088 – Steven Tells A Story

At the station, Deputy Poulson took Steven in hand, and walked him into an archetypal room with dark glass on one wall, the table and facing chairs. “Please stay here, Mr. Caplan. Can I bring you some water, or something?”

“Lots of water will be fine.”

Steven pulled over one of the yellow legal pads and a ballpoint pen and started doodling. For a moment he wished he had his watch, but once the battery had died on Tywacomb, he had stopped wearing it. The watch now sat in a box in an elf-outfitters shop.

Deputy Poulson left, and came back a few minutes later. He put a digital recorder on the table and started it recording. He also put a pitcher of water, some cups, and his own notebook on the table. As he did he looked at Steven’s doodle. Steven helped himself to the water, and then started doodling again.

“Where’s this map of, Mr. Caplan?”

Steven looked up. If he had been wearing glasses he would have been looking over them. “You start all your interrogations this way?” The pen stopped as he looked, then continued with a shoulder shrug.

“It’s where I’ve traveled to go find my wife, and track down my kids’ whereabouts. This point,” top right of the page, “is the landing spot, high in some mountains. From there, about seven or so weeks by foot to this city,” on the far left, “where we picked up my wife. Then another several to this one,” bottom right. “I could not tell you the names or correctly spell them in English.”

Steven tore the sheet off and put it and the pad aside. He drained a cup of water. Then put his elbow on the table, his jaw on his fist, and looked as bored as he felt.

The detective put the map aside. “So you are saying that you have picked up your wife, and know where your kids are.”

“Yes. Generally.”

“And how did this come about?”

“Remember the Private Investigator? With his magic marble?” Steven smiled now, remembering the antagonism from that encounter.

“Yes.” This was an unpleasant answer.

“Well, he was right. No Law Enforcement agency on Earth could have been any help.”

“And why was that?”

“You’re going to think I’m nuts, but I swear to you that everything I am going to say is true. After you left, the P.I. changed his clothes. By magic. Poof. Now you see the Armani Suit. Now you see the home-spun camp clothes and duster. With a seven foot staff and dragon the size of a house cat. That night we packed some stuff to camp with, and teleported into the northern Sierra. The next morning he teleported us one sixth of the way around the Galaxy.”

Steven drew a quick doodle of the galaxy with two points and ‘you are here’ arrows at them. One was labeled ‘Sol/Terra’, the other ‘Tywacomb.’ He pulled this off, and put it on top of the other loose sheet. “I tell you, long range teleport really messes with your body. It leaves one dehydrated.”

Steven started another cup of water and continued. “As I said, we landed, spent several weeks walking out of those mountains; I’d say about the distance from Cardston Canada to tri-cities Oregon, give or take; we had a few troubles along the way. Once to the city, we were able to trade hostages for Roxanne.”

“We already knew she had been separated from the kids. After resupplying, we set out to go to the coast, and were intercepted by a messenger, from the people who Rox’s maternal great grandmother’s line comes from. So we trekked to the other city. While there, Rox and I decided we wanted a few things from home. So we teleported to the first landing point, then teleported here. And here I am.”

“I stopped at work first and was going to run my other errands, but you interrupted.”

Deputy Poulson was taking notes as Steven finished. “So where are Mrs. Caplan and the children now?”

“Oh, I expect Rox will be along. She has her own errands to run first. But she should be by to pick me up, and we can get back to tracking the kids.”

“So, Mrs. Caplan is in town?”

“Wasn’t that the intelligent implication of what I said?” Steven finished his third cup of water, and poured another.

Deputy Poulson looked a non-pulsed. “O.k Mr. Caplan. That is an interesting story. Now to get this officially under way…”

Deputy Poulson read Steven several documents informing him of his rights. That as yet he was not yet under arrest or charged with anything. And that he could have a lawyer present before they went any farther. Steven gave the pat answers with a bit of a shrug, and started doodling again, though nothing in particular this time.

“That done, Mr. Caplan, for the record, the last time we talked was the day your wife and children disappeared. Is that correct?”

“Yup.” Steven did not look up.

“You were out of town when the incident happened?”

“On business. The trip was cut short. My General Manager can get you the relevant receipts and details. If she hasn’t already.”

“We already have those. She was very helpful.”

“She always is.”

“That night, or the next morning, you disappeared.” The Deputy was checking off notes as he went.

“Yup. With the Private Investigator. Caspian.” Steven was amused, and in a slightly giddy mood at the Deputy’s annoyance.

“You also called your mother-in-law, your General Manager, and your neighbor. Telling them to take care of things while you were gone.”

“Batting 1.000. You must have checked the phone records.”

“You have been gone some fifteen weeks. Now you show up, with a story of traveling to another planet, expecting it to be believed.”

“Oh, strike out. Is the story true? Yes. Do I expect it to be believed? No.” Steven let the giddiness drop a bit and seriousness take over.

Deputy Poulson decided to pop Steven’s attitude. “Do you think this is some sort of game, Mr. Caplan?”

“Nope.”

“Your family is missing. It looks like you had the only reason to do it, that we can guess at. And then you disappear and reappear with an outlandish story. And an attitude that tells me you think you have gotten away with something.”

Steven put the pen down. “Remember the P.I.’s trick with the marble? The sticks being right where it said they were? Can you tell me how he did that? Have you tried to do anything to find or identify the two men that it showed taking my family?”

“We found no usable prints to begin to match to anybody on record. The sand from the floor did not match any local dirt. Further, the wounds in your dogs match no known blade profile specifically, though plenty in general. As for the marble, I have no good explanation.”

Steven interrupted at this point. “You mean none that’s believable. Magic, I have learned, like religion requires faith.” Steve finished his latest water and emptied the pitcher for another. “So, do we sit here arguing? Or are you going to ask me more pointless questions?”

Deputy Poulson had enough. “Mr. Caplan as far as we can tell there is no motive for anyone beyond you to do anything to your family.”

“That’s what clean American living does for you.”

“Our problem Mr. Caplan is that except for your attitude, we can’t find anything useful.”

“The Private Investigator said as much.”

“The ‘Private investigator’ does not exist as such! We checked that too. Aside from an unhelpful secretary at Judge Kevan’s office, we can’t find anything on him.”

“No surprise. He’s not from Earth. He is from the planet my kids are on, where I have been the last while.” Steven shrugged. His fourth sheet began to fill with aimless scratching that resolved into the fortress of the ruined city. After a bit of silence Steven looked up, watching Deputy Poulson writing some notes, and reinforcing his composure.

“Mr. Caplan, where have you been today?”

“This morning, I got up in my own bed, next to my own wife. Showered, dressed and ate in my own house. Drove my own car to my own business, and was picked up there by you.”

“You arrived at your house from where, when?”

“From the landing point in the Northern Sierra, by teleportation, about 9:45 pm last night, after stopping to do some quick grocery shopping.”

“And where were you before that?”

“In interstellar transit for three hours or so, as I understand. Before that, on another planet.”

“And who was with you?”

“My wife; Roxanne Caplan, who was still asleep when I left the house; the Private Detective Caspian, who slept on the couch; and Caspian’s dragon.”

“Did anybody see you arrive?”

“Not that told me. The convenience store over on 395 probably has us on video, but it won’t show a car.”

Deputy Poulson scratched more notes. He then stood up and collected all Steven’s loose doodles. “May I?” He reached for the pad Steven was doodling on. Steven labeled the drawing, and tore the sheets off and handed them over. All this went into a folder.

“Please wait here, Mr. Caplan. Someone will be by.”

Steven turned over the empty pitcher. “Sure. How about more water, lunch, and a trip to the restroom?”

Deputy Poulson said something noncommittal, and left the room. Steven continued his doodling, and let his thoughts loose on the paper, while waiting. He emptied two more pitchers and filled nine pages with doodling and text writing his understanding of the story, and made two trips to the restroom before any friendly faces showed up.