Criminal Continuum: Teen Criminal Investigation Unit - Ch 14

Whispers in the Twilight

Lunchtime, dinnertime, breakfast, potlucks, picnics, anytime you combine food with family and friends you are in for a special occasion. As soon as the children had finished, and not a second later, they went off exploring the mysteries of Golden Gate Park once again.

“Mom,” Kelly called out.

“Yes, Kell, you guys can go and play for a while.”

Kelly wondered, “How do parents always know what their children are going to ask?”

As the kids departed to search around, another pair of the group’s members decided to do the same thing.

“Would you like to accompany me on a short walk?” Jim Dance questioned Suzie Chow.

“I would love to.”

“Have a good time, my daughter,” Mr. Chow said, as the couple stood to begin their tour of the surrounding area.

“See you two again, I hope?” Mrs. Chow teased.

As they strolled around the beautiful scenery of the park, they enjoyed each other’s company. They talked about the details of their lives as though they had been friends for years.

Noticing some of the pretty flowers, Suzie remarked, “Aren’t these beautiful, James?”

“They are,” he replied, bending down to smell one of the crimson colored flowers, “and such a sweet aroma.”

“I’ve always dreamed of traveling around the world and seeing different places and peoples,” Suzie commented, “You must be so excited about your new job.”

“Yes, I am. I’m looking forward to it.”

“My father travels on occasion dealing with details of his business. He took me a couple of times when I was young, once to China and another time to South Africa. I had such a wonderful time.”

“Being a homicide inspector must be quite exciting for you, Suzie.”

“It is, and also challenging. Sometimes it is a bit difficult dealing with the family members who have lost a love one to a violent crime; trying to help bring them closure and justice while remaining impersonal and professional.”

“It seems like all jobs have their good parts and difficult parts. At least it keeps us from getting bored and stagnant,” reflected James.

The couple continued their romantic walk, enjoying just about everything they came across. They observed details one normally would just walk by leaving unnoticed.

“Maybe we should make our way back to the picnic area before the others get the idea we are antisocial or something,” Suzie suggested. She really desired to continue with walking through the park though.

“I guess you’re right, Suzie. Maybe we can get together for dinner one evening before I travel back home.”

“I’d really like that, I would.”

In another area of the park, Kelly noticed a familiar person frantically searching in some bushes across the trail.

“Look,” Kelly addressed to the others, “That is the lady we met who had the dog named Robi.”

“I think she must have lost her dog,” said Philip.

“Let’s go see if we can help her,” commanded Rebecca.

The four children approached the woman. Her dog was nowhere in sight.

“Hello, ma’am,” greeted Kelly, “Do you remember me?”

“Oh, yes, dear,” she replied, “My little Robi slipped out of his collar and wandered off somewhere. I have called his name, but he just doesn’t come back.”

“We would like to help you find him if that’s ok?”

“Thank you so much. You are such nice children.”

As the four youngsters conversed with the woman, Uncle Jim and Suzie walked through an opening in the trees where the path ended at a grassy area nearby. They decided to join the group and see what all the commotion was about.

“Is everything alright?” inquired Suzie.

“This lady lost her dog. His name is Robi,” Philip blurted out quickly.

“Oh, excuse me,” the lady said to everyone, “I should introduce myself. I am Mrs. Gertrude Belvedere.”

“We are going to help her try to find her dog,” Robert informed the couple.

“We can help too,” Uncle Jim said, with a nod from Suzie.

“We should divide up into three or four groups,” recommended Kelly.

“With an adult in each group,” added Robert.

“Do you have a photo of your Robi, ma’am,” questioned Rebecca.

“Yes, young lady, as a matter of fact I do.”

As the woman dug through her purse to find her wallet, Robert added, “Maybe Uncle Jim and Ms. Chow could use their cellular phones and take a picture of the photo of Robi, that way each search group will have a picture of him.”

“Very good idea, nephew,” Uncle Jim remarked.

“Here it is,” the woman said, revealing a wallet-sized photo of her pet.

After Suzie and Uncle Jim took a photo of Robi with their cell phones, they quickly divided into three groups. Philip and Rebecca helped the dog’s owner, Uncle Jim took Robert with him, while Suzie and Kelly formed the final group. Each group headed off in the general direction where Robi disappeared widening their gap as they traveled.

Mrs. Belvedere, Philip and Rebecca questioned people on their route, but no one had observed the little dog. Philip remembered that he saw some squirrels playing earlier and asked Rebecca if they could look for Robi at that place too.

Uncle Jim and Robert investigated the pathway through the trees, while Suzie and Kelly searched around the bushes.

Kelly voiced her thoughts, “If I were a dog like Robi …”

“Then you might be lost too,” remarked Suzie.

“I hope not,” she replied, commenting, “Have you noticed that animals who are kept inside a house keep trying to get out and the ones that are always outside keep trying to get in.”

“Oh, yes, Kelly.”

“I would want to follow other dogs, chase cats, squirrels and birds, or follow the smell of some yummy food.”

“That is exactly the way our profiling is done in criminal cases; knowledge of  the criminal’s past history, previous actions, former motives and typical lifestyle habits and following the leads you find along the way. These all help to steer you in the correct direction with the investigation.”

“You must be a very good homicide inspector, Ms. Chow.”

“You can call me Suzie if you like.”

“Ok, thank you, Suzie,” she replied, looking to their right, “Oh, some more people.”

A small group of tourists approached and the two inquired if they had come across a small dog, showing them the cell phone photo.

“He sort of looks like a mop,” Kelly said to the group.

“Yes, we did see a dog like this I believe, didn’t we?” a man replied, questioning his friends.

“I did see this dog. I made a comment on how unusual the little fellow looked.”

“He is a breed known as the Puli. They originated in Hungary,” Kelly informed the tourists.

“He was up that way,” a member of the group said, pointing up the path through the trees, “about five hundred yards or so.”

“Thank you, all,” replied Suzie, as she and Kelly rushed off.

The path that Uncle Jim and Robert used intersected the same path about one hundred yards from Suzie and Kelly. Upon meeting, the four of them decided to spread out with fifty feet between each of them and comb the area in a line. The same way many police do when looking for something in a specific area.

“Look, over there,” Philip exclaimed to Rebecca and Mrs. Belvedere, pointing, “I see Kelly, Robert and the others, see?”

Observing the precision of their searching technique, Rebecca said, “It looks like they must be on to something.”

“We should join them. Maybe they have information on my little Robi,” said a hopeful Mrs. Belvedere.

“Ok, ma’am,” Philip replied.

“We’re closer to this side, so let’s fill in on their left so we can make the search line longer,” said Rebecca.

The three hundred feet wide line of searchers covered the entire area where Robi the dog was last observed. They all called out his name numerous times, but there was still no answer.

“Robi!”

“Here, boy!”

“Robi, here Robi.”

Soon little Philip saw something and told everyone, “Hey, there are the three squirrels I saw earlier I think, playing in that tree over there.”

The group headed in that direction, maintaining the search line and calling out the dog’s name.

“There he is,” Kelly said, pointing to the bottom of the tree where the squirrels played.

“Oh, my Robi,” groaned Mrs. Belvedere.

“Let’s keep our distance and start to circle the area while Robi’s owner approaches him alone,” Uncle Jim suggests, “That way we won’t scare him and if he decides to scamper off we will be ready to catch him.”

“Great idea,” said Mrs. Belvedere, “Thank you.”

As Mrs. Belvedere approached her dog, he suddenly darted swiftly away swiftly. “Robi!” she called, gently. The dog returned to her side and she immediately placed his collar back on securely. “There you go, Robi.”

After each member of  the search group arrived, Mrs. Belvedere gratefully said, “Thank you all so much. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“We were glad to help, ma’am,” responded Kelly.

The lady opened her purse and removed her billfold, offering a reward to everyone who helped, but each one declines, telling her it was an adventure and a pleasure to help her find Robi.

“You must take something,” she begged, “I absolutely insist. I am alone now, just Robi and I, and I have no children. How about I give each of the children a reward and they use it to buy for themselves some educational items like books, computer learning programs, things like that.”

“I think that would be fine,” Uncle Jim replied, “What does everyone think about that?”

“I like to read,” Philip said, to which the three Dance children heartily agreed.

Mrs. Belvedere handed each of the four children a crisp one hundred dollar bill. So filled with surprise, they could hardly speak. This act amazed Suzie and Uncle Jim.

“It is a pleasure to know such fine children as you all are. Here is my card,” she said, handing each of them a business card, placing her billfold back into her purse.

“Wow, thank you so much, ma’am.”

“Robi and I better get along now. After all of his adventures today I imagine he is getting a bit hungry by now.”

The group bid their farewells to Mrs. Belvedere and Robi and began walking back toward the picnic area to join everyone else and tell them the news of their fortune.

The group took a shortcut through an area containing some dense bushes. They heard someone whispering nearby, but could not quite make out what was being said. Stopping, they listened for a few moments. Suddenly, a strange man passed them, talking to himself frantically.

“That’s why you shouldn’t go through unfamiliar areas in the bushes,” Uncle Jim said with a grin on his face.

“That was scary,” a wide-eyed Philip gasped.

“Up that way,” said Robert, “I see the Pioneer Cabin through the trees.”

Mrs. Dance, seeing her three children and the others drawing near, said, “Here they come.”

“Guess what?” Kelly said, racing to greet her mother, “See what I have”

Kelly pulled her one hundred dollar bill out and showed it to everyone.

“Where did you get that?” asked Mr. Dance, “Been robbing banks? Is that why you all were gone so long?”

“No, dad, all four of us kids were given a reward for helping to find a lost dog.”

Philip announced, “We get to buy books!”

“Maybe I better explain,” Uncle Jim said, hoping to bring a little clarity and order to the discussion.

“Please do,” encouraged George Walkinhawk, “this should prove to be an interesting tale.”

Jim Dance explained to the group about the woman, Mrs. Belvedere, and her dog, the search, the reward and about what the reward money was to be used for.

Philip said, “And we used phones so we could have a photo of the dog for each group.” He remained very excited about the whole ordeal and especially about the reward money.

“It looks like you happened to be in the right place at the right time, as they say,” Mr. Brown commented.

“”You can say that again,” affirmed Robert.

“Ok,” he chuckled, “It looks like you happened to be in the right place.”

Everyone laughed at Mr. Brown’s fun-poking.

“Well, it will be interesting to see what the reward is for deciphering that coded letter,” Samuel Chocote Walkinhawk remarked to the Dance children, “It seems you are on a roll, as they also say.”

“I have always wondered who the ‘they’ are, haven’t you?” Mrs. Chow said to the group grinning.

“’They’ always seem to know everything it seems to me,” replied Suzie, with a similar grin on her face.

George Walkinhawk added, “But, if we find out who ‘they’ really are it will spoil the mystery.”

“Sound like finding out who ‘they’ are is an unsolvable case to me,” Jim Connors said, joining in the fun.

“Do you think ‘they’ know it is getting late?” Mrs. Dance announced, looking at her watch, “We had better tidy up so we can head home soon.”

“Aww,” responded each one, one after the other.

“You all have school tomorrow.”

“I like school. I get to play with my friends,” proclaimed Philip.

The group rounded up their things and began packing everything away. Uncle Jim asked Suzie if it might be possible to have dinner together the next evening. She agreed on one condition, that he accompany her for dinner this evening.

“I’d love to, but I can’t be out too late. I have class in the morning.”

“Everyone has school in the morning?” jokingly questioned Suzie.

Kelly and the twins decided they could talk with Cadet Connors the next evening during Kelly’s Monday evening ballet class. The twins hoped to learn as much as possible about what his training entailed at the police academy. It was all very exciting to them.

George Walkinhawk and his father departed just before Suzie’s parents did. The kids helped the others load their things to their vehicles, then returned to the picnic area again to help load their own items into their parents SUV.

“This was a fun day,” Rebecca commented as they walked to their car.

“It went by so fast,” added Mr. Brown.

Mrs. Dance addressed the elderly man, “Thank you so much for joining us Zekenia. We really loved having you here.”

“It was my pleasure, Felicity, and thanks to all of you for thinking of me.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Brown,” Kelly said.

Once everything was secure in the SUV and everyone buckled in, the family drove out of Golden Gate Park as Kelly sighed, “What a day!”

Next Chapter

Chapter Fifteen: Jots & Tittles