Chapter 11 Police investigation

The black BMW skids up the road and turns into the street. Surprisingly the stormy weather turns nice and quiet through the golden sun. The lonely car continues driving slowly up the empty street. Suddenly and without warning a scene taken from a Hollywood detective movie occurs! Squad cars, detective and forensics cars park on both sides of the curb. Cops and detective are seen moving in and out of the house.at the front of the house and in the yard stand cops that prevent the neighbors and passerby standing around from approaching so as not to disturb the police work. The black BMW stops and parks near the squad cars and from it step out Eve and Gideon, their faces gloomy and tired. Cops, detective and forensics personnel are seen around the yard examining the yard closely inch by inch. Anything found at the scene is placed in a plastic bag, sealed and transferred to a special forensics bag. A few cops are talking amongst them and one of the cops who are talking to Wally blocks their way in.

"I'm sorry…you can't come in the house! You're interfering with a police investigation"

"My name is Gideon and I am Eve's partner standing before you…Eve is Isaac's mother and Abraham's ex"

Gideon explains angrily. Ally taken by surprise quickly approaches and shakes their hands.

"Hi there! My name is Wally and I am the deputy of Mickey who is the Lt. in charge of your affair…how are you?"

"Thank you, we're trying to hang in there…we hope we find Isaac safe and sound…is there any progress in the investigation?"

Answers Gideon as he hugs Eve whose face and mood are somber.

"Let's go in the house" Wally leads them into the apartment "unfortunately the investigation is still in its initial stages and we have nothing to report yet"

Abraham and Michelle are already sitting in the living room, drinking coffee. Eve and Gideon watch Abraham hatefully who just finished telling Michelle something that makes both of them laugh quietly. Abraham notices the guests and stops laughing.

"Stop laughing Michelle…Eve and Gideon are here…let's welcome them properly"

Abraham and Michelle get up and wait for Eve and Gideon who approach them seriously. Ally standing in the corner of the room curiously peeks at the two couples and calls Mickey who is supposed to arrive at the house at any moment.

"Hey Mickey…its Wally…where are you? Good, OK! Gideon and Eve, Isaac's mother just arrived…yeah…it seems the two couples are not so friendly…got it! Hold them until you get here!! Bye!"

Abraham, leaning on Michelle, turns shamefully to Eve who is leaning on Gideon. Abraham and Gideon eye each other hatefully.

"Hi Eve. How are you? I have been driving all night looking for our son…I came back this morning"

He can't continue and looks down at the floor. Gideon says

"Don’t go on…we already know you didn’t find anything! Just know that we would much prefer not coming here but the police insisted we come! We have nothing to seek here....we're here because of the police and would rather get out of here as soon as possible"

Michelle quickly retaliates in order to calm everyone.

"But you need to get over the anger towards us…we need to stand together and be united and strong in our cause. Overcome"

Eve's hatred to them both overcomes her

"Shut up already you dammed people! I left Isaac under your supervision…you forgot! And you…stupid...Michelle"

Michelle turns pale and lowers her eyes…

"If you hadn't fallen asleep. Isaac wouldn’t be missing now…so shut up!!"

Everyone sit in their places quietly and ominously…Wally, noticing the tension

"Join me for coffee. Do you know of anyone that had problems with you? Someone who might have thought to get revenge through your son? Did any of you have a fight with colleagues? Friends? Acquaintances?"

Wally looks at them all hoping to find something new but is quickly disappointed …they all shake their heads and mumble, No, No…suddenly Mickey enters the house and quickly approaches them waving at Wally.

"Hi Wally,what's new?"

He turns to everyone and shakes their hands.

"I'm Mickey the Lt. and in charge of the investigation."

While they are shaking hands he closely looks at Eve and Gideon, at Abraham and Michelle and picks up on the hard vibe and the tension between the two couples. The chief of forensics approaches the table to get some coffee and Mickey turns to him.

"Hi Jeff. How are you? Everyone Ok? Say, did you fingerprint everyone? The apartment too? Especially the living room and guest room and the yard! Did you find anything special? Is there something I should know?"

"We fingerprinted the living room, yard and everywhere in the house…we also too Abraham and Michelle's fingerprints. I am going to take Eve and Gideon's soon. I didn’t get their fingerprints as they just arrived"

"Ok Jeff…doesn't forget to do that... and don’t forget! If you find any unusual evidence. Even just a sign, a clue to evidence I want a report right away. Correction! Show me what you find"

"OK sir. We're working on it now'"

Jeff quickly disappears and reports to the forensics team about his latest conversation with Mickey who pours himself coffee, lights a cigarette and looks at all four of them again. He feels the tension between them again... but he also senses something unclear in the air. Something beyond the tension. A deep hatred and cloud hanging above…a sort of private hell that eats up every good plot of reason, truth, understanding and consideration! Mickey turns to them all without looking at their faces.

"I understand that it's hard for you all…so I suggest you have some coffee. You can also smoke....make yourselves feel at home"

Michelle quickly holds the pot and asks eve and Gideon in a tone that infuriates Eve

"Eve? Gideon? Can I pour you a cup? "

Gideon snaps at Michelle

"We're not here for coffee time! We'll pass on your coffee and we'll pass on you!! Unfortunately the police made us come here and I hope the police are done with us as quickly as they can so we can get out of here even quicker"

The four of them prefer staring off into space. Mickey smiles secretly.

"I want you to think, Abraham if there is someone, man or woman who have reason to harm you, even though Isaac…and also…I want you to tell us what happened that morning Isaac disappeared…OK? I ask you all not to interrupt"

At the same time, one of the forensics people notices something shiny protruding from the ground…he pulls out tweezers from a special kit that includes objects and items to aid the forensic team in their work...his gloved hands hold the tweezers and pull out the unidentified object. He calls Jeff as he hold a beautiful and special pen made of gold and black with the words "with thanks from Henderson Bank" inscribed on it. Jeff stands next to him curiously looking at the pen.

"What do you say Jeff?"

"Looks like a regular pen that every customer receives from the bank on holidays or when you open an account…you can put it in the evidence bag with the rest of the evidence."

The pen is placed in a plastic bag.

"Actually wait, I'm going to take the evidence bag to Mickey and I'll be right back…he wants to see everything we find"

He holds it and walks into the living room as everyone is listening to Abraham.

"So I'm trying to remember who could hate me or Eve so much that they would get their revenge through Isaac…but I can't think of anyone. Sorry…no one I know comes to mind…unless it's someone I don’t know!"

Mickey leaves his place and stands between eve and Gideon as he looks at Abraham and Michelle standing silently.

"What about you Eve? Can you think of anyone who might want to get back at you? Maybe you had a confrontation at work? Maybe you fought with the neighbors? Acquaintances? Family members? You have to remember!"

Eve tries in vain to remember…she watches Gideon pleadingly hoping he might remember!

"I'm sorry Lt. Mickey…I don’t think there's anyone that hates me so much he'd want to get back at us in such a cruel low way."

She turns to Gideon.

"Can you think of anyone? Do you know any men or woman that would want to hurt me?"

"No…I don’t remember and I don’t know anyone who would want to hurt you or Isaac!!"

Suddenly Gideon remembers his confrontation with Abraham who told them about Isaac's disappearance…about the hard words they snapped at each other, but he is sure Abraham wouldn’t dare Eve and he mumbles to himself confidently and decisively as his eyes are focused on Abraham.

"Abraham wouldn’t hurt Eve…even though I can't stand him…it's impossible!"

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"Did you say something…Gideon? It looks like you were thinking of something… share your thoughts with us! Tell us"

Gideon feels uncomfortable with his thoughts and quickly responds with a smile and an authoritative tone

"Don’t worry! I wasn’t thinking of anything in particular…just remember a family I knew whose child was missing for a few hours and it turned out he left with some friends from school and forgot to let his parents know! I hope and pray and wish all of us that Isaac will be back safe and sound as well."

Everyone join in on the sentiment with enthusiasm. Mickey knows that the situation and that time are working against them, but he hopes for a happy ending as well! He watches Gideon curiously. His intuition says Gideon knows more than his saying and he interrupts the hopeful calls

"Abraham please recalls the chain of events and how you found out that Isaac is missing. Please try not to miss any detail."

Abraham who already forgot Mickey's request to tell his story feels embarrassed and uncomfortable…he would rather move on

"A...aa…I…ahh…"

he stutters helplessly.

"I was in the living room with Isaac when he talked to Eve on the phone. After the conversation he said he was going outside to the yard and not to worry about him! I was with him in the yard for a while, but because I was so tired and felt my eyes closing. I asked Michelle to watch him and went to bed feeling safe that Michelle was watching Isaac!!"

Abraham starts weeping.

"About an hour later she woke me up and told me Isaac is missing! We started searching the house, the yard, I drove all night looking for him everywhere…I came back at 7 am and I still haven’t rested. When I asked Michelle on Saturday morning what happened while she was watching Isaac, she said someone rang the door bell and when she opened it he attacked her violently! After she woke up she realized Isaac was missing. I pray that he'll be back safe and sound and we can forget all about this affair."

Jeff approaches them, holding a bag of evidence and shows it to Mickey.

"That's what we found so far".

He points to the objects.

"A key chain…a copper bracelet…a pen from Henderson's…an old sandal…a brown belt…an old ring....some toys...a pencil with an eraser! That's it"

Mickey takes the bag and curiously looks at the objects. He peeks at Michelle and Abraham…

"Do you see something unusual among these objects? Something that shouldn’t be where it was found: the yard or the house?"

Jeff moves around showing them all the contents of the bag. Eve, Gideon and Michelle say the evidence doesn’t point to anything in particular. Abraham looks at the evidence.

"Sorry Lt. Mickey but there's nothing there…they seem ordinary and familiar…"

Jeff closes the bag .Suddenly Wally's voice is heard. He so far gave the lead to Mickey and has now decided his moment has arrived.

"Abraham can you tell us again in detail what happened to Michelle? And maybe it's better…"

Mickey quickly sits up on his chair, angrily snapping at Wally

"Hold on Wally…I'm not done yet…I'm pissed because my line of thought is disturbed or severed and I don’t want it happening again"

Mickey looks at Wally with a disparaging look and is surprised Wally returns his stare defiantly. Mickey quickly looks towards Michelle.

"Michelle…I want you to tell me what happened after Abraham fell asleep…and try not to leave out anything"

"OK sir!Well,after Abraham fell asleep in the bed room I sat in the living room alternatively watching a movie and Isaac even though I was tired as well. Since Abraham already fell asleep I planned to sleep after he woke up"

"Wait a second…where was Isaac? The bed room? Living room? Yard? What was he doing while Abraham was asleep?"

Michelle tries to get her thoughts together as Wally, Abraham and Gideon watch her apathetically and Eve's anger grows.

"Wait…I remember! Isaac was in the yard…playing with that sword and shield we bought him…and when I was resting on the couch in the living room I alternatively watched the boring movie on TV and Isaac playing in the yard."

"Bu....but how could you see Isaac and the TV at the same time? Isaac wasn’t near you"

Michelle smiles cockily which frays Eve's nervous even further

"I know it doesn’t make sense…but from where the couch is you can see the TV and Isaac in the yard. You can check it out…I'm not lying! I swear to you, I watched Isaac and the movie at the same time! It was a movie by some Swedish director called err...Berrg…Bergman and the movie was called….oh, I don’t remember…I really don’t…"

Her monotonous speech starts to seep into everyone's ears as chatter and they all feel drowsy. Mickey jumps up in anger!

"Ok Michelle…forget the movie…we can find out the name of the movie…move on to what happened later"

"Huh? Ok. Sorry! So after about 40 minutes that Abraham was asleep I heard the door bell ringing…I got up and walked to the door! I was sure it was one of the neighbors or Abraham's colleagues"

Eve moves around uncomfortably and seems like she isn’t interested or that something is bothering her

"I get to the door…look through the eyelet and see someone with a long beard standing at the door! I asked who it was and he says the neighbor from the third floor…the truth is I was a little suspicious but thought I didn’t have anything to worry about because Abraham was home! I opened the door and asked if something had happened and what did he want? Abraham is sleeping now! He pointed at the chest of drawers behind me and said whatever is on there, it's mine, and I need it now! I turn around to see and suddenly he attacked me from behind, put his hand over my mouth and something on my nose that probably put me to sleep and I lost consciousness. I woke up 15 or 20 minutes later. Saw everything in the living room was in place…I look towards the yard and couldn’t see Isaac. I was sure he was in the bed room playing with Abraham…or that he went to sleep with Abraham…I ran straight to the bed room. I can't find Isaac. I immediately wake Abraham and tell him what happened to me and that Isaac is missing! Abraham doesn’t believe me…he is sure Isaac is hiding around the house or the yard! We start looking for Isaac everywhere and can't find him…we notified the police and Eve…I'm so sorry…because of that bastard…because of that man, Isaac is missing"

The wind stopped blowing, the rain stopped pouring and the street was silent. Without warning and unexpectedly Eve jumps from her chair, leans over the table and slaps Mica helle madly…as if in madness, forcing Mickey and Wally to jump up and stop her.

"You're a liar! I hate you!"

Michelle sobs in despair and anxiety as Abraham holds her hand trying to comfort her…Gideon watches Abraham in revulsion.

"Stop spinning tales…you weren’t attacked and you didn’t lose consciousness …the truth is you fell asleep in the living room and stopped watching Isaac…my boy."

Eve weeps in Mickey and Wally's arms.

"I know you were tired…why didn’t you wake Abraham up and asked that he take over? Why did you let this happen? We believed in you…despite my differences with Abraham I wanted to be your friend! But you are a monster!"

"That's not true…I'm not lying…this did happen to me! I swear it’s the truth!"

Michelle knows knows that Eve would never believe her! Eve knows that Michelle would do anything to remove suspicion from her and everything to quiet her conscience. And she keeps hitting obsessively at Michelle and crying out at her.

"Liar…I hate you! Because you fell asleep my Isaac is missing! You're a monster and I will never forgive you"

Abraham is confused! If he comforts Eve he'll get it from Michelle...if he'll comfort Michelle he'll get it from Eve… he would rather the ground opened up and swallowed both of them and give him some peace and quiet… he watches them both and doesn’t know what to do! Mickey thinks, makes a quick assessment of the situation and decides. He decisively turns to Gideon

"Abraham and Eve! What I need from you is that you organize your entire video collection from the time that you met until now! I need to review the tapes…maybe we'll find some clue to lead us in the right direction.Call us once the tapes are ready and we'll send a squad car to pick them up! Gideon, do me a favor…take Eve away…take her back home…if we need you, we'll let you know…Leave before we open another case concerning Eve's violence towards Michelle".

Gideon gets up to take Eve and leave this horrible place when Wally suddenly grabs his arm preventing him from leaving.

"And you Gideon…where were you while Eve left and until the time she returned home? Can you tell us what you were doing?"

Everyone watch Wally in surprise…Mickey who told Wally to question Gideon watches Gideon curiously and piercingly! Gideon is shocked and confused and answers in a stutter.

"What…what…what do you mean?"

He tries to remember

"When Eve left I went to the clinic for a meeting and returned around 22 p.m. to the house and went to sleep…I woke up at around 11 a.m. on Saturday, went to visit friends and then returned home again because Eve's friends called me and told me what happened OK? Happy?"

Mickey fondly hugs Gideon but continues to ask mercilessly

"I don’t get it…you had a meeting until 22 p.m. o'clock at night?"

"No, of course not. The meeting went on until 19 pm and then I went out with some friends to a bar until 22 p.m. at night"

"So from 22 p.m. Friday night until 11 am Saturday morning you were alone and no one can corroborate that?"

Gideon again turns pale and looks down at the floor.

"Right. No one can testify to seeing me! I was alone during those hours… I don’t understand what you want from me? Do you suspect that I might have had something to do with Isaac's disappearance? I lived in the house with Isaac and Eve…remembers?"

Wally pats his back as if they were old friends.

"We don’t suspect you…we're simply asking question to get as many details as we can on the case".

Mickey notices a look of hatred on Abraham's face who watches Gideon and Gideon returns that same look and quickly leads Eve out of the house as she continues to weep and call back curse towards Michelle who is sobbing as well and hoping for support and comfort from Abraham trying to repeat her words about the stranger… Abraham, angry and disgruntled, fed up with both crazy women, searches for some peace and quiet and snaps at her in revulsion

"Stop it! Everyone already heard what you said! I understand you but I can't help you…because Eve is right!"

Mickey also watches Michelle with pity and contempt. He is sure she is lying to ease her conscience. Wally tries to support and help Michelle. He believes her and is sure she is not guilty of anything! He wants to whisper in her ear in comfort but Mickey loudly says

"Listen Abraham, like I asked Eve…I would like you to gather up your collection of home videos from the moment you met Eve and until today"

He smiles at Michelle

"I suggest you go rest a little bit Michelle".

Michelle starts walking towards the bed room as Abraham prepares to accompany her but Mickey blocks his way

"I want to ask you another question and then you can go help Michelle! Tell me…how did Isaac and Gideon get along?"

"I know Isaac hated Gideon from the moment he met him…he always said he was afraid of him…on the other hand, I notices that Gideon always preferred if Isaac wasn’t near him...he always preferred if he didn’t exist and always complained the Isaac was jealous of him and caused fights between him and Eve….After I got to know him I heard several times that, I wish that nasty boy would just disappear from my life…he's a little devil and deserves to die"

"OK Abraham…thanks you! You can go to Michelle. We may need you further along and maybe even Michelle so don’t leave town...be available if we need you… bye".

Abraham walks quickly towards the bed room…Mickey watches him and Wally's look with a smirk at the corner of his mouth…Wally stretches and mumbles

"You know Mickey? I believe Michelle!!I know it sounds imaginary but I believe her! I think Gideon is a riddle. He's a weird egocentric character and I couldn’t stand him from the first moment I saw him! He disgusts me…"

An idea comes to him and he jumps up in excitement

"Say Mickey? Maybe this case has something to do with the singing pervert? Our singing pervert? Maybe we should investigate that direction! What do you say?"

Mickey glances at him insultingly making Wally cringe in his chair and light a cigarette nervously.

"Be quiet Wally…don’t let people hear you and laugh at you…are you crazy? Do you actually believe that loony Michelle? It's pretty obvious Isaac disappeared because she fell asleep"

He says meanly

"If I were Eve, I would pour a bucket of gasoline on Michelle and light a match t her!! And you?? Again with the pervert? Do you think he's related to Abraham's house? Where would he get the address? Where does he know Abraham from? And Isaac? If you keep talking like that you'll be committed…I think we should watch Gideon too…what Abraham said is very bad…this entire affair…loony Ville!"

Mickey starts laughing crazily and Wally watches him in amazement. He joins in on the sick laughter. Mickey who seems amused by the whole thing, pulls out the flask, looks around and sips

"Crazy Wally, take some for the road! Ahh I just remembered …go to that extra's agency…the one that send Abraham on his jobs and make sure they give you all the footage where Abraham participated, maybe we'll find a clue there"

Wally looks around quickly sips from the flask…he returns the flask to Mickey who returns it to his bag, belches out a burp and smiles.

"OK, I'll take care of the tapes…I'm sure there's no need for this tapes bullshit because it has nothing to do with the case…I insist that if we look for Isaac we need to find the singing pervert! I'm crazy, right Mickey?"

Mickey stops himself from laughing unsuccessfully.

"Who knows Wally? Maybe the cops and the crazies are more alike than different! We lead crazy lives…we become more and more crazy"

They both walk towards the yard of the house hugging, grotesquely, cheerful and continue to laugh in madness at the faces of the embarrassed and confused cops and detectives who continue to run around like ants toiling at their monotonous work.