Page 32 of Delivering David

“Barry, I thought you were closed this week,” Suzanne said. “And how did Alex get involved with all this?”

Barry shrugged. “I needed to do some deep cleaning and what better time than when the café is closed? Alex is always willing to help, so I called him. And since you placed him here, I thought you should know about it.”

“Thanks for including me,” Suzanne told him. “Kristopher, Officer Randolph, before we talk to Alex and Sofia, let me explain something about him.”

Her expression became calm and professional, and an unexpected sense of pride flowed through Kristopher. This was the first time he was seeing her in action, acting in her professional capacity.

And by damn, he thought he might be falling in love with her.

“Alex had a closed head injury when he was fifteen,” she said. “He made an almost complete recovery, but stress can cause him severe anxiety, and it sometimes can make him forget things. But he’s amazingly intelligent–can tell you everything you’d ever want to know aboutDr. Who–and one of the hardest workers you’ll ever meet.”

“He’d have to be, or I wouldn’t have hired him,” Barry agreed. “He’s admitted to knowing about this, but now he’s scared I’m going to fire him.”

“Good enough,” Kristopher said. “Officer Randolph, what’s your part in all of this?”

“I work in KPD’s surveillance division, and was sent to look at the devices, not ask questions about how they got under the table or why,” Randolph said. “But I can take notes and turn them over to Grant Miller. Does this have anything to do with those missing children?”

“It does,” Suzanne confirmed, and Randolph nodded.

“Let’s get started then,” Barry said. “Sofia is so mad about all this, I think she’s gonna blow like Mount St. Helen’s at any minute.”

“Lead the way, then,” Suzanne suggested.

They followed Barry into the dining room and found Alex and Sofia Langley seated at a large, round table in a far corner booth, him looking nervous and her defiant.

“Am I in trouble?” Alex, a handsome young man of about twenty, with a head of dark curly hair, blinked several times while he rolled a pack of sugar between the fingers of his left hand. “I thought I was helping.”

“You were, Alex,” Barry assured. “We wouldn’t have found this if it weren’t for you,” and Suzanne watched Alex’s features relax. Sofia’s expression remained stiff with anger.

“So why are the police here,” Sofia demanded. “Is he going to be charged with anything?”

“No ma’am,” Randolph spoke, taking out a tiny spiral topped notebook. “I’m here about what your son found under the tables and learn what they are. I’m just taking notes to help.”

“It’s okay, Mom,” Alex said. “Hi, Suzanne. Did you have a good “Christmas?”

“Yeah, I did,” Suzanne lied. If Sofia hadn’t mentioned Mercy, she wasn’t going to tell him. “What can you tell us about those discs?”

“It was to help us find out what kind of Christmas presents to give,” Alex said.

“Presents to whom, Alex?” Suzanne asked.

“Everyone,” Alex said. “I mean, everyone who comes to eat here. People like you, Suzanne. Not big presents, but something to thank them for coming toDaisy’s.”

“Whose idea was it to put those discs under the table, Alex?” Kristopher asked, and Suzanne quickly introduced them. His presence seemed to calm Sofia.

“Stan said if we listened to what people talked about what they wanted for Christmas, we would know what to give them,” Alex explained. “We put those discs under all the tables so we wouldn’t miss anyone.”

“Who’s Stan?” Kristopher asked.

“One my other employees,” Barry put in. “Go on, Alex. Did Stan help you put up the discs?”

“Oh, we both did it,” Alex said. “But it was his idea.”

“When did he tell you to start doing this?” Suzanne joined in again.

“The day after Thanksgiving,” Alex said proudly, his confidence returning. “We’d take them down when our shifts were done ‘cause Stan and I always did the cleaning after we closed. “He said he’d listen to what people said and write it down and then we’d put more discs back up in the morning. I don’t know when we’re going to start passing out the gifts, but Stan says he was still buying them.”

He looked at Barry and said, “Stan told me it was gonna be a big surprise and not tell you because you were going to get the best gift of all for hiring so many of us.”

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