Rizzles Story

Chapter 68

3 Months Later-Thursday Afternoon

A girl is walking home and IM'ing on her phone.

Girl: Where am I? Where are you? You're at the park? I don't see you.

Her phone rings.

Girl: Oh, crap. Hi, mom. Yeah. I got Joey. We're on our way home. Yes, we'll do our homework. Okay. See you soon. Love you, too. Bye.

A car pulls up.

Woman: Hi. Are you Mandy Mateo?

Mandy: Yeah.

Woman: Hi. I'm miss Baker, Joey's substitute teacher. He's hurt himself on the playground.

Mandy: Oh, no.

Miss Baker: Oh, he's okay, uh, but he fell pretty hard off the jungle gym. Get in. I'll take you to him.

Mandy: Thanks.

Miss Baker: You got it?

Mandy: Yeah.

Miss Baker: Let's go.

She starts driving in the opposite direction of the school.

Mandy: Wait. W-where are you going? The school's that way.

She turns around and sees Joey.

Mandy: Joey?

Joey gets off his bike and runs toward the car.

Joey: Mandy!

Mandy: Joey! Joey!

Joey: Mandy!

At BPD

Maura walks into the lobby.

Maura: The cleaning lady put this in the dryer. It's Vicuna Wool. Who puts Vicuna Wool in a dryer? It's tight.
Does it make me look fat?

Jane: Yes. You look ginormous. I can't believe how fat you are. What -- what do you weigh? Like 115 pounds?

Maura: 116.8.

Jane: Wow, no wonder.

Maura: Really? 'Cause I've been craving carbohydrates lately. Maybe it's a hormonal imbalance.

Jane: Maybe you don't have enough to do.

Maura: It's a little slow.

Jane: Mm-hmm.

A woman walks in.

Woman: Jane!

Jane: Nicole?

Officer: Excuse me, ma'am.

Jane: That's Dan's wife.

Maura: Your old partner in Robbery?

Jane: What? What happened?

Nicole: Mandy's been taken.

Jane: What?

Nicole: Joey -- Joey saw it. T-they took her in -- in a car, near her school. And I-I need Dan. I need you to help me.

Jane: Okay. Okay. Get Frost and Korsak now. Did you call 911?

Nicole: Yes, yes, and, uh, detective Womack from area "e" said that they couldn't put out an Amber Alert.

Jane: Okay. Why not?

Nicole: Well, 'cause Joey just saw a-a blue car, and I guess it's not enough information. Look, I need Dan!

Jane: Okay, we'll get Dan. Okay?

Korsak and Frost walk out of the elevator.

Nicole: Vince, Vince!

Jane: Get Dan Mateo. He's in Robbery.

Frost: On it.

Jane: Um, can I talk to Joey just -- just for a sec?

Korsak: Nicole, let's go upstairs and get a full description of what Amanda was wearing, list of her friends.

Nicole: Look, I-I can't leave him. He saw it happen.

Joey: It's fine, mom. I want to help.

Jane: Nicole, he'll be safe, all right? We'll have him back upstairs in just a minute. (to Joey) Mm. Hey. We got a really great cafe. You want to go get a cookie or something?

Joey: I don't want anything. Please just find my sister.

Jane: Okay. We're gonna find her. Okay? Okay? Okay. Come on. Let's go.
(to Maura) You get real close when you work undercover, you know? My life depended on Dan, and now his daughter's life depends on me.

In the Cafe

Jane: I know this is difficult to talk about, but I want to go through it one more time, okay?

Joey: Okay.

Jane: Okay. Did you see the license plate? Any letters or numbers?

Joey: No. No. Just that it was blue.

Maura: Hey. Um, I bet you were looking at your sister, weren't you?

Joey: Yeah. She was really scared. I've never seen her look like that before.

Maura: I bet you were scared, too.

Joey: So scared.

Jane: You know I used to work with your dad? I was his partner. Did he tell you that?

Joey: No.

Jane: Well, I bet he's taught you a lot about being a detective, huh?

Joey: He says I'm good at it, but I should have looked at the license plate.

Jane: Hey, it's okay. Can you tell me about the lady again?

Joey: She was driving. I could see her.

Jane: What did she look like? Was she Caucasian? Was she African-American?

Joey: She was white. She had brown hair. I think she was about as old as my mom.

Jane: Okay. That's great. Can you tell me about the man?

Joey: I don't know. He was big.

Jane: Okay. Okay. It's okay. Hey, you mentioned that-- that the car was blue.
Was it a station wagon? Was it a minivan?

Joey: No. No, it was just a regular car. It was old.

Jane: Okay. You keep thinking like a detective, all right?

Joey: I haven't h-helped much, have I?

Jane: Yes, you have. Hey. Yes, you have. Okay? We'll be right back, okay?

Joey: Okay.

Jane: You think we can get anything else out of him?

Maura: He's been traumatized. I think if we give him some drawing materials -- you know, it's a natural form of communication for children his age.
Maybe he can draw something that he can't verbalize.

Jane: Ma, you got any crayons?

Angela: Yeah.

Jane: We need some paper, too.

Angela: Uh, how about the paper place mats?

Jane: It's perfect. Thank you.

Frost walks in.

Frost: Hey. I found Dan. He's on his way.

Jane: Great. Okay. Um, I'm gonna be back in just a little while, okay? Okay.
Just a little bit. Bye.