The Devil Child

Chapter Twenty

 Polly's uncle was a dedicated man when it came to his job. And when it came to his most recent case, he was extremely dedicated.

He dealt with a lot death, and a lot of kidnapping. However, the story laid out in front of him was very different than what he'd been expecting. When he first stumbled upon the case of Elliott Cole, he imagined a typical case of an abused child. Polly's uncle had seen his fair share of abuse, and he was used to reading the triggers, the signs, and the reasoning. Most abuse cases were not all that hard to solve. Most came from family.

Polly's uncle, however, didn't know anything about their home life, or who their mother was. Her name, MARY COLE, stared back at him, but she didn't exist in the database. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew that most abusive cases came from parents. If this was true here, then it made sense that these boys had been abused by their mother.

He kicked his filing cabinet, angered and exhausted. Then, a knock came at his door.

"Come in."

The person behind the door was another detective. He was older than Polly's uncle, which was made noticeable from the greying hair and the aged wrinkles on his grave face. Polly's uncle immediately knew he had bad news.

"John, I found something interesting."

Polly's uncle, John, stood from his chair. "Linked to my case?"

The other detective rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe. This case was already assigned, but when I caught wind of it, I thought it could help us out."

John took the case from the older detective's hand. His eyes flitted over a missing child case that involved two missing children, both siblings. The thing that stood out to John was their location.

These two children, who were reported missing earlier in the week, disappeared from the same town that Elliott and his two brothers resided.

John didn't really see how the two cases could be related. His eyes met those of the older detective. "I'm assuming there's more?"

The other detective nodded. "Isn't there always? This is same family who called in about a break in a few weeks back."

"About the note in the child's bedroom saying that they'll be back. Well, do you think it means anything? Should we look into it?"

The older detective thumbed through another folder. "Well, I'd say so. That same family has another son, who is older, in high school. He's friends with Elliott."

John's neck snapped up at he looked at the older detective. "I'd say we go down and question the family. Maybe there's more, a clue of some sort."

The older detective was already shaking his head. "I'd agree with you, but it isn't our case. A detective's already on it, so we can ask him. I don't know if the cases are connected, but it's worth a try. Especially if we have nothing. I think it's slightly suspicious that two siblings of a boy who is friends with Elliott were kidnapped. If Elliott's mother wants her children back..."

John nodded, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. "We've certainly seen weirder methods when it comes to getting things. What is the detective's name? And how can we get that case?"

* * *

"Talk about busy!" Kenzie watched as people filtered in and out of the store. Polly was too busy looking at sketch pads to notice, thumbing through the different brands. Her mind was focused on the compact in her pocket, even though she didn't want to be thinking about it.