Page 15 of Little Girls Sleeping
“Cisco,” Katie answered.
After a few minutes, Katie decided to walk to where the two women sat. She pulled down her right sleeve to cover the army tattoo on the inside of her arm. She wanted people to think she was just a woman out walking her dog—not someone collecting intelligence on a missing child.
“Hi,” she said in a positive, upbeat tone.
“Hello,” the women responded.
“I didn’t want you to worry. Cisco loves children and doesn’t miss any opportunity to get fussed over.”
By this time, the other children were surrounding the dog, petting him and kissing him.
“Well, he is gorgeous,” said the younger woman.
“I was just wondering… I haven’t been to this park in a while, but were there always security cameras over there?” Katie gestured. “I don’t remember seeing them.”
“Oh, didn’t you hear?”
She shook her head.
“It was because of the homeless and loitering problem, which turned into crime issues. The county finally installed cameras on all the buildings, and also near the baseball fields and pool area.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize they’d done that.”
“Yeah, it was about a year and a half, maybe two years ago now.”
Her hopes were dashed.
The other woman piped up. “The thefts and vandalism have literally stopped.”
“That’s good. It’s a beautiful place here and they need to keep it safe for everyone.”
“Amen,” the heavier woman muttered under her breath.
Looking down, Katie said, “Well, let’s go, Cisco.” To the women she added, “I think he’s had more than his daily pets today.” She said goodbye and continued on the walking trail.
Now that she was gaining perspective of the layout of the area, she was confident that she knew where Chelsea had walked that day. There were areas of the park blocked by trees and buildings that might make it difficult for people to see anything suspicious. Most people would be busy having fun and wouldn’t pay attention to anyone else—especially a little girl getting into a truck that didn’t have anything unusual about it.
She retrieved her cell phone and snapped some photos of three places of interest. One well-shaded area had several large trees growing close together and an abstract statue. It was a place with ample shade and several benches to sit down and rest. It was possible Chelsea had sat in this exact spot to cool off. One of the many drinking fountains in the park was barely ten feet away.
Another area was at a sharp left curve in the path, heading north, where there was a generous grove of dense bushes on both sides. Flowers bloomed year round here. In the summertime, there would have been roses, cosmos, and marigolds.
The third possible blind spot was a popular area with the largest trees in the park clustered together in a tight circle. It was almost like a magical outdoor room, with several benches in the middle where people could sit and enjoy the solitude and shade.
Katie thought she had better be thorough—even a bit obsessive. A gut instinct told her to take photos of the three obstructed locations in a panoramic sweeping motion. Cisco sat down in a cool spot, watching her curiously.
As she moved the cell phone screen carefully in a slow circle, she realized that there was only one area where a truck could drive close and where most people wouldn’t have seen Chelsea: the shady benches beneath the trees near the statue. She would have walked past the flowers, but would most likely have been seen if she’d been taken there.
Did she make it this far?
Something else troubled her: Detective Templeton’s disregard for Terrance Price’s account. Although it was true that someone mentally incapacitated and under the influence of drugs or alcohol would have been a problem in a court of law, his statement should at least have been considered.
He had claimed:I had been sleeping in the corner by the statue and I saw the Compton girl. Then I went to sleep, and when I woke again, I saw the little girl get into a truck and drive away.
When he was pressured about his account, the statement fragmented each time. What the little girl looked like and what she was wearing differed, while other times he hadn’t seen her at all. More troubling was that Price had done some minor repairs to the Comptons’ house—fixing rain gutters and painting some trim—a year prior to her abduction.
Katie stood for a moment considering everything as she studied her surroundings. Birds chirped loudly above her in the dense trees; she could hear them clearly, but it was difficult to see them. Laughter filled the playgrounds. A car passed by every couple of minutes to find a parking place. A large group of people were gathering at the baseball field. There were layers of sounds, conflicting to a person who already had a mental disorder.
She walked to the area where the statue stood and moved to where a homeless person might take a nap. It was obvious that the best view of Chelsea and the truck would have been where the benches were located, even if the flowers and bushes were denser then than they were at present.
