Vibrations (10 page)

Nick stood up and calmly placed
his hand on the man’s shoulder. “We understand your frustration Mr. Hunter and
we’re trying to help. Think of Kevin. We don’t know what’s happened yet. He needs
you to help us find him. Try to calm down and tell us again what happened.
Where did you see him last?”

Mr. Hunter’s body slumped and
the tears started to fall. “I let him go outside to practice on his skateboard.
He’s so good at it, just like lots of other things. A twelve year old boy can’t
stay cooped up in here all day. How was I supposed to know this could happen? I
try to protect him.”

Whitney spoke in a low soothing
voice. “It’s not your fault. No one could have seen it coming. You’re a good
dad and you love your son. I know it’s hard, but try to think of who you saw
around here that night.”

He nodded and wiped his eyes
with his hands. “He went outside after dinner at about six thirty. All his
friends were busy so he was just going to practice some tricks on his new
board. I checked on him out the window while I was doing dishes. At about seven
I saw him talking to someone in a red van. I asked the other boys and they
think it sounds like Ann Marie’s van. She stops by and visits the boys in the
Winner’s Circle, the SVWC, sometimes. She’s devoted to them. I didn’t see her.
She usually stops in to say hi to me too, but she may have been in a hurry.
Next time I saw him he was trying to grind on the handrail over there and I
watched for two minutes to be sure he was being safe, then I sat down to read.
I get too nervous when he does those tricks, but I don’t want to hold him back.
Then, at about seven thirty, I figured we could go out for some Ben and Jerry’s
so I grabbed my keys and headed out. I couldn’t find him. His board wasn’t here
either so I thought he just went around the corner or down to the ramp at the
next building. I searched for a while and once my neighbors saw me starting to
panic, they all started helping. I don’t even know who called the police. The
rest seems like a blur right now. I haven’t slept all night.”

He put his head in his hands
and started sobbing. While Whitney sat with him, Nick went into the bedroom to
look around. He started going through the desk and found a notebook. It said
‘Private, keep out!’ He started reading through the boy’s journal, starting from
the back. Maybe something had happened in the last few days that would give
them a clue.

The childish writing made it
even more heart rending to read.

I made the Star team again!!! Yippeeeeee.
I’m going to be a famus soccer player. Or maybe an Olympic skier. Maybe Mom and
Dad will be so happy they’ll get back together. I could buy them a huge house
and then tell them they can share it. Ann Marie says I can do anythin I want. I
can even be presdent. As long as I don’t get a brokin back like Derrick.. Ann
Marie says he can still be presdent, but hes too grouchy to be presdent. Maybe
he can be a teacher. There always grouchy. Im gonna be the best skateboarder
too. Better than Jim Mcray. Gotta go. Oh yeah. Jordon loves Alison. I kinda
like you know who. Bye

The days before that looked
pretty much the same. Nick decided to let the FBI pick through it for clues. He
found Whitney looking through the pictures of Kevin on the wall with Mr.
Hunter. She was telling him how handsome he was and how much he looked like his
dad. After she had a chance to check the room they said good-bye and went
outside to meet Teddy. Teddy was playing basketball with some of the boys
outside. He had his jacket off and was running around with three boys chasing
him. He moved pretty fast for such a big man. He slam dunked the ball and
picked up his jacket. The boys were begging him to stay but he laughed and
promised he’d be back. Knowing Teddy, he would keep that promise. Teddy’s face
was red when he got back into the car. He turned the air on full blast and
listened to Nick’s account of the interview.

“Whitney, did you get anything
in there?”

“Nothing helpful.”

“The boys didn’t see anything
either.” Teddy wiped his face with his hand and blew out a big breath. “Most of
them were at home. They did say that Kevin thought his coach was a creep. He
really pushed the kids to win. But that’s part of the game plan for that group.
Push to succeed. I guess the coach makes them do sit-ups and push-ups and that
stuff for hours if they lose a game. And then they can’t tell their parents or
he’ll keep them on the bench. Sounds a little like a sadistic guy in the
perfect setting. A bunch of kids dependent on him and led to believe their
whole future depends on winning. Seems like a little bit of child abuse going
on here.”

“I’ll talk to Marcia in Social
Services and have her start checking out the league’s policies and the coaches.
Find out if that’s the norm or just this one guy. We should check him out after
we talk to the mom.”

“Got his name and address. He
works nights so he should be home this morning.”

“Great. Let’s go check on the
mom first. Her name is Marissa Wick. She took back her maiden name. She lives a
few blocks away on Lake Shore Drive.”

They spent about a half an hour
with her and ended up at the same dead end. She hadn’t seen anything out of the
ordinary lately, and she was scared out of her mind. They checked his room but
came up empty. It was about noon by the time they headed over to visit the
coach. Of course Teddy decided it was time for lunch and they stopped to eat
first. Nick noticed Whitney didn’t eat very much. She was pretty quiet this
morning. He was hoping the kiss the night before or his stupid thoughts weren’t
upsetting her. He planned to find time later to apologize and offer to keep his
distance.

Whitney didn’t have time to think
about Nick, and that was fine with her. She had to try to process all the
feelings and events of the morning. Both parents were devastated, and sure
their son was dead already. They were both blaming themselves for not keeping
him safe. She couldn’t pick up anything from the area like she had with the
Dolan boy. Too many people had been through the area since last night. Maybe he
had wandered away before he was abducted. She was beginning to feel like she
was no use in this case. Maybe a FBI trained profiler would be able to find
something.

They arrived at the coach’s
door as he was taking out his garbage. He eyed them warily and turned around to
go back inside.

“Mr. Hughes?” Teddy’s long
strides brought him up to the man in two seconds. “We’d like to talk to you Mr.
Hughes. We’re Phoenix police and we’re working on the recent abductions.”

“I know who you are,” grumbled
the coach. “Guess you gotta come in. I’m not standing in this damn heat to talk
to nobody.”

They stepped into the house. It
was a cluttered mess everywhere you looked. It was obvious he lived alone. His
white T-shirt was stained and sweaty and he needed a shave. The dished were
piled in the kitchen and there were newspapers and clothes scattered about the
furniture in the living room. He didn’t offer them a seat.

“My name is Chuck so you can
stop calling me Mr. Hughes. The kids just call me Coach, or Coach Chuck. So
what do you need from me?”

Whitney could sense that he was
extremely nervous having them in his house. He was afraid of something. He
hadn’t had a spotless past, and he didn’t want anyone looking into it. He
didn’t like Whitney being there. He had seen her on TV. He kept himself as far
away from her as possible. She couldn’t read anything in him to point to him as
the killer, but that wasn’t always possible. Most psychopaths had plenty of
blocks available to them including having no guilt or regrets about their
sordid acts.

“Most of the coaches with the
SVWC have kids on the teams or on pro teams. Do you have children Mr., I mean
Chuck?” Nick watched him as his eyes darted back and forth over the three of
them.

“Nope.”

“So how did you get involved
with the Winner’s Circle?”

“They found me. I used to play
pro ball.” He pointed toward the glass cabinet in the corner filled with
baseball paraphernalia. Amid the trophies and equipment was a picture of a
younger version of Mr. Hughes accepting a Rookie of the year award.

They discussed the recent
abductions and asked if he had seen anything that could help.

“Well, I noticed that every
time someone disappears it’s right before a big game. It’s usually the star
player on a winning team so it kinda changes the odds, ya know. Seems like
someone might be favoring some teams or betting on them or something. I dunno.
Just a guess.”

“We’ll look into that. That
could be very helpful.” Teddy started to draw him into conversation about his
ball playing and the coach seemed to relax a bit. He kept looking at Whitney
out of the corner of his eye. She stayed near the door so he wouldn’t get any more
nervous. When he walked them outside he promised to give Teddy a call if he
came up with anything else. At least Teddy had found some common ground.

They spent the next two hours
looking for the older boys they had seen at the game. Nick and Teddy had come
up with names and addresses of a dozen boys that liked to go and heckle the
kids. The one with the nose ring was the last stop. He wasn’t very helpful. He
knew Kevin, but he hadn’t seen him in a while. He promised to call if he
thought of anything else, and they said goodbye.

Whitney wasn’t feeling so well,
so she asked them to drop her back at her room. She was starting to get a
really bad headache and needed some time alone. The thought of encouraging
something with Nick made her feel sick. Maybe it was just the day, but she
couldn’t picture herself in the arms of the sexy macho cop. Good thing she
hadn’t embarrassed herself and thrown herself at him.

That night Nick sat at
his table eating a hot dog and drinking a beer and kicking himself for being
such a jerk. She couldn’t stand being near him. That was obvious. He had blown
it. Here she was dedicated to helping these boys, putting herself through hell,
and he was thinking with his dick.

“Typical man,” Nick thought as
he gulped down his beer. “She can see right through you jerk! What makes you
think she would want you anyway?”
He had warned her he didn’t do
relationships, and then he had kissed her. “Stupid!” But he couldn’t stop
thinking about her. Her lips were so soft and inviting and she had melted into
him when it happened. Maybe he had imagined it, but he had thought for a moment
she might be willing to pursue it farther.

Whitney sat in her room
nursing her headache and trying not to think. She had the TV on and was
flipping through the channels. She didn’t need to watch the news. It was too
depressing. Every movie seemed to be a love story or a murder mystery and that
was out of the question. She finally found a station playing the Sound of Music
and tried to get interested. Her phone rang and her heart started beating
faster. What if it was Nick? She just wasn’t in the mood to try to deal with
that now.

“Hello?”

“Hey cutie. It’s me, Tara.”

“Oh, hi.”

“You sound so happy to hear me.
NOT. What’s up?”

“Just tired and busy with the
case. How you doing?”

“You know why I called. So,
how’d it go today with the sexy cop?”

“I chickened out. I don’t think
it will work anyway. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Oh, no! Don’t do that. You
haven’t even given it a chance. What happened?”

“I knew I should have kept my
mouth shut. I’m just not good at this stuff. It’s too complicated and I’m too
tired.”

“Tough case huh?”

“The worst. And I’m coming up
with zero. I’m useless here and out of my league.”

“Man, you are tired. Well, just
wait for a bit with the guy and get yourself back on your feet. You’re the best
Whitney. Something will break. Don’t take it all on yourself. When it’s over
you need to come out here and take a vacation. It’s getting really beautiful
here in New York. The sun is finally coming out and all the flowers are in
bloom. You need to get away from the desert and visit us this summer.”

“Yeah, I haven’t been back home
in a while. I’ll think about it. I’d better go. I got a killer headache and I’m
going hit the sack.”

“Okay. Keep in touch girl.”

Whitney tossed and turned that
night. She kept seeing the face of a young boy crying out to her and she
couldn’t get to him. She finally fell sound asleep just before two in the
morning.

Whitney’s phone rang two hours
later. She sat up and tried to figure out where she was. She fumbled for the
phone and picked it up.

“Whitney, it’s Hollerman. We
need you down at Desert Samaritan Hospital. We found Kevin Hunter. He’s still
alive, but he’s unconscious. I sent Nick to get you. He’ll be there in about twenty
minutes.”

“I’ll be ready.” She was so
beat she could hardly see. Maybe this was their break. She took a quick shower
to wake up and threw her things together.

Whitney was ready and waiting
when Nick drove in. He looked as bad as she felt.

“Did you get much sleep?”

“Not a lot,” he said. “How
‘bout you?”

“Not much.”

“You sure look better than I
do. How many cups of coffee have you had?”

“None!” She whined. They both
laughed. Well at least things were a little easier between them for now she
thought. They talked about the boy that had been found and what they hoped to
learn. They met up with Hollerman, Teddy, and the family in the waiting room.
Nick Hunter was holding his ex-wife and crying with her.

“Looks like he escaped,” the
agent explained. “He was drugged with Xanax, but he’s bigger than the other
boys. He had a stab wound on his hand, probably from self-defense. His arms and
face are pretty cut up, and he was stabbed in the chest. It missed everything
vital. The worst part is the loss of blood and blow to the head. Don’t know how
he could possibly fight enough to get away, except that he probably bled out
more during the escape. Probably caught the guy off guard before his body went
into shock. The doctors aren’t sure when and if he will regain consciousness.” The
last sentence was almost a whisper as he glanced toward the parents.