Jake spent the better part of the morning doing research on Nigel Watson. He was able to find out that he had a kid brother Ralphie who attended Milford Elementary, just around the corner from Milford High School.
“Is there any other information you can find on the twerp, Donnie?”
“No, Boss. I asked several of my contacts at the elementary school, and that is all I have!”
“Fine. I need you to do something for me.”
“A little fieldwork?” Donnie asked excitedly.
“Yeah, something like that,” Jake said with delight.
At 2:45 p.m., the last bell for the Milford Elementary School rang. Ralphie was in the process of packing his backpack when a kid he didn't know bumped into him. The contents of his backpack spilled on the floor.
Stolen story; please report.
“Excuse me,” the kid said.
“Ahh, look what you've done!” cried Ralphie.
The kid started helping him repack his backpack. Ralphie was distracted, putting papers back in his binder, so he didn't notice when the kid slipped a small circular disc into one of the outside pockets.
“Sorry, Man!” said the kid as he hurried away.
Several hours later, Donnie Davis met Jake at a local coffee shop a few blocks away from the school.
“Is it done?”
“It’ll be days before he even notices it,” Donnie said.
Jake pulled out his smartphone and launched the disc-tracking app paired to the smartphone. As Jake reviewed the logs, he noticed several gaps in Ralphie's activity.
“Donnie, I think the disc is broken. I see Ralphie at school, then he disappears until much later in the day.”
“The disc is designed to be attached to a keychain or something else that is portable and will work with any cellular signal within thirty feet of the disc,” Donnie said. “The gaps represent the lack of cell phone coverage.”
“Oh, I see. Ralphie doesn't have a phone.”
Donnie liked Jake, but he could be quite dense at times.
“Yeah. We will get better results if Ralphie gets a phone or is around someone that already has a phone,” Donnie said.
“The twerp needs to hang around more people with phones. It’s starting to get colder, which means he will get more rides from people with phones.”