Chapter 10

7DAYS LATER

"What do you mean by 'I should calm down?', my son has been missing for the past seven days and you're telling me I should calm down".

Jack's father roared in anger. The only thing stopping him from pummeling the face of the receptionist was the plexi glass barricade. Days had passed an there was no sign of Jack. Worry had etched it's way into his mind.

Days unend he had trooped into the station to find out about the leads on his son's disappearance, if any. The reply was always the same 'we're looking into it'

"Sir, we are investing all our time and resources into your son's case but there are no traces of a kidnap like you claim, there are no witnesses, we interrogated the boy you suspected and he knows nothing, for all we know your son could have run off or something".

The police man back fired, being a receptionist at a police station meant that the brutal aggression and raw anger of any upset civilian would be targeted at you.

"My son has never..." Jack's dad heaved a sigh and rubbed his face with his left hand while his right held his waist. The creases on his shirt implied he slept in them.

"Officer...?" His voiced reduced a tempo

"Scott. Jeremy Scott".

"I appreciate the effort your team has invested in the search for my son and all but you should understand, his my child and I can't sleep properly knowing that he is out there, somewhere"

"I understand".

Scott had calmed down, he understood the emotions parents displayed when their child went missing as he had his fair share of children and he wouldn't want them to be kidnapped nor run off.

"We will get back to you if there is any improvement or any lead on the case", Scott recited from memory monotonously like he was trained to.

Jack's father gave a tight lipped smile, clearly forced and nodded. He turned to leave when the sound from the sliding glass entrance caught his attention. As Jack's dad fixed his eyes on the person at the entrance, all he could see was red, his blood boiled over, standing before him was the reason for his son's disappearance, so he thought.

"Maxwell", he spat the name out with so much venom and complemented it with a dead glare that could make Bruce Wayne quiver and hide in a corner.

"Sir, I'm sorry for..."

Max never got to complete his sentence as he was slammed against the feeble glass, effectively shattering the panes. Max winced at the impact. He looked into the eyes of Jack's father and the pain at the back of his head was less important.

"Sir, please".

A punch to his left cheek shut him up, the impact of his clamming teeth tore the sides of his tongue muscle. Max could hear shouts and threats of arrest from a person but the voice was slowly becoming a dull ache in his ears. He was thrown on the floor. He clutched his ears trying to regain his proper hearing.

Jack's father stood poised about to leap for a second dishing of blows when he was held back in a tight arm lock. He wriggled and shouted at the men clad in uniform. His struggles against their strong hold proved futile as he was suspended, his feet hovering above the ground.

"Sir, I'm afraid that if you don't calm down we will escort you to a cell were you'll be forced to calm down". The officer on the right spoke into his ear.

The authority in the Officer's voice made his body livid. They left him as he dropped to the ground, he brushed the creases on his dishevelled shirt. He stared at Max who clutched his reddening cheeks as he breathed in and out. He spat at Max's feet, wiped a dribble from his stubble and walked away. He brushed through the shoulders of the policemen to show his disapproval for their withholding him.

"Are you okay kid?", the police man on the right asked. Max rose to his feet, still clutching his cheeks.

"I think so", Max winced as his teeth came in contact with the injury on his tongue. "I came to give you this". Max inserted his right hand into his back pocket and pulled out a phone in a transparent plastic bag.

"Whose phone is that?" The officer who stood on the right, stretched his hands to collect it. "Jack's?", They stared at him as if waiting for him to laugh and tell them it was an obscene prank, but he never did, he stared at them ; face stoic as ever with a hand on his swelling cheek.

"Is this some kind of joke?" The officer on the left voiced out the thoughts, his raspy voice suggested his addiction to smoking , coupled with his blackened lips. " How did you get this phone?" All form of concern for Max's welfare was thrown into the bin as the officers crossed their arms.

"I know how this looks but someone sent me this. I woke up this morning to check the mailbox only to find it there, I don't know how long it's been there for".

"And you expect us to believe you?" The policemen were taking turns at throwing questions like it was a quiz.

"The cameras on my street will prove it, I didn't put anything in the mail box, I'm not stupid",

"For all we know, you could have easily paid someone to do it for you".

Max palmed his face avoiding the bruised area, he winced as the dull pain in his cheeks stung again. He knew within him that the police would have a hard time believing him. Max stared at the duo infront of them, the officer on the right stood upright with crossed arms, a smirk on his face as if he was waiting for Max to confess his sins.

The officer on the left stood, crossed arms his facial expression denoted his interest in the case but his eyes told a different story, he would rather be somewhere, smoking.

"So basically you're saying that I would kidnap my friend, pay someone to send his phone back to me and then bring the evidence to you which incriminates myself?" Max withheld a rising laugh. The officer on the right reacted first, his smirk fell into a thin line realising how petty the claims sounded.

"Yep" the officer on the left popped the p so loud that his colleague beside him turned to look at him. The bewilderment on Max's face was equally shared on the officer's face. Max shook his head, winced at the pain.

"You need to ice that", Max turned to look at the officer who seemed more appropriate.

"I know". Max shoved the officer on the left as he walked by. He stopped and turned "and you need to replace that" he pointed at the shattered glass panes.

The officer chuckled as Max left.

*. *. *.

The officers narrated the whole incidence to Officer Hank who sat on his leather chair. They dropped the phone on his table. He picked it up to inspect in.

"And he found it in his mailbox this morning?" Officer Hank reiterated to confirm their story.

"Yes" the officers chorused.

Officer Hank dropped the phone on his table, pushed his chair backwards and walked out of his office with the Officers trailing behind him.

He walked exuding confidence and authority. The musculature he had made him come off as an intimidating man.

The repetitive thud of his shoes against the carpeted floor resounded through the hallway. Other colleagues seeing the 'mobile truck' coming towards them parted as they did not want to be at the receiving end of his push.

He opened the door shielding the surveillance unit.

"Pull up surveillance footage of 23 Cheshire street for the past one week"

"Everything?" The surveillance expert licking a lollipop asked.

Officer Hank glanced at him, and stared like he was the dumbest person on Earth, the scowl that was creeping into his face made the eyes of the workers widen. He quickly rolled his chair towards the computer, tapped a few keys and the surveillance footage appeared in order from the previous Tuesday. Officer Hank held on to the chair, looked at the worker and raised his eyebrows. Quickly grabbing the hint, the worker stood up.

In less than an hour, Officer Hank had gone through the surveillance footage for four days, fast-forwarding where there was no movement at the front of the house and slowing down when anyone got too close to the mailbox.

The position of the camera captured the side view of the house watching anyone that walked by. They would unknowingly walk in it's direction as it covered the front porch and the sidewalks. None so far had touched nor inserted a package in the mailbox.

He flipped to the next tape, the fifth day. He pressed the fast-forward button, yawning as the process was tiresome. The footage gradually turned from day to night. He made a move to flip it to the next footage when something caught his eye.

He paused it and pressed the rewind button. He paused it again and pressed play. It was a night clip, the surveillance camera illuminated the footage in green clearly the use of night vision. Someone walked, looked around , opened the mailbox, removed a package from his pocket and inserted it.

The person walked on and looked up, unknowingly into the lens of the camera. He paused it. He stood up from the seat he occupied and gesticulated to the worker to occupy the seat.

"Zoom in on the face" Officer Hank told the surveillance expert. He tapped a few keys and it zoomed in. "Clear the pixels", he tapped again a few of the pixels cleared.

Officer Hank squinted to recognise the face but couldn't due to the night vision and the poor pixelation. "Run it through the database, let's see if we will have any hits. How long will that take?". The worker remove his lollipop and glanced at Officer Hank, "five minutes". He put his lollipop in his mouth and began typing, none of which made sense to any other person not gifted in the computer knowledge aspect.

Five minute crawled by slowly and Officer Hank was getting impatient, the officers who had accompanied him currently leaned again the table and the wall. Their curiosity about the person held them put.

Officer Hank alternated from glancing at his watch and fixing his hands on his waist. The surveillance expert had his arms behind his head relaxing and staring at the computer as names flashed by, searching for similarities in the contours of the face in the footage to that of anyone in their database.

The computer beeped, it found a match. Officer Hank heaved a sigh of relief. He moved from his spot and so did the other Officers, eager to see the new suspect.

Officer Hank had a feeling that the person wouldn't be connected to the case as he still held on to his suspicions of Max paying someone.

Officer Hank looked at the screen, his face contorted in confusion. He knew this person. He was the reason for the surveillance footage search, the officer who looked more interested had an eyebrow raised and a grimace on his face.

He read the name on the screen more like a question to be assured he wasn't seeing things, "Jack?"