Taken?

--Day 13--

Saturday morning began for Rob at its' usual time of 6:30 a.m. He didn't have to be at the Edgewater Motel for his written exam, the concluding portion of the right to carry course, until 10. He was able to relax with his coffee, have a decent breakfast, and continue reviewing his actions of the previous week. He decided to spend what remained of the day completing his housecleaning tasks, and perhaps contacting some of his neighbors, to see if any of them had noticed anything the morning that Katy disappeared.

He was able to read the morning paper before he left for the exam at the Edgewater Motel. No news was again good news, as there were no reports of unidentified female bodies being found. He was especially pleased to notice a large article on the second page that detailed the disappearance of both Erin and Katy. He was glad that the cases were not being forgotten about by the local media.

Rob was on time for his exam, and had completed it and returned home by noon. He was completely confident that he had passed the exam, and that the attached application for a right to carry permit would be approved. He decided to advise Detective Maki on Monday morning that his application was in the works. Perhaps the detective would be able to help expedite it, or certainly to help see that it wasn't delayed in the bureaucracy of the Police Department.

Since he had the time Rob decided to prepare himself a small steak and baked potato for his lunch, using the barbecue on his patio. It hadn't been used for several weeks and it was nice to be able to prepare himself a leisurely lunch outdoors. Before he put the steak on the grill he made himself a small salad, another attempt at eating better meals. By 1:30 he had completed his meal, and had the dishes washed. There were still several rooms of the house that were left needing to be cleaned, so he decided to do them before tackling any new jobs.

It took about half an hour to clean up the bathroom, using a couple of spray cleaners to clean the shower, sink and toilet as well as a glass cleaner on the mirror. By the time he was finished it was easy to see the improvement. From that room he moved to his own bedroom, where he was able to make a big improvement by simply putting clothing back where it belonged. A quick vacuuming finished the job, and again he was able to see a big difference. He had a feeling of satisfaction as he headed to Katy's room to finish the cleaning job.

He had kept this room for last because he really didn't like to go in and do it. Katy's disappearance was too fresh in his mind and every time he entered the room he expected to see her there. The first thing he did was to straighten up her bed and put her books and school things away. They had remained on the bed ever since she had disappeared. It bothered him to put these things away in her room, because it felt to him as though he was acknowledging she would not be back. Once he put everything away that he could, he brought in the vacuum cleaner and started to use it.

When he pushed the cleaning head beneath Katy's bed he heard the sound of the vacuum change slightly, indicating something was stuck in the cleaning head. He pulled it out from under the bed, turned it over, and removed a wad of paper that was stuck in it. Afraid that it might be something Katy would need, he put it in his shirt pocket and carried on with the cleaning. When he was finished with the job he put the vacuum cleaner, and the cleaning supplies he had been using, back into the laundry room where they were normally kept.

Rob felt it was a little late in the afternoon to start checking with his neighbors about whether or not they had seen anything suspicious the day that Katy disappeared. He would leave that until after the supper hour, or on the following day, Sunday. It would be a good day to catch people at home as well. In the meantime, he decided to sit and take a bit of a rest. He realized now how doing housework would tire out Erin or Katy so much.

As he was sitting in his recliner chair, a TV news channel playing softly in the background, something made him remember the wadded paper he had found in Katy's room. He wasn't sure what it was, and so he decided to take a look at it. When he pulled it from his pocket he could see that it was a folded piece of paper, and so he began to unfold it. After undoing the first fold he realized it was really a cash register receipt that appeared to have been folded over on itself several times.

At first he assumed that it was the bill for something that Katy had purchased, and he almost crumpled it up and threw it out. Instead, he unfolded it to its full length and saw that it was apparently a grocery store receipt as it bore the familiar GR, PR and MT codes along the edge beside each of the prices. At the top of the receipt was the store name, The Falls Grocery. Rob didn't recognize that name, and was a little confused with the fact that the receipt was in Katy's room. He wondered where she had got it.

It was only when the thought occurred to him that perhaps this receipt had been dropped by the person that had taken Katy, that he put the receipt on the end table beside him. If it belonged to her abductor it may have fingerprints on it. Rob became a little upset with himself when he thought of that, as obviously he may have obscured any prints on it by handling it himself. He immediately went into the kitchen for a large, new, plastic bag to put the receipt into.

When he came back with the plastic bag he also brought along a pair of tweezers to use when picking up the piece of paper. It wasn't difficult to put the receipt into the plastic bag and once it was safely in there he was able to carefully smooth the receipt so that he could look at it more closely.

The receipt was about 10 inches long, was for a total purchase of $38.49 and it appeared to have been paid for with cash. Rob was sure that this was not a receipt anyone in his family would have had because all of their groceries were purchased at the same Super One store. On top of that, he had never heard of The Falls Grocery. He would have to figure out where that was as it didn't seem like the name of a Duluth store. A quick look at the Duluth phone books confirmed that there was no place by that name listed in them. He began to get excited again, an emotion he had not felt for the last couple of days.

Rob decided to try to find a Minnesota map that he could use to try to narrow down where the grocery store could be located. After a 10 minute search he realized that he didn't have a Minnesota map in the house, so he did a Google search on his computer, looking for an online Minnesota map. It didn't take long to find what he was looking for in the form of a large scale map, and a file listing all of the place names within the State. A search through the place names listing gave him 12 locations that included the word Falls in their names. Now he would just have to figure out where in the state each was located. One of them should be home to the man who took Katy.

Cannon Falls seemed to be too far south, between Faribault and Red Wing; Fergus Falls was far to the west of Hinckley, nearly in North Dakota; International Falls was on the northern border of the state but was very much to the west of Grand Portage; Little Falls was very near the middle of the state, south of Brainerd; Lake Falls was in the south east near Red Wing; Big Falls was in the north west, not far from international Falls; Redwood Falls was in the south west near Mankato; Granite Falls was west of Minneapolis near the border with North Dakota; Taylors Falls was north east of Minneapolis on the border with Wisconsin; Thief River Falls was in the north west corner of the state; Zumbro Falls was in the south east near the Mississippi River; Hanley Falls was in the south west corner of the state.

It was obvious that none of these appeared to be logical candidates, as none of them was near Hwy. 61, the highway that seemed to figure into the route taken by both Erin and Katy. Rob was left scratching his head trying to figure out what this all meant.

As he was thinking about the receipt, and the lack of places with the name Falls in them, he remembered seeing at least one falls along the north shore. He decided to consult the map more closely, and discovered that there were two different places, Gooseberry Falls and Caribou Falls, noted on the map. Even though he didn't recall a store by the name of The Falls Grocery when he was driving back and forth from Duluth to Grand Marais, he decided to leave in the morning and make the drive again, looking for this elusive store. If he didn't find the store himself perhaps someone would be able to tell him where it was located.

He realized he was going to have to give the receipt to the police in order for them to check it over, so he decided to make several copies for himself first. Fortunately his printer would also make copies so he did that, and then phoned the police station to see if there was a technician on duty that he could turn over the original receipt to. It turned out there was a man on hand in that department, so Rob immediately drove over to the police station. Since he had his own copies now, giving up the original would still allow him to try and track down the store that had issued the receipt.

With the time it took Rob to do all of this it was already after 7 p.m., and he had still not eaten any supper. He was getting quite hungry by this time, so he decided to make himself a quick meal. By the time he had finished eating it was after eight o'clock. Finding the receipt and getting it in to the police station had definitely recharged Rob's battery as he felt very much like continuing his search. He decided he still had time to start visiting his neighbors, content with speaking to as many of them as he could before it got dark. With that in mind he left his house and started to canvass the block.

The majority of his neighbors were at home, so Rob was able to contact and speak with all but one of them as he proceeded east down the block. None of the people he spoke with remembered having seen anything the day of June 10 when Katy disappeared. He made note of the one neighbor who was not at home, so that he could get back to speak with them at a later time. From the end of the block he crossed to the opposite side of the street, and began working his way west. It was dark by the time he got to the end of the block, only two of the homes not having anyone at home when he knocked. Again, of the people he spoke with, none recalled anything out of the ordinary the day Katy disappeared.

When he got home he decided he should probably just get to bed as he planned to leave early to drive up as far as Grand Portage in the morning and then work his way back to Duluth, looking for The Falls Grocery. The fact that he felt he had found a helpful clue to Katy's disappearance permitted him to get to sleep without any trouble. He had a very restful sleep before awakening at his usual time the next morning.

--Day 14--

Sunday promised to be a very nice and bright, sunny day. He was able to have a good breakfast, and still was on the road by eight o'clock. He had decided to drive up to the end of Hwy. 61, looking for any business that might go by the name of The Falls Grocery as he went. This time he actually got as far as the Customs Office at the border, where he went in to speak with the Customs and Immigration officers, and Border Patrol officers, who worked there. He hadn't been into this office on the first trip, and felt it wouldn't hurt to speak to them. Unfortunately none of the officers on duty recognized Erin or Katy, or the name of the store on his copy of the cash register receipt.

As he started on the return trip to Duluth he stopped in again at the store and casino at Grand Portage. No one he spoke with recognized the store name. He noticed his posters were still up in the casino, something he was very happy to see. He had noticed on the drive north that a couple of the stores had already removed his original posters.

The drive back to Duluth, slowed as it was by the many stops Rob made to inquire about The Falls Grocery, took him until after 3 p.m. Not one person that he had spoken with on the drive back from Grand Portage had recognized the store name, nor had anyone offered any new information about Erin or Katy. Rob's enthusiasm that had accompanied him as he left Duluth in the morning had largely dissipated by the time he returned. His hope that one of the falls along Hwy. 61 North had lent its' name to a grocery store along the route had been completely dashed. It appeared he may be forced to crisscross the entire state checking out the various communities that incorporated the word Falls in their names. He was not looking forward to that.

After he had been back in the house for a few minutes Rob decided to freshen up and then to check with a few of the neighbors still left on his list. There was still time before anyone would likely be busy with their supper, and he wanted to try to get to all of them today, when they would be more likely to be home. He decided to start with the three who had not been home on Saturday when he went around the neighborhood. He found all three of them at home, but their recollections of the day that Katy disappeared were the same as everyone else he had spoken with earlier.

After he had completed the job of speaking with the three he had missed the previous day, he crossed the street to begin his route going west from his own home. It didn't take him very long to finish the block in this direction, as everyone was at home. He still had almost an hour that he could carry on with this, without upsetting his neighbors by disturbing their supper, so he decided to begin working his way out around the rest of the block he lived on. It was at the third home he visited going south on the cross street that he finally got some help.

Rob approached the door and knocked, and when the woman of the house answered the door he said, "Hello, my name is Rob Walsh. I'm your neighbor from around the corner, and I was hoping to ask you a question or two. On Tuesday, June 10, my daughter Katy disappeared. The last time I spoke with her was around 8:30 that morning and I wanted to ask if you noticed anything strange in the neighborhood that day. This is a picture of my daughter and my wife, both of whom are missing. Anything you remember could be a help in locating my daughter, who just turned 14 this spring."

This was basically the same thing that Rob had said at every door he had knocked on, always with a negative result in the past, so he was surprised when the woman said, "I remember that morning well. I had to take a trip to Minneapolis to visit with my sister, and before I left I took my dog for a walk around the block. I don't like to go on a long drive without giving her a little bit of exercise. Anyway, I recognized that girl as soon as you showed me this picture. She came out of a house around the corner with a gentleman just as I got to their sidewalk. Because she was struggling with a suitcase, I stopped to let her go past with it."

Rob was shocked that someone had actually seen something that might be of assistance to him and said, "Are you sure it was that day? Did you see who she was with? Anything at all that you can remember could be of extreme importance."

The woman looked at Katy's picture one more time before looking up to say, "Oh, it was that day all right. I remember thinking it was a coincidence that she was going on a trip at the same time I was getting ready to leave on one as well. Actually I just got back from Minneapolis this morning. The gentleman she was with was about my height, slender and dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt."

"Is there anything else about him you can tell me, anything at all?" Rob was very excited now and quickly jotted down the description she had given him. "What about his car. Did you get to see his car?"

The woman thought for a moment and then said, "Well, he had short black hair and I'd say he was in his middle thirties. I didn't actually get to see his face that well, just the side of it. I don't remember him having any glasses on or anything like that. He was white, I'm sure of that. I remember he opened the rear door of the car, and she put the suitcase into it, and then he helped her get in the front. He went around and got in the car and they left. The car was a brown Toyota Corolla. I'm sure of that because my sister has an almost identical car, except hers is blue. Besides that I can't really remember anything else I can tell you about them."

"Do you remember what time it was that morning? Did it look like my daughter was scared or upset?"

"It was probably right around 9:30. I left for Minneapolis at 10 a.m., so it must have been about a half an hour before that. I don't remember thinking that your daughter looked upset or anything unusual like that. She looked pretty normal to me."

Rob thanked her for her help once he was sure there was nothing else she could help him with. It was close enough to supper time that he decided to leave the rest of the homes for the evening. He was pleased to have found out more about the man who had taken Katy, but it still didn't help him very much with his task of finding her.

After he had a nice supper Rob continued interviewing his neighbors until he had worked his way completely around the block. Nobody had anything new to add, but he still felt it had been a very productive day. He was looking forward to going in to see Detective Maki in the morning with the new information he had. He was hoping that they might have already had the opportunity to check the grocery receipt for fingerprints. It would be a real bonus if there was a fingerprint that would tell them who the man was that had taken Katy.

Rob spent the remainder of the evening catching up on reading the newspapers. When he finished with the paper he called his brother-in-law, and brought him up to speed on what had been happening. Jim was quite surprised to find out about the grocery receipt, and offered to help look for the mysterious grocery store, The Falls Grocery. Help with that particular task would be very much appreciated by Rob as he was dreading it very much.

It was Jim who then suggested that perhaps they wouldn't really have to visit all of these towns if they simply phoned the Chamber of Commerce in the larger ones and several businesses in the smaller ones. He felt that surely the people they contacted would know the names of other businesses in their area. Rob thought it was a great idea, and asked Jim if he would mind starting at that the next day as Rob would be going to the police station first thing in the morning, and had an appointment with the psychologist after lunch. Jim readily agreed to help and said that he would work from home for the next couple of days, until he had contacted enough people in each of the Falls communities, to be certain about the existence of The Falls Grocery.

Rob was extremely pleased by the offer of help from his brother-in-law, as well as the very good idea on how to avoid having to drive to all of these various towns and cities. Rob realized that he was not thinking very clearly on some of these things, as it should have occurred to him that physically driving to all of these places shouldn't be necessary. He really owed his brother-in-law for bringing the obvious to his attention. Rob was able to get to bed early for a good rest before what he assumed would be another busy week.

--Day 15--

On Monday morning Rob was standing beside Detective Maki's desk when the detective arrived for work. Maki was extremely surprised to see him there that early and said, "What brings you out this early?" He looked at the papers in Rob's hand and said, "I'll bet that you found out something, and have some new information for me this morning."