Chapter 6
Officer Bishop finished his work at the park. He turned the scene over to the detectives of the C.S.I. and the Coroner. He went to the police station to turn in his report. He took his report to Captain Wayne’s office, knocked on the door, opened it and said,
“Captain would you look this over for me? I’d like to turn it in.”
“Sure Casey. Come in and have a seat,” said Captain Wayne. “I’ve heard you had an interesting day.”
“Interesting is the right word for the day I had. It turned out as good as it could have. Three survivors and at least six dead, seven if you count the suspect,” said Officer Bishop. “It’s all in the report.”
“I’m sure you did everything you could. Lets be thankful that there were survivors. Well lets have a look at the report,” said Captain Wayne.
Officer Bishop handed him the report. The Captain sat back in his chair and pulled reading glasses from his shirt pocket. He put on the glasses
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and reached up behind his shoulder and pulled the cord of his lamp. He held the report close to his face and started reading.
This is a section of the report:
Saturday about 9:30 p.m., Brandon disappeared. Search continued. No clues found.
*Ref. Report #73628
Monday about 1:30p.m. Rebecca claimed she was assaulted at the pavilion. Erin was present but didn’t see suspect. Searched area. No suspects or clues found.
*Ref. Report #73643
Tuesday about 2:00p.m. Teddy reported a suspicious person at the park suspect trying to abduct Rebecca. Gave chase and suspect eluded capture. Gave kids card with cell number. Called it in to dispatch. *Ref. Report #73652
Tuesday about 3:00p.m. Erin called cell and reported suspect was under pavilion. I crawled under and found a trap door. It opened up to a large cave. The suspect charged and I was forced to defend myself. I used my baton to deflect his attacks. The suspect picked up an ax and charged again. I struck suspect in the head with the baton. Suspect fell into large basin of what seemed to be acid. Was unable to pull suspect from basin. I located the victims. 3 living, 4 corpses and unknown partials in basin. I called Teddy to get help. I carried out the living and turned the scene over to CSI and the coroner. Report #73655
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He finished reading the report and tossed it on his desk.
“I’ll accept this report. Were you able to identify the suspect?” asked Captain Wayne.
“No sir. C.S.I. might come up with an ID Card or something. That place was full of stuff. I’d bet he lived down there. If not we could check his DNA if there’s anything left,” said Officer Bishop.
“All right. I’m going to call this in to the Mayor. He’ll want to announce this to the press. Do you think you could get those kids in here?” asked Captain Wayne.
“I’ll call and ask,” said Officer Bishop.
“Good. Good work Casey. This is going to close a lot of cases. There’s a lot of families waiting for answers and this is going to help them,” said Captain Wayne.
“Thank you sir,” said Officer Bishop.
He went to his desk and called Erin and Teddy’s parents. They said that the kids couldn’t be at the press conference but he had their permission to release their names.
The police had the news conference and said that 3 people were saved but 6 didn’t survive. They withheld the names of the victims pending family notification. They also withheld the name of the
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suspect until the Coroners Office confirmed it. The Captain introduced Officer Bishop and told the story of the rescue. He also told of Erin and Teddy finding the kidnapper and locating the hideout. He said the Mayor was going to honor them at city hall and declare them as heroes.
That night the phone at the kid’s house did ring off the hook. Friends and family called to congratulate them. Reporters called to question them. Mom and Dad shielded them from most of the attention but they were also proud of them. The phone rang again.
“Thank goodness for caller ID,” said Mom. She saw it was Brandon’s parents and answered the phone. They told Mom that Brandon wasn’t hurt badly but the doctor said he had to stay at the hospital overnight for observation.
His parents spoke to Erin and Teddy and thanked them for their help finding Brandon.
“Your welcome, we’re happy to have helped,” Teddy said. “Did he tell you what happened?”
His mom said that when Brandon was in the park someone called to him. He didn’t see anyone. He started running and someone powerful grabbed him so tight that he couldn’t breath. He said he passed out woke up tied to the wall of a
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cave. He was terrified. He remembered Officer Bishop helping him and he passed out again.
“Does he know who attacked him?” asked Erin.
She said he was attacked from behind and he didn’t see the kidnapper.
“Is he alright?” asked Teddy.
She said a few scrapes and bruises other than that he was fine and he would be home tomorrow. The kids were glad he was ok and they would visit with Brandon soon.
The calls continued for the next few days. One of the calls that the kids weren’t shielded from was an invitation to visit the other survivors. They accepted the invitation and planed to visit the next day.
The parents of both sets of kids agreed to allow a couple press photographers to shoot the meeting. Questions wouldn’t be accepted and photos were to be shared with all media that wanted them.
Erin and Teddy went to the hospital to visit the other two survivors. They learned that it was Brett and Gina Stewart. When they went into the Stewarts room they saw a large man. The same man they had seen on the porch of the old house after the dance. They were shocked at first but realized he was the father of the injured kids.
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“Officer Bishop told me what happened and I want to thank you for finding my children. It’s been tough not knowing what happened to them. You have given them back to me and I will never forget it,” said Mr. Stewart.
“Your welcome,” said Teddy.
“We are happy we could help,” said Erin.
Mr. Stewart introduced Brett and Gina to Teddy and Erin. They reached out their arms to hug Teddy and Erin. The kids leaned in and hugged them. The photographers took pictures of the meeting, thanked everyone and left the room.
Brett and Gina thanked the kids for finding them and saving their lives. They said to them Erin and Teddy were angels that walked the earth. Erin wanted to ask about the event but felt it was too soon and they were too weak.
She did ask if Mrs. Stewart was there. Mr. Stewart said his wife was under the care of a doctor at a rehabilitation center. She suffered an emotional breakdown when her children vanished. She was told that her children had been found and were doing well. Her doctor said the good news had helped her and she would recover soon too.
“We should let you rest. We will try to visit again if we can,” said Erin.
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“Ok, thank you for coming by. I’m so happy to meet both of you. I’m sure we’ll see each other again,” said Brett.
“Nice to meet you Teddy and Erin. Thank you both so much for everything,” said Gina.
“Your welcome. I hope we can meet again,” said Teddy.
“Your welcome. We hope you feel better soon. Will you walk us out Mr. Stewart?” asked Erin.
“It’s my pleasure,” said Mr. Stewart.
As they were walking Erin said she wanted to ask them what happened but thought they were too sick for questions. Mr. Stewart answered by saying he would tell her what he knew.
He said that they weren’t aware of time when they were in the cave. He said that Brett remembered the day he was abducted. He was going to play baseball and someone called him to the pavilion. He was grabbed and pulled under. He was pinned to the wall and after that his memory faded to the day he woke up in the hospital. He continued with Gina looking for Brett at the park and someone grabbed her. She said whoever grabbed her was very strong and held her so tight that she passed out. She didn’t see who it was.
They were surprised to learn that they spent 18 months in the cave and that they were near
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death when Officer Bishop found them. The doctor thought the kidnapper was slowly starving them because of a mental illness. The doctor said they could go home in a couple of days as soon as they could eat regularly. They would make a full recovery in a few months. That was about all he knew.
Mr. Stewart walked the kids to the lobby where their parents were waiting.
“You have some very special children,” said Mr. Stewart. “I’m very thankful for them.”
“Thank you Mr. Stewart. We are proud of what they have done,” said Dad. “We will try to visit again soon.”
The kids waived good-bye to Mr. Stewart as their Dad drove away from the hospital.
The story of their visit was in the newspaper the next day. There were pictures of the kids hugging and shaking hands. The phone calls stated again from the well-wishers.
Then things settled down and after some time returned to normal. The parties honoring the kids were over. The press had moved on to other big stories and the kids were back to their regular routine.