The good news, though, is that if Kelli’s doing what we think she is, then she’s got some time before she’s in any real danger-maybe a week or two. We’ll find her long before that.”
She nodded. “Do you think I should I call the police?”
“Yes-but Toni and I have a friend in the Seattle Police Department who knows some people up here. She’s going to put in a good word for us. We should have better instructions-who to call, that sort of thing-by later this afternoon.”
She nodded. “Good. Thank you, Danny.”
I smiled. “I’m just sorry you’re having to go through this,” I said. “I know how hard it is to sit back and worry about someone when you don’t have any decent information about what’s going on.” Actually, I was very familiar with the feeling-just having gone through a similar situation when Toni’d been abducted three months ago. Basically, it sucked. “But remember, Kelli’s a bright, resourceful girl. And Toni tells me she’s tough.”
Julia smiled. “That she is.”
“She’ll be okay,” I said, just as Toni walked into the living room. “Got ’em?” I asked.
She showed me three photos that she’d printed. “Perfect,” I said. “Just what we need. Did you remember to send one to Kenny?”
She gave me the 'raised eyebrow' look.
“Sorry,” I said, holding up my hand. “Just thought I’d double-check.”
“I sent them to him and to Nancy and to me and you, too. We’re good,” she said. She turned to Julia. “Mom, we’re going to run on up to the mall and start looking. We’ll call you when we hear from the police about the missing person report. If we can give them the report, we will. But we’ll let you know one way or another.”
Julia nodded. Toni walked over to her, and they hugged. While they were embracing, Julia looked over Toni’s shoulder and said, “Find her, Danny.”
I reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry,” I said as I nodded. “We will.”
Chapter 21
It had been sunny earlier in the morning, but now the clouds were rolling in. Soon it would begin to rain. I have friends in other states that were in the middle of heat waves, but here it was in the mid-sixties. I don’t envy them.
I was driving north on Thirty-Sixth Avenue toward the Alderwood Mall. The mall is almost exactly one mile from Julia’s house, so it wouldn’t take long.
“Your mom going to be okay?” I asked.
Toni nodded. “I think so. She’s pretty tough.”
“She’s an impressive lady,” I said. “It’s pretty easy to see where you and Kelli get your gumption.”
She smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “I suppose.”
A few seconds later, I said, “Why do you suppose Kelli didn’t drive?”
Toni shrugged. “Because she hoped to get picked up,” she answered. “She didn’t want her truck sitting vulnerable-like in the mall’s parking lot for a couple of days while she was gone.” She paused. “She loves her truck. She’d rather walk a mile than have it broken into.”
A few minutes later, I pulled into the mall’s main entrance off 184th Street.
The entrance was about a hundred yards long, then it forked left and right. “Which way?” I asked. “Got any ideas?”
Toni leaned forward and looked left, then right. “Let’s just drive around the whole place first.”
I turned left to circle the mall clockwise. “Where do kids hang out at malls?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said, as she scanned the stores. “It’s been a while for me. Maybe the food court?”
That made sense. “Where’s the food court at this place?” I asked.
“I don’t know that either. We’ll probably need to park and find a directory. But let’s keep going around once before we stop.”
The mall is good-sized for northwest Washington, which probably means it’s average size for most other places. The perimeter road is square-shaped, maybe one-quarter mile in each direction. We entered at the top of the square-due north.
At the bottom of the square, we passed a movie theater and a couple of stand-alone restaurants. The sign read “Terraces.”
“This might be it,” I said. “There sure are a lot of kids around here. But I don’t see any kind of food court.”
“It’s summertime. There’s going to be lots of kids at the movie theater. But if we’re looking for the food court, it’s not going to be outside,” Toni said. “It’ll be inside, out of the weather. Let’s just finish the circle, and then we’ll go inside at the main entrance and look for a directory.”
“What makes you think the movie theater isn’t where Kelli would have gone?”
“Think about it,” she said. “Kelli’s following Isabel, right?” Before I could answer, she continued. “Isabel was looking for something-or someone. That’s why she came here. Isabel got picked up on or just right after her birthday-May seventh. School was still in session then. So-”
“So there wouldn’t have been any kids at the movie theater except for at night.”
“Right,” she said. “And even then, it would have been pretty light on a weekday night.”
“And May seventh was-”
“A Monday. A school day and a school night. I think that it would have been relatively quiet at the theater then, and relatively busier inside at the food court.”
I thought about this for a few seconds. “Well, I wouldn’t want to stake my life on that theory, but it’s better than anything I’ve got.”
“So let’s keep going,” she said. “If it’s not busy inside, we’ll come back out here.”
I finished driving the perimeter and found a parking space no more than a couple hundred yards away from the main entrance. We hiked on inside a few seconds before the rain started falling. Just inside was a large directory. I scanned it and located the food court.
“I was right,” I said. “It’s in the back in the place called the Terraces.”
“Inside,” Toni said.
“Leave the Jeep and walk there?” I asked.
“Yeah.” We had started walking toward the mall’s main entrance when Toni said, “Wait a second.” I turned to her, but she was already walking toward a group of girls. I followed.
“Hi,” she said. “Can I ask you guys a question?”
They nodded.
“We’re new to the area, and we’re supposed to meet my little sister here. But she didn’t say where. Do you girls have any idea where kids-about your age-would hang out?”
“Probably the food court,” one of the girls said. “There’s lots of kids there.”
Toni smiled. “Thanks.”
She turned to me. “Sounds like we’re on the right track,” she said.
We walked down the main corridor, hung a right at Macy’s, and then turned left to reach the Terraces Food Court. It was a very large, open area, with ceilings probably thirty feet tall. A long double row of skylights allowed natural daylight to flood the huge area. It was about as close to being an outdoor area as you could get and still make it work in the rainy Northwest. Two-dozen food vendors occupied spaces that ringed the perimeter of the court. There must have been a couple hundred tables in the center.
Impressive as that was, though, the most impressive thing by far were the number of people. It was twelve thirty-lunchtime. It was as if every middle school and high school in the northern King County area had decided to hold class in the food court, and school had just let out for lunch. It was a huge party. There were hundreds of kids: kids talking, kids laughing, kids eating, kids standing around. There were at least a half-dozen security guards, stationed at strategic points around the area. They seemed to simply watch the action around them. Perhaps they
