Stranger in Town

CHAPTER 10





Todd was sobbing, his tears dripping into his hands as he tried to sweep them out of his face. I wanted to give him time to recover before he revealed what he’d kept bottled up for the past two years, but with a couple teenagers outside being watched over by a less-than-competent babysitter, I couldn’t wait long.

“I know how hard it must be to relive what happened,” I said, “but I need to know what you saw.”

He glared at me like I was hard of hearing. “I just told you.”

“You haven’t given me anything I can use.”

Not yet.

I went to the kitchen, poured a glass of water, and handed it out to him. “Here.”

He waved it away. “I don’t want it.”

“You need it,” I said.

I held it out until he took it from my hand. He gulped it down in a matter of seconds.

“You said you watched the man take her. Didn’t the police question you or ask where you were when Olivia was taken?”

He nodded.

“I told them I didn’t see anything.”

He’d lied. Great. It seemed like the withholding-information virus was going around lately.

“Well, now I know that you did,” I said, “and I need all the details.”

He shrugged.

“Like what?”

“Pretend I’m someone who has never heard the story before,” I said. “How would you explain it to me?”

Todd looked up and to the right, an indicator that he was piecing together the visual images he remembered from the day of Olivia’s abduction.

“Let’s start with this,” I said. “Tell me what you were doing when you first saw Olivia.”

He nodded.

“I’d just finished helping a woman load some grocery bags in her trunk. After she left, I scanned the parking lot for shopping carts, loaded some up, and was getting ready to take them in. A grocery ad fell out of one of the carts. I bent down to pick it up, and that’s when I saw the little girl.”

“What was she doing?” I said.

“Walking. A man was holding her hand. At first I thought the guy was her dad because he kept smiling down at her, but she looked scared. She wouldn’t even look at him.”

“Describe the man to me.”

Todd shrugged.

“Tall.”

“How tall?” I said.

“Maybe a few inches taller than me.”

“You’re tall. Are you saying the man was around six foot six?”

“Guess so.”

“What else did you notice?”

“He wore a hat.”

“What kind?”

“A ball cap.”

“Color?”

“Red.”

“Did the ball cap have anything on it—was it for a sports team, maybe?”

“I don’t remember. I don’t think so. He had on a pair of mirrored sunglasses. You know, the kind you can see yourself in.”

“What about his clothes?” I said.

“Black T-shirt and jeans.”

“Shoes?”

“I don’t remember.”

“What was his hair like?” I said.

“Average, I guess.”

I tried again.

“Was it long or short? How much of it was coming out of the ball cap?”

“I couldn’t tell.”

“Did he see you?” I said.

Todd shook his head.

“He was too busy talking to some old lady who’d followed him to his car.”

“What did the car look like?”

“It was silver.”

“What about a make and model?” I said.

“It was a Dodge Charger, I think. It had dark, tinted windows. I couldn’t see inside from where I was squatting.”

First Mr. Tate refuses to turn over the coloring page and now this. What was wrong with these people? Part of me had an urge to slap Todd across the face. The information he had would have given police a strong lead, one that could have saved a little girl’s life. Todd may have been a teenager, but he was also a coward.

I needed to keep going; I wasn’t finished with him yet.

“What happened between the man and the lady who stopped him?” I said.

“The lady said something to him, but he didn’t even look at her, he just kept walking.”

“Then what?”

“The man opened the back door of his car, put the little girl inside, and when he turned around he saw the lady was standing behind him. He said something to her and then the lady fell down. At first I thought it was an accident, but then the man didn’t bend down to help her.”

“What did you do?” I said.

“I—”

His voice was shaky.

“Tell me. It’s okay.”

He shook his head.

“No. It isn’t. I could have done something, but I didn’t. I just stayed there, crouched on the ground while he ran over the old lady’s body. I was confused. It happened so fast. When I went back into the store, I heard Olivia’s mother calling for her, and that’s when I knew what was really going on.”

I was too upset to say anything, which I was sure Todd gathered when he looked at my face.

“Don’t you understand? If they found out I was outside, they would have wanted to know why I didn’t do anything to stop the man from taking her. Everyone in town would have known.”

“You are the only witness, Todd. Don’t you think everyone would have been grateful to you for telling the truth?”

He shrugged.

“It’s too late now. They’ll all hate me for it.”

I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Aren’t you tired of carrying this around? Don’t you want to help Olivia’s parents? What if there’s a chance their daughter is still alive?”

He looked scared. “What are you saying?”

“Telling me isn’t the same thing as telling the authorities,” I said. “I’m glad you finally did the right thing, but they need to know everything. You have to tell them.”

“I can’t do it—I won’t! You know what happened now. Isn’t that enough?”

“It isn’t,” I said. I walked to the door, turning around slightly before opening it. “You’ve got twenty-four hours to talk to the police. After that, I’ll tell them where to find you. And do everyone a favor, don’t run. Then I’ll have to track you down, and I don’t have time for it right now.”

He tapped his Converse shoe on the ground. “This isn’t fair. You tricked me! I lied to the police. I could go to jail.”

“Olivia may have lost her life because of your silence. You need to make things right.”