I killed the TV. Then I called Disney's main number and asked for Tram Dockery's room. To my relief, Tram picked up.
“This is Jack,” I said.
“Hey, Jack,” Tram said brightly. “How's it going?”
“Not so good. You and I need to talk.”
The Dockerys were staying at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. The lodge was situated on several heavily wooded acres, the roads unmarked and poorly lit. I pulled in twenty minutes later and let Buster sniff trees before entering the main building.
Wilderness Lodge was Jessie's favorite hotel growing up, and our family had stayed there many times on vacation. Modeled after the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone National Park, the main building was the world's largest man-made log structure, with each massive log fitted in place without the use of glue or nails. A woman in cowboy attire greeted me at the front desk.
“Howdy,” she said.
“House phones,” I said.
She pointed to a stand by the elevators, then handed me a brochure.
“Have a nice evening,” she said.
I called Tram's room and asked him to meet me in the lobby. He sounded worried and said he'd be right down.
I made myself comfortable on a sprawling leather couch and leafed through the brochure the receptionist had given me. It was called the Hidden Mickey Hunt and was a special promotion for guests staying at the Lodge. Eight hidden images of Mickey Mouse were carved into the balconies of different rooms, while another eight were hidden around the property in the landscaping. Every guest who found all sixteen won a special prize. I thought of Shannon Dockery and wondered how many she'd found so far.
“Hey,” a voice said.
I rose from the couch. Tram had come out of an elevator and was walking toward me. He wore a clean plaid shirt and had a fresh part in his hair. I didn't believe in beating around the bush, so I showed him the photographs from Cecil's room. He gasped.
“Who took these?” Tram asked.
“That was what I was hoping you'd tell me,” I said.
He studied the photographs, then shook his head.
“I don't know,” he said.
“Did you notice any cars following you this morning?” I asked.
“Not that I remember.”
“Before you left the lodge, did someone talk to you in the lobby, or maybe outside when you got your truck? Someone suspicious?”
Tram's eyes were burning a hole in the photographs, and I sensed he was having a hard time remembering. Scaring the living daylights out of people worked wonders on their memory. I led him over to the crackling fireplace in the room's center and put my hand on his shoulder.
“I'd like nothing better than to throw these photographs in the fire, but that won't change things,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“The police have a copy. They're going to want to talk to you.”
“Shiiit.” He drew the word out as if he was sliding in it. “So my wife's going to find out I was drinking with my daughter in my pickup.”
“Yup.”
“Oh, man, I'm screwed.”
Everyone hates the bearer of bad news, and Tram shot me a mean stare. I felt bad for him. There was no greater shame than letting your kid down.
“I've got an idea,” I said.
His eyes turned hopeful.
“Tell your wife you only drank one of the beers,” I suggested. “Then you realized you were making a mistake, and tossed the rest out.”
Tram gave it some thought.
“Yeah, that will work,” he said.
“But you still need to be apologetic.”
“And admit I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
He studied the photographs some more.
“Where did you find these?” he asked.
“In the motel room of the man who snatched Shannon,” I said. “Someone sent them to him on his computer, along with a lot of information about you and your wife and daughter.”
“How the heck could someone know all that?”
“That's what I want to find out. I want you to reconstruct what you did this morning, from the moment you took your daughter out in your pickup.”
The fire's flames illuminated Tram's face as he tried to reconstruct his morning.
“I took Shannon to McDonald's, bought a six-pack of beer, drove around for a while, then came back here and picked up Peggy Sue. No, wait. I bought the six-pack first, then went to McD's.”
He lifted the photograph, counting the beers left in the six-pack.
“Heck. I know where this was taken,” he said.
“You do?”
“Yessir. On the drive-through at McD's.”
“Are you sure?”
“Uh-huh. You know the expression ‘Your first beer is your best beer’? Well, my first beer this morning was sitting on line at McD's drive-through, waiting for my grub. I placed my order, popped a brewski, and got a buzz on.”
Tram impressed me as a guy who would remember something like this, and I stared deeply into the fire. Julie and Carmella Lopez had gone to a McDonald's restaurant in Fort Lauderdale the morning that Carmella disappeared. I'd found another link.
“They must've been listening to me inside the restaurant,” Tram went on. “I called my sister on my cell and told her what we were doing today.”
“You think someone inside the restaurant was listening through the order box,” I said.
“Yessir,” Tram said. “I bet they photographed me through that thing, and listened to me as well. That must be how they knew all that stuff.”
I continued to stare into the flames. There was something wrong with Tram's explanation. I'd seen the order stations inside McDonald's restaurants, and they were right by the kitchens. An employee couldn't spy on cars in the drive-through without other employees noticing. I was still missing a piece of my puzzle, but I suspected that a trip to the local McDonald's would answer my questions.
“Thanks. You've been really helpful,” I said.
“No problem,” Tram said.
I handed him the brochure. “Does your daughter know about this?”
“Heck, yeah. She found them all. Bet you didn't see the one in front of us.”
I shook my head, and Tram pointed at the protective metal screen covering the fireplace. A hidden silhouette of Mickey Mouse was carved into it. Mickey was waving to us, and I found myself nodding. If I'd learned anything as a cop, it was that you had to search for the good and bad in this world. It was all out there, if you knew where to look.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Tram walked me to the lodge's entrance. I asked him the location of the McDonald's where he'd bought breakfast, and he said it was in Kissimmee. When he described the landmarks, I realized it was a stone's throw from Sleep amp; Save. I started to leave.
“I need to ask you something,” Tram said.
I stopped in the doorway and waited for him to finish.
“I never got your last name,” he said. “Folks back home in Douglas are gonna want to know who you are when I tell them this story.”
The idea that this kid was going to be telling stories about me made me smile.
“It's Carpenter,” I said.
“That works.”
I hesitated, unsure of what he meant.
“Carpenters fix things,” he said.
I smiled at him. I'd come to the conclusion that he wasn't a criminal, just a young guy prone to making dumb decisions, and I hoped that this experience had taught him a lesson. Then I went outside.