On the Streets for Alison

Chapter Four

  Mac stayed behind in hopes that his contact would give him something to follow up on. So around noon, Sam and I were walking up his parents walkway. When we got to the door, I stopped. “You want me to wait out here?” I asked.

  “No, if you don’t mind, please come in with me,” he smiled.

  I nodded. He pushed the door open. The house was not a small one. I probably wouldn’t call it a mansion, but it was big enough for me to wonder what people did with a house this big. Especially people that had grown kids. However, considering the timing, I thought I would just keep that to myself. Sam’s parents had some money from construction companies they started in the Atlanta area in the late 70s. His father, Frank Peterson, started Yardly Construction with just him and his brother. They did good work and soon there were offices all over the Atlanta area. When we walked in the house, it got more outrageous. Two story foyer, curved staircase that went from left to right to the second story. Huge chandelier in the middle of the foyer. And to the right was a large living room. Walking straight under the stairs was the kitchen, which was even bigger than the living room. I have not been here since I got out of the Navy and stopped here to visit.

  His parents were in the kitchen; he startled his mother. “Sam, geez. Could you make a little noise when you come in the house? You scared me a little.”

  “Sorry, Mom. You guys remember Raph?” Sam asked.

  “Of course,” his mother replied. “Raph, how have you been? It’s really good to see you again.” She started drying her hands from having just washed them.

  “Raph,” Frank Peterson walked over to me. He has always been a hand shaker. “Good to see you young man.” I have always enjoyed people of their generation, they are great.

  “What are you two trouble makers doing today?” his mom asked. Amy walked over to me and put arms around me. I love a good hugger.

  “Thank you, Ma’am. I’m alright. It’s good to see you also,” I said.

  “Mom,” Sam sighed out, “Can you two please sit, we need to talk?”

  She changed from the light in the room to a nervous wreck just that fast. “Sam, you tell me right now. What is going on? Is it your sister?”

  Frank touched her shoulders, “Honey, let’s sit. Listen to what he has to say.” She looked at him with tears in her eyes. They sat on the stools they had at the breakfast counter. Sam stood in front of them. Amy opened her mouth to say something, as she was tired of waiting for Sam to start, but Frank somehow knew she was going to say something and touched her arm to stop her.

  Sam looked at me and I tried to keep my face expressionless. It was more difficult than I thought it would be. He took in a deep breath and Amy started crying. “Mom, Dad. Alison is missing. I was hoping she was finally being a little rebellious, but we are not able to find her. I lied to you because I thought she would have showed up by now. And Raph is here because--” Frank cut him off.

  “Because he is an investigator?”

  “And a friend,” I said. Frank was no slouch. It might seem to some folks that he got lucky with his business, but I have never met a man without a diploma that was near as smart as him.

  Amy was hysterical by now. Frank turned to her, hugged her tight. He was a man’s man. I had never seen him cry before and seeing it now was disturbing, not because he was crying, but more because I realized what I have gotten myself into. I have had missing person's cases before, but this one was a little too close to home for me. Sam and I were not very close, but we spent time together and I had a great respect for him and his parents.

  As Amy calmed down, Frank turned back to Sam. “What have you found so far?”

  Sam had started tearing up and I hadn’t noticed until I looked at him. “Maybe Raph could explain better than me?” he looked at me.

  Frank looked at me. “Let’s go to the table so you guys can sit.”

  I was going to reject his offer, but by the time he finished Amy was hugging Sam and the next thing I knew she was hugging me. “I’m sorry, would you guys like some coffee?” She led me to the table.

  “Yes, ma’am. I would love some,” I said.

  We all sat while she fixed everyone coffee. I was amazed at how calm everyone was. No one said anything to Sam about him lying. Amy sat down and I took a deep breath. I filled them in from the time that Sam first came to see me a day ago to what happen this morning.

  You could tell that Frank was not happy, but he was stable enough to ask some good questions. “Have you found anything about this man she spoke to yet?”

  “We are asking the rest of the employees at the bar if they have any information for us and we are running a sketch through facial recognition software. It’s not much, but that is where we are right now. Hopefully it will get better this afternoon with the interviews and if we could find out who the guy in the sketch is, that would help a lot,” I said.

  “Can we take a look?” Frank asked.

  “Please,” I said.

  Frank looked at Amy while I pulled my tablet out. He got permission to show her the picture also. I opened the app and opened the picture.

  As I handed it to him, he stared at me for a longer time than someone usually would when you hand them something. Amy was looking at him the whole time. Then he finally looked at the screen. He looked for a long couple of seconds and then tilted it to her so she could see it well. They looked at each other and then to me. “Never seen him before,” Frank said.

  “I had a feeling. Hopefully we’ll get some more questions answered tonight,” I said.

  “Questions?” Amy asked.

  “Yeah, questions get people talking and you never know what might come out once they get going. Most of the time they just switch the subject to themselves, but letting them go on sometimes brings up something they would not have thought about.”

  “Does that work? It sounds like a waste of time,” Amy said with a little tone.

  I knew where she was going, I’ve seen it before.

  “I mean, you do charge by the hour, don’t you?”

  “Mom!” Sam exclaimed.

  “It’s alright, Sam,” I said as I held my hand up to him. “Mrs. Peterson,” I said in a hushed tone. “I have known your son for a while now and maybe I don’t know you two that well, but I have a lot of respect for your whole family.” I turned to Frank who didn’t flinch when she made her comment. “You have raised some great kids from what I have seen. You let your out of the closet son join the Navy, knowing how hard that would be for him and probably for you as well.” No reaction. They have been here before also. “Now, as you probably know I’ve been doing investigating for some time now and am pretty good at it.” Still no reaction. “Now there are a few things about me you might not know. I am loyal, sometimes to a fault, I keep my word and I finish what I start. Probably the most important thing to know about me is I value my relationships. Mrs. Peterson, I have money from some good choices early in life, so I don’t need or would not take yours or Sam’s.”

  In a calmer voice, Sam said. “Mom, I didn’t go to Raph because he was the cheapest; we never talked about money. I went to him because he is a friend I can trust and I know he is good at this work.” By now the tears were flowing pretty well.

  I leaned in a little closer to her to make eye contact. “I will get some answers for you. I can’t make you any promises but I will say that I can get answers. I know that doesn’t really help, but that is what I can do.”

  She reached over and grabbed my neck to hug me. “I’m sorry, Mr. Dawson. I didn’t mean anything I said. I’m just worried about Alison.”

  “I know that, ma’am. Please don’t worry about it.” I stood up. “Please excuse me,” I turned to Sam. “Mac is waiting for me, I will catch up with you this afternoon if that’s okay.”

  Frank stood and put his hand out. As I took it, he said. “Thank you so much for what you’re doing. I can’t think it is easy for you either.”

  “No, sir, but we will push through to g
et to the other side of this.”

  “Yes, we will,” he said as he put his other hand on my shoulder.

  Sam stood, “Do you need me to drop you to meet Mac?”

  “No, you need to stay here and talk to your parents. See if they have any answers. And I’m sure you have other things to discuss.”

  He lowered his head a little, and then nodded. “Thanks Raph.”

  Now I nodded and walked out.