Blood of the White Bear by Marcia Calhoun Forecki & Gerald Schnitzer

Author:Marcia Calhoun Forecki & Gerald Schnitzer [Forecki, Marcia Calhoun & Schnitzer, Gerald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608080908
Publisher: WriteLife Publishing
Published: 2013-10-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

Greeley, Colorado is about fifty miles north of Denver. It is home to about 98,000 residents, thirty-five percent of whom are Hispanic. Sofia drove into Greeley on a Monday. She checked into the Homestead Hotel, threw her suitcase on the bed, and headed straight to the apartments where Daniel Martinez lived.

The manager told Sofia the Martinez family left right after little Daniel’s funeral.

“Did they leave a forwarding address?” Sofia asked.

“No. My guess is they moved on to another meat packing town in Nebraska, most likely.”

“I would like to see the apartment and talk to their neighbors.”

“Sure.” The manager turned to a small cabinet on the wall behind her desk. She took out a key and walked toward the door. “Follow me.”

The apartment had been painted and the carpets shampooed.

“What kind of pest control do you have here?” Sofia asked.

“We are Section 8 qualified, so we are required to spray regularly, every three months.”

“Did the Martinez family have a garage?”

“No.”

“Storage of any kind?”

“We don’t have anything like that.”

Sofia opened the cabinets and looked under the kitchen sink. If there had been mice in the apartment, they were gone now.

“What about outside? Is there a playground the kids use?” Sofia asked.

“We have a little area on the other side of the complex. The kids play all over, outside,” the manager said.

“Thanks. I’ll walk around on my own. What school do these kids attend?”

“Monfort Elementary. I can give you directions.”

“I’ll find it. Thanks.” Sofia knew the fewer directions she got from other people, the more likely she was to stumble upon something useful, just by roaming around.

The manager walked Sofia out of the apartment and returned to the office. Sofia strolled around the building. There were countless places around the apartment building where deer mice might nest. Children kick up leaves and fall down in the grass. Who knows? Daniel might have caught a deer mouse and kept it for a pet. Sofia decided to talk to Daniel’s teacher and then swing by the North Colorado Medical Center, where Daniel died.

Daniel’s teacher was Miss Mendoza, and Sofia waited until the end of the school day to talk to her. Miss Mendoza became emotional talking about Daniel.

“He was so sweet and smart. His family was very close. They all left town together: Daniel’s parents, his grandfather, an aunt, and an uncle, I think.”

“Did Daniel seem tired or listless before he got sick? Was he coughing at all?”

“Not at all. He was in school on a Friday. The next Monday, the family called and said he died at the Medical Center. We thought it was an accident of some kind, but they said, no, he had la gripa, the flu.”

“More than the flu, I’m afraid,” Sofia said. “Do the children have any animals here?”

“No.”

“Had they been to the zoo or to a farm, maybe?”

“No. We haven’t had any fieldtrips since the beginning of the year.”

“I’d like to walk around the playground, if you will point me in the right direction.”

“Of course. We had a guest come after Labor Day.

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