Gone After the Wind

44

Chapter Forty-four

THE SUN had risen up completely when Cara arrived at Bistro. The parking space meant for customers have occupants no less than five cars. Cara spotted Eric's car and she immediately parked next to it. As she withdrew herself from the car, she noticed how Bistro had changed over the small course of two months. The rusty signage containing the restaurant's name just above the door had been removed and was replace by a more attractive signage. It was expanded and yet the inside part was still cozy, the homey vibe didn't disappear.

Eric was already sitting at the farthest corner of the quiet restaurant just near the kitchen door when she got inside. He was consuming a plate of omelet rice and a cup of coffee. He sported a small nod towards Cara that pushed her to walk with fast pace.

Slinking through the sets of table and chairs, she pulled the side of her jacket to hide her holster belt when she noticed the indifferent looks and curious attention she was receiving from some folks eating on the tables she passed. She did not want to raise any alarm just by the sight of her gun. So before their eyes could reached under her stomach, she successfully hid it and walked hurriedly. She instantly pulled the chair opposite to Eric, giving the whole place one last look before settling into her seat.

"You seem tensed. Is everything okay?" Eric asked, shooting her a concern look. He must've noticed how her shoulders were raised a bit.

She shook her head. "Just a bit anxious. Anyway, how's the search going on?"

Eric grimaced upon hearing that. He resumed shoving a mouthful amount of food. While munching, he replied, "No progress has been made. Faucalt's getting out of hand. He kept insisting that Daryll's the killer despite the confirmation from his son and his family that he was the victim's ex-husband. He was gripping tight on Daryll's postponed plan to kidnap her for evidence." When he swallowed what he's eating, he gestured the food to Cara. "Want me to order for you?"

Cara waved her hand, dismissing the idea. "No, I'm already full." She leaned closer. "They're wasting their time, then. How about Youngman? Was she still following that absurd idea?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Between all the forces under Homicide, we're the only ones whose convinced that they are following the wrong track. I talked to Chief Alman and he wasn't convinced either. He wanted us to find Candy as he settle the matter with Faucalt. But that asshole keeps getting in the way."

"His ass was being burned by Meredith, that's why." She heaved a deep sigh. "How about the charitable organization? The staffs under Dalton Rivers. You said they yielded no results, right?"

Eric nodded, drinking on his water and wiping his mouth with a clean napkin after. "I've talked each one of them on the phone last night after you texted. They didn't witness the whole trouble on what sparked the mysterious man to bother the two victims. But one female staff had managed to see the face of that man. His name was unknown to them, however. All of them stated that that kind of information lies with Rivers. We should give her a visit. Have the sketch artist to draw the description. We might get that lead by this afternoon."

Cara nodded, taking it into consideration. It sounds promising to hear and if it turned out good, they might save Candy Filimon before she could have the same fate as the previous victims.

"You said you've got something," Eric stated, setting aside the used dishes on the table to lean forward. "What is it?"

"Well..." From the back side pocket of her jeans, she pulled out the small map filled with markers. She laid it out on the table. "I have marked each locations of the address of the previous victim and where they were found after. I hope to see something worthwhile on the locations because it could mean something to him."

"Wait, you've done this last night?" Eric asked, incredulous. "Did you even sleep, Cara?"

"Sleeping is the least activity I would want to do and that wasn't the best choice in this kind of circumstance where one innocent woman is hoping to survive and be saved by us," Cara answered and Eric sighed heavily. Cara went back to the map and pointed the marked locations. "At first, I thought it was senseless to measure the distance. If he was taking time on decorating the bodies, the location where he would dump them must not be that far. This guy is obsessed with details and time. So he won't stay long in the road with a body on the truck. His address must be considerably near at the locations where he posed the bodies. I tried using the address of the organization and the puppet store as starting points. But the distance didn't make any sense."

Eric was listening to her intently and her anticipation to bring her raw theory into light got more compulsive, she could feel the adrenaline rushing into her veins. "So I tested several towns instead as starting points. The work was a bit upsetting but I managed well. That's when I came across to Redvine, the town where his second victim was found after two months. And the distance from it up to each locations where the bodies were found corresponded correctly."

"You mean it all has the same measure of distance?" Eric asked.

Cara nodded. "Given that he wants the bodies to stay in shape and be perfect, he wouldn't want to mess up with the distance he must travel on before he could arranged them."

Eric fell in deep thoughts. His eyes went down for a bit, obviously assessing her theory. She saw how he's considering it but there was still cautiousness on his face. "What if it was all a coincidence?"

"I would say it's too accurate to be a coincidence. If you remember it, the park where Nelia Rasco was found were miles away from her house. It was even out the borders of her home. If this killer was placing them randomly, why did he chose that park? He could've chosen the one inside the town where she lived. Well, the answer is simple, because it was near where he might have kept them: his home."

"It seems theoretically possible. No, not possible. It could just be the real case."

Cara heaved a sigh of relief. "The same goes for the other victims. As for Sandy Hupman, I suspect that for a start, he chose the location so convenient for him, thus, the forest park inside."

Eric nodded. "That only means we must focus the search on this particular town."

"Yes," Cara concurred. "It would be a long shot if we have no idea who's this guys is. But the green truck, the logging companies, and the sketch of the man that harassed the victim might just narrowed it."

"I'll call it in."

"I'll call it in."

"But not to Faucalt," Cara suggested. "Take it to Alman instead. If he agreed, then we will do it in the afternoon after you talked to the staff."

Eric's eyebrows furrowed. "Afternoon? And why am I the only one who's going to present it to Alman?"

"You'd be on your own this morning, buddy," Cara answered, rosing up to her feet. "I've got an appointment with the principal of Alex's school. Besides, if Faucalt would see me at the station after what happened last night, this theory might be disregarded. Present it like it was your idea. It was yours, wasn't it?" Cara grinned and Eric groaned.

"Oh, come on. You know that wasn't the case--"

Cara finally stood up. She tapped his shoulder. "Good work, Detective. You might just discovered the biggest break of the most eccentric case in Albreska. Cheers on that."

Eric sighed. Before he could mutter a protest, Cara rushed towards the door, leaving the map behind and the responsibility to bring that theory to light.

**

THE PRINCIPAL of Rackenhurst High wasn't near at what Cara had pictured him to be. From an old baldy man with thick glasses and stocky built, her expectations drooped down when she finally had the chance to meet the man.

For a start, his age wasn't in between fifty to sixty and he had no single wrinkle on his face. He was a thirty-nine-year-old man who sported an athletic built. His muscles on his arm indicated that he wasn't just the center man of this vast school. She could tell that underneath his blue polo hides a more defined muscles. With his electric blue eyes, pointed nose and jet black hair, he could passed the Hollywood standards for an actor.

Cara completed her own assesment as she watched him settle on his squeaky seat. She arrived just exactly on their preferred time. Mr. Robert Smith was in the middle of his paperworks when his secretary announced her arrival. She was invited immediately but their meeting didn't start right away because Mr. Leroy--the coordinator of the contest wasn't present at that time.

But they didn't wait too long. Mr. Leroy knocked on the door twice after minutes they settled in their seats. He sat next to Cara and little introductions were made between them. Few minutes of silence reigned between them both. It was clear that Mr. Smith was having hesitations, the flinch of his cheek and the blinking of his eyes were the indication of this. He withdrew a heavy sigh and Cara braced herself as he prepared to speak.

"First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to you, Ms. Black, for approving my request and for the diligent effort of coming here. I initially chose the day where students aren't present so we could discuss this matter with whole attention and without getting interrupted," Robert Smith said, clasping his hands together.

Cara nodded and let her silence served as his urge to continue.

"I won't beat around the bushes anymore, Ms. Black," Robert Smith continued. "I think, I have been too patient with your son. I have been asking him to bring you here but not once did he oblige to my simple request." He sighed heavily. "And I know exactly why, Ms. Black. He didn't want you to know the unpleasant activities he's been doing inside my school."

"Unpleasant activities?" she probed.

"I hate to say this but he and his little group of classmates were caught stealing the box of donation inside the teacher's faculty. Not only that, days ago he was also involved with the car wreckage of one of the instructor--"

Before he could continue it, Cara interjected immediately, her cool temper switching into a foul one as she processed what he was trying to say. "Wait a minute, how could you prove that he was actually involved with these offending actions?"

"We had installed CCTV cameras in all areas of the school. And all the time these violations took place, he was there, joining with his company." He took a deep breath and his blue eyes stared directly. "I know it's hard to accept these, Ms. Black. I understand you completely. That's why I'm putting this up with full honesty and courage. If you want, we could let you check the footage so you have the total understanding of what's happening."

Cara didn't speak. She remained stoic as he watched him. Deep inside, her heart started to shatter brick by brick. As much as she want to object, she couldn't bring herself to do it because of shame and guilt that were enveloping her senses.

"He was a bright and intelligent kid, Ms. Black," Smith said. "I had received good reports from his instructors that he was doing well with his academics. Even Mr. Leroy can attest to that. But ever since he started hanging out with the kids I prefer not to mention, he started going off from the right track. He's been involved with those activities and even the competition he volunteered to join had completely lost on his priorities."

"Kids?" Cara asked.

"The bunch of seniors that are not good influence to everyone surrounding them. They have been causing troubles in this school for quite some time now. We couldn't expell them completely because we are still clinging onto the hope that they might over the course of time. That's why I immediately reached out to you, Ms. Black, not just to inform you about your child's recent activities but to urge you to talk to him." He gestured the other man beside Cara. "Mr. Leroy already talked to him and convinced him to continue what he started on the competition but he just keeps ditching their practice and even talked back to him."

Cara looked at Mr. Leroy and he returned it with a disappointed nod. "I care for him, Ms. Black. His capabilities could actually amazed anyone. But he was just hanging out with the wrong people. And he must be saved before it got worse," he said.

Cara swallowed hard. Silence embraced them and the power of utter disappointment just got intensified as minutes goes by that processed it. She felt the enormous force of mixed emotions nagging her system. She choke back the sob that was waiting to be spewed from her mouth. All of her expectations and hopes slowly crumbled down. The bright future that she wanted for Alex had tainted because of that. Even though it wasn't exactly too late to save him, she couldn't control the disbelief that continues to wave at her.

Her hunch had been exactly right. Ever since she got a glimpse of that black car with grown up kids inside, she knew they wouldn't cause anything but chaos. She didn't suspect right away for the sake of Alex. She couldn't afford to lose his trust on her. Had she known that it would be otherwise, she would never had listened to him. Heck, she should have just trusted her mother instincts. Things would've gotten better if she had been to cautious.

Above the heartsick feeling, she felt something untoward and more powerful. Rage for the truth that he was rebelling once more and guilt because she clearly neglected the attention to him again.

"So what's your solution? Suspend him?" Cara asked after a moment of feeling exposed and fragile.

Robert Smith nervously chuckled. He cast a glance towards Mr. Leroy. "No, Ms. Black. It would be a waste of time and effort if we do that. In fact, we, the school administration won't do anything to solve this. All the actions to be made after this would be up to you, Ms. Black. We just reported to you. But if things would go out of hand, we might as well, finalize the solution."

Cara slowly nodded, appreciating their effort to back down even though they have all the reasons to exploit the punishments made for Alex's behavior.

"May I have the names of those kids, then?" Cara asked.

"I'm afraid that's... uhm, beyond what I can do. It would be a breach on the privacy of the victims. But I wouldn't mind if you will look into this," Robert Smith said and from the drawer of his table, he fished out a short single paper. He folded it before he slid it towards Cara.

Cara rose up to her feet and picked it up. As her eyes scanned it, she saw four names on the paper with their exact address and even their description. Cara looked back at the principal, incredulous and a bit suspicious at the small effort.

"You do know that I might cause a trouble, right?"

He smirked. "I wouldn't mind. After all, I didn't provide the information of those students."

Cara nodded, she completely understand what those meant for. She stepped backward, expressing her formal goodbyes to both gentlemen before she rushed towards the door, gripping tightly on the papers, thinking of the questions she might ask without causing any trouble. But then, the acting solution is now up to her so a punch would be totally negotiable in her course of action.