Road Trip (2018 Wattys Long List)

Chapter 10

Dan Colbeck leaned his wooden office chair back on two legs. He was sitting at his desk,feet crossed on its cluttered surface. There had been no sign of the missing four so far. Where could they be, for crissakes? Who would ever dream it could take this long to find old people like them? He thought this would be another open and shut case, but no such luck. These people were starting to piss him off. Who would ever expect a bunch of seniors, just out of an old folks home, to outsmart him this long, the lead detective of the Glendale police force? They must have gone further away than he had originally thought. He would widen the search right away. Just then, the phone rang loudly and Dan dropped the chair onto four legs, leaned forward and picked up the receiver. "Colbeck here."

What's happening with the missing old people, Dan? I got relatives calling, wanting answers." the voice at the other end of the line barked loudly. Dan held the receiver away from his ear. It was the boss, Chief Peters. Shit.

"I got nothing yet, Chief. Just thinking that I should make this a province=wide search, now. See what turns up from that. Do some legwork of my own, too. Should have them before you know it,", Dan poured it on, trying to give this a positive spin, hoping to make Peters happy.

"Dan, get your head out of your ass and find these people. I'm up to my neck in crap here, and I'm not happy about it. If you like your job, you better get results, pronto. Otherwise, you might find you don't have a job anymore. And that could be arranged, 'before YOU know it!", shouted Chief Peters. He slammed the phone down before Dan had a chance to say anything further.

Damn! He didn't need this kind of crap either. He picked up the phone and called the dispatcher. He wanted a province-wide bulletin put out immediately. He gave all the information that he had, in the hope that some officer, somewhere might save his ass for him.

It was early in the morning of the following day before Dan got his first lead on the whereabouts of the fugitives. A call came through for him and the dispatcher made the connection.

"It has been reported that the car you are looking for stopped for fuel last night at a service station west of Sudbury. A place by the name of Fran's Dinner. They gassed up and bought take out before leaving again," the disembodied voice on the other end of the line spoke tersely.

"Son of a bitch! Dan swore without thinking.

"Wha'z that you say?" the voice asked.

"Nothing. Just talking to myself. Thanks for the info, I'm on it", Dan said before hanging up. Leaning back in his chair, he started planning a trip to Sudbury. "I got you now", he thought "I got you now"!

Dialing the phone, he hurriedly made arrangements to be out of the office for the next few days. When he had made the necessary calls, Dan looked around the room, to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, then he left, closing the door behind him. He needed to go home and pack a few things, before leaving for Sudbury.

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Ryan handed the bag of food to Stu and slipped back into the rear seat, next to a surly Reg. "Don't crowd me, kid, gimme some room!"

"I gotta get in, don't I?"

"Not really. Maybe you should wait here for your next ride", Reg suggested hopefully.

"That's enough!" Stu said, " Move over a little, give the kid some room".

"Ya, ya, ya," Reg said testily, grudgingly giving Ryan a bit more space on the seat. It seemed to him that this kid was getting too much of his pal Stewart's attention, and it was happening at Reg's expense. He didn't appreciate Ryan's interference at all. He sat sulking.