was the thief?” inquired Robert.

“I can’t really tell you too much more, due to the trial and all, but the individual was a temporary hire and not a regular worker for the cleaning company.”

“Well, let’s finish shopping and then get some candy,” suggested Aunt Sara, “Jim, will you join us?”

“Of course,” he politely responded.

Once the group had finished their shopping, they were off for the candy store to enjoy some very special treats. It is sort of a local kid’s, and even an adult’s, dream, to visit this one particular store. Rows and rows of chocolates, caramels, nuts, candy canes, candy corn, gummy candy, jelly beans, licorice, lollipops, marshmallow treats, mints and taffy, to just name a few, line the display case shelves.

Eventually they all decided what they wanted and the clerk loaded up each of their bags separately while Aunt Sara paid the cashier.

On their way out of the store, Sara said to Jim Connors, “Maybe you would like to join us in the future for dinner.”

“I would like that very much,” he replied.

“We hope to have a get-together with the Dance family at our place soon, or possibly go somewhere for a picnic... and I think you and Mr. Dance may have a lot to talk about.”

“I understand he is a homicide inspector in San Francisco,” Jim said with great interest.

“Yes, he is,” responded Rebecca, “and he’s been working in the City for a long time.”

Aunt Sara and Jim exchanged phone numbers and Rebecca wrote down the Dance family’s home phone number and handed it to Jim.

“Thanks,” Jim said as he walked away, “I will be looking forward to hearing from you.”

Next Chapter

Chapter Five: Codes & Ciphers