Our little secret…
Kevin wiped sweat off of his brow with the handkerchief he always carried in his back pocket. Why one earth he ever got into that habit was his father’s fault. Kevin senior was as old fashioned as you could get, from real cloth diapers on all of his children to a good old hanky instead of the cheap tissues that exploded once you sneezed into them. It was a trait that Kevin junior picked up from his dad, one of many. All of his friends made fun of him tirelessly for carrying around a grandpa rag as they affectionately called it but to Kevin that’s just the way it was.
He sighed as he placed the handkerchief back into his pocket, it wasn’t a particularly hot day but whenever he pulled an all nighter he would get the worst case of sweats ever. The fact that he was up all night was slowly starting to take affect on the detective as his head began to pound ever so slightly as the day droned on.
“Are you okay?” He looked up at Maria as she tried to pass him in the narrow hallway leading into the bedrooms upstairs.
“Yeah, I’m just tired.”
“Kevin you should go home and rest, you have been through a lot.”
“I can’t rest, there’s time for resting later, and I need to get my brother back.” His tone was harsh but his eyes soft, and Maria who had worked under Kevin for a few years now, took no offense to it at all.
“I’m glad they are letting me help Tyler with this case.” She said instead, placing a hand on Kevin’s shoulder as she finally allowed herself to pass Kevin and head down the hall towards Jackie’s room.
Kevin turned his attention back towards Nick’s room, entering slowly and once again disappointed that he wasn’t greeted with the smiling face of the boy who was usually lying on the floor playing his video games or drawing at his desk.
Now he understood why so many times when he had gone into homes where a child was killed or abducted, the parents would almost always be found in the victim’s room, sitting on the bed or hugging something that belonged to their child. He knew because if given the chance, he could easily just sit there all day, lie on the bed and picture his brother jumping on top of him and laughing hysterically when Kevin’s tickle monster made an appearance. The smell of Nicky still clung in the air, the smell of Johnson and Johnson’s no tears shampoo and Tide laundry detergent mixed together with a hint of chocolate.
He knew he had to get up and start looking around, but he had no idea where to even begin. He felt like he had been through every inch of this room yesterday and frankly it was all beginning to be a bit much for him. Maybe Tyler was right, maybe he should just make his way back to the hospital. AJ would be waking up soon, in fact, that thought made him bring out his cell phone and make a quick call to his brother’s room.
Brian answered on the first ring, he sounded much the same way that Kevin looked he was sure.
“Is he awake yet B?”
“No…” There was a pause as he whispered to their mother that Kevin was on the phone before coming back. “Mom wants to know if there’s any news on Nicky.”
“Not yet, I’m actually at the house right now.”
“How did talking to Patty go? Was she helpful?”
“A little, but not much.”
Kevin heard the worry in his brother’s voice; the helplessness came out as he said the next sentence, “So you are back to where you were before then?”
“Not quite, I have a few ideas, but that’s not why I called. I called to check up on AJ.”
“There’s no change, the doctor was in a little bit ago just to examine him and he said everything looks okay. He should be waking up soon.”
“Don’t forget Brian, when he does I want you to call my cell okay?”
“Sure thing.”
“Oh and Brian…do you know if Nick had any hiding places in the house? Where he liked to go be alone or hide if he was getting in trouble?” After talking to Patty, the thought occurred to him that maybe he had a secret place to hide, somewhere that no one knew about. Kevin was familiar with those places; he had one of his very own. Anytime he would get into trouble as a child, he hid under the crawlspace of their front porch. Once he fell asleep under there and wasn’t found for three hours. His mom always blamed that day for her first gray hair and of course that was also the end of Kevin’s secret hiding place. His dad made sure to board it up after that, no more kids hiding under the porch and scaring moms to death he had said as he groaned about doing it that whole Saturday afternoon preceding the big disappearance.
Maybe this man was giving him things and Nick needed somewhere to hide them? At this point he was willing to try anything. Brian paused for quite some time and even whispered the question to his mother in hopes that she might be able to help. “I’m not sure man, I know that whenever we played hide and seek he always went under his bed.”
“Patty said the same thing.”
Brian laughed, it felt good to hear someone laughing again, “Yeah he really sucks at hide and seek, even though he calls himself a good hider. When he’d get on my nerves, I would just take my time finding him.” Now it was Kevin’s turn to laugh. He had done that more than once himself to all three of his siblings.
“Okay thanks Brian… tell mom I love her okay? And I love you too.”
“Thanks bro, I love you too.” Kevin nodded as he hung up with his brother.
“How’s the search going in here?” Maria asked entering the room, surprised to see Kevin just sitting there on the bed.
“It’s not; I was just on the phone with my brother.”
“Tyler told me to come in and check up on you, I think it’s safe to say that he’s giving you some space.”
“Good.”
“Is there anything I can do for you Kevin?”
“No I’m good, thanks.”
“Okay, well I dusted your mom’s room for fingerprints, now I’m going to your brothers.” Kevin looked up and smiled at her.
Once she left he decided it was time to finally get off the bed and do something, but instead of getting up, he slid himself down onto the floor, allowing himself to pull up the blankets and take a look under his brother’s bed. He did do this the other night but not as thoroughly as he would have liked. There was a baseball glove lying in his direct site line, so he moved it away and saw a few Pokeman trading cards, about 3 single and unmatched socks, a few pieces of construction paper and a stale cheese doodle.
He tried to slide his body further under the bed to get a better look, but it was a little to small for him so he stood up and opted to move the entire bed a little, uncovering all the contents as he gradually pulled it away from the wall and into the middle of the room. Much to his surprise he saw a small cigar box lying there where the bed had once been. He went into his back pocket, once again patting the sweat off of his forehead and bent down and picked the box up, making sure to put on some gloves before doing so.
He sat down on the bed once again and opened the box, not sure what he might find, but eager to see. Kevin closed his eyes and sighed, once again getting that hopeless feeling that one gets when someone is missing. This was torture, pure and simple.
The box contained a few things, nothing big, old baby pictures, a few pennies and nickels, one Yo-yo but the thing that really caught his attention was under all of those things, and it was a picture, one of many that he drew all the time. It was made with red construction paper and folded in half like a card. On the front there was a big blue heart with the words, I love you Daddy… written on the front.
“I love you daddy?” He mumbled to himself as he grabbed the card in his hand and opened it.
On the inside there was a picture of Kevin’s father hugging his mother. Nicky had glued it inside the card. Underneath the picture he had written I love you daddy, but this time followed by I can’t wait to see you again.
“What the hell?” Kevin asked confused, staring at the card, trying to make sense of it.
“Can’t wait to see you again?”
He placed the card back inside the box and stood up, placing the box on the bed as he continued to look through the room. Now he had to find something else. Why would Nick write to his dad? He never even knew his father and why on earth would he say he’d see him again?
It was normal for children to have imaginary friends and he also remembered a brief time when Nicky did have one. His name was Nert and he was an invisible Kangaroo who followed him all over the place. Jackie always dismissed the idea of telling her at that time five year old son, that Nert didn’t exist, but it always bothered Kevin. So one day He placed Nick on his lap, and explained to him that Nert needed to be with his other kangaroo friends in Australia, it was a tearful goodbye but finally after convincing the entire family to give him a send off party, Nert had left.
“Maybe my father has taken Nert’s place.”
“Did you say something Kevin?” Once again Maria entered the room.
“Oh, no just talking to myself.”
“How’s the search going?”
“I found a box with nothing much in there, but there was a card to my father.” Maria looked surprised.
“Isn’t your dad dead?”
“Yes, that’s what makes no sense.”
Maria took the box and looked at the card, “Is this what you’re talking about?” Kevin nodded as he opened the closet door.
“You look just like your dad; I bet you have heard that before huh?”
“Many many times, although I don’t see the similarities.”
Maria chuckled, “Yup, most people never do.”
Kevin grabbed one of the chairs in the room and placed it inside the closet, standing on it and taking a closer look. He knew his brother liked to climb so maybe he had left something up on the shelves. “Are you looking for anything in particular? Maybe I can help?”
“I’m just thinking that maybe my brother has a secret stash somewhere, maybe in here but I don’t see anything.”
Kevin got down off the chair and looked over at Maria, “I wish I knew where to look.”
“Sometimes things are in plain site Kevin, I’m sure something is here. I should go back downstairs; call me if you need me.”
“I will thanks Maria.” She nodded.
“Okay if I were an 8 year old and wanted to hide things from my mom…where would I go? Come on Nicky….talk to me…where would you hide something?”
Then it hit him, he stood up excitedly and walked out of Nick’s room and into Brian’s. It was a well known fact that when the youngest Richardson wasn’t hanging all over the oldest one, he was doing that to Brian. Nicky adored Brian and was in his room a lot, “Probably a lot more than even Brian realized,” Kevin said finishing his though out loud.
He excitedly ran into Brian’s room, his brother was a slob, clothes were everywhere, drawers half opened, closet overflowing with junk, mostly sporting equipment that he didn’t even use.
He ventured closer to the bed and peered underneath. Since Brian owned a double bed, there was a lot more junk under there, but Kevin was also easily able to slide his body underneath and take a look around.
There in the corner, closest to the bedposts, was a duffel bag. Kevin grabbed it and pulled it forward as he made his way out from under the bed. He was just about to unzip when once again Maria walked into the room, “How is it going in here?”
Kevin looked up, annoyed to be interrupted again, “Going good…” He noticed she was holding the cigar box from Nick’s room. “What are you doing with that?” He asked.
“Oh, I was going to ask you if you were all done with this. I’ll put it in the evidence bag if you are.”
Now this is where things got tricky, because he didn’t want that card going to evidence, he wanted to hang onto it himself, but he made the mistake of putting it in there so now he’d have to deal with the consequences. He already had Howie not following the rules on his behalf; Kevin wasn’t going to ask the same of Maria. “Sure, I’m done with it.”
Maria smiled, “Okay then, I promise this will be the last time I bug you, is that for your brother?” She asked looking at the still zipped up bag.
“Yeah, he asked me to bring him some stuff.” Maria looked at Kevin suspiciously but then smiled. Once again probably sensing the fact that he was lying to her.
She walked out the door, and in that instant, Kevin had the urge to go after her, tell her that he needed that box back, so he followed her. The door was only opened a crack but he stopped as he saw her start to descend the steps. She halted on the top step, opened up the box and removed the card, looking around as she did. When Kevin saw her glance his way he quickly ducked his head back inside the room. When Maria was convinced no one saw what she was doing, she folded the card and placed it in her back pocket and then walked the rest of the way down the steps.
“Well wasn’t that interesting…” Kevin said to himself as his pulse began to race. That often happened when he felt like he might be on to something big. He sat on Brian’s bed and ran through some thoughts. Maybe Maria did that for his benefit? They had worked together for so long that maybe; just maybe she realized that the card would be best left out of evidence for now.
“Maybe I saw wrong? I mean I am tired…”
But his gut told him otherwise, it said you have been had my friend, by someone you have trusted for a very long time. After all, now thinking about it, hadn’t Maria been around for every abduction? Every time they collected evidence she was on the scene. Who better to deliver things to the office undetected than Maria? No one would suspect her. “Not even me…”
Trying to shake that thought out of his head, he unzipped the duffle bag, hoping that this was in fact a hiding place for Nick and sure enough, he was greeted with three Power Rangers falling out of the bag. He decided to stop looking for now and zip it back up, he needed to take the bag somewhere safe and go through every inch of it.
Standing up he placed the bag on his shoulder and took off towards the stairs, deciding to stop at Nicky’s room. He walked in and felt the need to apologize to his brother, “I’m sorry I haven’t found you yet little man, but I’m getting closer.” With that being said he turned and made his way out of the room and down the stairs where he heard Maria and Tyler going over some routine things.
“I wonder if he’s in on it too.” He found himself muttering as he got down to the bottom. Suddenly he felt like he couldn’t trust anyone anymore.
“Where are you going Kevin?” Tyler asked, halting his conversation with Maria who still was staring at the duffel bag.
“I’m bringing these clothes over to Brian, he had asked for a change of clothes and I need to get out of here. Is that all right?”
“Sure thing, don’t worry, Howie will be coming over here when he’s done talking with your neighbors.”
“Has he checked in with you yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Okay well, I’ll be at the hospital so if you need me or find anything please give me a call on my cell phone okay?” Tyler nodded.
Just before Kevin walked out the door, he almost pulled Maria aside to ask her about why she had stolen the card out of the cigar box. If she knew something about his brother, then maybe he could shake it out of her, but once again the detective side of him took over as he allowed her to keep it. He had other ideas.
He drove around the corner and stopped in the parking lot of a grocery store, where he allowed himself a chance to go through the contents of the bag. When he unzipped it he was met with so many toys it looked as if Santa had been robbed. Stacks of trading cards and small race cars were everywhere. Many of them still in the packages, but some of them out. There was also a box of Twinkies and a box of Ring Dings, two of his brother’s favorite snacks, as well as a collection of Hershey’s miniatures.
He dumped out the bag as if it was a sack of laundry trying to get to the never ending supply of treats. Once the last toy was out of the bag, Kevin placed his hand inside to feel for anything else and was rewarded with a touch of a few pieces of paper lying on the bottom folded among themselves.
Kevin grabbed them and his mouth dropped as he read the words. He couldn’t believe what we he was seeing.
Dear Nick,
I hope you enjoy these Race cars, they were always a favorite of mine when I was a child, maybe when I see you, we can put together a race track. I bet you’d enjoy that wouldn’t you? Don’t forget this is our little secret; don’t go telling your mother or your brothers about this okay?
I love you and look forward to the day when we can be together!
Dad
Kevin could barely breathe as he opened the next letter…
Hi Nick,
Sorry this will be short, I’m afraid someone might see me and then I’d never be able to come visit you again. I hope you enjoy the presents I left for you, don’t forget to hide them and not to tell your mom or your brothers about them okay? Our little secret…
Dad
He reached into his pocket and called Howie, hoping to get him before he ended up back at the house.
“Hello?”
“D!”
“Kev, you okay? You sound like you’re out of breath.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in your house…your next door neighbor said he hasn’t seen anyone…sorry.”
“Okay, listen to me…is Maria there?”
“Yes she’s upstairs.”
“Howie, I’m not positive about this, but I think she may be involved in this in some way. Make sure you don’t say anything in front of her, we have to follow her when she gets off work.”
“What? You really think…”
“I have my reasons, trust me okay?”
“Did you find anything?”
Before he answered Howie’s question, he looked down at the letters again, not believing his eyes when he saw the word dad staring up at him. “I found a lot of stuff but don’t let Maria know that okay? And let me know if she asks you about Brian’s room or if she goes in there.”
“Okay….yeah, I will.” Howie sounded shocked and betrayed.
“Good.”
When he got off the phone with Howie he allowed himself to read the third and final letter from his father. The man that was long dead and buried.
Nicky,
Just a quick note to say I love you! Tell your mommy you love her and give her a hug from me, don’t forget I’ll see you out back soon. Our little secret…
Dad
His head was spinning with questions; he had no idea what was going on anymore. The handwriting was almost identical to his father’s but it was so long ago that he had died; it was hard to remember it exactly. “He’s dead…Kevin he’s dead.”
His cell phone buzzed and he quickly brought it up to his ear.
“Hello?”
“I have to say I’ve missed our little conversations…” He hadn’t heard that voice in awhile, but when he did it brought a sense of relief with it.
“I want to talk to my brother.” He said trying to control the shakiness in his voice.
“You’re still not back on the case; I thought you would be by now, but maybe since its personal and everything…”
“I said I want to speak to Nick.”
“Yeah, I heard you but he can’t talk at the moment.”
“What? I swear to God if you lay a hand on him….”
The man laughed a wicked laugh, Kevin could hear his smirk, “Expect another delivery from me soon…” And with that being said he hung up.
The cell said caller unknown as once again Kevin grabbed the handkerchief from his back pocket and pat his head with it.
The phone rang to life once again; Kevin didn’t even hesitate to answer this time, “What do you want from me?” He asked in almost a cry.
“Kevin…”
“Oh, hi Brian.”
“Is everything okay?”
“I don’t even know anymore…” Kevin was near tears.
“AJ is awake; he wants to talk to you.”
“Is he okay?”
“No…he won’t say anything to anyone except you, so hurry.”
“I’ll be right there,” Kevin said, hanging up the phone and driving to the hospital.
Hey guys! I love all the guesses you have been leaving for feedback :O) I'm so happy you are enjoying this story and as always thanks for the reviews!
