The Guardian

just sat there. They never moved. And I thought to myself, well maybe it was her father or something. Maybe it was okay. I mean they didn’t go tearing out of there or anything.”
    “I see, and you didn’t think that maybe you should call anyway. Maybe he didn’t drive away because he was raping her or just in case. Haven’t you been watching the news?” She was starting to loose her cool.
    Gladys looked at Laura, wide eyed. “Are you accusing me of something?” She wanted to know.
    “No, no, not at all” John interjected, throwing a look at his partner.
    “We’re just all under a great deal of stress over all of this. We do apologize, please go on.” He threw another look at Laura.
    “Like I said, they just sat there for a few minutes and then just pulled out nice and easy as you please. So, I just thought that everything was okay and that the girl must know him or something.”
    “I don’t suppose that you got a license number or any good description of the van by chance?” Laura said. She had more calm in her voice now.
    “No, I’m sorry. Anyway, with my eyes so bad I couldn’t have read it.”
    “Would you by chance know the make or model? Or maybe you could recognize it if you saw it again.”
    “Well, I don’t know anything about cars, but I do know that is was one of them fancy mini vans, and it was white. The windows were all blacked out. I would probably recognize it if I were to see another one like it.”
    “That would be a big help.” John threw in. “How about we get you some lunch? We can take a break and then we can have you look at some pictures for us. Maybe see if we can’t find out what they were driving?”
    “Yes, that would be fine, thank you.”
    Halloway and Griffin left the woman with one of the female officers and told them to see that she got fed. John had the officer set it up for her to go over some pictures of some mini vans. With any luck, this may be the lead they needed. It was thin, but it was all they had.
    “As soon as we get a description of that van, we’ll get it out everywhere, the TV, radio, flyers what ever we can.”
    “That will help. But do you know how many freaking “white” vans there are? White is a particularly popular color in this town for some God forsaken reason.” Laura said, showing signs of irritation.
    “I could give you a list of reasons as long as my why people prefer white. The bottom line is that I suspect that our perp picked his color for one reason only. He wanted to blend in. He wants to be invisible.

Part Five
    The Collaboration

Chapter 52
    There was a knock on Halloway’s door. As he looked up, Smythe; one of the other investigators stuck his head in the door.
    “What’s up?” John asked.
    “Got a guy on the phone out here. He says he won’t talk to anyone but you.”
    “Well, I’m up to my ears in this missing girls thing, give him to someone one else.”
    The officer went back out only to return a few moments later. He knocked, poked his head in.
    “What now?” John had a feeling he knew what it was.
    “Won’t work John. He says to tell you that you’re the only one he’ll talk to and that if it’s of any interest to you, he said to tell you its The Guardian.
    Holloway practically jumped out of his chair. “Where’s Griffin? Find her and get her to get her ass in here. Then put the call through.”
    Son-of-a-bitch, he couldn’t believe it. The Guardian was coming to him. Well, he must be having as much trouble as they were for him to want to talk to him.
    A few minutes later Laura was walking through the door. “They said you have the Guardian on the phone, is that true?” She was almost as excited as John.
    John was nodding his head, looking at the light that had been blinking on his phone. Knowing who was on the other end, he reached over and punched the button to put it on speaker phone so that Griffin could listen in.
    “Halloway”
    The voice that came out was scrambled. The caller’s real voice was inaudible. “I think you’re looking for me.” The caller said.
    “You could say that. If you’re who you say you are. A lot of people are.”
    “Oh, it’s me. You want details?”
    “No not now. We’ll find you if your our man.”
    “Well, save your energy. You’ll never find me. That will never be possible.”
    “I wouldn’t be so sure. I really don’t want to debate that right now. You’ve called me for something other than to gloat I’m sure.”
    “You’re right, but