*CLICK*
Officer Baker took another picture of the fence. Julio was watching him while he waited on hold.
“Sorry about that Perez. Are the police still around?”
“I’m afraid so. I might need a half day to catch up on sleep. I’m way past my bedtime.”
“You’ve got it. In fact, take the whole weekend off. I think Litz and Tavarez can handle things this weekend. They each have been asking about more hours.”
“Sounds good to me.” Julio was rubbing his eyes as Officer Bucholz walked towards him with a notepad. “Listen, it looks like question time. I’d better go. I’ll call you back.” Julio lowered the phone and glared at Bucholz, who had the look of a man who was trying not to be intimidated, with moderate success.
“I just got word that the old man you brought in caved. He claims he got the two men we’re looking for on a train going North.”
“North?”
“Yep, I just had a call from the interrogating officer. She said he confessed to putting two men in a boxcar. Then he mentioned one of them had a friend in Dell Rapids. Do you know when that train left and when it got there.”
“Yeah, hang on.” Julio pulled out his Blackberry and started looking through the train schedule. “I have all the times here, but hang on. Are you sure that’s what the old man said?”
“Yes indeed. So, you have the time the train left and when it would have gotten to Dell Rapids?”
“I do, but I find it unlikely that they would have been on that train.”
“How come?”
“That train was loading pretty far away from where I found him, compared to when it departed.”
“Well, the man insists it was a train heading North to Dell Rapids.”
Then that’s where they are, because Dell Rapids is the end of the line on that track.”
***
“So…Lancelot Drive? At least it’s a starting point.” Phil started walking down the street. Bob looked around, but didn’t find anything familiar.
“Do you have any idea where we’re going?”
“South.”
Bob shook his head. “Fair enough.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Dead. How about yours?”
“Probably around half or so.” Phil pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open. Three of the four battery bars were showing. “Maybe more. Like it helps us. We can’t even use them.”
“Well, we don’t know that for sure.”
“So, do you want me to call a cab?”
“Does Aberdeen even have cabs?”
“Probably not.”
“Are you sure this is the right way?”
“Well, to the North was a lot of nothing, and we’re walking by houses here. This has to be the way.”
“Have we figured out what we’re doing next?”
“I didn’t know I was in charge.”
“You picked a direction?”
“Well, a navigator and a leader aren’t always the same.”
“Here’s your chance to be both. Do we stay on Lancelot or take 1st Avenue Southeast?”
Phil looked left and right. He honestly didn’t know what to do.
