Scout was off in a split second, running toward the parking lot. When the man saw Scout charge at him, he took a step back and fled around the side of the school, trying to get away from the area as quickly as possible, so that it wouldn’t create a scene. I took off after him in high heels, regretting my choice immediately.
When I caught up to the back of the building, Scout had the man cornered against the brick wall and was barking as if his entire job was at stake.
The man was raising both of his hands.
“Hey. Hey. I’m not touching him,” he said.
I quickly pulled Scout’s leash back.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “He never—” and then I noticed that he had a key chain hanging from his shoulder bag.
It was a brass guitar pick, old and tarnished.A small mark on the edge of the piece.
It has Mark’s initials on it.
This piece looks nothing like what’s in Mark’s guitar strap. However, Mark had previously used this same piece in the same way for many years and had kept it with him at all times. Whenever Mark would tap on a counter or have a thought, he had the peace of mind that he had a piece of equipment to help him keep track of time. It was easy to recognize the little piece of metal from across the room.
After looking at Jonah’s metal piece, I asked, “Where did you find that?”
Then Jonah turned his head down and looked back up at me.
“Your husband gave me this.”
Suddenly, my throat went dry.
“Mom, what happened?” I could see and hear Nora asking this from the front door of the school.
Shaking with fear, I reached for my phone and called 911.
“No,” I replied, “You need to start talking to me right now.”
Jonah took a deep breath and said, “My name is Jonah; I’m a private investigator. I need you to listen to what I have to tell you before it gets any worse.”
Unfortunately, for me, it was already too late.
Within minutes, we had the local school officer arrive first, followed shortly thereafter by local police. When Jonah had completed his business with the police, Scout was calm; however, Scout remained next to me and did not have trust in Jonah until proven otherwise, so Scout continued to lay against my leg.
Jonah then provided identification to the officer and proved to the officer why he had been sent to find Nora.
Within Jonah’s backpack was a large, sealed envelope that had Nora’s full name on it.
The officer asked Jonah, “Why have you approached them here?”
When Jonah answered, “Because I had several calls that were not answered, from several unknown numbers,” it became very evident to me that it was true.
Jonah went on to provide to me information that he had in the past, including missed calls from unknown numbers. It was very common for me to ignore calls from unknown numbers because I generally want a peaceful environment.He gave me a printed letter that had my home address, the date of Nora’s birthday and the name of her high school