The Guardian

could it get?
    Once the workers had finished their job, Jack paid them. He thanked them and sent them on their way. He stood back admiring their work. As he looked at the front of his little mountain you couldn’t even tell there was anything in there. They had secured foliage up around the front so that it covered the door and was virtually invisible.
    Smiling, proud of his accomplishment he decided that he would go about getting his first guest. His heart raced, goose bumps on his arm he could hardly contain his excitement.
    Tonight was the night and he knew exactly who his first guest was going to be.
    Chapter 46
    The woman was hysterical. Her daughter hadn’t come home after school. She’d called all her friends, the school. She then went to each and every 7-11 and strip mall in the area trying to find her. Her friends had tried to help her but it was just too much for them. So, reluctantly, not wanting to admit that she may have been taken, she called the police.
    Halloway and Griffin were on their way as soon as they got the call. It had been only a couple hours since the girl was reported missing. Time was a major factor.
    As they sat in the woman’s house, Halloway asked her about details that he needed to know.
    “I know this is difficult for you. It would be a big help to us if you can give us a description of your daughter. A photo that’s as current as possible would also help. We can put it out there and have the whole City helping us look for her.” He said.
    “Well, she’s only 8, and I know she must be scared to death.” The woman sobbed.
    “She’ll be fine.” Laura said trying to comfort her. “Just give us the description okay, and try not to worry about that right now. The sooner we get the information out, the sooner we can start looking for her.”
    “Okay. It’s just so hard. She’s 8, like I said, thin with medium length blonde hair.” She showed them the picture she had. “This is about a year old. Her hair is shorter now.”
    “As I remember, she had on a light blue, pleated skirt with a white, short sleeve knit blouse. A pullover one I think.” She was trying very hard to contain the emotion she felt.
    Halloway and Griffin sat there listening, getting as many details as they could. Laura wrote down everything in her notebook and Halloway gave the woman their questions.
    It didn’t take very long. They didn’t want to keep her and there really wasn’t much they could do sitting in the woman’s front room. They needed to be out in the street.
    The CSU was going over every inch of the house. It was mainly the girl’s bedroom and the yard surrounding the house. They continued to question the neighbors or anyone who may have seen or heard something. They weren’t having very much luck.
    When they got to the car, they climbed in and Laura looked right at John. “I guess you were right.” She said.
    “I hate being right. I had a gut feeling that something was going to happen. It’s been too quiet.”
    “You know” she said, “I almost hate to say this out loud, but maybe our friend the Guardian can help us on this.” She was looking at Halloway, waiting for his reaction to her last comment.
    “Our friend?” he said. “Since when did he become our friend?”
    “Okay, that was a bit sarcastic but you know what I mean. Look at the guy. He has no problem finding the sickos that are out there going after the kids. He simply disappears when he’s done. Maybe we can use him on this is all I’m saying.” She was staring hard at John from across the front seat of the car.
    “Ya, I know. You’re right. I hate it even more when you’re right.” He put the car in gear and they headed back to the station.
    “So, how do we solicit this guy’s help without the whole damn world knowing about it?” John asked.
    “For all we know he’s probably already on it. Surely, he keeps up on the news. How else could he be one step ahead of us all the time?”
    “I guess we could do a news conference. We could make some sort of blanket statement. Something like, if you find anything let us in on it, no questions asked or something along those lines.” Laura said.
    John was thinking hard. His brow furled and eyes squinting. “We’ll have to be careful how we handle that one. We don’t want an army of vigilantes out there.”
    “How about we offer him a deal, we offer him total amnesty for all the prior stuff in exchange he helps us with this one?”
    “First of all, I