14 – Saved By The Pizza
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Alice stopped her car opposite to Dave Klapman's house. She had spent all morning tracking down 4 van owners for questioning and it only reached Mr. Klapman in the afternoon. As she got out of the car she saw a man whom she assumed to be Mr. Klapman standing at his door and receiving a very large order of pizza.

Alice approached the pizza delivery guy as he returned to his scooter, stopping him with a flash of her badge.

"Excuse me, I'm detective Alice Stone. I need you to answer a few questions about the delivery you just made". The young man looked startled.

"What did Mr. Klapman order?", she asked.

"2 large pizzas with toppings and a full set of side orders and drinks", he answered.

"Were there other people there?"

"Not that I could see".

"Do you deliver pizza o1ften to this house?"

"Yes".

"When is the last time you delivered here?"

"Last Friday".

"What did he order then?"

"One large pie with toppings, a full set of side orders and a drink".

"What amount does he usually order?"

"The same as Friday".

"So today was the only time he ordered this much?"

"Yes".

Finished with her questions, she sent the pizza guy on his way. His answers strongly indicated to her that Mr. Klapman may be the one holding the girls, but it was merely circumstantial and could be nothing more than random chance. She needed evidence. Looking around she noticed that the garbage was on the curb, waiting to be picked up. She hauled it to the trunk of her car and drove to the forensics lab.

Alice walked in to the lab carrying the bags, and placed them on the counter. A short, slim, balding lab technician came up to her. He was in his 50s, but appeared to be significantly older, perhaps due to a lack of exercise and sunshine.

"I need you to scan these for fingerprints, hair, or DNA of Amber Wheeler and Beth Turner. You should have already received samples from their homes yesterday. This evidence is from the outside the suspect's home. If you find it, it means we've found the place where the girls are being kept", she said.

"Ah, yes, the girls that disappeared. I remember that. Unfortunate we just received another urgent case, but we will get to this very soon, I assure you", he said in a cute little voice.

"You better. I still have a chance to save these girls, but the longer the delay the smaller their chances, and who knows what they're going through right now", Alice tried to convey to him the urgency of the situation.

"I'm sorry, I will try my best to get to it as soon as possible. Without compromising the other case, of course", the technician tried to assure her.

Alice turned in a huff and planted herself in a chair. As Alice sat and waited for the results, she made a phone call, requesting that Mr. Klapman be put under surveillance in case he tried to run or move the girls somewhere else. She berated herself for not thinking of it sooner, but it seemed like he was planning on eating a big lunch, so it would probably be okay.

As she waited she began pacing back and forth nervously. She didn't know what was that other urgent case, and trusted the technician when he said he had to attend to it first, but that didn't change the fact that every moment of delay was a moment of danger and suffering for her victims.

A long while later the technician came back, handing her a computer printout.

"Good news, detective. We've found the fingerprints of both girls on water bottles inside the trash".

Alice glanced at the sheet of paper to confirm what he said, then hurried to her car as she called the district attorney.

"Hello, Suzan? It's Alice. I need you to get me a warrant for the arrest of Mr. David Klapman and the search of his home and van. I have fingerprint evidence that Amber Wheeler and Beth Turner, the 2 girls who disappeared 2 nights ago, are in his house".

Then she called the station, requesting for backup to quietly surround the house while staying out of sight, and for Ambulances to stand by. She didn't want to give Dave an opportunity to use the girls as hostages.

She sped to his house, slowing down as she approached his street, and joined with a few few officers in plain cloths, who accompanied her to Dave's house. As she and one officer approached the front door 2 officers snuck around to keep watch on the back of the house. Another one watched the front.

Alice pressed the doorbell button and heard a loud chime, but there was no sound of there being anyone inside. She tried again, and again there was no response. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. She checked the windows of the porch. One of them was unlocked, so she climbed in and the other officer accompanied her.

The scanned the house, going from room to room, but found nothing of interest throughout the house except for the basement door, which for some reason was a heavy metal door with 2 locks, one using a mechanical numpad and the other a regular keyhole. I was locked, so Alice called for help.

While help was on the way she went to the garage and found the van, which seemed to match the van from the surveillance footage she reviewed. It was locked as well. Then the help arrived. She and the other officers stood behind the officer, weapons drawn, as he cut through the metal door, sparks flying, all around the locks until the door swung open, and then she and the other officers hurried down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs was another door, identical to the first one. They stood back as he began cutting through it as well.

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