The Mystery of the Missing Man

“Help, please help,” the woman was screaming as she ran into my office. “Please help me Detective Kamakaris,” she said “my husband has gone missing.” I called for my partner, Detective Johnson, from the other room. When he arrived, the woman started to tell her story.  She started, “My name is Mary McDaniels, and my husband, Bill, has gone missing. He left for his job this morning and didn’t come back yet.”
My partner interjected by saying, “It is quite possible that he is just working late Mrs. McDaniels.”
  “No, no” I say, “a woman in this much hysterics knows that her love is not working late, and she has called his employer and he is not there. Where was the place he was last seen?”
I asked, and she remarked through her sobbing, “ He was last seen leaving his job by an employee three hours ago for lunch.”
“Then that is where we must begin our investigation.”
Mrs. McDaniels, Johnson, and I hopped into our car and were at the scene in less than ten minutes.
“This is where he was last seen” she said, and I quickly noticed something out of the corner of my eye.
“Ah, look, a torn piece of clothing. Could this be our first clue? Mrs. McDaniels, what was Bill wearing when he left the house this morning?”
She replied by saying, “He left in his suit and tie. What could this have to do with anything?”
  To her silly question I replied, “Mrs. McDaniels, I have just found a torn piece of a suit laying on the ground by the side of the building. This may mean that Bill was taken from right here, and not after he left for lunch. We must go inside and check the security cameras at once.”
Johnson said, “ that is precisely what we were about to do.”
We walked inside and talked the head of security into showing us the security footage of the last four hours. “Look at what we have here,” I stated. “Mr. McDaniels being kidnapped by his assailant. One more question about Bill, Mrs. McDaniels, he was in the Military correct?”
“Correct, but how did you know?” she asked.
“I could tell by the way his kidnapper attacked him; he was using military tactics to sneak up on and attack him, must have been an enemy he made in the military.” I said, “Do you know of any such people?”
She answered with, “There is only one such person that I know about, and his name is Joe Fredrickson. Bill and Joe had gone to school and been in the military together and constantly competed for my affection, and in the end Bill won my heart.”
Detective Johnson said, “Great, now we have a suspect and a motive for the crime. Do you know where Mr. Fredrickson lives?”
“Yes,” replied Mrs. McDaniels. “He lives in the rich part of town, for after he left the military he became a gold miner and struck it rich.” This is how we came to leave the office building and go to our next destination, the Fredrickson residence.
As we came up on the address we found, we saw that he was living in one of the biggest houses in the neighborhood. I stated the obvious by saying, “He should have no reason to hold the grudge for  this long, especially considering the current economic situation that he is in.”
Detective Johnson stated, “You don’t understand do you Tim? He lived in this massive home alone for so many years and thought he could win the love of Mrs. McDaniels by taking Bill out of the picture. I just figured now that we may be dealing with more than just a kidnapping; we may be dealing with a murder.” This statement sent Mrs. McDaniels into shock. She started to cry uncontrollably and didn’t stop for what seemed like an eternity. Johnson and I left her in the car for this part of the investigation to let her straighten herself up. “Detective Kamakaris, look what I found,” said Johnson. “It is a map that may be leading us directly to him.”
I dismissed this clue quickly by saying “Detective Johnson, if this were truly something he needed, he would have taken it with him for fear of it being found.”
We continued to search the house and eventually found a well hidden note that said to his housekeeper, “Gone to Raleigh with a friend, be back in a couple days.” As I read this, I said to Johnson, “Looks like we have our next clue, so let’s head to the airport to get to North Carolina.” We got back into the car and told Mrs. McDaniels our plan. “We are going to go down to Raleigh and find your husband, but Johnson and I believe it is best for all of us if you stay here.” I told her. We pulled out of the driveway, dropped Mrs. McDaniels off at her house and drove to the airport.
We got on the quickest flight possible to Raleigh and set out to find Bill and his kidnapper. I told Jeff, “ I believe that Mr. Fredrickson, the kidnapper, would not pay for high end accommodations while he plans to kill Bill, so we must find a low end hotel quickly.”
Detective Johnson agreed by saying, “There are not many around here, but I know of at least one where he could be staying.”
I asked “What hotel could that be?”
The answer he gave is, “The Cheapo Motel on South Raleigh Street.” Jeff and I got our rental car and drove down to the motel just in time to see a car speeding out of the parking lot. I told Jeff to follow it in the car while I see if  Bill is still in the hotel.
I ask the woman at the front desk if Bill McDaniels and Joe Fredrickson had checked in. She said, “Oh, sorry honey, you just missed them; they left just a couple of hours ago to spend the rest of their time in Raleigh on the town.” I told her I was a detective working the case of Bill McDaniel’s kidnapping and maybe murder and asked for the keys. Shocked she said, “Here take their room key and check the room for any clues.” I took the key and headed off to their room. One of the first things I saw was a bloody knife, and I thought to myself, “ Am I too late? Did Joe already kill Bill?”
I called Jeff to come pick me up, and when he got there he told me the good news. “The car that you told me to follow belonged to Joe Fredrickson, and it looked like there was another person in the car, so I threw a tracking device into the car and we are now tracking it.”
I then showed him what I had found in the room, and he was shocked, “No, It can’t be. We could not have been too late. The figure in the passenger seat was still moving.”
That sentence gave me hope, and it occurred to me that the blood might be from a cut on an arm or a leg. I said, “Jeff, get in the car and start tracking it.”
He did as he was told and told me, “They are stopped at the hospital. Maybe Joe could not go through with it.”
I said to that, “Or maybe the military training that Bill had helped him in fighting off Mr. Fredrickson, but Bill did not want to see him die. We must head down to the hospital and see what has happened and if my theory is correct.”
Jeff and I made our course to the hospital and took off. Once we got there I asked the lady at the front desk,
“Is there either a Bill McDaniels or a Joe Fredrickson checked in here?”
She replied by saying, “Yes there is a Mr. Joe Fredrickson and a Mr. Bill McDaniels checked in here. Mr. Fredrickson can not be visited right now because he is in critical condition, but Mr. McDaniels is fine to be visited.” I asked what had happened, and she replied with, “The two of them got into a knife fight, and both came out with wounds, though Mr. Fredrickson got the worst of it. Both are expected to live.”
I told her I was a detective from New York working the case of Bill McDaniels kidnapping, that our only suspect is Joe Fredrickson, and that we were here to take him into custody and to save Bill. I left the front desk and called Mrs. McDaniels to tell her the good news,
“Mary, we have found your husband, but he is in a hospital in Raleigh right now after getting into a knife fight with Joe. Both are expected to live.”
She was excited to hear the news and told me happily, “This is just great Detective Kamakaris. I will be there as soon as possible. How could I ever repay this debt that I owe to you for finding my husband?”
I told her, “There is no need for repayment. Seeing Bill alive is a good enough payment for me.”
Mrs. McDaniels flew down from New York and met her husband who was in stable condition after the fight, and he was released from the hospital a day later. Mr. Fredrickson on the other hand was dealt with accordingly and was sentenced to twenty five years behind bars. Mr. McDaniels went back to his normal job and his normal life with his family. He has had a kid since the incident. This entire fiasco has just passed its five year anniversary, and it was easily one of the most interesting cases that I have ever worked, but now it is on to the next case.