Chapter 6
Proceeding with the Trip
The meeting that had begun around the dining table had now been moved to the sitting room of the Marshall’s home. Dirk and Ralph had arrived and they all awaited the arrival of the police who had promised to be there within the hour. They all engaged in some small talk while they waited.
So Ralph, how is your health these days?” Mr. Marshall asked. Ralph and Dirk were like their own sons. There was scarcely anything happening with these boys that Carson’s parents were not aware of. They all attended the same church so that weekly the parents got a chance to meet one another. The after-church conversations were usually about the children and any new developments in the area. Dirk’s father was on the church board. As a matter of fact, he was a member of the board for at least seven years. He served as the church’s public relations officer. There wasn’t much going on that he did not know.
“This is about four months now that I have not had an attack. Daddy and Mummy believes it might be because of my modified diet. They have cut back on my sugars and starches and I am now into vegetables, fruits and herbs. Occasionally I am allowed a little splurge but that is a rare exception. I have become so accustomed to it now that I do not have any yearning for the foods which boys my age like. Oh, I forgot fish. Fish is a staple of my diet.”
“And Dirk, how are the girls treating you?” Mrs. Marshall enquired mischievously.
“Well, the girls are still a staple in my diet. After all, Auntie Carol, where would the men be without the ladies?” The twinkle in Dirk’s eyes was not lost on Mrs. Marshall.
Ralph took the remaining time to bring the Marshalls up to speed on all that the boys had discovered so far. They did not show them the video clips but they told them in essence all that they contained. Carson’s parents could not help but be proud of these boys. Particularly at a time when many youngsters were being derailed, their children were displaying the benefits of good parenting and an upbringing in the church. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall beamed as they listened to these boys explain how they reached certain conclusions they were acting upon and the plans that they had made.
The noise of a vehicle in the drive way alerted them that perhaps the police had arrived. Carson looked out the window and confirmed their thoughts. There were two officers. One of them exited the driver’s side of the vehicle. This was a police constable. The other was a sergeant. The sergeant introduced his colleague as PC Clarke and himself as Sergeant Dowling. They were invited into the house and sat in the chairs that Carson indicated for them. Upon sitting, PC Clarke removed a notebook from his left shirt pocket along with a short slim pencil and held his hand in a position that indicated that he was ready to take notes. Carson followed his lead and also drew out his note pad and pen.
“Well folks, we are as ready as we ever will be. Who will shoot first? You know the jargon I suppose, said Sergeant Dowling. All around the table laughed. This relaxed the atmosphere for before this, everyone appeared somewhat uptight.
Carson was the one to start the ball rolling. He recounted all he remembered from the afternoon he had received the mystery call. He moved on next to the missing notes and then proceeded to report concerning the note scrawled on the trunk lid. At this point the sergeant switched his attention from Carson to Mr. Marshall. “Tell us about the note, Sir. When did you first notice it?”
Mr. Marshall, like his son, was very detailed in recounting all that transpired on the day up to the time he spotted the note scrawled on his trunk lid. He spoke of the number of worksites he visited, what he did there, whom he spoke to and approximately how long he was away from the car. He spoke of the flat tyre and of his calling the family together in the afternoon to view the scrawled note.
Meanwhile, Carson was wondering if he should tell the policemen exactly when he noticed the scrawled note on the trunk lid. Up until this time he had not revealed the time of the call or the time he actually noticed the scrawled note on the car. Had this information been given, Sergeant Dowling would not have requested Mr. Marshall to recount in such detail regarding his visits to the various worksites. He thought that in as much as that level of questioning had already been done it might not be any longer necessary to reveal these two bits of information. What Carson did not know is that Ralph had already come to that conclusion as he thought the matter through and so had Dirk. In many ways the three youngsters thought along the same lines as one another.
After the Sergeant had finished questioning Carson and his dad, he turned to the others sitting around the table including Ralph and Dirk. Well, Carlisle and Carolyn could add nothing to the information, even though he tried to get them to think about any strange goings on that they had seen around the house over the last three or four days. Ralph and Dirk communicated with their eyes that they would keep the information connected with the video clips under lock and key. They were not prepared to jeopardise the character of the student in the clips just in case it was nothing more than just ‘having his hands in his pockets’. In any case they would pursue this line discreetly on their own. How they would go about it, they were not sure, since this was holiday time.
As the police officers concluded their investigations, they gave instructions to the general household and then more specifically, they dealt with the boys. One request was that the general household should pay close attention to all that was happening around them. They were to report on any strangers they saw in the area or any unusual sightings of anything, however insignificant it might appear. In relation to the trio, the police sergeant required them to continue with the expedition to Idyllic Gardens. Yes, the police wanted to use them in part as a decoy. They too felt that something strange and negative was going on in these woods even though, up to this time, they were unable to get a handle on it. Certainly they were aware of the fact that a number of dubious persons used it as a familiar haunt or perhaps even hunting ground. However, they were not sure how it was used or for what it was used.
Mrs. Marshall could not believe her ears when she heard this request from the sergeant, but other than showing surprise, she remained silent. To himself Carson said, “Great going Mummy!” even though he knew she was going to raise the matter after the policemen had gone.
The police sergeant praised all of them for the way they had presented themselves. He was really impressed with the boys especially how they worked as a team. He jokingly said, “And anytime you three are looking for a job, we would be glad to take you on at any of our precincts.”
This was followed by Mrs. Marshall’s, “Oh no you won’t!” to which the worthy sergeant quickly replied, “Just kidding!” The look beyond the twinkle in his eyes suggested that he might have been more serious about his invitation than he was willing to show.
“By the way,” Sergeant Dowling continued as though this was an afterthought, “I am going to post an undressed police officer to watch your environs and also to keep tabs on Carson. We would have like to do it with all of three of the boys but currently we have a shortage of manpower. A number of the fellows are out on sick leave. This virus that is going around seems bent on touching everybody. Thank God, the medical minds believe that one can only contract it once. I would hate for even my worst enemy to get even a first dose of that thing. Don’t worry about the undress cop. Not one of you will even notice that he is around. He is the best in what he does.”
Special forces police officer, Ken Briggs, was with the force only three years but he had shown a particular aptitude for working under cover. He had helped the police nail down quite a few mysterious cases during the short time he was with the force. He was quite good at changing disguises and could be a doctor, a lawyer, a porter or even a sanitation worker if the occasion demanded it. He was just twenty-one years old but had a very mature head on his shoulders. He had already acquired his Bachelor of Science degree in forensics science and so played a double role with the force in the field of forensics as well as an undercover agent. He was a definite asset to the police force. Because of his operations with the police, he was not even known as a police. Those in the police force, who knew him, knew him only as the forensics officer who had an office annexed to the police laboratory. In that office he worked with three other persons who were the minds behind the myriad ways the very clever criminal is discovered. These were persons who strongly believed that there was no perfect crime and that the one who committed the crime always leaves a clue, however imperceptible. They were experts in their field and possessed very trained eyes. They knew what to look for and they always found it. Ken was the youngest of these and the one with the least on the job experience but he was learning fast.
The boys knew ‘special forces’ officer Ken only as a forensics expert who worked with the police. He had once come to Blades Academy to speak at one of the school’s career showcase events. Even now they would be absolutely knocked back if they knew that he was the special agent that would be having them under his radar.
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