She Never Came Home

Chapter 6

Stephen used the "search" function on his cell phone to find the location of the nearest police station. Because he was impatient it took many tries to type in his correct ZIP code, his thumbs feeling more clumsy than usual. He was familiar with the precincts in the area where he worked, since he often had to contact law enforcement regarding folks "stealing" electricity via illegal hook-ups. (He wasn't a heartless man; he knew that there were people who couldn't afford to pay their power bills, but it was a liability issue... Crudely rigged extension cords had caused more than one fatal house fire.) But his office was located in a different city and a different county from where he lived, and he'd been lucky enough this far in his life to not have needed the services of the local police department. The phone number and address of the nearest police station popped up on his phone screen.

"I've to go to the police precinct off of Magnolia – it's right by that big motorcycle dealership," he told his wife as he pulled on his coat and walked toward the front door. "I'll have my phone on, call me as soon as you hear anything."

Joyce followed him to the door and gave him a long embrace and then a kiss. She was suddenly feeling very possessive when it came to family. "Be safe," she murmured to him as he left.

🙞 🙞 🙞

Stephen was struggling to maintain a civil tone as he explained his story for the third time to yet another cop at the station. The desk sergeant had to summon a supervisor, who then determined that Stephen needed to speak to a detective in order to file a Missing Person Report. Not that the situation got any better once Stephen actually sat down with the detective who was writing down the details...

"How old is your daughter?"

"She's 22," Stephen replied.

"And how long has she been missing?"

Stephen glanced at his watch. It was almost 4:00AM. He mentally calculated the time that Coreen had left Chris's apartment and answered, "About six hours."

The detective sat upright in his chair, deliberately removing his pen from the form he'd been filling out. "That's all?" He asked.

"What do you mean, 'that's all'?" Stephen's frustration was escalating.

"Look, sir," the detective replied, "She's 22 years old. An adult. Six hours is nothing. You know the saying, 'girls will be girls'...maybe she's out having a good time somewhere..."

Stephen pounded the desk with his fist as he stood up and leaned over it. "My daughter is not like that!!" He shouted. "She phoned us and told us she was on her way home...!"

"Mr. Crowley," the detective glanced at the form in order to recall the complainant's name, "if you don't restrain yourself I'll be forced to have you escorted off of the premises."

Stephen struggled to collect himself and sat back down in the chair.

"As I was saying," the detective continued, "it's no crime for an adult to disappear on their own. And unless there was an obvious, witnessed abduction, the law doesn't recognize an adult as 'missing' until 48 hours have elapsed."

"So what exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I will take down your information, but I cannot officially file this report until," the detective paused and looked up at the wall clock, "this time Saturday."

"Oh, that's so very helpful," Stephen replied sarcastically. But he stayed long enough to give the detective as much information as he could for the report... Coreen's physical description, the car she was driving, and the route she usually drove from Christopher's apartment to the family home.

🙞 🙞 🙞

Back at the Crowley home, Joyce and Carla were doing their best to keep each other calm while waiting for the phone to ring. As a result, they both simultaneously jerked upright and exclaimed out loud when they heard a sudden noise. Joyce was the first to recover her wits. "It's the doorbell," she told Carla, holding one hand on her chest as if to slow down her racing heart.

"Chris!" Joyce shouted when she opened the door. Coreen's boyfriend impulsively embraced the woman tightly before pulling back to officially greet her.

"Hi, Mrs. C. Have you heard anything?" He dreaded her answer, because he could it in her face: Coreen was still missing.

She ushered the young man into the house. "No, but Chuck is out there looking and he said..." As she recalled Chuck's last-minute instructions she paused to tell Chris, "He said when you and Rich got here that you two should call him and the three of you would search, I don't know, off-ramps or such..."

Chris immediately understood her questioning tone. "Richard and I happened to meet up at the Valley Wells rest stop off the I-15 in Nipton when Chuck called Rich's cell phone," he explained. "We decided that Rich would go and look at some of the roads Chuck was suggesting, and I'd come here to check on you."

"Thanks for coming," Carla said. "You look like hell, can I get you some tea or something?" She added.

"I'm fine," Chris replied in between bouts of heavy bronchial coughing. Joyce and Carla couldn't help but notice how pale he was, and the dark circles under his eyes made his face look almost eerie.

"You need something for that cough," Carla insisted, and went to the kitchen to heat up some water. They could all probably do with some hot tea, she'd decided.

Chris was not a fan of hot tea, but he figured that Carla probably needed something to occupy her mind and hands, so he protested no further. Instead he asked Joyce, "What have the police told you?"

"Not much," Coreen's mom admitted. "Stephen went to the local precinct to file an official Missing Persons report, and...." She seemed to be a bit sheepish as she continued, "I called a couple of other precincts I found nearby thanks to Google Maps... I probably shouldn't have, since Stephen is taking care of all that, but I just couldn't sit here and do nothing!" Her voice rose as she finished her statement.

"It's good that you did," Chris comforted her. "We need to get the word out. What did the police tell you when you called?"

Joyce frowned and shook her head in a gesture of defeat. "They didn't say it outright, but I could tell that they thought I was a hysterical female, an over-protective mother..."

"Here, I put a little 'cough medicine' in it for you," Carla told Chris as she handed him a hot cup of tea with lemon....and a shot of whiskey.

Chris sipped the brew and actually managed to not screw his face up in disgust at the unpleasant (to him) taste of tea. One sip later he noticed that his urge to cough had subsided just a bit.

"Carla?" he asked, "are you OK with staying here alone for a bit while I take your mom out to go to some other police stations?"

"But I told you that I called and they – " Joyce began.

"We're going in person, and we're going to make them listen," Chris interrupted her. "Even if we have to flag down every black-and-white patrol car that we see."

"Give me a second to get my coat and purse," Joyce replied.