Midnight Rambler: A Novel of Suspense

The couple were separated. I entered the room and introduced myself as park security without giving my name. Tram jumped out of his chair and pumped my hand. He was small and wiry, maybe one-forty soaking wet, with dozens of tiny black moles visible beneath his crew cut. The words Jimbo's Homestyle BBQ were stitched in flaming red over the pocket of his denim shirt. He didn't look old enough to shave.

I told him to sit down and gave him my best no-nonsense look.

“I need to ask you a couple of questions, Mr. Dockery.”

“It's Tram,” he said.

“Mine's Jack. Let me get right to the point. We think the person who nabbed your daughter is a pro. More than likely, he'll try to leave the park when it closes and tens of thousands of people are going home. That gives us time to figure out a strategy.”

“Great,” he said.

“That's the good news,” I said. “The bad new is, it won't be easy figuring out which child is yours. Your daughter's appearance will be drastically altered, and she may not look like a little girl anymore.”

“I'll do whatever you want,” Tram said.

“Good. Now, I want you to level with me. Did you sell your daughter to someone in the park and not tell your wife about it?”

Tram leaped out of his chair, and I reflexively jumped back. He threw his arms into the air while tears streamed down his face. “No! I'd never do that! You think I'm some kind of criminal—I can see it in your eyes! I'd never sell my daughter, not even to the richest man in the entire world.”

“Sit down,” I said.

“Do you believe me?”

I pointed at his chair.

“Do you?”

“Sit,” I ordered him.

Finally he sat.

“No, I don't believe you,” I said flatly.

“But I'm telling the truth,” he wailed.

“Something's bothering you, son, and I want to know what it is.”

Tram held his head with both his hands and looked down like there wasn't enough floor to stare at.

“Tell me,” I said.

“This was my last chance, and I blew it,” Tram said.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“I've been straight for six months. No weed, no beer, going to church every Sunday, working eight-to-six in my daddy's restaurant. Peggy Sue told me if I didn't clean up my act, she'd divorce me and get sole custody of my daughter. And I've been doing good, until today.”

“Do you blame yourself for what happened?”

He nodded, still looking down. “I was watching her.”

“Tell me what happened.

From the beginning.”

“We came out of the ‘It's a Small World’ exhibit. Peggy Sue got on line to buy snacks, and me and Shannon went looking for hidden Mickeys.”

“Hidden what?”

“Hidden Mickeys.”

“Is that a game?”

“There's hundreds of hidden images of Mickey Mouse in the park,” he explained. “They're in tables and on buildings and sometimes you see them in shadows at certain times of the day. We're staying at a Disney hotel, and they've got a promotion if you find a certain number of them. Shannon was looking at a hidden Mickey carved in a shrub, and I went to help Peggy Sue with the snacks. When I came back, my baby was gone.”

“How long did you leave your daughter?”

“Half a minute.”

“Do you consider Shannon's disappearance your fault?”

Tram choked up. “Yeah.”

“So you screwed up.”

“I've been doing that my whole life.”

“Answer the question.”

“Yeah, I screwed up.”

“But you didn't sell her to someone.”

Tram shook his head, and tears flowed down his cheeks. I didn't know whether to believe him or not. But I wanted to believe him, and sometimes that's the best emotion to run with. I placed my hand firmly on his shoulder, and he looked up at me hopefully.

“Okay,” I said.

Tram and Peggy Sue were reunited, and Sally drove them to the front entrance of the Magic Kingdom in a golf cart. I followed in a separate cart, watching Tram from a distance. The kid was still bothering me, and I wondered if he was high on something when his daughter disappeared. That would explain his hyped-up behavior.

We reached the entrance, parked, and got out. There were ten turnstiles. A pair of Disney security guards stood at each turnstile, holding a picture of Shannon Dockery while watching people pass through. Characters in Mickey Mouse costumes also stood by the turnstiles. Sally must have heard about Shannon's fascination with hidden Mickeys and decided this would be a good way to draw the child out.

I stood with Tram and his wife and Sally on a patch of grass beside the entrance. Sally asked Peggy Sue what kind of shoes her daughter was wearing. She explained that while the abductors had probably changed Shannon's clothes, they wouldn't know what size shoes she wore and would have to leave those on her feet.

“Pink Reeboks,” Peggy Sue said.

“You sure she wasn't wearing her flip-flops?” Tram asked.

“She wanted to wear her flip-flops, but I wouldn't let her,” Peggy Sue said. “My daughter's wearing pink Reeboks.”

Sally went to each pair of guards and instructed them to be on the lookout for a child wearing pink Reeboks. Ten minutes passed, and hundreds of families walked by. Everything was being done by the book, but there was a problem. Too many small children were walking past to let the guards get a good look at each one. I pulled Sally aside.

“This is only going to get worse as the park starts to clear out,” I said.

“What should I do?” Sally asked.

“Slow the lines down.”

“I can't do that.”

“Why not?”

“Half the people inside the Magic Kingdom are infants,” Sally explained. “These kids have to eat, go to the bathroom, take a nap. If the lines start backing up, they'll start screaming, and we'll have a full-blown catastrophe on our hands.”

Sally was starting to sound desperate. She'd done everything she could, yet knew it wasn't good enough. I stared at the families pouring through the turnstiles. Fort Lauderdale also had theme parks, and I had lost a four- year-old girl on my watch two years earlier that I would forever lose sleep over. Her disappearance was a total mystery until a maintenance man told his bosses about some odd things he'd discovered in the trash.

“Can you get me into the park?” I asked.

“Sure. What do you have in mind?”

“I want to search the area where Shannon was abducted.”

“I'll get one of the guards to drive you,” Sally said.

I pointed at Tram standing nearby, holding his wife's hand.

“I want him to come with me,” I said.