The Disappearance of a Pied Piper

A Pied Piper?

What is his game? Bud wondered. How did he attract 21 children to run away with him in the nude, no less? Or did he have uniforms in his car for some sort of cult he was starting? That won't work. His car is still in front of the church.

Bud rushed back to his car and sat for long minutes as he tried to process through this most recent development. I don't want to alarm the others over something, that even I don't know for sure, yet. Take a breath, Bud ol' boy. What do you know for sure?

He paused to let the full force of the question sink into the depths of his heart.

22 of our citizens, (21 children and one adult,) left their clothes in their several beds in the shape of each of them sleeping, he thought. They each left without a note, at least none that I've seen. They left without any apparent struggle, and with all of their clothes in an immaculately presented moment in the place where we left each one asleep. How is that even possible? Children love to play games, but how did any child leave bedclothes arranged as when he or she was asleep?

Pausing once more, he contemplated the miracle. How could a man, leave his clothes in pristine order, gather up 21 children, who all left their own clothes in pristine order, without any struggle, and without any of our hound dogs alerting us, that something was wrong? Either the preacher has a stronger modus operandi than Santa Claus does, or the facts don't fit my presupposition, that the preacher lured our children away in the dark of the night for some nefarious reason.

Grabbing both sides of his head with weary hands, Bud Best, Chief of the Police force of Fairly Same, Nevermore sat in his police car confused, a grieving dad with no clear answers to tell the people of his town, that could give any of them closure. There are no answers, that fit the facts, Bud thought. Now, what do I do?

Starting his car, he headed back to town. Using his closed-circuit radio, he called out, "Officers, I need you to meet me a the station in uniform in 15 minutes. We need to talk."

"I'm on it."

"I'll be there, Chief."

"Count on me."

"Got it. Yes, Sir. With bells on."

Four responses from the best minds in town, he thought. If there are any answers to come up with, my team will find them. I'm sure of it.

Bud nearly turned the last corner at the station on two wheels, scaring the daylights out of Mrs. Myrtle Haymaker, who was sitting on the bench in front of his office. Turning off the engine, getting out, and dusting himself off, he tried to regain some of his dignity and gentile leadership. "Good morning, Mrs. Haymaker," he said. "I have urgent new information to discuss with my team. I'm so sorry I startled you."

"A bee buzzing around my head would startle me, Chief," Myrtle said. "You made me lose ten years of my life. You want to give yourself a speeding ticket or shall I?"

"Guilty," Bud said, "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Haymaker. Please, forgive me so I can go in and meet with the other officers."

"Just this once, but don't ever let it happen, again."

"Done. Thank you so much, Mrs. Myrtle."

Jerome First, Rich Deux, George Board, and Stan Book were all waiting for the Chief when he set foot inside the office.

"First of all, thank you, men, for meeting me on such short notice," Bud said. "Please, let your wives be apprized of what I'm about to ask of you, and thank them for their sacrifice in advance. I have some new information, that may not be easy to comprehend, but the facts are all I've got to give to you right now."

"It's okay, Chief," Jerome said, "We've got your back."

"Here goes," Bud paused a beat, then started. "You know, that I went to confront the preacher just a little while ago, right?"

"Yes, Sir. We know," Rich said. "What'd he say?"

"The preacher didn't say a thing, Rich. He wasn't there."

"Which way did he go?" George asked. "We'll track him down."

"I have no idea," the Chief said. "Jerome, did you and Rich find anything earlier today when you combed my property and the surrounding area?"

"Nary a thing, Sir. We searched the two blocks twice before returning to find the town meeting in the diner."

"I don't think you'll find anything around the church property, either," Bud said, "but that will have to be part of our search parameters for the purposes of our investigation."

"He's my brother. What did you find, Chief?" Stan asked.

"I'm sorry to have to say, Stan, that your brother's demise appears to be the same as the children of our town," Bud said. "I found his bedclothes in the shape of a sleeping preacher with no preacher inside."

"Same M.O. as all of the children?" Stan asked.

"Exactly the same," the Chief assured him. "For now, we've got to follow procedures to the letter. We need to document every aspect of this investigation in order to have paperwork, that will hold up in a court of law."

"What do you need from us, Chief?" George asked.

"Since we have ten families, that are affected by these disappearances," Bud said, "I'm keeping you paired up into the same two teams, that usually work the evening and night shifts. That means each team has five houses to search and document. Nothing is too big or too small to log in your record books. Take cameras, and fingerprinting kits, and grab your best hound dog for each team to give clothes to from every child. Let the dogs track for us. If they're anywhere on the island, our hound dogs will find them."

"Where do you want us to start, Chief?" Jerome asked.

"Now, that's a great idea," Bud said. "I need to assign families to each of the teams. Where's that list from the Town Meeting this morning?"

"It's right here, Sir." Rich handed him a legal pad with handwritten notes.

"Jerome, you and Rich start at my house," Bud said. "I think Cynthia could use the company right now. As second-in-command, that strength should help her to feel stronger."

"Yes, Chief. Will do." Jerome smiled.

"When you've finished up at my house, then just go down the list, taking all the time you need at every house. Be thorough. Be cordial. Be encouraging. Our people are counting on us. The rest of your list, includes the Grady Barnes home, Bubba John Trax, Lem Cutter, and Calvin Tulip. George and Stan, you take the rest of the list. These homes include Myrtle Haymaker, Liam Painter, Pace Kerr, Altimus Gonzalez, and Israel Incarnacion."

"Got it, Chief," Jerome said for the group. "What are the limitations and parameters of our investigation?"

"There is no limit, timewise," Bud said. "We've got to find these children and return them to their rightful homes. Be thorough in your search. If it takes you most of a day at one home, let it. Start on the next home the next day. Follow that pattern."

"What about our regular shifts?" Stan asked.

"That should be easy enough for your team, Stan," Bud said. "Make a home investigation at the start of your shift, since you still have daylight to work with. Jerome and Rich, I need you both to maintain your regular shift, but I'm willing to start my shift at 5:00 AM, if you two will work the last two hours of my shift from 3:00 to 5:00 PM for the purpose of focusing on your investigations. We're being tested, Gentlemen, but we will stay strong as we always do. If any of you get to the breaking point, don't hesitate to let me know. I will adjust the schedule as needed to give you time to rest. We're a team, and as a team, we watch each other's back. Are we clear on that point?"

"Absolutely, Chief," Jerome said.

"Alright, Men, it's 3:00 PM sharp," Bud said. "I'll finish my regular for today, and I've scheduled myself to start at 5:00 AM, tomorrow. George and Stan, you start on your first home investigation, right now. Start at my house and keep working there when your regular shift starts in a couple of hours, and work 'til sundown. I want as many of these investigations carried out with sunlight as is possible. I don't want to miss a thing. I'll meet you there when I get off the clock. Jerome, you and Rich go home and get some rest. Start your night shift as per usual. We have our assignments. You're dismissed."

As the men walked outside in front of the police station, a fireworks display burst over them in the sky. "It's not the time of year for meteors, is it?" Bud asked.

"I don't think so, Chief." Jerome said. "We should probably keep some records of time and day. Maybe something's happening in the atmosphere, that we should know about."

"Good idea, Jerome," Bud said. "I'm assigning you the task of record-keeping. If anybody sees meteors, tell Jerome."

"Will do, Chief," George said, "Headed to your house."

In mere seconds the four support officers left Bud alone with his thoughts. I wonder if I was wrong about anything all those years the preacher tried to talk with me about God. Could He be real? Could these disappearances be a harbinger of things to come?

Moving down the street to the diner, Bud tried to take his mind off things with another cup of coffee. "Chief Best, I hear you made our place real popular this morning," said Ma Freshly.

"It's already the most popular restaurant in town," Bud said. "I'm not sure what I could do to make it more popular."

"We sold out of six pecan pies before I came into work," Ma assured him. "I had to start baking feverishly when I first arrived."

"You're the best, Ma," Bud said, "We're all glad we've got Freshly Diner in town. Speaking of that I need another cup of coffee. We didn't overtax that commodity, too, did we?"

"No. We've got plenty, now, but I did have to work fast to replenish what you all drank at the Town Meeting."

"Thank you for all of your hard work," Bud smiled. He spent the next two hours, sipping his coffee, while trying to process how life in this small town had changed over the past few hours. The disappearances have affected about a quarter of the population, but though the others have heard about the children being gone, commerce seems to be continuing at a normal pace in the lives of the "empty nesters," the "never-marrieds", and the "used-to-be-marrieds."

"You okay, Bud?" Ma asked as she topped off his coffee cup.

"Sure," Bud said. "Why do you ask?"

"You're over here at my corner booth, which is prime real estate for looking out the window, and you seem to be talking to yourself," she observed. "Need some help processing?"

"First of all, I am okay," he assured her. "I've got the weight of the world on my shoulders, at least the weight of our town's new problems is riding there, and yes. I could use some help processing."

"Just a second," Ma waved her best employee over to the booth. When he arrived, she said, "Jeffery, I'm on break for a little while. You take the lead, right now. You're the best."

"Yes, Ma," Jeffery responded, "Take all the time you need. I've got it."

Sliding onto the bench across from the Chief, she asked, "What's on your mind, Bud?"

"I started today, being shocked by the disappearance of my three kids," he said. "At first, I didn't realize I was starting a full-scale investigation, that would incorporate ten families in our town. At the Town Meeting, I determined my next course of action would be to confront the preacher, who had filled our children's minds with thoughts of God. When I arrived on the church property, I found the preacher missing in the same way, that our children are missing. Clothes were left behind in the shape of someone sleeping, but no one was in the clothes, and the missing person has not yet been found naked nor in new clothes, anywhere. How am I supposed to investigate a crime when no evidence of criminal activity has been left anywhere, at least to the first observation?"

"This is a big puzzle, Bud," she said, "but what are you really thinking?"

"Is the preacher some sort of pied piper, who has lured our children away from us undetected?" Bud asked, "Or is he a better magician than Santa Claus, getting in and out of homes without notice, but instead of leaving presents, he takes children?"