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Kidnapped Part 1
It began with a call that no parent ever wished they had to make, however it was now eleven forty three in the evening and Casper had still not arrived home from school. After recently turning thirteen the young boy who showed a maturity above his years was given the freedom to walk to and from school, which was just ten minutes down the road. What added to the worry was that Casper had managed the journey for almost a month without any real concerns and his mother was happy to allow it to continue. Worryingly now she sat shaking on the small arm chair in her living room, wit her mobile phone pressed to her ear as teams of Police Officers were on their way to the property.
The Nine, Nine, Nine Dispatch operator didn't even think of her reaction to the distressed Mother's plea for help, being a mother herself it only took eleven seconds for her to have an urgent response note on the system for officers to attend the address, within another seven seconds, three local units had radioed in that they would react and were on route. Doing her best to keep the distraught woman calm, the operator ran through a series of questions and as quickly as possible logged the details. By the time the first response team arrived the operator had all the details she needed, gave the mother a few heartfelt words of encouragement and then hung up to take another call. Her heart was racing at the thought of the mothers anguish and concern for the young boy.
Sat with the mother in the living room Police Constable Harker quickly jotted down notes from the questions he had to ask. Some of them not easy to answer for someone who faced the real possibility of not seeing their child again. That truth lingered in the back of his head, it had too, it kept him sharp and focused. He had noted the times the young boy left the house in the mornings for school, what time he normally left school. Details about the route home he would take, he had already radioed one of the other units to check along the route instead of coming to the house. He took names of friends, family and other people of interest in the area. While asking what he was wearing the mother broke down so he handed her a tissue from the box half empty on the table. Instinct told him the mother had nothing to do with this, her husband had died three years earlier so wasn't an avenue to investigate. No boyfriends during that time so no leads there, however there was the home help, a young woman by the name of Samantha, Miss Green, who has been working for the family for almost a year. A knot tightened in his stomach.
With its blue lights flashing one of the responding police units drove slowly along the main road from the school toward the family home. There was only one road, which didn't make things any easier. On one side of the road, there was the school, the playing field which backed onto a small woodland area then onto the local bypass. The other side of the road were houses, many with their lights off, some with the light from the television flickering constantly. Yet there was no sign of the boy, further along the road there were houses then on both sides, back lanes to the gardens on both sides of the road and then the park. The patrol car come to stop in front of another police car out side a small house in the street on the other side of the park. PC Harker and his colleague left the house and walked to the occupied vehicle.
Within minutes three teams of two officers had torch light searching the park, the low amber hue from the few scattered street lights were no help. One team search the area of the park on the right hand side of the road, the opposite side of the road to the family home. Beside a few empty beer bottles the park was clean and had no sign of the boy or his belongings. Over the foot bridge in the other half of the park David Harker, a father of three, with eleven years experience in the police caught a glimpse of something, he directed his torch to illuminate the area under the roundabout, his mouth went dry in an instant. What he found, was a shoe, a black, slip on school shoe. Rushing forward in a panic he felt like a lead weight, the officer with him ran to his side as soon as he noticed the sudden movement from her partner. Grabbing an evidence bag from his pocket, he always carried a few around with him out of habit, he picked the shoe up using the bag and examined it.
It wasn't Casper's shoe, first thing that told him that was the little flower pattern on the front, it was a girls shoe. Second it was three sizes too small and had a name written on the inside, it looked like Daisy, but the shoe had been chewed on and so had likely been thrown out at least a few days ago. That heavy feeling he felt subsided, it was a blessing, however it also meant there was still no sign of the boy. Sitting on the cold metal seat of the roundabout the Police Officer watched as the other park team crossed the bridge. Time was running out and it was too...
The Nine, Nine, Nine Dispatch operator didn't even think of her reaction to the distressed Mother's plea for help, being a mother herself it only took eleven seconds for her to have an urgent response note on the system for officers to attend the address, within another seven seconds, three local units had radioed in that they would react and were on route. Doing her best to keep the distraught woman calm, the operator ran through a series of questions and as quickly as possible logged the details. By the time the first response team arrived the operator had all the details she needed, gave the mother a few heartfelt words of encouragement and then hung up to take another call. Her heart was racing at the thought of the mothers anguish and concern for the young boy.
Sat with the mother in the living room Police Constable Harker quickly jotted down notes from the questions he had to ask. Some of them not easy to answer for someone who faced the real possibility of not seeing their child again. That truth lingered in the back of his head, it had too, it kept him sharp and focused. He had noted the times the young boy left the house in the mornings for school, what time he normally left school. Details about the route home he would take, he had already radioed one of the other units to check along the route instead of coming to the house. He took names of friends, family and other people of interest in the area. While asking what he was wearing the mother broke down so he handed her a tissue from the box half empty on the table. Instinct told him the mother had nothing to do with this, her husband had died three years earlier so wasn't an avenue to investigate. No boyfriends during that time so no leads there, however there was the home help, a young woman by the name of Samantha, Miss Green, who has been working for the family for almost a year. A knot tightened in his stomach.
With its blue lights flashing one of the responding police units drove slowly along the main road from the school toward the family home. There was only one road, which didn't make things any easier. On one side of the road, there was the school, the playing field which backed onto a small woodland area then onto the local bypass. The other side of the road were houses, many with their lights off, some with the light from the television flickering constantly. Yet there was no sign of the boy, further along the road there were houses then on both sides, back lanes to the gardens on both sides of the road and then the park. The patrol car come to stop in front of another police car out side a small house in the street on the other side of the park. PC Harker and his colleague left the house and walked to the occupied vehicle.
Within minutes three teams of two officers had torch light searching the park, the low amber hue from the few scattered street lights were no help. One team search the area of the park on the right hand side of the road, the opposite side of the road to the family home. Beside a few empty beer bottles the park was clean and had no sign of the boy or his belongings. Over the foot bridge in the other half of the park David Harker, a father of three, with eleven years experience in the police caught a glimpse of something, he directed his torch to illuminate the area under the roundabout, his mouth went dry in an instant. What he found, was a shoe, a black, slip on school shoe. Rushing forward in a panic he felt like a lead weight, the officer with him ran to his side as soon as he noticed the sudden movement from her partner. Grabbing an evidence bag from his pocket, he always carried a few around with him out of habit, he picked the shoe up using the bag and examined it.
It wasn't Casper's shoe, first thing that told him that was the little flower pattern on the front, it was a girls shoe. Second it was three sizes too small and had a name written on the inside, it looked like Daisy, but the shoe had been chewed on and so had likely been thrown out at least a few days ago. That heavy feeling he felt subsided, it was a blessing, however it also meant there was still no sign of the boy. Sitting on the cold metal seat of the roundabout the Police Officer watched as the other park team crossed the bridge. Time was running out and it was too...
