Part 5 And A Half (Its Slow Progress)

The question really was not that profound of a question. It was actually only two simple little words, but Sam had seen people who have been strongly affected by it and had responded to it in dramatically different ways. One lady he asked this question to broke down in tears and sobbed uncontrollably for two hours. After Sam finally calmed her down, made her some coffee, and made sure she was alright she informed him that her cat was missing.

Another time Sam asked a very nice looking man this same question. The man’s face became twisted with anger, and he is now responsible for the hole in the wall that the filing cabinet conveniently covers.

Sam looked at Max again. He was nervously wringing his hands and seemed oblivious to Sam’s presence.

The silence suddenly became unbearable and Sam had to break it no matter how much he hated the question.

“What happened?” Sam asked.

“Sir?” Max replied.

“What happened when you went into the house?”

A flash of rage went through Max’s crystal blue eyes, as if a fire had just swept over the serene, blue ocean.

Sam braced himself for the worst. Max did not sob uncontrollably or slam a chair into the wall, however. He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.

“There was blood,” he began, his voice trembling, “In the living room…on the couch. The recliner was tipped over, and the lamp was shattered. My girl may only be fourteen, but she’s a fighter, just like her momma.” Max allowed himself a small chuckle before returning to a look that was a mix of anger and terror. “ There was a note on the T.V. …I have it in my pocket.”

“May I see it?” Sam asked.

Max removed a crumpled up piece of paper from his pocket. Sam smoothed it out and began reading:

“We have your daughter, but that’s not what we want. We are not going to tell you what we want though because that just wouldn’t be any fun. If you do what we say then your daughter will be fine, but if you don’t we will kill her and dump whatever is left of her body in the river. That is up to you. Right now we only ask two things.
1. No cops. If we even see a badge then your daughter is swimming with the pretty little fishies that she likes so much.
2. Go to the park in two days and there will be a box by the fountain. Inside it will be further instructions

-Your new best friends.