thanks Sissi... So here it is...
Chapter 3
Telling Eric that I couldn’t handle the press, I opted for the video Surveillance. The photographers were beginning to play on my nerves. Taking Ryan with me, he was quite surprised at the amount of security that a middle school can have. Walking the long corridor that ran the length of the school, I looked about the classrooms, the children being nosy in general. For some reason I thought that she was probably hiding and that they couldn’t find her.
“Jesus, they have photo I.D passes for a middle school. How the hell do they send here? The presidential children? When I was at school there was no I.D, well unless you counted your lunch pass. But only then it had your name on it!”
As we reached the security office, I could hear the children running about outside. My stomach churned and my eyes felt hot again. I knew I had to be strong, if not for Tabitha’s sake, then for my own.
Knocking I expected to see some old janitor, instead a well built man, who some how I recognised, answered the door.
“Yes can I help you?”
“My name is Claire Caine and this is Ryan Wolfe. We are with the Miami Dade Crime Lab. We are investigating the disappearance of one the school’s students. And you might be?”
The man could have been 6ft or more, with a shaved head, that reminded me of the years I spent in Manchester, when I was younger.
“My name is Gareth Stockwell. I am the supervisor in charge of the security around here.”
Inviting us into his little office, I noticed that it wasn’t the regular security guards hideout. There was no indecent pictures, no semi nude calendars. Standing at the back of the office were three other men, who didn’t seem as familiar. Sliding around the side of me, Gareth introduced them.
“These guys are the guards that were roistered to work Monday through to tomorrow. There is Jeff Black, Steven Peterson and Joe Fletching.”
Each of them acknowledging their names, I cut straight to the job in hand. It was going to take me hours to sift through the security tapes.
“Okay I am going to have to take the tapes for this morning and for the last 3 days. My colleague here is going to want plans of your walk round, your route and everything that has to be done from start of the day till the close of play.”
Offering to take Ryan to get the tapes and a walk round of the ground, Joe Fletching showed him out of the pokey little office.
My attention then turned back to Gareth. I was going to need everything that he knew.
“Has there been any new children start this semester? Anything out of the ordinary, that you would significantly say that was out of place at middle school?”
Gareth scratched his head. It was a stupid idea amongst the population that if you scratched your head, that you would be able to remember things. It didn’t work in the slightest. This guy was trying to play me.
“There is nothing sinister about this place Investigator Caine. It’s a middle school. The kids at the oldest are 11. What could possibly happen that was so ‘out of place’?”
Lying to me was one thing that I could handle. The murderers, rapists do it all the time. But when someone tries to play me for dumb, that’s’ when I get bitchy.
“Mr. Stockwell, a seven year old girl has gone missing possibly been abducted from the school grounds. That doesn’t strike you as ‘out of place’?” Smiling at me wasn’t going to help him either.
“Well there was this new teacher. Mr. Portis. He was kind of a weird fella. He didn’t like mixing with the children, wasn’t a teacher, just an assistant. He wouldn’t patrol the school yard like the other teachers. He would just sit inside and watch them. I personally think he was a little loose in the head.”
This rattled me a little. New teacher and he didn’t like mixing with the kids, just liked watching them? That didn’t sound right at all.
“Is there anything else that you can tell me about this new teacher? What he looks like? What did he wear? Where did he come from?”
Turning to his desk, he dug through a large file that seemed to a permanent fixture.
“I can do one better. Here is his security form. All new teacher and assistants have to fill in once they get posted to the school. Just so we can do a check on them as well.” Handing me the form, I nearly died of shock.
“When did his man join the school?” Gareth was dumbstruck. Searching his computer, he found that there was no record of him being on the system.
“I’m afraid I can’t answer that Investigator, I have just come back off a 2 week vacation.” Turning to his colleagues, I wanted answers and I wanted them now.
“Okay gents, if your boss wasn’t around when this new teacher was welcomed into the school, which one of you did?”
I wasn’t going to be nice about it. Not a chance in hell.
“I was the one that gave him the form to fill out. But he never handed it back in, it came through the school’s secretary. I never saw him after that.”
Jeff Black looked rather nervous for saying that he hadn’t spoken yet.
“Mr. Black, did you see Mr. Portis this morning?” Playing with his sleeve, the man looked as anxious as a kid who had just been caught pinching the last cookie.
“Mr. Black, have you seen the new teacher at all this morning?”
The pitch of my voice was slowly rising with every question I had to ask.
“He said to me that they would only be half an hour. He told me that he was taking her home that she had forgotten her gym kit and he had permission from the principal. I didn’t think anything of it until they didn’t come back. I knew something was wrong, that there wasn’t something quite right about it, thinking about it now. See she had already had had gym class and cheerleading practise but it didn’t click, till after they had left.”
I didn’t know whether to scream and break down in front of complete, or shoot the man before me. Deciding that getting the needle wasn’t a sound option. I pushed the little shit for more information. My heart beat was going full pelt, I had to calm down, but I just didn’t know how to.
I was talking to the man, who let a convicted paedophile and prison escapist waltz off the school ground with my daughter.
“Okay sunshine, can you tell me anything about how she was sat in the car. Was she in the front? Where were her hands? How did she look? What was the car?” I wanted to know everything.
“The car was a black SUV, Nissin I think. All the windows were down; I would have, especially with a leather interior. Anyway the young girl was sat in the rear, behind the driver. She had her hands between her legs as if she was sat on them. I didn’t think; most kids sit funny when they aren’t being watched. I am really sorry, truly I am.”
My head was spinning. This idiot had just let a convicted sex offender drive off with my daughter in the back of his car, and he thought that there was nothing wrong about that. I wanted to punch the idiot’s lights in.
“Thank-you Mr. Black you have been so helpful. I am going to have to ask you, that you make a trip down to the station to make a formal statement though. Nothing to worry about, you have to just write down everything that you have just told me.”
Nodding in agreement, I turned away from the two men. This place was beginning to bug me and I wanted to get out. As I turned to leave the office, Jeff grabbed my arm, his eyes full of tears; he spoke in almost a sob.
“Mrs. Caine, I am so sorry that I let him take your daughter. I never meant for her to be taken. I just didn’t think. Please forgive me.”
Telling him that he wasn’t to blame, I reassured him that there was nothing for him to worry about. Flipping open my cell, I hit the speed dial for Ryan's number. Waiting after two rings, he answered.
"Wolfe?"
"It's me. Have you got something that is going to help? When you are done with the walk round, meet me out the front."
"Gotcha" Heading for the front of the school, the noise room the photographs had now gone, which was a blessing. Striding for the far corner of the yard, I shouted out to Horatio, who had been joined by Yalena.
"Did you get anything from the security guards?" Handing my husband the form, his face went a very light shade of red. This colour was reserved for when he was running on the beach, or when he was extremely pissed off.
"Are you sure that this is him?" Horatio wanted to know. He was definitely going to get this SOB now.
"Ok. Yalena and I are going to go on a little road trip. Claire, it's your scene. If need be go back to the lab; take Ryan see if you can catch this bastard on tape. Let Calleigh and Eric to finish up here. Call me if you get anything?"
"I have you on speed dial." Horatio was made. This day was not going to a good one for Stewart Otis
