The Stolen - Jason Pinter [81]
you might know who purchased that item?"
Freddie looked at the receipt again, furrowed his brow.
"This here is for accessories for a Victorian dollhouse," he
said. "I don't do a lot of sales on dollhouse accessories.
Sad to say they're a little old-fashioned. But I keep some
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in stock just in case. Probably to make me happy more than
the kids." He thought for another moment, then said,
"Elaine Reed."
"Excuse me?"
"Robert and Elaine Reed. Bob and Elaine. They came
into my store all the time when their son, Patrick, was
born. They bought that boy all sorts of toy soldiers, must
have spent more money than they made on those things. I
made sure they knew to keep them away from that boy's
mouth. All those sharp parts, you know. But I remember
Elaine suddenly buying everything under the sun for a
girl, including those accessories. Little tables, chairs, even
a tiny medicine chest."
"If they have a son, then why were they buying dollhouse accessories?" Amanda asked.
Freddie said, "That's what I wondered. It wasn't just the
accessories. The first thing they bought was an actual dollhouse. I had to special-order it for them. And not a cheap
one, mind you. Then they kept coming back over the next
few days to buy more doodads for it. I assumed it wasn't
for Patrick--don't know if you can tell a boy's, er, sexual
orientation at such a young age. So I asked Elaine one day.
Said, 'Elaine, what are all these doll parts for?' She told
me they'd just had a baby girl."
"Baby girl," I said. "Seems like bad parenting to buy
such tiny things for a baby."
"I thought the same thing, remembered what she'd done
with Patrick and warned her about that. Elaine told me the
girl was actually six years old. I thought, 'That's strange,
I didn't remember her being pregnant.'"
"Did you ask her about it?" I said.
"Naw," Freddie said. "It's not my right to pry into my
customers' business. But when I asked about it, Elaine
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kind of looked worried, like I'd pried or something. I
figured they might have adopted, or something else was
going on, but either way I was happy for the business. And
happy for Elaine, because anyone who spends that much
money on toys sure must love their child. Not to mention
how happy that kid's going to be. But after that day I
asked one question, Elaine and Bob never came back to
my store. I hate to think I offended them."
"Was Elaine a good parent?" Amanda asked.
"Wonderful," Freddie said. "Some of them, parents, I
mean, you can tell they just buy things 'cause they feel
obligated to. Like they just want to shut the kid up or think
they can buy affection. Elaine, though, she loved it. You
could tell she couldn't wait to get home and see the smiles
on her kids' faces."
"Did you happen to catch their daughter's name?" I
asked.
"No, I didn't."
"I know we're asking a lot, Freddie," I said, "but is there
any chance you might have an address for Mr. and Mrs.
Reed? It's very important we speak to them."
"I'm sorry, who did you say you were again?"
"My name's Henry Parker," I said, handing Freddie a
business card. "We're investigating a story and really need
to speak with the Reeds."
"I hope everything's okay," he said. The man was legitimately concerned.
"I hope so, too," I said. "But there's a chance there's
something wrong with one of their children and we need
to find them."
Freddie nodded. "I'll do whatever I can. I just hope
they're safe. I think a while ago Bob bought Patrick one
of those Erector sets, only Elaine didn't have enough room
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in the car and asked for it to be shipped home." Freddie
rummaged under the desk, pulled out a large file box. He
opened the lid, began to sift through alphabetical orders.
"Reed...Reed...Reed...here we go. Elaine and Bob
Reed."
"Can you give us the address?"
"No problem. That package was shipped to 482
Huntley Terrace."
My jaw dropped.
Amanda said, "Henry, that's the house..."
"That burned down yesterday."
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I needed to learn more about the