Robert was no closer to finding Keung Chen or the boy’s friends. After taking a week off to search the streets for the boy, he was beginning to regret the loss of productive work. Apparently, he was more interesting to Keung when he was busy being a cop than when he was just sitting at home and trying to locate the little brat. Kun Chen had been emailing him almost daily for an update. When he returned to work, the chief had pulled him aside to talk about his call to the father of the boy pranking him. Something about how it went against procedure, how it could be troubling to the family of the boy, and how he needed to get his head straight. He was even sent to the department psychologist for a checkup and given a week off paid due to psychological stress and personal maintenance.
Before Robert was a map of his patrol route through the city. He had made small notes indicating dates and times he had seen Keung as well as dates and times he had jogged or driven through the area. Over three weeks and nothing. Nothing at all. The area in which Keung was seen begging, when Robert asked around, there people remembered the boy from months back, always seated in the center divide and writing in that notebook. They remembered that old metal lawn chair. But, no one he spoke to had seen him in weeks.
Robert wrinkled his brow in frustration as he attempted to figure out what was going on, it was like looking at a puzzle scattered across a table and not having the box to guide him. Where was this game going? Keung had openly taunted him, pranked him, given him his fingerprint which led to his name and his family, then to just disappear for the next three weeks? Where was a homeless kid with pocket change supposed to go? The boy was seventeen years old, he might be able to pass for eighteen with the right clothes, but you need identification for almost everything today. The kid was too young for a credit card. Had he hitchhiked his way out of town? Was he hurt? Was he dead? If he was, what was Robert supposed to do now? Should he simply stop and put the boy out of his mind? Write off the whole situation as just one of those things?
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His days had become empty, filled with nothing but thoughts of finding Keung. The face of the boy was burned into his mind, each picture that Kun had sent to him was etched there as well. He remembered exactly what the boy was wearing when he saw him and he had been fixed on that outfit every time he went out on a patrol. But, he repeatedly came back with nothing. It’s like the boy just pulled up stakes and left the area. Robert had installed a motion activated video camera at his front door and he had checked the video files every day since he had installed it. He also installed several cameras in his apartment, in case Keung got in some other way, and still nothing.
Robert clutched his head in frustration and tried to calm his breathing. He paced out each breath in time with a ten count in his head. Inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth. He could feel his thoughts coming together more clearly as his heartbeat slowed to something more restful.
Detective McHenry sat in his car, idling out front of Robert’s condo complex. There was something seriously wrong with his friend. From this vantage, he could see into Robert’s front window and watched as the other man looked over something intently in the kitchen. He was obsessed with this kid. Sure, the boy had pranked him, caused a little fuss, and if caught the department would no doubt levy charges and fines against them, or more realistically their parents. But, seriously, was a little dent in your pride worth two months of your attention? Michael turned the key and his old Willys MB rumbled to life. The detective put the vehicle in gear and began down the street, the wheels of the Jeep rumbling down the road with their off road tread.